A Shopify store is an awesome tool for selling online but without Shopify email marketing, you will miss out on a chunk of revenue. And it’s a competitive world today so let’s get started with 22 actionable tips to make your Shopify email campaigns more effective.
These tips will benefit any online seller or email marketer whether you utilize Shopify’s email tools or another email marketing platform.
*Read to the end for bonus tidbits.
Tip #1 Email Automation
Automation will make your profits jump and save you gobs of work. Automation takes some time to set up but is always worth the effort. What types of automation?
Two types of automation you don’t want to miss out on:
- Welcome emails
- Confirmation emails
17% of marketers use automation due to the benefit of higher revenue.
Shopify Email Tip #2 Triggered Emails
Triggered emails result in 8 times more opens and greater earnings than typical bulk emails. ~Snov
What are triggered emails? Emails programmed to send automatically when one of your customers takes an action.
Example: They make a purchase and your ESP (Shopify Email, perhaps) sends them a receipt, then a shipping update. Or users download your free ebook and this triggers a welcome email series you have prewritten.
Inbox Mailers takes triggered emails to the next level with ‘inbox listening’. Your emails are triggered when your customers / subscribers are actively reading other emails! 💡Book a Demo to learn more.
Best Practices for Shopify Email
All email marketing can be optimized including any Shopify email campaigns you are using.
Tip #3 No spam
Never send emails to people who don’t expressly give you permission. That would be spamming and it hurts your sender reputation!
Tip #4 Shopify abandoned cart emails
Shoppers, no matter how loyal, often don’t complete the checkout. Your Shopify marketing plan needs solid abandoned cart emails to convince shoppers to finish checking out. See this article for a ton of insightful stats on abandoned carts.
*Shopify examples for cart abandonment emails.
Tip #5 Segmenting cements more sales
Your email list needs segmentation so customers receive emails they care about. Example: You want plant lovers to get gardening emails versus birding news for your birdhouse buyers if you sell different products. That’s one form of segmenting.
Tip #6 for optimizing Shopify emails? Put extra time in for your subject lines because these play a major role in email open rates. More opens = more Shopify sales!
Tip #7 A/B test on a small scale
Testing scares many email marketers. You don’t want to make a mistake that hurts click rates and conversions, right?
Well, that’s why A/B testing is best done on a small scale until you get comfortable with testing. Also, only test a couple of variants at a time, else the learnings could be misleading. Example: Test two different subject lines instead of three subject lines and two different calls-to-action.
Make Your Shopify Emails More Engaging is Tip #8
Write marketing emails like you’re speaking to one person. Because, guess what… you are! The one person at a time who is opening your campaign. Being personable and relatable is so easy once you understand this truth.
Tip #9 AI
I’m not against using ChatGPT or other robot writers. But only for outlines or email starting points. A real writer will be needed to humanize the copy, punch it up, and edit for mistakes (I saw a spelling mistake from an AI writer just this morning🤯).
Tip #10 Shopify Email format testing
You never know what will get more engagement until you test various Shopify Email formats or formats in your ESP (email service platform) of choice.
- Shorter emails may work best compared to longer ones
- Photo-heavy emails could be your best performer
- Interactive elements using AMP tech have worked for many marketers
Stats and facts help us all decide which email formats to use, but you have to test these on your unique audience to know for sure what gets the most engagement (clicks, replies, sales, etc.)
Tools of engagement matter too and that’s Tip #11. Shopify Email may work great for some but be sure you at least check into other ESPs. The Shopify Email platform has a rating of 3.8 as you can see in their app store.
Some pros mentioned in reviews:
- Good customer support
- User-friendly
- No coding knowledge needed
The cons:
- App crashes
- Unclear graphic sizes for Shopify email templates
- Vanilla product (ouch!)
Hot Hacks and Tricks for Shopify Email Marketing
Tip #12 KIS
Keep it simple. Why does Amazon get so many sales? One key that gets little attention is their 1-click checkout. No hassle. No checking other prices elsewhere. No forgetting about a shopping cart! 1-click makes it simple (+ people are impulse buyers🔑).
*Business.com reports 97% of consumers have chosen not to make a purchase because it wasn’t convenient
Tip #13 Rain, wind, & snow drive $12.4+ billion in annual online spending.
See, people shop more when stuck at home and bored.
Every Shopify store owner has Cyber Monday and Black Friday circled on their calendar but what about a relevant Shopify email campaign when bad weather hits?
Remember those triggered emails and automation? These could be set up to coincide with weather alerts.
Tip #14 can put you ahead of your digital competition offering bad to awful customer service. If you have human customer service, include that contact info at the end of all your email campaigns. It will make your brand stand out in a time where companies don’t or can’t provide human support for customers.
Tip #15 Guest checkout – shoppers love this.
Be sure to make guest checkout the most prominent option on your checkout page. I get it, you want to collect customer data. But many people won’t buy if they can’t check out as a guest. Inside newsletters, many email marketers are likely alerting subscribers that they do offer guest checkouts. #trend
Tip #16 is email alerts when your Shopify products are running low. Supply chain issues are on people’s minds still, and this can boost sales.
Visual friction is my #17 Tip for your Shopify email marketing.
Visual flow is important on landing pages… but, but, but, you need CTAs with visual friction in your emails. Else readers will scan right past your calls-to-action.
Tip #18 User Behavior
What your email subscribers do is key. You can base so much on their:
- Purchases
- Clicks
- Opens
- Time between those engagement actions above
User behavior takes email personalization to the next level. It also assists you in top-notch list segmentation. (See this post for the 80/20 rule rarely used in segmentation).
Shopify Email Tip #19 (Big Fans of Your Work)
Your biggest fans, including top purchasers, are an asset to your email marketing strategy. These folks open more of your emails and click more. These actions send strong signals to internet providers that your emails are wanted, needed, and valuable – this boosts deliverability!
Make sure you set up special automated campaigns just for these top subscribers. More sales and your sender score rises as a bonus.
Tip #20 Don’t despair over unengaged segments of your list.
Over time, any email list can become stale, dead even. There are ways to re-engage readers but many of those tactics fall flat.
Instead, you can utilize reEngaged. This new tool is powered by Inbox Mailers, so even your dead list segments will finally notice and open your emails once again! How? The Network Effect of our major mailers— their triggers work on your behalf.
Shopify Email Marketing Tip #21
42.3% of email recipients delete messages if they are not optimized for phones (Snov). Scary thought.
Be sure you optimize and test your Shopify email campaigns on iPhones and Androids. Test first to see what your customers will see. The best Shopify cart retrieval email won’t help if a mobile user can’t click on links easily.
Final Tip #22 Make Your First Shopify Email Count
First impressions matter. They are even more vital in email marketing. Because inboxes are super-crowded these days.
Examples:
1️⃣Your welcome email can make a great first impression on a new subscriber. Make it count.
1️⃣A sales confirmation can put a new customer at ease about shipping, guarantees, and other details. Make a connection on this first contact.
1️⃣When you get an incoming email from a subscriber and or customer, there is never a better opportunity to make your best impression. Many brands have failed to do so and you can separate your brand from the pack.
That’s a wrap but I thought you’d find these 7 Shopify facts and stats helpful. Enjoy.
- North American sellers generated $2.15 billion for Shopify stores, accounting for nearly 74% of total sales.
- Major corporations like Nestle, Pepsi, Budweiser, and others are Shopify’s customers.
- Shopify primary plans all include e-commerce functionality, 24/7 support, Shopify POS Lite, a free SSL certificate, & free shipping label printing.
- Shopify offers a 10% discount on annual plans and 20% on biennial plans.
- Shopify’s top-selling products are T-shirts and Tops (June 2022).
- Saturdays / Sundays & vacations are peak times for Shopify.
- The majority of Shopify orders come from smartphones.
