Now is the time to tidy up your newsletter so that it can help you gain a competitive advantage in e-commerce.
Did you know that by 2023, E-commerce retail purchases are expected to be 22% of total global retail sales? In 2019, it was just 14.1%. This means that now is the time to get your email marketing and newsletter prepped and ready.
USPs (unique selling propositions) are what make your business stand apart. Perhaps you have a better exchange or return policy than your competitors, you offer more customer support, or your product is your USP. Regardless of what it is, be sure that your audience knows this! It’s the thing that makes them buy your product and stay a customer.
In our marketing minds, everyone knows exactly what we offer. But for many of our busy customers, they, in fact, don’t remember what makes Company A unique from Company B. That’s why you need to remind them, and a perfect place to do this is in a consistent space in your newsletter.
For example, Australian Bodycare shows their USPs in an interesting way.
The more you know about your customer and their preferences, the better opportunity it is to personalize your communication. So, we recommend making sure that the data you have is up-to-date by using your newsletter.
You can do this by sending an update email where you ask for information like date of birth, interests, zip code, or what kind of products they are looking for.
Once you know more, you can customize your content to your different personas.
Studies show that personalization makes a difference. In fact, emails with personalized subject lines generate 50% higher open rates than non-personalized emails.
Create content that is relevant and valuable for your audience so they want to stay subscribed. Give them content that can be useful, and is not just sales-focused. As the sender, of course you want your audience to spend time with you and read through to the end of your newsletter.
Therefore, keep the 80/20 rule in mind. 80% of the time is dedicated to creating value for the recipient and the remaining 20% to selling. In other words, the general rule is to sell only once every five newsletters though this also depends on the target group and product.
Good ways to add value include:
P.S. Make sure the value is visible in all communication whether it be content, CTA buttons, the preview text, or the subject line.
The robots are here! Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our everyday lives. In fact, sometimes it’s difficult to even notice how much more common it’s becoming. Think of any smart device you may have in your home or mobile phone (Alexa and Siri), customized offers or suggestions from Amazon or Netflix, and even spam filters.
When we talk about e-commerce and specifically email marketing and marketing automation, one example of AI is receiving intelligent product recommendations. These are based on what your audience has clicked on in the newsletter or on your website.
Typical product recommendations include:
Drive tangible results through the entire customer journey, whatever your goals.
We hope that these suggestions help you optimize your email marketing. We’ve shared ideas about AI, data, and USPs, and how these can be used in your marketing.
What next? Now just go out and use your newly created knowledge. Good work!
Would you like to read more from us? Click here and check out this blog where you’ll find more tips and ways to improve email marketing.