Introduction

Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways eCommerce brands build a moat around the business. 

With advertising costs going up, a common and worrisome question most eCommerce brand owners ask themselves is:

‘What happens to my business if my ads stop working?’

The answer is to find other ways to diversify the way you get customers.

In business, there are usually only 3 ways to grow:

1. Find new customers

2. Increase the transaction size of each purchase (Increase AOV)

3. Increase the frequency of purchase (Increase LTV)

Email marketing can be used to boost numbers 2 and 3 - Increase transaction size and increase the frequency of purchase.

This article will show you 7 non-generic strategies to improve your retention channel, because let’s be honest…

We’ve all read regurgitations of the same information again and again.

So let’s dive in.

1. Collecting Zero-Party Data In Your Welcome Flow

Zero-party data is a buzzword going around the eCommerce world nowadays. 

But there’s no denying its power when it comes to being able to really understand your customer and correctly iterate your messaging based on feedback.

But what is Zero-Party data anyway?

Simply put, it’s information a customer intentionally and voluntarily shares with your company.

You can add questions at certain points in your email customer journey which give you first-hand insights into what your customers actually want.

For example, let’s say you run a skincare brand. 

Asking your audience in your opt-in form or popup what their primary skincare concern is after you collect their email is a great way to get real customer insights:

And depending on the option they choose, they can get a different first welcome email that focuses solely on that concern.

Here’s a quick example on how you can change the messaging of the first welcome email depending on what someone picks:

You can change the copy as well as the product recommendations based on what the user is genuinely interested in, which leads to:

1. A better customer experience
2. Increased conversions
3. More data for you to uncover what your audience wants to hear more about

So rather than sending everyone the same welcome email, ask them a relevant question on what brings them to your store, and watch the power of zero-party data for yourself.

2. Educational Emails > Constant Promotions

In today’s e-commerce landscape, getting the sale isn’t enough.

What’s more important is getting the sale under the right pre-text (with the right intention).

Is your customer buying because you gave them a massive discount?

Or are they buying because they genuinely love your brand, understand the value it brings, and internally feel like they will benefit from your product?

Most brands send discounts in emails as a reactive measure.

Because that’s the only way their customers purchase.

This erodes margins and negatively trains your customer to only buy when there’s a discount available.

The way to correctly build a brand and an email channel is to provide value in that channel.

In the famous words of Howard Gossage: 

“People don’t read ads. They read what interests them. And sometimes it’s an ad.”

And in that sentence lies the key to building a quality retention channel, and by extension, a quality brand.

Give people what interests them.

For example, let’s say we sell a stretching device. 

Rather than bombarding customers with discounts that negatively impact margins, the right move is to educate your customers on the benefits of using the device.

Give them some stretching ideas:

By providing constant value and understanding your customers’ pain points, you can start to SHOW them how your product solves their problem.

There’s nothing more powerful than demonstration, but more on that later.

So the next time you send a reactive discount to get a sale, try to figure out how you can interest them around the problem you solve instead.

Your business (and bottom line) will thank you.

3. Understanding The 3 Pillars Of Belief

There’s nothing stronger than a customer believing in your product and brand.

Belief is how you start to get some real brand growth and see your organic branded search volume going up.

This is what you want.

So how do you make your customer go from having an opinion about your brand to having a belief about it?

Understanding the 3 pillars of belief.

It’s as close as you can get to a ‘hack’ to get more sales.

Imagine Belief to be a table-top that requires 3 legs / pillars to stand. 

Those 3 legs are:

• Status Proof

• Social Proof

• Demonstrative Proof

Status Proof:

This is anything that improves the ‘status’ of the message or the sender of the message.

People are naturally inclined to believe things that come from a source of high status.

That’s why brands pay for celebrity endorsements.

The status helps improve the sales.

In email, think along the lines of:

• How long has your brand been established for?

• Are there any high-status professionals that approve of your products?

• Any publication features?

Basically, think of anything that elevates the status of your brand and message.

In the example below, CatleFlexx uses testimonials from famous athletes in order to show the power of the brand.

If world-class athletes use it to get their stretch in - so can you.

Social Proof:

Social proof taps into our tribal nature as humans.

We’re programmed to think and behave according to the tribe.

When we see others thinking or believing in certain ways, we tend to think and believe the same.

So how can we weave in social proof in our emails?

• Do you have customer testimonials that are as close to your target market as possible that you can weave into your emails?

• Are there any ‘before and after’ images / stories you can use if applicable to your business?

• Are you mentioned in any magazines or publications?

• Are you followed on socials by any high status individuals? How can you publicize that?

• Do you get a lot of comments / likes on social media? High engagement?

• How many customers do you have? E.g 20,000+ Happy customers (and counting!)

Basically, you want to include any form of social proof that will continuously reinforce to prospective customers that your products work, and will benefit them.

Once you’re able to weave pieces of social proof into your emails, you’ll start seeing sales go up as well as branded search, which is vital.

Demonstrative Proof:

This is by far one of the most powerful forms of proof you can show your customers.

The key word is ‘show’ - don’t just tell.

Seeing a product in action is one of the best ways to build belief in a prospect’s mind.

That’s because imagination / imagery is extremely powerful.

When your prospects see the product in use, they naturally imagine themselves using it.

That’s why, especially in the skincare and makeup industry, influencers use ASMR type content and a lot of demonstrative videos.

Because that’s what helps to-be customers almost visualize themselves using the product.

The example here shows a demonstrative video on how to use the product. 

It works great because it immerses someone into product usage, and removes the ‘gray-matter’ from their mind around it.

Once you start to add these 3 forms of proof into your email marketing (and marketing in general), you’ll start to see some serious growth.

You’ll grow your branded search volume too, since you’re now providing real value and tapping into human psychology.

4. Collecting Zero-Party Data In Your Abandoned Cart Flows

Similar to point 1, you can also collect Zero-Party Data in your abandoned cart flows.

In this case though, you want to add it at the end.

So when someone goes through your entire abandoned cart flow and doesn’t purchase…

You can ask them a question as the final email:

“What stopped you from buying today?” - or something along those lines.

Then you can offer them a few options to get a better understanding of blockers.

Qualitative data is such an underutilized tool in email marketing. 

It gives you direct feedback from your customers, and once that feedback becomes statistically significant, it gives you very clear direction on what needs to change.

Don’t sleep on this!

You can use it in many areas of your funnel.

For example, let’s say someone just made a purchase.

They are likely at their highest point of intent they will ever be when anticipating their product.

This is a great place to ask:

“What are you most looking forward to when receiving your [Product Name]?”

Given that your customers will likely be in their most receptive state, the answers you get will be highly insightful.

You can then use that in your other marketing as a hypothesis to test.

Because now you know what they are most looking forward to.

5. Buyers Remorse Automations

Nothing kills sales and revenue like buyers remorse.

You know - that guilty feeling once you’ve made an impulse purchase online.

“Did I REALLY need to buy that product…?”

Consumer Reports claims over 60% of people have experienced buyer's remorse.

This can hurt your business because of returns, refunds and as a result, increasing your acquisition cost.

So how do you reduce buyer’s remorse? 

Picture this:

Your product is a breakthrough.

You know it. I know it. Your customers know it.

(That’s why they purchased).

Whether it’s:

→  New technology you have

→  A new ingredient you’re using

→  An upgraded version of your old product

You’ve got something you’re proud to sell. Your customer has been struggling with the EXACT problem you solve…

After looking at other competitors / options in the market, they chose to put their trust in YOU.

So they pull out their credit card and input the details, and just like that, you’ve got a customer.

And then…

Crickets.

They get a general post-purchase email that thanks them for their purchase.

And that’s it.

The buyer's remorse starts to set in.

Those competitor ads make them question if choosing you was the right choice…

Those enticing offers make them second guess their decision...

They start to think "Did I REALLY need to buy that?".

And they’re still yet to hear from you again.

Now… 

Picture this.

Same situation as the above… but once they purchase from you:

(Considering it takes 5 days to ship)

➤ Email 1 is a personal letter from the founder, thanking them for their purchase.

➤ Email 2 is specific FAQ on the exact product they just ordered

➤ Email 3 is a ‘How To Use’ product guide

➤ Email 4 (Day before product arrives) - Testimonials from happy customers. 

➤ Email 5 (Day of arrival) - What are you most looking forward to?

Anticipating an order is one of the highest-intent stages a customer will be in.

So you have 2 choices during this time period:

1) Do nothing and allow buyers remorse to set in

2) Proactively tackle it

A tight post-purchase journey can really turn buyers remorse into buyer excitement.

Sometimes it's just about showing you care…

And being proactive about it.

6. Product Onboarding Automations

At the end of the day, the best thing that can happen for your brand AFTER someone has purchased your product…

Is that they actually use the product and benefit from it.

That’s because this gives you:

• Positive reviews

• Reinforced feedback on product quality

• Higher chance for a repurchase

• Higher chance for your customer to recommend to a friend (Word of mouth)

• Better placed to create a habit using your product

That’s why once someone has received your product, you want to ensure they are on-board ASAP.

Here, you want to do as much as you can to ensure your customer uses your product.

This can be through guides, tutorials, FAQs or even little-known product insights.

You can set up a flow or automation of around 3-4 emails that cover all the different use-cases of your product.

Of course, each brand will differ, but let’s take the stretching device as an example mentioned above in this blog.

The goal would be to onboard a customer to use the device the moment it arrives in the post.

How?

Day 1 - We onboard them into an unboxing video and how to start with the device

Days 2-10 we take them through daily stretches they can do, with each stretch building on top of the next.

The first few stretches are easy, because we want to reduce friction to use.

Then, it gets progressively more difficult, and if they enjoy the video, they are able to join the full video programme which is a monthly subscription to access.

The goal is to get your product used ASAP, so the more interesting information, videos, diagrams and overall content you can provide the moment your product is received…

The higher chance you will have of all of the benefits that come from a good product experience.

THIS is how you build a brand.

7. Superpowered Transactional Emails

Promotional and marketing emails aren’t the only things that can be used for marketing.

Most brands leave their transactional emails as default.

You know, the emails that tell you that your order has been placed, dispatched and delivered.

Those are some pretty golden opportunities to revamp and provide a brilliant customer experience on top of what you already have.

It’s a great opportunity to add upsells and other product recommendations that complement their purchase.

Don’t sleep on transactional emails.

If done in a classy manner, they can be a fantastic way to drive revenue, get feedback, and a whole host of other initiatives.

Once your product has been delivered, for example, you can suggest a complimentary product that goes extremely well with the current order.

Once they’ve placed their order, you can offer to add other items within the same delivery that are complementary.

Uber Eats does this extremely well - Once you order your food, it gives you other places to order from, usually grocery stores, so that you can receive all items in your single delivery.

Thinking in this manner can boost AOV and increase the overall brand growth.

So brainstorm how you can supercharge your transactional flows from the default.

And test different angles.

Conclusion

Email can be your most powerful channel when it comes to building a brand. It’s more of a long-term game but the effects are absolutely incredible.

When you can give your customer a fantastic email experience, you’ll notice that it has a positive effect on your entire funnel.

You start to get more word of mouth marketing, your branded search volume goes up, and suddenly, you aren’t as purely reliant on just your ROAS anymore.

The best brands we’ve audited and seen take their retention channel very seriously.

And they have far, far evolved beyond the point where their email channel is solely used to send out discounts.

So once you start to action some of the above, you will notice a positive lift in the trajectory of your brand.

I hope it serves you well!