No risk, no reward

My business is a digital marketing agency that provides done-for-you funnels for retail and e-commerce companies. For companies that use platforms like Shopify and sell physical products, we come in and set up automatic marketing campaigns.

We take over their entire ongoing promotional calendar and build up their revenue streams.

Email marketing, of course, has risks, and there are no guarantees. But based on our track record we’ve been fairly successful across the board.

Most of our clients are making an average of 25% of their revenue from email marketing.

Too many companies don’t understand the value of email marketing, and I see people leaving millions of dollars on the table.  


 
Ask yourself: what percentage of your revenue is coming to you from email? If it’s 5% or less, you’re not maximizing your value here by a longshot.  
Of course your market, business model, and products all affect this number, but I’d say it’s time to make some changes.

Don’t limit your lists value

I spoke to a company that sold baby cribs recently. That was their only product. They didn’t sell baby clothes or carriers, just cribs.

A customer of that company likely needs these other items too if they’re in the market for a crib.

A crib isn’t the type of item that you buy regularly. A customer is likely to only buy a crib once or twice in their entire lifecycle.

This means you have a limited opportunity to engage them and make a transaction. For this company, the value of their list is limited by their industry and lack of product offerings.

Now if this company decided to offer more products that fit into the new baby niche, the value of their list increases exponentially.

Likewise, if you’re marketing headphones you don’t need a 12 email sequence to sell them. It’s headphones. You don’t need to go all out with storytelling in your marketing unless there’s something extraordinary about your product.  

Use triggers for more sales

With an e-commerce business, you need to quickly assess a buyer’s intent. Cart abandonment is a big issue in this space.

If someone adds a product to their cart but doesn’t check out then clearly they are interested but have some type of objection to your offering.

This is where email can come in and help nudge the buyer to complete their purchase.

Most of the emails I send out are based on a specific trigger a customer made on my website earlier on. The way I think about it is that in an ideal world you’d have a unique sales funnel for each person who visits your website.

Obviously, that’s not practical, but you can do your best to differentiate who you’re advertising to based on what you know about their buying habits.
 

Action Steps

  1. Create opportunities to email your customer relevant offers based on what actions they’ve taken on your website.
  2. Send a follow-up email anytime you have an abandoned cart.
  3. Consider offering more products that fit into your niche.
  4. Offer deals that fit within a customer’s lifecycle with you.

 

Result You Will Achieve

Better email sequences and triggers to maximize the value of your email list.

Mentor: John McIntyre

Founder and CEO of ReEngager – lifecycle & email marketing, helping online retailers & eCommerce stores increase their revenue with advanced email marketing programs.

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.