How to Write Effective eCommerce E-mail Copy
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach customers and drive sales. Email has a direct impact on your bottom line, as well as your brand reputation and customer loyalty.
In fact, according to MarketingSherpa's Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends (BBM) report, email marketing has a 26% higher ROI than search engine marketing (SEM), at least when it comes to driving traffic to eCommerce websites.
Segmented eCommerce emails have 14% higher open rates, and personalized email messages improve click-through rates by an average of 10%.
Personalization is one of the most effective ways to increase engagement and conversion.
Customers appreciate when you take the time to learn about them as individuals, which can be done through segmentation.
By sending out emails based on customer behavior or interests, you can send more relevant messages that will keep customers returning for more.
A killer subject line.
This is where you can get creative to convince your subscribers to open and read the email.
The subject line is the first thing that a recipient sees when an email arrives, so it's essential to get it right.
Ensure that your subject line is clear, concise, and relevant to the content of your email.
If you're sending an invitation or announcement for something like a sale or event, use this opportunity to add some personality to your subject line. Make it catchy and attractive so people can't help but click through--and don't forget about personalization.
This goes a long way towards making recipients feel like their time is well spent reading what's inside.
A compelling preheader text.
The preheader text is the summary that appears before the body of an email. It's a great place to catch your subscribers' attention, so pay attention to it.
The preheader should be concise and compelling enough to make them want to read more.
Your goal with this section is to get subscribers engaged enough with your product or service that they'll want to click through to your site or app--and then make a purchase there as well.
Optimized images.
Test different size images to see which drives the highest engagement with your subscribers.
What about images that are 300 x 300 pixels? This is a good size for images in your emails and on web pages, as it's large enough to be easily seen but not so big that it will take up too much space or cause slow download time.
What about images that are 600 x 600 pixels? This size also works well for email campaigns because it allows you to include an image without making readers scroll down the page unnecessarily if they want to see more details about something you're selling (like a product or service).
You can also try using an even larger image size like 1200 x 1200 pixels or 1800 x 1800 pixels--this will give subscribers more room for detail when viewing your products/services but may cause issues if they're not on a large screen device like a tablet computer or laptop where there's plenty of room available.
A text-only option for those who don't want to download pictures or videos.
The text-only option is a good idea for older people, those with slow internet connections, and anyone who prefers to refrain from downloading pictures or videos. Tell recipients they can click a link to view the text-only version of your email newsletter.
There are many ways you can accomplish this:
At the bottom of each email, include a link that says, "Click here for the full-screen version." This way, your readers will know exactly where to look if they want more information.
If possible, add an icon next to each image so readers can tell whether it's worth downloading (this won't work if all images are embedded directly into HTML).
Mobile-friendly design.
Over half of all emails are opened on a mobile device, and 52% are opened based on the subject line alone, which means you need to grab their attention in a split second.
Go with responsive design so your eCommerce email will look great on any device.
Mobile-friendly design includes:
Making sure that it's easy to read (small font size)
Making certain links can be clicked easily by tapping with your finger or thumb (use buttons instead of text links)
Using images rather than blocks of text
A compelling call-to-action (CTA).
You know what you want them to do next, and make sure your readers understand what action they should take and why they should take it now.
Make your CTA actionable. A good CTA will tell readers exactly what to do when they click on it--for example, "Shop Now" or "Learn More." It also helps if this call-to-action (CTA) is relevant to the content of your email--the more relevant, the better chance that people will click on it when they see it in their inboxes.
Make sure your CTAs are clear and concise. If there's any confusion about what clicking on a link will accomplish for your reader or customer, then chances are pretty high that the person won't be clicking on anything anytime soon.
Clear navigation links at the top and bottom of every message.
Make it easy for users to find product categories, contact information, account details, and other critical sections of your website while reading your email newsletter.
If you want to include a link in your newsletter that directs readers directly to a specific product page on your site, use an anchor tag (like ) with descriptive text, so they know what they're getting into before clicking through.
Final thought
Remember, the content and formatting of your eCommerce emails should be tailored to the needs of your audience. Think about what they want and how they want to read it. As a result, tailoring your email messages will improve engagement rates, which means more sales.
Until next time, your fren Parrotfish.