Does Email Marketing Still Work?
Currently, PPC channels are more popular for eCommerce businesses than Email Marketing.
Why do we say this?
If we look at most Digital Marketing groups, most of them discuss PPC and social media (statistics, examples, case studies, etc.), and less talk about Email Marketing.
To “break the ice” and encourage using Email Marketing to its full potential, we have prepared a case study about Email Marketing with one of our clients in the e-commerce sector.
In short, if you have a clear strategy and objective from the beginning, you get results.
Read until the end, we’ll go over the details and tell you about the challenges, actions, and most importantly, the strategy that led to this result.
Also, with the arrival of spring, we have a small surprise for you 🙂
First of all, we want to thank our colleagues who worked on this project:
–Mihai Postolache, Email Marketing Specialist and Copywriter
– Radu Dascălul, Account Manager
–Ramona Henea, Graphic Designer
A little context
Business model: eCommerce
Niche: Home & Garden
Database (contacts): 100,000 contacts
Email platform: ActiveCampaign
Main objectives:
- Developing a new marketing channel (in our case, email)*
- Customer retention through Email Marketing
- Increasing website traffic through Email Marketing
- Crearea unei comunități cu ajutorul Email Marketing
*Note: The client didn’t send other emails before working with us. So, the implementation strategy was new for this channel.
Another thing worth mentioning is that it has been active in the Romanian market since 2015.
In other words, before starting to work with us, they were a brand that operated on multiple channels and had an active omnichannel strategy.
How did we reach 64,000+ euros in revenue in just a few months?
As mentioned above, the client didn’t send newsletters before. This meant we had to start from scratch, with a completely new strategy for their email list (existing customers).
The first step we took was to think and put down important information, such as:
- Customer Avatar
- Tone of voice
- Frequency of newsletters per month
- Copywriting strategy
- Promotion campaigns
Once the details and objectives were clear, the entire process was already well-defined, next we had to figure out which steps to take.
Firstly we set up the Active Campaign platform and then uploaded the contact list. The next step was to send the first newsletter on July 31, 2021.
The first campaign was a Nurturing Email campaign, where we sent a general email to the entire database introducing the brand, mission/values, and why they should follow us in the future.
After this initial campaign, we cleaned up the database by removing leads with invalid email addresses and those who unsubscribed.
Thus, after this initial session, we were left with a database of approximately 66,000 valid contacts ready to receive our future newsletters.
What was the strategy of approximately 31,000 euros in the Black Friday campaign?
The initial strategy was to send 1 Newsletter per week, a total of 4 Newsletters/month. Constantly.
Here are some practices that generated more conversions. They can work for your Email Marketing strategy.
- Each campaign (Newsletter) had a RUE (Resend Unopened Email) – essentially, we sent the same email (with a new subject line) to those who didn’t open the initial email.
- We conducted A/B testing for about 85% of the campaigns sent so far – this helped us see what type of content resonates with our target audience. We practically tested various email formats with different actions to influence the open rate and click-through rate.
- We focused on individual campaigns (a single product or category) and mixed campaigns (multiple products or categories).
For the Black Friday campaign, we applied a slightly different strategy. We increased campaign frequency (from 4 to 8 + RUE) to maximize open rates, click rates, and conversion rates.
At the same time, we created a Landing Page where we included 10-12 Hero products (the best-selling and most appreciated) at a higher discount + the rest of the categories on the site at a slightly lower price.
As a result, we created a wider range of products for customers, which led to a higher conversion rate for most categories in the shop.
There were also moments when things didn’t go as expected
Regarding the strategy aspect, even though there were periods when things didn’t go as expected, we always tried to analyze and create new ways to improve the results.
Specifically, we used Google Analytics to see which products performed the best and/or worst. At the same time, we also looked at other channels to have a clear picture of the strategy and to see how they influence the email channel (positively/negatively).
We cannot exclude that throughout the entire period, customer communication has played a very important role. We adjusted communication, newsletter format, as well as the offer mechanisms. We focused heavily on customer retention and building a long-term relationship with the customer base.
Do you want the same results too?
So, from July 31, 2021, to January 31, 2022, we generated 827 transactions (orders) and a total of 323,927.14 lei.
It’s a lot? A little? We’re waiting for your feedback in the comments section.
From our point of view, we are proud of what we have achieved so far, but we are confident that there is more to accomplish this year.
The objectives are set. All that’s left is to “roll up our sleeves” and get to work.
Considering that spring has arrived, we’ve managed to free up some tasks. Now we can make room for a new client at the agency.
If you’re interested in working together on a personalized action plan to scale your online business, you can request a Free Audit.
Our goal is to help you implement a tested omnichannel strategy that can generate 2, 4, or even 10 times more sales while remaining profitable.
