Ecommerce Email Marketing Automation: 8 Proven Strategies

Introduction

Ecommerce email marketing automation is a powerful tool for businesses to streamline customer engagement, boost sales, and save time. By automating key campaigns, businesses can send personalized messages that enhance the customer experience and drive conversions. Automation goes beyond basic email blasts, allowing tailored customer journeys like abandoned cart reminders, post-purchase emails, and product recommendations, which help build stronger customer relationships. By leveraging tools such as mailgo, you can easily grasp the essence of ecommerce email marketing automation, so as to apply different proven automated strategies many other companies already operated. Here are the 8 strategies in trend for you to take the reference.

Interest-Based Product Recommendations

Automating product recommendations based on customer interests and browsing history is an effective way to increase Average Order Value (AOV). By analyzing previous purchases or interactions on your site, businesses can trigger personalized product suggestions that feel relevant to the customer, driving higher engagement and boosting sales. Since both data collection and data analysis need loads of work if done manually, it is recommended that you use email automation software for help.

Example: A sports store might automatically recommend golf clubs to customers who bought golf-related accessories or apparel. Similarly, a coffee shop can recommend premium coffee blends to customers who recently purchased a coffee machine. This level of personalization improves both the chance of a sale and the customer’s satisfaction.

Benefits:

• Increases AOV by suggesting additional products.
• Encourages repeat purchases by offering relevant suggestions.
• Enhances customer experience by personalizing interactions.

Post-Purchase Email Sequences

Post-purchase email automation is essential for building customer loyalty and increasing repeat business. These email sequences can include product setup instructions, how-to guides, and content that helps the customer make the most of their new purchase. As most customers hate irrelevant and overwhelming emails sent to their accounts, mailgo's smart scheduling and automated email sequences features play an important role at this stage to free you from remembering to repetitively send the same email to others on the right time. 

Example: Fridja, an ecommerce store selling steamers and juicers, sends a product setup video immediately after a customer buys an item. Later emails provide helpful content, such as recipes or additional product tips, ensuring the customer has a complete and satisfying experience with their purchase.

Benefits:

• Enhances customer satisfaction by providing value beyond the initial purchase.
• Builds loyalty and trust, increasing the likelihood of future purchases.
• Creates opportunities for referrals and brand advocacy.

Re-engagement Campaigns

Re-engagement emails target customers who have become inactive or stopped interacting with your store. These automated campaigns offer personalized content, discounts, or new product recommendations to reignite customer interest. If you want to send re-engagement emails at a large scale without bothering to personalize them, you can use mailgo's AI writer to do that for you.

Example: MoonPig, a card retailer, sends re-engagement emails with the subject line, “15% off, because we miss you,” offering a coupon code and new product suggestions. This personalized nudge can bring dormant customers back to the site.

Benefits:

• Helps recover lost customers who have drifted away.
• Increases conversion rates by targeting inactive users with fresh, relevant content.
• Prevents churn by maintaining an ongoing relationship.

Birthday Emails with Discounts

Automating birthday emails is an effective way to engage with customers on a personal level. These emails typically include a special offer, like a discount or free shipping, encouraging customers to make a purchase while celebrating their special day.

Example: Adidas sends a birthday email offering a 20% discount. This thoughtful gesture not only acknowledges the customer's special day but also prompts them to make a purchase they might have been considering.

Benefits:

• Strengthens customer relationships by recognizing personal milestones.
• Encourages repeat purchases with birthday incentives.
• Increases customer lifetime value (LTV) by maintaining consistent engagement.

Abandoned Cart Emails

Abandoned cart emails are a key component of ecommerce marketing automation. When a customer adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, a timely automated reminder can encourage them to finalize the transaction. Without automation, tracking these abandoned carts and manually sending follow-up emails would be an impossible and time-consuming task, especially for stores with large volumes of traffic.

Example: Away, a travel brand, uses abandoned cart emails that include product details and a simple reminder to “Keep shopping.” Some brands even include a limited-time discount to increase urgency and drive conversions, making it even more likely for the customer to finalize their purchase.

Benefits:

• Increases conversion rates by recovering lost sales that would otherwise be lost forever.
• Reduces cart abandonment rates by reminding customers of their interest and encouraging them to return to complete the purchase.
• Creates an opportunity for cross-selling or upselling in follow-up emails, which may lead to higher-value purchases.

Behavior-Based Product Recommendations

Behavior-based product recommendations are triggered by specific actions customers take, such as clicking on a product link, browsing a category, or adding an item to the cart. These recommendations can be automated to ensure that customers receive the right content at the right time, greatly increasing the likelihood of conversion. Otherwise, trying to personalize recommendations based on real-time customer behavior is not scalable for most ecommerce businesses.

Example: Notionway, a custom notebook store, sends automated emails when a customer clicks on a product link, triggering a follow-up email with more information or similar product recommendations based on their interests.

Benefits:

• Increases engagement by delivering timely, relevant content that resonates with the customer's interests.
• Improves conversion rates by targeting customers who have already shown interest in specific products or categories.
• Personalizes the shopping experience based on real-time actions, making customers feel understood and valued.

Review Request Emails

Automating review request emails is essential for gathering customer feedback and building social proof. Collecting reviews is crucial for establishing trust with future customers, but manually requesting reviews from each customer is a time-consuming task that would overwhelm any business. By automating this process, businesses can efficiently gather valuable feedback without needing constant manual intervention.

Example: Sports Direct sends review request emails with a direct link to the review platform, making it easy for customers to leave feedback. Additionally, businesses can incentivize reviews with discounts or loyalty points to encourage more participation.

Benefits:

• Builds trust and credibility through authentic customer reviews and testimonials, which influence future buyers.
• Provides valuable insights for product improvements and helps businesses understand customer needs.
• Helps boost visibility on third-party review platforms and search engines, enhancing brand credibility.

Price Drop and Inventory Alerts

Automating price drop and inventory alerts ensures that customers are immediately informed when a product they've shown interest in goes on sale or is back in stock. Many customers would be glad to receive such informing emails, though the convenient buttons to unsubscribe is also preferred to show respect and consideration. This is one of the reasons why robots are needed in this case to record the data.

Example: Insider’s platform sends automated notifications when popular products are back in stock or have dropped in price, prompting customers to act quickly before they miss out on a deal.

Benefits:

• Creates urgency and encourages customers to make a purchase when the product is available at a better price.
• Engages customers who have shown interest in a product but haven’t committed yet, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
• Boosts sales during critical moments, such as product restocks or price reductions, by reminding customers when they are most likely to act.

Conclusion

In this post, we've explored 8 ecommerce email marketing automation strategies to improve sales and customer loyalty. From personalized product suggestions to re-engagement campaigns, these strategies boost conversion rates and enhance customer experiences. By selecting the right automation strategies for your business, you can maximize efficiency, build stronger relationships, and achieve long-term success. Start implementing these tactics today with assistance of mailgo to drive growth and improve ecommerce performance.