Mister Ecomm

Time for a flex

This is why I get so excited about email marketing

Keep in mind this is for a Golf store. February is not a good month for golf to say the least!

Just 16 months after working on this account the attributed revenue tripled!

This business had been already running for 6 years previously before I started helping them

What I love most of all about this growth is how the flow revenue % has increased

Initially just accounting for 5.6% now it is closer to 30%.

I am a big believer in flows and how personalised they can be at scale

Not only has their email marketing revenue grown.

Their entire online shop is now up 200% from the previous year's month to date!

For me, email marketing is the rising tide that lifts all boats when done well!

I heard about Pattern Interrupt one day

So I made this monstrosity! Guess how well it converted

Firstly, pattern interrupt is a technique used to disrupt people's flow

It could be a thumb-stopping image on TikTok

Some strange music

An outrageous claim

Or this god awful pop-up!!

It basically stops someone in their tracks and disrupts their thought pattern

It helps to ensure someone takes a desired action instead of just moving on

This was the idea when I made this pop-up

None of the colours are within the brand

The contrast is quite shocking

But, it worked!

I set this live and the signup rate for this pop-up was 8%!

Good enough to be deemed “Excellent” in this account’s industry benchmarks

Pop-ups are so too readily closed nowadays

It’s just the knee jerk reaction when people visit a site for the first time

They don’t want to be sold to

But, if you can interrupt that pattern of being annoyed and actually get them to read your offer

They just might take you up on it!

I may be biased but I think email marketing is the most effective way to profit in ecommerce

Here are the 3 reasons why and how I got into it

From My Own Business’s Perspective

After I set up my own store the first marketing channel I used was Google Shopping.

It was great.

It was when we started to get orders every day.

Then I set up email automation which increased those daily orders.

Our conversion rate went up and so did our sales and revenue, along with our CPA going down.

Then I started to send campaigns

That’s when we started getting record day after record day

I started to see the power in email marketing.

From Another Business’s Perspective

After working with one of my biggest clients for just 2 months

And getting record sales months after 3 months

Even when it was their slow period

I saw that this can work even for established businesses

They’d been trading for 4 years and the growth was skyrocketing

Fast forward 1.5 years and they are now 300% bigger online than when I started

From My Market Research

I thought to myself, if this established business isn’t doing email marketing, who else isn’t??

I hired a VA to do some market research

She signed up to and added to cart on 500+ Shopify sites

The results were astounding

I estimated that only about 20% of businesses had some sort of email marketing set up

5% were doing it well

The rest were doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Don’t be one of those 80%

I asked ChatGPT ways to generate more sales or revenue through emails without offering a discount

Out of 20 ideas it gave me, here are 11 tactics I would use…

And a little bit on how to achieve each one.

Free Shipping
- No brainer but still kind of a discount.

Early exclusive access to new product launches
- No need to segment by VIPs. Just mention that stock is limited and only those reading the email get a chance to buy it first.

Loyalty programs
- This may depend on your catalogue. If you have a wide range of complimentary products then it works a treat.

Free gift with your purchase
- Get rid of your dead stock by offering it for free on purchases over a certain amount.

Extended Warranties and Guarantees
- This can be added in a frequently bought together section on your product page. £5 for lifetime guarantee for example.

Personalised products or services
- With physical products you could offer personalised versions or guides sent directly to their email via PDFs or videos.

Cashback or credit on their next purchase
- Again, this is kind of a discount. But, you could say all orders over £50 today get a £5 voucher for their next purchase.

Refer a friend for a voucher
- How much does it cost you to acquire a customer? Offer your current customers that amount through a voucher if they bring anyone new to your store.

Bundling
- You don’t have to discount your bundles. The time saved for the customer to figure out everything they need is worth it for them to purchase the bundle full price

Payment flexibility
- Klarna, Clearpay etc etc. If it’s high value, these are a must for your store.

Ask for charitable donations.
- Personally I think this is really cheeky when big businesses do this because they use that money to reduce their corporation tax.

Every time I make an email content plan I don’t stick to it

Here’s how it helped me seem more real…

I’ll be fully honest. I am rubbish at sticking to content plans.

I look ahead at the timing of what emails could be good on certain dates

I look at upcoming holidays

Paydays

What I think will be trending during certain seasons

But, I always throw it out the window based on current data and events

I have always found sending a currently relevant email hits the mark far more than one that is planned

For example a golf business that I manage is VERY weather dependent!

If I set up an email for waterproof clothing in 2 weeks time but then it’s sunny and dry

It’s does not do very well

I may plan to send an email based on a certain product that I think will be popular at the end of the month

But then I look at the data and see a different product is currently smashing it

So, I switch it up and send an email for that product instead

It could be something as simple as a current story in the news.

I quickly add a sentence or two about it in the email or add it to the subject line

All of this switching up and being current I believe has made my emails and the businesses I help seem more real

They seem more relatable to the reader

They feel a stronger connection to the business

This, in my opinion, helps build a much stronger following in the long run and keeps people opening

What makes more money?

Flows or Campaigns?

First and foremost a quick explainer for those unaware.

Flow = An email sequence sent automatically because on an action someone has or has not taken on your site.

Campaign = A single email sent to a large number of people on your list

I used to think campaigns for sure just based on send volume

However, even though many less emails are sent through flows

They convert at a much higher rate

So, I started to get creative

One of the bigger accounts I manage now has 12 active flows

Even though the number emails delivered through flows is about 30x less than campaigns

The revenue distribution is 60% Campaigns and 40% Flows!

I’ve got many more flows planned for this account and it will get closer to 50/50 and even surpass campaigns

The point is that flows are much more targeted and tailored to the customers needs

The specifics and timing is far superior compared to campaigns.

For eg you could set up a flow to trigger when someone purchases a main product 30 days ago but still hasn’t purchased an add on to said product.

Set that up once and let it run in the background!

I love to delight customers with these granular flows that surprise them with attention to detail

Short term it makes money

Long term it creates brand advocates

These three words increased sales in my promo emails

But, they reduced the margin….

When I started out in ecom I would ALWAYS use a coupon code.

It was just the usual way of doing it

But, then I came across a Shopify app that enabled fantastic filtering options

I could discount very specific types of products like anything with the word “coffee”

This made themed promotions very easy to do

So, instead of using a code in Shopify, which BTW is extremely hard to get specific on

I started using this app which simply reduced the price.

I decided to mention this in the email

“No Code Required”

What I saw was a fantastic increase in conversion rate!

Happy days right?

Well, kind of

On the downside EVERYONE got the discount

Even new shoppers or returning customers who didn’t even know there was a sale

Also, everyone who would normally not even bother putting the code in now got the discount

But, I was still happy with the increases

So, I kept doing it.

And

Perhaps more importantly

My customers were happy to get an easy discount

The most important email your business needs

This one email regained tens of thousands in revenue for a client…

I call it Email Number 4 in the abandoned checkout flow

The first 3 emails are all about trying to convert

The last, and fourth email, is all about learning about why they didn’t convert

It is a text based email simply asking for their feedback

No images and no buttons

It simply asks if there were any issues with the site and how we can improve as a business

On two separate occasions for two separate businesses we started to get issues with paypal

Anyone who was trying to pay with PayPal simply bounced as it didn’t work

Think about it.

It annoyed them and they had no intention of warning the business of the issue

This problem could have persisted for weeks or even months

Revenue slowly going down

But Email Number 4 picked it up in a matter of days.

People started replying “Actually yes, I did have an issue. PayPal didn’t work”

The issue on both occasions was fixed and revenue pretty much stayed the same.

This is an extreme example.

But it could be anything

It could be that a product they wanted wasn’t on the site. Source it!

Maybe they found the product cheaper elsewhere. So, you slide them a cheeky discount code making them feel special

Maybe they were unsure about what to get and needed to speak to an actual human!

The list goes on and on. And over time your customer service will appear to be second to none

I have lost count the number of times people say it’s a great personal touch and that they’ll be back for sure.

If you are tough enough to learn about the problems in your business then this email is a no brainer

All I hear about is DTC this DTC that!

What about the forgotten other half of ecommerce?

DTC businesses are sexy, that’s for sure.

Bringing your own brand to market that has up to 90% gross margin

That’s amazing

It really makes for amazing stories and astronomical growth when done right

But

There is a huge number of stores out there that sell other brands and not their own

Pro TIp for aspiring Store Owners:

If you are thinking about making your own brand first check if there are general stores in the niche.

It could prove to be much easier to create a general store instead of your own brand

A great example of this is beard care

I’ve only ever come across one general store, but a MILLION brands!

SEO wise the general store is killing it compared to the brands.

Anyway, I digress

If you own a general store then DO NOT shy away from email marketing.

Because the niche is so full of brands it means there is a ton of interest

The customers may just need help deciding which brand is best for them and that’s where you step in.

Upsells and Crossells are so much easier

Retaining customers is so much easier

LTV is a lot higher

And your tighter margins from selling other brands all of a sudden don’t seem so tight when you can advertise to them with email marketing for FREE essentially!

I sometimes get distracted by fluff

But when it comes down to it, for me, email marketing is this…

Revenue
Sales
Margin
Profit
Repeat customers
AOV
Lifetime value

Don’t get me wrong. I am all about creating great conversations with customers and being dazzled by designs.

But

If it doesn’t lead to increases then it isn’t being done right IMO

When I first started sending emails to customers I had no idea it was going to become our top sales channel.

Accounting of 42% of all revenue generated by the store.

That is when I got hooked!

There is a huge amount of nuance in email marketing when it comes to nurturing your list and ensuring people stay interested.

But, as a shopify store owner myself, it always leads back to the numbers.

I’ve seen a saying bandied around here and there.

“Ads are for growth, email is for profit”

I wholeheartedly agree!

Oh, and you can definitely tie in SMS marketing in there nowadays

The first post for Mister Ecomm. Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!

This is what it reminds me of and how it can help your business…

It reminds me of the very first email I sent to my customers on my Shopify store.

Back then I was so incredibly nervous.

Not so much this time, thanks to being hardened through the years.

I was so worried the email was going to annoy customers.

Guess what.

It did annoy some. So they unsubscribed.

But, the other 99.9% of people stuck around.

This is the number one worry I hear from other businesses when I suggest they start emailing their customers.

They are worried that they’ll annoy them and they’ll unsubscribe.

Nowadays I’ll call that a natural filter.

Eventually you end up with a list packed with people who are genuinely interested in your business.

What more can you ask for??

The moral of the story is to make sure you annoy the wrong people in the right way so they don’t clutter up your list.

Stick to selling to buyers

Check out the case study on Major Golf Direct.

It needs to be updated as the numbers have improved even more!

https://misterecomm.co.uk/case-study/major-golf-direct/