3-Minute Video Tip Series: How to Grow Your Email Marketing List

I recently created a three-minute marketing tip series designed to help busy marketers generate more revenue from their email marketing program. The idea was simple: in three minutes or less each day, I would provide easy-to-follow advice on how to improve specific aspects of their program. Each episode can be found on YouTube, embedded below, and syndicated as season four of the Cart Insiders Podcast.

The topics I covered were:

• Email marketing list growth

• Email marketing welcome series

• Email marketing cart abandonment

• SMS marketing

This week’s tips covered how to grow your email marketing list. Let’s dive in.

What kinds of information should I collect on an email pop-up form?

My recommendation is to keep this information to a need-to-know minimum, focus on customer intent, and let them carry on with their shopping session. Collect only what you need or will immediately use.

When it comes to customer intent, think to yourself, “why did someone sign up for my email program?” Was it so they could receive a birthday message 8 months from now or so they could share their zip code? Of course not. Their intent is most likely to make a purchase.

So while birthdate and location are nice to have, they are not need-to-have pieces of information.

Information like gender is slightly different. Knowing their gender may help you determine what style of products they may be shopping for. If this is information you will USE immediately, like with customized product recommendations or features in your welcome series, then you can collect it. Otherwise, don’t bother. You can get this info with your welcome messages themselves — more on this in a later episode.

The same holds true for other types of similar information, like whether they are a B2B or B2C buyer if you service both types of customers, or for some sites are shopping for themselves or as a gift.

Listen to the complete answer below.

Should I collect mobile numbers on an email marketing pop-up form?

The short answer is yes!, regardless of whether or not you have an SMS program in place. SMS is a must-have marketing channel, and collecting this info now will be beneficial for a few reasons.

Here are 5 reasons you should collect mobile numbers for SMS marketing:

1. It is an opt-in channel, meaning only people who want to sign up will.

2. It will indicate whether your audience wants to receive SMS messages from your brand.

3. SMS can fill in brand-to-consumer marketing gaps left from email unsubscribed.

4. It can help reduce your retargeting costs (especially for email unsubscribers), since SMS is an opt-in channel.

5. Everyone texts! It is no longer about generational cohorts. Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z all text.

Need more proof? SMS sends increased 94% in 2021 compared to the year before, and 2020 saw a nearly 400% increase from the year prior. If you’re not using SMS, you’re leaving money on the table.

Listen to the complete answer below.

What Types of email list growth forms should I use?

Three types of email sign-up forms your store can use are a common pop-up form, an exit-intent form, and a spin-the-wheel form.

An email capture pop-up form is the most common form you likely come across on most brands’ websites, like is seen here. A visitor is prompted to enter their email address to sign up for a brand’s marketing emails.

A spin-the-wheel form is a gamified form where a visitor enters their email address and after clicking “submit,” a game wheel spins, stopping on a discount. This discount can then be used immediately and encourages a purchase.

An Exit-intent form is a pop-up that appears when a web visitor makes a movement indicative of leaving. Ecommerce brands can reveal a form that makes a last-ditch effort to capture an email address before the visitor leaves.

How to style an email pop-up form?

When designing your pop-up form be sure to incorporate your brand assets like colors, product images, and company logo. At certain times of the year, consider creating holiday-specific designs, such as for Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day.

Listen to the complete answer below.

How to Make your list growth pop-up form convert better

First, make sure the pop-up can easily be closed if the subscriber is not interested. Make sure you can easily find the “close” button on both mobile and laptop.

Second, test the pop-up on multiple browsers and phones, including using different text sizes on phones. Zoomed-in text can make pop-ups frustrating for users. While you can’t account for every size, do your best.

Third, if you are OK doing so, offer an incentive. Presume the intention of being on your site is to shop. Offering an incentive can help you increase the sign-up and conversion rate.

Fourth, make sure your pop-ups are ADA compliant. Using ADA-compliant forms can help you sidestep any legal obstacles that may arise.

Finally, make sure the information is being added to your email provider after submission. After all, that’s the point!

Listen to the complete answer below.

Email list growth and pop-up best practices

Ecommerce brands looking to grow their email and SMS marketing lists should utilize optimized pop-up forms. Here are 8 list growth best practices I talked about this week.

1. When it comes to asking for information on your pop-up, focus on things that will help you immediately send more relevant messages, such as gender or the purpose of shopping—like gifting. Consider collecting nice-to-have information such as birthdate later.

2. Collect mobile numbers. SMS is a must-have opt-in channel used by all generational cohorts.

3. Brand your form with stylized text, colors, images, and logos.

4. Test different types of email collection forms, including gamified spin-the-wheel and exit intent forms.

5. Offer an incentive if you can, but don’t feel required to.

6. Ensure the pop-ups are easy to exit out of and test them on different browsers and phones.

7. Be sure your pop-ups are ADA-compliant.

8. Ensure all contacts are being passed to your email marketing provider.

I hope you enjoyed these list growth tips.

If you think these tips can help someone else, please feel free to share them. and be sure to reach out if I can help in another way. Cheers!

How to Use Video in Email Marketing

For years, marketers have said video in emails will be the next evolution in email marketing, but the challenges of implementing it have held it back. Email clients not supporting it, file size restrictions and video production time have been too much to overcome.

Instead, we’ve gotten animated GIFs and static images with overlay play buttons. While serviceable, it’s not the video experience we imagined.

Now, 98% of email clients support video, the number one type of content to inspire consumer research, and the time has never been better to bring new life to your email marketing with video. Here are ways to incorporate video in your email marketing program.

In this article, I’ll discuss:

• Using Video in Automated Lifecycle Messages

• Combining Social Media and Email Videos

• Promotional Emails and Other Uses

Click here to continue reading on Multichannel Merchant.

BACK TO BLOG HOME

My Five Favorite Marketing Posts of 2019

I write a lot of content throughout the year, but some pieces stand out to me more than others. Here are the five articles from 2019 that really resonated with me. I hope you enjoy.

1. Behavioral Science: The Magic That Turns Prospects Into Customers

   If you ask a hundred people what makes a good article headline or email subject line, you may get a hundred different answers. After all, it’s subjective, isn’t it?

   Not entirely, as many marketers know. There’s a science behind what makes a consumer open an email, click on a call to action (CTA) and make a purchase. Whether it’s writing an attention-grabbing headline or getting someone to “click and convert,” this article outlines ways any business can begin using behavioral science to improve their marketing.

   >> read more <<

2. Cyber 10: The Holiday Shopping Sprint You REALLY Need to Prepare For

   The holiday season is upon us, and, once again, it’s expected to set online sales records to the tune of $142 billion, according to eMarketer estimates. As online sales rapidly increase year-over-year, trends evolve and retailers adapt.

   Marketers need to look beyond the Cyber Five -- a historically high time for holiday online sales -- and instead prepare for the 10-day period that stretches from the Sunday before Black Friday through the Tuesday following Cyber Monday. >> read more <<

3. How to Use Social Proof in Email Marketing

   Retailers constantly seek ways to stand out in crowded inboxes and influence subscribers to make purchases, some of them by offering deep discounts. But for companies that either can’t or don’t want to shrink their margins, finding another way to influence purchase decisions inside emails is essential. This is where using social proof in your email marketing can be a powerful sales tactic.

   Luckily for companies — especially online retailers — they already possess a lot of content that can be used for social proof. Here are a few ways retailers can utilize this content in their email marketing programs to influence purchases. >> read more <<

4. Want to Win Back Lapsed Purchasers? Focus on Customer Experience

   Lapsed-purchaser campaigns, also known as win-back campaigns, are a staple in many retailers’ email marketing programs. These automated emails are sent to past purchasers who have not repurchased in a certain period of time, and the strategy typically consists of several incentivized messages that often increase in value from one email to the next.

   Time and time again, I see retailers consider these messages a high priority. And for whatever reason, they’re almost always deemed a much higher priority than implementing post-purchase messages.

   There’s a fundamental flaw with this approach … >> read more <<

5. Which Day Should You Send Your Marketing Emails?

   Which days are best for sending marketing emails and which days are most popular for retailers? Should you send on the same high-volume days as other retailers, or send on lower-volume days so you can more easily stand out in the inbox?

   Now, you may finally have an answer. >> read more <<

There you have it, my five favorite (for whatever reason) articles of 2019. To see more of what I’ve written, be sure to check out the Press page in the navigation.

BACK TO BLOG HOME

The Best Day to Send Your Marketing Emails

Which days are best for sending marketing emails and which days are most popular for retailers? Should you send on the same high-volume days as other retailers, or send on lower-volume days so you can more easily stand out in the inbox?

Now, you may finally have an answer.

I am signed up for hundreds of retailer email programs and monitor my inbox for daily send volume. While each retailer will have their own unique requirements, here are some tools you can use to help you determine which days might be best to send your marketing emails.

2019 Email Marketing Sends

2019 marketing email send volume broken down by day and month. Check out which days were the most and least popular days to send marketing emails.

2018 Email Marketing Sends

2018 marketing email send volume broken down by day and month. Check out which days were the most and least popular days to send marketing emails.

BAck to blog home

2018 Email Marketing Sends - By Day and Month

Top Email Send Days of 2018

The chart below reflects the daily email send volume of 2018. The daily lifts and declines reflect the average number of emails retailers sent on that day of the week compared to the overall number of emails sent during the entire year.

For example, retailers sent 8.61% fewer emails on Sundays than the average number of 2018 daily email sends. As you can see, Thursdays was the most popular day for retailers to send marketing emails, followed by Friday and Tuesday.

Weekends were the least popular days to send marketing emails, with Saturday being the day of the week where the fewest emails were sent.

Continue reading to see monthly and daily breakdowns. You can view 2019 results here and see how daily send patterns changed. Stay tuned for ongoing 2020 updates.

Does this chart tell you that you should avoid sending marketing emails on weekends? Absolutely not. Again, each business will have their own unique circumstances. Some retailers might look at this as an opportunity to increase their sends on lower-volume days as a way to stand out in an otherwise crowded inbox, especially during the holiday season. Others may choose to follow the crowd and send on those higher send days.

Test your email send days, but remember, people do shop on the weekends.

---

Monthly Email Marketing Sends

This monthly and daily breakdown is based on monthly results. The lifts and declines are based on the average number of sends for that day compared to the average number of emails send that month.

In this example, January’s highest send patterns are slightly different than the daily sends for the entire year. You’ll continue to see these daily shifts throughout the year.

View 2019 results here

BACK TO BLOG HOME

2019 Email Marketing Sends - By Day and Month

Top Email Send Days of 2019

The chart below reflects the daily email send volume in 2019. The daily lifts and declines reflect the average number of emails retailers sent on that day of the week compared to the overall number of emails sent during the entire year.

For example, retailers sent 8.32% fewer emails on Sundays than the average number of 2019 daily email sends. As you can see, Thursdays was the most popular day for retailers to send marketing emails, followed by Friday and Tuesday.

Weekends were the least popular days to send marketing emails, with Saturday being the day of the week where the fewest emails were sent.

Continue reading to see monthly and daily breakdowns. In 2019, Fridays saw a decrease in email sends while Tuesdays saw an increase compared to 2018. You can view 2018 results here and see how daily send patterns may have changed.

Does this chart tell you that you should avoid sending marketing emails on weekends? Absolutely not. Again, each business will have their own circumstances. Some retailers might look at this as an opportunity to increase their sends on lower-volume days as a way to stand out in an otherwise crowded inbox. Others may choose to follow the crowd.

Test your email send days, but remember, people do shop on the weekends.

Monthly Email Marketing Sends

This monthly and daily breakdown is based on monthly results. The lifts and declines are based on the average number of sends for that day compared to the average number of emails send that month.

In this example, January’s highest send days are slightly different than the daily sends for the entire year. You’ll continue to see these daily shifts throughout the year.

View 2018 Results here

BACK TO BLOG HOME

Keys to a Great Unboxing Experience

Unboxing is more than opening a package

Unboxing is about providing a branded, aesthetic opening experience that builds excitement. The customer purchase experience shouldn’t end when the package arrives — that’s when the experience really just begins. The way customers feel about your brand after the purchase determines whether they become repeat customers or remain a one-time buyer.

The unboxing experience is an essential part of that journey and influences those feelings. This can be especially true for online-only retailers, as this is the only physical touchpoint the brand has with the consumer.

Click below to read my thoughts on the makings of a great customer unboxing experience, which includes:

• The package

• Product wrapping

• Packaging materials

• Inserts

• Samples

Click here to continue reading

Using Behavioral Science in Marketing

What is Behavioral Science in Marketing?

Behavioral science in marketing focuses on how people think, feel, and make decisions, then applies those insights to influence engagement and conversions. By using cognitive biases, social proof cues, and decision-making shortcuts, marketers can create more persuasive messages and higher-performing campaigns.

Using Behavioral Science in Marketing

If you ask a hundred people what makes a good article headline or email subject line, you may get a hundred different answers. After all, it’s subjective, isn’t it? 

Not entirely, as many marketers know. There’s a science behind what makes a consumer open an email, click on a call to action (CTA), and make a purchase. Whether it’s writing an attention-grabbing headline or getting someone to “click and convert,” understanding that people rely on certain decision-making defaults helps marketers nudge them to take a desired action. 

In this article, I discuss how to use behavioral science to improve marketing campaigns. Topics include:

• Strategies to write effective headlines and subject lines

• Using social proof

• Content and landing pages

• Choosing compelling images

• Use of charts and graphs

• Principle of authority

• The science behind pricing

• CTA colors

• The science behind “possession” and how it can reduce returns

• Tactile experience

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

3 Holiday Promotions That Keep Subscribers Opening Your Emails

There’s no shortage of promotions retailers can choose when planning their holiday email marketing strategy. However, the holiday season is long, so retailers need to find ways to not only increase sales but also keep subscribers opening their emails.

Here are three kinds of promotions that I expect will be heavily used by retailers throughout this upcoming holiday season to accomplish these goals.

1. Category and Daily Deals

Category-specific sales, promotions where one category of products is discounted, have been an increasingly popular holiday promotion over the past several years. With Black Friday sales now lasting the entire week for many retailers, category-specific sales are a way to keep the discounts new and exciting, which keeps consumers checking their emails.

If you do plan to offer daily deals, there’s no need to leave them a mystery. Consider letting people know early on which categories will be on sale and when. This approach allows the consumer to better plan their purchases.

Sure, they may want to wait two days to purchase sweaters at an additional discount, but many will want to consolidate purchases, especially if there’s a free shipping threshold they need to reach. Use a sense of urgency in your marketing by reminding people that items may sell out quickly to encourage order consolidation.

Offering daily category sales can also help you plan additional ad campaigns and year-end promotions later in the holidays. By knowing that one category of products didn’t sell as expected, you can begin to offer deeper discounts on these products throughout the season or feature them in year-end closeout promotions.

2. Free Shipping

Free shipping has quickly become a consumer expectation. According to Deloitte, it was the second-most appealing discount to shoppers last holiday season, behind only price discounts.

This likely explains why, according to eMarketer, there was a year-over-year increase in holiday orders that were shipped free, starting with Black Friday week and continuing through Christmas Day.

Last season, there was a noticeable increase in retailers’ advertising free shipping as a primary incentive. Consumers will once again be drawn to free shipping, and you’ll want to be ready to take full advantage of it.

As the season begins to wind down and expedited shipping becomes necessary, consider offering free or upgraded shipping as the primary incentive, not as an add-on to another promotion. You may want to lower or remove the spend threshold to qualify for these offers, as many retailers did last season.

In a lot of cases, you may find consumers spend above the previous threshold as they round out their gift buying. Just be sure to promote free shipping in both the subject line and email body copy.

3. Buy Online Pick Up In-Store (BOPIS) is for everyone

Whether you’re an omnichannel retailer or not, BOPIS affects you. Forty-one percent of consumers used this service last holiday season, and 50% of consumers decided where to shop based on whether BOPIS was a fulfillment option.

If you are an online-only retailer, you need to account for your competition who offer it — and maybe even alter your free shipping strategy to account for it. If you’re a retailer who offers it, you’ll want to use this to your advantage.

According to the NRF, the No. 1 reason consumers chose BOPIS was to avoid paying for shipping. If you’re an omnichannel retailer, promote BOPIS as a stand-alone incentive, potentially offering a discount, gift card or free gift for BOPIS orders.

As the season winds down, focus on those holiday procrastinators by encouraging a sense of urgency and pitting free in-store pickup against costly next-day shipping offered elsewhere.

Source: National Retail Federation, “2018/2019 Winter Consumer View,” Jan, 2019

But this value-add does not have to be saved until the end of the season. Consider giving the service a little customer-friendly pizzazz, such as by offering free gift-wrapping on these orders or in-store coupons at time of pick-up to encourage unplanned purchases, or even by providing complimentary hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and holiday cookies.

If you offer BOPIS, be sure to promote it wherever you can:

• In a dedicated section of your emails

• Embedded into your primary email creative

• Even in lifecycle messages, such as in a welcome series.

And, of course, clearly provide a link to a store locator in your emails, such as in the header or navigation bar.

Wrapping It Up

The holiday season is long, but by planning promotions that can last the whole season and provide competitive differentiation, you can keep subscribers opening your emails and be ready to earn as much of the shoppers’ wallet as possible.

Top Holiday Email Marketing Planning Resources

Email marketers are always looking for holiday-related content, and I provide a few pieces this time of year. Between sifting through and analyzing tens of thousands of holiday emails in my personal inbox, charting daily emails received, identifying recurring themes, looking through the previous years' online sales data, reading industry analysis, interviewing podcast guests, and talking to industry peers, I am left connecting dots with what retailers and email marketers will be promoting this holiday season.

As a former email marketing consultant, I know email marketers are always looking for as many actionable holiday resources as they can get. So here you are — a collection of my holiday resources (so far — there's more to come), including articles, podcasts, and webinars, all in one place. I will continue to update this as items become publicly available. I hope you find these to be useful!

2019 Holiday PLANNING RESOURCES:

Cyber 10: The Holiday Shopping Sprint You REALLY Need to Prepare For (article, GrowWire)

3 Holiday Promotions That Keep Subscribers Opening Your Emails (article)

Five Often-Overlooked Holiday Email Marketing Tips (article)

How to Use Free Shipping to Boost the Power of Your Holiday Emails (article, Multichannel Merchant)

Holiday Email Lookbook - 2019 Edition (download)

The Most Important Things to Know About Holiday Email Planning (article, Multichannel Merchant)

Ready, Set, Sell: 7 Tweaks Retailers Can Make Now to Maximize Holiday Profitability (article, Brainyard)

2019 Consumer Insights: 6 Trends Dominating This Year’s Holiday Shopping Season (Whitepaper, Shopkick)

Holiday Webinars:

Holiday Email Marketing Trends, Tips, and Tactics for 2019 (Bronto Marketing Platform)

Call-To-Action! Top 2019 Holiday Email Marketing Trends and Tactics (RetailWire)

Holiday Email Marketing 2019: Trends, Tips and Tactics (Retail Dive)

Holiday Podcast:

The Commerce Marketer Podcast: Ep. 061: Preparing Email Marketing for the Holidays

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts

2019 HOLIDAY RECAP:

2019 Holiday Season Takeaways and Ecommerce Marketing Action Items

BACK TO BLOG HOME

Five Often-Overlooked Holiday Email Marketing Tips

As the holidays approach, email marketing teams are busy determining promotional schedules, designing messages, and inputting coupon codes into their e-commerce platforms, among a slew of other items. With all of this work happening behind the scenes, there are a few holiday items that all too commonly fall by the wayside. When preparing your email marketing program for the season, don’t overlook some of the items that can help you deliver a better customer experience and generate more sales. Here are five items not to overlook this holiday season.

1. Optimize transactional messages

Messages like order and shipping confirmation messages are some of the most read email messages. At a minimum, be sure these messages are branded, aesthetically appealing, and have clear and obvious customer service information. To make these messages do more for you, include other elements, such as product recommendations, suggested upsells or cross-sells, sister brand promotions, a customer-only promotion, and a callout to subscribe to your email marketing program. Remember, all customers receive these messages, not just email subscribers.

2. Audit lifecycle messages

Consider your current lifecycle messages, their automation rules, and how they impact the customer experience during the holidays. For instance, let’s say your welcome series spans four days and withholds new subscribers from receiving promotional emails. Do you really want to withhold new subscribers from marketing emails on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?

You may want to make adjustments to the series, which could include:

• Sending only the welcome message and suspending the series.

• Create a new welcome series that reinforces holiday content, such as gift guides, hot products of the season, extended return policies, BOPIS services, or other value-adds.

• Continue to send the welcome series, but allow subscribers to receive promotional messages.

This is just one example. Look at your other automated messages. Do you have a purchase anniversary message sent each year on Black Friday, offering a worse incentive than your Black Friday promotion? I receive one of these each year, and it provides no value to me as a subscriber. Do you need to adjust the timing, number of, or discounts with your abandoned cart messages? Remember, automated messages should never be considered “set it and forget it.”

3. Audit forms

You are going to receive increased traffic during the holidays, so be sure to audit each of your forms to ensure they work properly. These include embedded email subscription forms, pop-up signups, manage preference pages, and unsubscribe forms.

To audit the forms, go through the process of accessing the form like a web visitor, email subscriber or customer would. Do they display (and not display) as they should, do they close properly, are the landing pages correct, and do the desired actions (e.g., list assignment) function appropriately? You want to ensure the forms are not only functioning properly, but they are also assigning contacts to the correct lists.

When you are auditing your forms, don’t forget to test on mobile devices. Last year, for the first time, more than half of all retailer web traffic during the holidays was from smartphones. Ensure you test the forms not only on a laptop but also on smartphones.

Be sure to document where each of these forms lives on the backend, which employees have access to them, and how customers access the forms. This will give you the ability to quickly identify and resolve any issues that might arise during the season.

4. Preach your differentiators

During the holiday season, why should someone choose to shop with you and not someone else, especially seeing as many retailers are matching deep discounts with one another? You need to give consumers a reason to choose you by preaching your competitive differentiators. Some of these customer-first differentiators include free shipping, free returns, extended return policies, price matching, satisfaction guarantees, and buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS).

Prominently advertise these value-adds with banners or dedicated sections of your email, on your websit,e and your social pages. And when it comes to email, prominently showcase these in high-consideration messages, such as welcome, abandoned cart, and browse recovery messaging.

By focusing on what the customer wants and how you, as a brand, can deliver that can mean the difference between securing a holiday sale or losing it to your competitor.

5. Plan for the unexpected

Things rarely go as planned, and good email marketers prepare for those times. When it comes to the holiday season, there are a few specific ways to prepare for those “what if” moments, whether that be a slow website, lagging sales, or errant promo code.

• Prepare back-up promotions: Projections are just that, projections. If you find your sales through the season are lagging, sending another promotion can help jump-start those orders coming in. Create emails that utilize alternate incentives (such as tiered discounts, or free shipping with no minimums) or tried-and-true discounts that you know will resonate with your customers. By preparing these promotions in advance, you will prevent those last-minute scrambles and rush errors from your creative team.

• Promo codes: Set any promo code you plan on using in your e-commerce platform before you need it. While you may not need to use some of the alternate or extra promotional codes, it provides the ability to easily deploy email campaigns as needed.

• “Oops” message: Websites and e-commerce platforms have become more reliable, but there is still one of those “oops” moments each year. Some of these include a slow or crashed website, a wrong promo code, and order processing errors. Creating an anticipatory email ahead of those moments will allow you to send a correction email as soon as possible. When errors like this occur, every second can cost you a sale.

Planning for the holidays means more than just creating a few emails and sending them off to your subscribers. It is ensuring all aspects of your program is optimized, and you are prepared for every scenario. Making sure every “I” is dotted, and every “t” is crossed means you are doing everything you can to maximize your holiday sales.

Cyber 10: The Holiday Shopping Sprint You REALLY Need to Prepare For

The holiday season is upon us, and, once again, it’s expected to set online sales records to the tune of $142 billion, according to eMarketer estimates. As online sales rapidly increase year-over-year, trends evolve and retailers adapt.

Take Gray November, for example. Over the past couple of years, we have seen those signature stand-alone online shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday morph into a month-long series of discounts leading up to those days.

And now, within Gray November comes another consumer shopping evolution that will become a holiday season norm — the Cyber 10.

In this article, I discuss why marketers need to look beyond the Cyber Ten and pay attention to the Cyber Ten. Topics include:

• Which days make up the Cyber Ten

• Why the Cyber Ten is no longer a trend, but an annual occurrence

• Which days in the Cyber Ten are seeing the biggest year-over-year growth

• Why Cyber Monday, even with all of the changes, remains king

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

How to Use Social Proof in Email and on Your E-commerce Site

Using social proof, a type of conformity where one person copies the action of another, as a part of the on-site e-commerce experience can be an effective strategy for increasing sales. A social proof strategy is essentially influencer marketing, except the focus is on real customers.

Luckily for companies — especially online retailers — they already possess a lot of content that can be used for social proof. Here are a few ways retailers can utilize this content in their email marketing programs and on their e-commerce site to influence purchases.

In these two articles, I write about ways to use social proof in both email marketing and on your website, and cover topics such as:

• How to Use Product Reviews in Email Marketing

• How to Use Social Media in Email Marketing

• How to Use Your Employees in Email Marketing

• Using product reviews, website Q&A sections, and employee picks on your e-commerce site

• Using social proof in other channels

READ ABOUT USING SOCIAL PROOF IN EMAIL MARKETING

READ ABOUT USING SOCIAL PROOF ON YOUR WEBSITE

When Is the Best Time to Send Your Brand Emails?

When is the best time to send emails?

This question has been around as long as email marketing itself. If you do a quick search, you’ll find tons of different studies pointing to a variety of answers, leaving retailers just as confused as before. The common result: Brands are flooding consumers' inboxes with emails at seemingly random times throughout the day.

This over-saturation, especially when combined with a lack of relevant content, can quickly lead customers to unsubscribe or let unread promotions sink to the bottom of their inbox—never to be opened.

Let’s explore some of the nuances of the “best” email send times, debunk a few common myths, and review why you should be looking beyond the email open.

The Best Time of Day to Send Marketing Emails

Identifying the best time to send depends greatly on the products you sell and the makeup of your audience. For example, millennials and Gen Zers are digitally-native consumers. They have their mobile devices with them at all hours of the day and use them all the time. Assuming they’re only opening their emails somewhere around the 10 a.m. lull at work is a very misguided and antiquated notion. Sure, it might be true for some, but it’s not likely for both generational cohorts.

While millennials may be working, Gen Z consumers may be at school or just hanging out with their friends. The same principle holds true for evening sends. Does your target audience interact late in the evenings? For younger cohorts, the answer may be yes, but for baby boomers, it may be less likely. For me, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. is a marketing black hole. During that time, I’m eating dinner, playing with my children, and getting them ready for bed. Sending me an email at 6 p.m. is a wasted effort. But for households without children, it might be the perfect send time.

Another thing to consider when sending an email is the dreaded time zone. Even though you may want to reach your West Coast customers at 10 a.m., remember that means the same email will reach your East Coast fan base at 1 p.m. Always be sure to factor this into the equation, especially for particular messages. If you run a “lunchtime” flash sale and send the email just before noon West Coast time, your message may miss the mark for those in other time zones who are already well into the afternoon.

The Best Day of the Week to Send Marketing Emails

A very popular school of thought has been that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were the best days to send, and weekends should be avoided. More on this in a moment. But this is another rule that has since gone by the wayside. Brands are sending more now than ever before, so focusing on one singular send day for your emails is not an option for most.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t find the optimal days for your customers. As I mentioned with determining the best email send times, when trying to find the ideal day, look at the products you sell, as well as your audience and their social lifestyle. Sure, some brands or products may not have much success on the weekends, but others may find that weekends are the best days. I have worked with companies on both ends of this spectrum. It’s all about understanding how your product appeals to your consumers and knowing how to engage with them.

Now, for those pesky weekends. Times have changed. People now have access to their email in their pocket 24/7. Are we really supposed to believe they don’t check it or shop on the weekends? Does Amazon not sell products on the weekend? Of course, people shop on the weekends! And with the ease and ability to shop whenever you want, there’s almost no reason to avoid sending on those days.

One more note: This shopping convenience has also given rise to the, let’s say, “tipsy” shopping phenomenon. This tendency to shop while feeling a little loose likely accelerates on Friday and Saturday nights. Based on your target audience, these days of the week may actually be quite powerful.

More on which days are the best to send your marketing emails here.

The Next Step

If you want to determine the best day and best time to send emails, testing and tools are critical. Use them to understand your audience. Using data analytics is a must. Take time to review your previous send data. Organize your email open and click-through results by the time and day when your brand emails were sent. But remember: If you’ve typically been sending on a particular day of the week, your data will be skewed and show that the best open rate comes from that day.

Begin by looking at the time of opens. You should see a relatively consistent pattern here, but try to look for patterns. For example, when sending an email, the majority of your opens will happen closest to the send time and decline accordingly. But if you routinely send emails at 9 a.m., but your opens spike at 1 p.m., this should tell you something.

Once you’ve determined your general baseline, formulate a testing plan for both send times and days of the week, but preferably not at the same time. Focus on one before the other. You can then optimize as you go along. Be sure to use the send time optimization tools your commerce marketing platform provides. This can help you maximize the effectiveness of your email send times.

Go Beyond the Email Open

While I’ve focused on the best days and times to send emails, the open rate is only a piece of the bigger email marketing puzzle. Of course, you want as many people to see the emails as possible, but if they don’t result in conversions, what good are they doing?

Finding the balance between improving open rates and conversion rates is critical. If you find your open rates increasing but conversions lagging, something is missing. We know that consumers today are predominantly checking their email on their mobile devices. Are your emails mobile-friendly? If not, you not only lose the potential sale, but the consumer may stop opening your emails altogether, knowing the experience will be lacking. Is the content of your emails relevant, helpful, and engaging?

Sending batch-and-blast messages is not meant to engage individuals. If you do send batch-and-blast messages, incorporate individual and engaging elements in them, such as intuitive, subscriber-specific product recommendations or user-generated content. If you’re sending an email about preparing for the snowstorm in the northeast to those who live in Miami, don’t expect strong conversions from that segment, even if they all open your email.

Final Thoughts

Connecting the right time to the best day to the right content will help you create a more consumer-friendly customer experience. Your goal is to refine your marketing programs, create unique customer journeys, and ultimately earn more revenue. Need help?

Email campaigns serve as a bridge between brands and consumers. When done correctly, they allow you to effectively communicate and interact with your customers. So don’t waste the opportunity. Adapt to the changing consumer behavior and look beyond the outdated “myths” to find the send time that’s right for you.

2017 Email Marketing Report Card: Did Your Program Make the Grade?

As 2017 finds itself in your rearview mirror, ask yourself a question. What changes did I make to my email program in 2017 that had a significant impact? It’s a simple question, but I bet many of you won’t have a good answer. Some of you are likely doing the same thing now at the end of the year that you were at the start of it, possibly due to the rush of day-to-day execution or limited internal resources.

But email continues to be a powerful marketing tool. According to Econsultancy, 73% of in-house marketers worldwide said that email marketing provided a strong ROI, the most of any marketing channel. Yet, it’s too often overlooked or taken for granted.

While you may be planning to grow your email ROI in 2018, it will require some reflection and careful planning. Take a good hard look at where your program started and ended the year, and why you did or did not accomplish your goals.

Here’s a checklist to help you plan for 2018:

Review your previous goals. What were your 2017 email marketing initiatives? If you didn’t commit to any specific goals in 2017, keep reading. Now’s the time to start planning and setting goals for the coming year.

Document major accomplishments. Look at your program from the top down. What were your major accomplishments from this past year? Did you implement any new email programs, such as browse recovery? If so, how are they performing?

Optimize your messages. If you made an effort to optimize your messaging in 2017, how has it performed? Did the changes work as intended? If not, why? If so, how can you apply these principles to other messages in 2018? Don’t stop there. How can you further optimize your messages in 2018?

Assess incomplete goals. Which initiatives are left undone, and why? What roadblocks prevented you from accomplishing your goals, and how will you overcome them in 2018? And here’s another question. How much revenue did you leave on the table by not reaching these goals?

Plan for 2018. What key initiatives do you want to achieve in 2018? How much will each help your overall email program?

Analyze your resources. If you realize that you simply can’t get things done, ask for help. Find someone internally who can lend a hand. Look for partners, such as your email provider, who might be able to guide and assist you with executing your vision. Find outside third parties who may be able to help. There’s no shortage of help out here.

Don’t set it and forget it. Always look at the numbers and identify areas for improvement. If you don’t change the oil in your car, it will eventually stop working. The same goes for your automated messages. Consider editing subject lines, freshening up hero images, changing verbiage, updating template layouts, and split-testing multiple versions of your messages. What looked good two years ago may be stale and out of date today.

Don’t stop with best practices. Just because you implemented new programs this year doesn’t mean they can’t be improved. Remember: Best practices are not the endpoint, but rather the starting point. How can you make these messages more relevant for your subscribers?

Doing the same thing and hoping for better results is not only impractical, but it’s not a sustainable model for success, particularly now that consumers are more in control and expect more from retailers. If you haven’t done so yet, it’s time to come up with your roadmap for improvement. Perhaps you’ll focus on product recommendations, behavioral segmentation, optimized automated messages, user-generated content, or a combination of them all. I recently wrote about several strategies for doing just that.

With so much available out there to help you improve your email ROI, you should be asking yourself not “What can we do?” but “How much can we do?”

This was originally published on Multichannel Merchant.