The Power of Back-in-Stock Email Marketing

For e-commerce brands, it’s not the year of the dragon, it’s the year of the back-in-stock message. Automated back-in-stock message sends have been on a multiyear rise. In 2023, brands sent 4x as many as the year before, generating 3x the number of orders than the year before.

Back-in-stock messages perform exceptionally well compared to their email marketing counterparts. Their 60 percent open rate is higher than any other marketing email. The 19 percent click rate far outpaces the next best automation email, product abandonment, which has a 6.2 percent click rate. And when it comes to conversion rate, it’s not even close: back-in-stock messages see a conversion rate of 5.8 percent, more than double that of welcome messages, the second-best automated email.

Why do back-in-stock messages perform so well?

They combine a consumer’s shopping desire with social proof and a fear of loss. It’s the same trifecta that works so well for shopping cart abandonment messages which highlight that the items left behind may sell out fast.

The difference is that with cart abandonment messages the shopper has yet to miss out on anything. Their products are still in their cart and they remain in control. With back-in-stock messages, the consumer feels timing pressure. After all, the items sold out once, and they likely will again.

Here are a few tips for e-commerce merchants looking to effectively use back-in-stock messages to increase sales:

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

My Reading & Podcast List

Here is a list of books I’ve recently read and podcasts I listen to. I hope they give you something new to look into and enjoy.

Recent reads

• Bad Company

• Bootstrapping Bronto: The Art of Scaling Your Startup Without Venture Capital

• Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis

• Careless People

• War Made Invisible

• The Weirdest People in the World

• The Let Them Theory

• The Path Between Two Seas

• Fish

• The Lost City of Z

• Building a Story Brand

• The Power of Geography

• The Greatest Beer Run Ever. A Crazy Adventure In a Crazy War

• The Escape Artist. The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World

• Devil in the White City. Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

• The Making of the Atomic Bomb

• You Can Read Anyone. Never Be Fooled, Lied To, or Taken Advantage of Again

• Key West (by John Breakfield)

• Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond. The Life of Astronomer Vera Rubin.

• The Wager. A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder

• The Forgotten 500. The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of WWII

• The Spy and the Traitor. The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

• Everything Happens for a Reason

• Night (by Elie Wiesel)

• Waxing On. The Karate Kid and Me

• The Power of Letting Go. How to Drop Everything That’s Holding You Back

• The Power of Regret. How Looking Backward Helps Us Move Forward

• The Recruiter. Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence

• Killers of the Flower Moon

• Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

• How to be Perfect. The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

• The Age of AI and Our Human Future

• A Promised Land

• A Colorful Way of Living. How to Be More, Create More, Do More, the Vera Bradley Way

• Talking to Strangers

• The Soulful Art of Persuasion. The 11 Habits That Will Make Anyone a Master Influencer

• Measure What Matters. OKRs — The Simple Idea That Drives 10x Growth

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

• Let The Elephants Run: Unlock Your Creativity and Change Everything

• SCRUM: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

• The CEO Next Door

• Ask Powerful Questions: Create Conversations that Matter

• Cold Hard Truth in Men, Women, and Money

• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (review: eh).

Podcasts I enjoy

• Unboxing Careers

• Revisionist History

• Armchair Expert

• Here’s Where it Gets Interesting

• RetailGentic

• Give it a Chance

• History That Doesn’t Suck

• Smartless

• StarTalk Radio

• The Playcaller’s Club

• This Week in Virology

• The Dollop

• Two Cool Moms

• Today in Digital Marketing

• The Pitch

• The Jason & Scot Show

Examples of Back in Stock Email Marketing, Complete with Subject Lines

How Effective are back-in-stock messages?

In 2024, Back-in-stock messages had a 59.2% open rate, 19.5% click rate, and a 5.3% conversion rate. This was the highest conversion rate of ANY automated message, by far. Consider these must-have automated email messages for brands — both automated and scheduled campaigns.

Here are a few tips for ecommerce brands looking to use back-in-stock messages to increase sales.

• Provide early access with back-in-stock automation

• Use a sense of urgency and fear of loss in your messaging

• Don’t feel the need to discount

• Tailor messages to specific products when necessary

• Include product recommendations

Back-in-Stock Email Marketing Examples

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

What’s the best back-in-stock subject line to use?

The best back-in-stock subject line uses a sense of urgency and combines it with the term “back.” This combines the urgency with social proof (they sold out once, they will again). A good example is “Back in Stock, But Not For Long.”

Examples of The Perfect Back-in-stock email subject line

Here are some back-in-stock email message subject lines used by real brands:

• Top Sellers Back in Stock😍

• 🐍Back in ssssssssstock

• Restocked! Ribbed Cotton Range Is BACK

• Back in Stock: Lafeber Products

• BACK IN STOCK: The Henley

• THEY’RE BACK ⚡

• URGENT: It’s Back In Stock!

• Back in Stock 🌿 CBD Truffles

• Back In Stock? Enough Said.

• The wait is over: ramen is back!

• Greg, SILK BEDDING BACK IN STOCK

• Your fave Birkenstock style is BACK!

• Back In Stock...

• Back & Selling Fast!

• Your fave camera bag is back in new colors!

• LOOK WHO'S BACK 👀

• Your favorite is back!

• Favorites Back in Stock!

• Everyone's adorable bestie is back 🎀

• Your Favorite Lingerie is Back! (But not for long 👀)

• Missed me? Back in stock

• Back in Stock: A Knit to Know

• WOW! Back In Stock: But Not For Long

• Love Everybody 🖤 Back In Stock

• MUST-HAVE BACK IN STOCK

• Back in stock and going fast 💨

• BACK IN STOCK You Have Been Waiting

• Our holiday gift to you: back-in-stock best sellers

Have any questions about back-in-stock email marketing? Let me know.

Email and SMS Marketing in 2024: 5 Trends to Expect

2023 was another record-setting year for e-commerce sales and the growth is expected to continue in 2024. How companies achieve their growth will depend on how effective they are with engaging their audience via different channels and subsequently maximizing the return on investment of those channels.

In all of this, one thing remains consistent year after year: opt-in channels continue to punch beyond their weight in terms of engagement and ROI. The trends from the past several years continued throughout 2023 and shed light on what we should expect to see from brands in 2024. Those trends include the following:

1. Email will continue its staying power.

While news headlines focus on the challenges of increasing e-commerce sales on social media sites, with their fluctuations in daily users, email keeps quietly engaging customers and generating sales. According to a recently released report, e-commerce brands sent 33 percent more promotional email campaigns and generated 17 percent more orders in 2023 than the year before.

The performance of marketing emails continues to be positive for retailers. Open and click rates for campaign emails increased year-over-year (YoY), meaning more people see and engage with the emails in their inbox.

Expect brands to double down on this proven channel. In particular, by increasing their focus on improving their day-to-day email campaigns to maximize sales and finding ways to refine their email program strategy even further in 2024.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

New Black Friday Marketing Report Shows Consumers Still Love Email and SMS

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, it’s a good time to assess how different marketing channels performed through another record-setting BFCM shopping period and what this can tell us about consumers’ shopping habits in 2024.

Looking at Omnisend’s recently released BFCM marketing report, which analyzed over 2.5 billion marketing emails, 29 million SMS, and 30 million web push messages sent by Omnisend merchants in November, five holiday shopping insights stuck out to me:

1. Companies Were Prepared for an Early Start

We anticipated an early start to the holiday shopping season — and we got it. Shoppers spent $76.8 billion online in October, up 5.9 percent year-over-year (YoY). Brands were well prepared with their marketing.

In October, brands sent 39.9 percent more emails and increased orders by 16.5 percent YoY. But while the send increase was consistent throughout the month, orders saw a heavier uptick in the second half. The week of Oct. 22 saw email orders increase by nearly 26 percent and 27.7 percent the following week.

CONTINUE READING ON MYTOTALRETAIL.COM

4 Ways to Prepare Your Email and SMS Marketing for the Holidays

When it comes to maximizing holiday sales from your email and SMS marketing programs, discovering the nuances of the season can help brands squeeze as much eggnog out of … whatever eggnog comes out of. With all of the data out there, uncovering the lesser-known can feel overwhelming to downright impossible.

Here are four nuanced tips to help you prepare your email and SMS marketing for the long, drawn-out holiday shopping season:

1. Don’t wait until November.

Holiday sales, as they have for years, start early. Target began its “Circle Week” on Oct. 1, and Amazon.com's Prime Big Deals Days start on Oct. 10. Consider this second date to be the unofficial official start of the holiday shopping season.

Marketing should start no later than mid-October, and by Nov. 1 brands should be significantly ramping up their marketing. Last year, according to Adobe, Friday, Nov. 11 was the last time daily online sales dropped below $3 billion until Dec. 16 ($2.8 billion). That corresponding day this year is Nov. 12. This is when the full-court press should go into effect.

Because holiday deals begin earlier, the reliance on standalone days like Black Friday take a back seat to extended periods like Black Friday Week. These sales should begin on Nov. 18 or 19.

Dec. 1-23 should encompass a sense of urgency to appeal to procrastinators, clear out excess inventory, and promote gift card sales. Dec. 25 through Jan. 1 should be your final holiday push as consumers resume their shopping. In fact, Dec. 26 recorded the second most email-related orders in all of December 2022.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

Notable Email and SMS Marketing Trends From the First Half of 2023

As the holiday season quickly approaches, having a pulse on the performance of various marketing channels is essential for brands to maximize their return on investment. This is especially true when it comes to heavily relied upon opt-in channels like email and SMS.

A recently released email and SMS marketing report shed light on these performance trends and helped answer questions like “Do consumers find SMS intrusive?” and “Are consumers over email?” The report analyzed more than 10.5 billion e-commerce marketing emails and 62 million SMS messages, among other channels, sent by Omnisend customers in the first half of 2023.

Here are four notable takeaways for brands to pay attention to.

More Sends, More Engagement, More Orders

Brands sent 32.8 percent more scheduled emails, 99.2 percent more automated emails, and 47.9 percent more SMS messages year-over-year (YoY).

Increased consumer engagement allows brands to continue finding sales success with these channels. The click-to-conversion rate for email increased nearly 5 percent over the same period last year and orders are up 8.3 percent. Automated email orders increased by 132 percent, and SMS orders increased by nearly 17 percent year-over-year.

This increase in sends tells us brands rely on the channels to generate sales. The increase in orders tells us consumers welcome them.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

Don’t Ignore Email and SMS: Consumers Surely Haven’t

Looking for a marketing edge?

Of course you are, but little did you know that the elusive edge may be closer than you realize.

Omnisend’s recently released yearly email and SMS marketing benchmark report analyzed more than 17 billion marketing emails and 107 million SMS sent by brands in 2022. It showed how deeply consumers used email and SMS as part of their shopping and product discovery journey as well as provided clues as to what makes the messages appealing to consumers.

Here are the primary email and SMS marketing highlights from the report and ways brands can apply these consumer shopping trends to gain an edge in 2023.

Overall Email Marketing Trends

Email marketing continues to be a core component of e-commerce brands’ online marketing strategies. Continuing its year-over-year (YoY) trend, brands sent 42 percent more email messages in 2022 than the year before, resulting in a 12 percent increase in email-related orders.

The reliance on email was also prevalent at a crucial time for retailers, Q4. YoY, email was responsible for a 13.8 percent increase in orders on Black Friday, a 34.4 percent increase during the Cyber 10, and an 18.7 percent increase in overall Q4 orders.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

Holiday Email and SMS Performance Shed Light on Brands’ 2023 Marketing Strategies

E-commerce brands faced a holiday shopping season filled with uncertainty — uncertainty around when the shopping season would start in earnest, inflation’s impact on consumer spending, and the costs and performance of paid marketing channels. And with good reason.

Throughout the year, the cost and performance on channels such as paid social and paid search fluctuated, raising questions and concerns about holiday marketing spend on the channels. And if consumers just shopped less in general, how else might brands generate the sales they needed?

As it played out, Black Friday and Cyber Monday e-commerce sales were up slightly from the previous year's unusual dip. Accounting for inflation, however, indicates the increase in sales was due to the cost of goods rather than an increase in shopping. Cost effectively securing early holiday sales was important, and when it mattered most, brands seemed to shift back and rely more on established and consistently performing opt-in channels like email and SMS — and it worked.

Consumers Turned to Email Marketing When Shopping

According to a new holiday marketing report by Omnisend, year-over-year, email marketing was responsible for a 13.8 percent increase in orders on Black Friday, and a 34.4 percent increase during the Cyber 10, a 10-day span beginning on the Sunday before Black Friday through Giving Tuesday. The increase in sales was accompanied by a greater reliance on email marketing.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

The Impact of iOS 15 on Email Marketing — One Year Later

On Sept. 20, 2021, Apple released its much-anticipated iOS 15 software update. The update included various “privacy protection” features for iPhone users, including "Mail Privacy Protection." This feature prevents companies from seeing whether subscribers opened their emails, and instead reports an open rate of 100 percent for those using the Apple Mail app.

As the update release approached, it was predicted that the changes would significantly diminish the value of open-based engagement metrics for email marketers and impact their day-to-day strategy, including how brands use "remails" (i.e., automatically resending unopened emails), identify engaged users for cross-channel retargeting and deliverability list cleaning, and report on open-based metrics like click-to-open rate.

Now that we’ve passed the one-year mark since the update’s release, what has the impact been? After analyzing 15 billion marketing emails sent by Omnisend since iOS 15 was released and 20 billion sent before the update, dating back to 2019, we have a much clearer understanding of the true impact iOS 15 has had on e-commerce brands’ email marketing programs.

Steady Adoption, Just in Time for the Holidays

iOS 15 was released just before the 2021 Q4 holiday shopping season, and as with most updates, adoption was not instantaneous but it was evident. Open rates gradually increased through Q4 2021.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

New Email and SMS Marketing Report Showcases Their Value to Brands

A pullback on consumer spending, high inflation, and an uncertain holiday season. Toss in paid social’s cost and targeting effectiveness being in a state of perpetual fluctuation and retailers find themselves faced with a myriad of challenges in trying to increase sales and maximize return on investment.

To maximize sales and profits, brands need to ensure all marketing channels work together as efficiently as possible, with data from one channel feeding another. This is where opt-in channels become valuable for retailers. Email and SMS marketing are two opt-in channels that tend to have fewer cost fluctuations and are driven by first-party data, making targeting more accurate and their effectiveness more evident.

However, as the economy and consumer shopping habits change, how are consumers responding to these channels and what can brands learn from it?

A new email and SMS marketing report analyzed more than 8 billion e-commerce marketing emails, 43 million SMS messages, and 73 million web push messages sent by Omnisend customers in the first half (H1) of 2022. The results provide a clear direction for how brands can adapt their marketing and increase sales.

Email Marketing: Still Powerful, But it’s Not Created Equal

Email marketing continues to be the centerpiece marketing channel for most brands due to its high engagement, relatively steady cost, and effectiveness at generating sales. For consumers who clicked on a scheduled email campaign, 6.7 percent of them went on to make a purchase. This number soared to 35 percent with automated emails. At worst, email performs well. At best, it performs exceptionally well, especially when compared to paid media channels.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

SMS Marketing: The Secret Weapon for E-Commerce Brands This Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Planning for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) is already top of mind for many e-commerce brands, and includes the usual channels like email marketing, paid search, paid social, and marketplace ads. But as the cost and effectiveness of channels like paid social continue to fluctuate, brands are continuously searching for ways to maximize return on investment in a competitive and crowded space.

Unlike paid channels like search and social, which mostly rely on third-party data, an opt-in channel like email marketing is less susceptible to sudden cost increases and uses first-party data. This helps explain why it has historically generated a more consistent and predictable ROI for brands.

It’s this combination of opt-in marketing and first-party data that companies need to take full advantage of during this year’s holiday season if they wish to maximize profits. SMS marketing fits this description perfectly and the timing couldn’t be better.

Why E-Commerce Brands Should Use SMS Marketing During the Holidays

First, SMS marketing is growing and shows no signs of slowing. Last year, brands sent 94 percent more SMS than in 2020, a year which itself sent nearly 400 percent more messages than the year prior. During the 2021 Cyber 10 (the Sunday before Black Friday through Giving Tuesday), e-commerce merchants increasingly relied on SMS, sending 40 percent more SMS than in 2020.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

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!

The Slowdown of E-Commerce and How Online Brands Can Adapt

The COVID-fueled e-commerce party couldn’t last forever. Businesses knew that it was only a matter of time before consumers reverted to their pre-pandemic shopping habits of mixing online and in-person shopping. That time appears to be upon us.

A recently released Mastercard SpendingPulse report showed a year-over-year (YoY) retail sales increase of 7.2 percent in April. However, within this figure, we see that in-store sales increased 10 percent while e-commerce declined by nearly 2 percent.

Amazon.com, Wayfair, and Target all reported slowdowns in their e-commerce business in Q1. Amazon saw online sales decline by 3 percent, and Wayfair reported fewer active customers. While Target’s digital comps were up 3.2 percent, that was down from the pandemic-driven 50.2 percent increase in 2021.

If the slowdown of e-commerce wasn’t enough, customer acquisition and retargeting costs continue to increase. Business Insider reported YoY ad cost increases for Google, Meta (Facebook), TikTok, and Amazon sponsored products.

While retail is still strong overall, inflation’s impact on consumer spending combined with the return to in-store shopping means e-commerce businesses are left fighting for a bigger piece of a smaller, crowded, and uncertain pie. Throw rising acquisition and retargeting costs into this mix, and you have yourself a not-so-favorable recipe.

Luckily for e-commerce brands, there are ways they can adapt their marketing efforts to these market conditions to increase customer retention, reduce paid media costs, and increase profit.

Focus on Intent-Based Marketing

When it comes to marketing, sending messages that are highly relevant to the current state of a customer’s journey leads to sales, especially with opt-in channels like email and SMS. With an average conversion rate of 1.9 percent (compare this to paid media), behavior-based automated emails accomplish this. They generate nearly 30 percent of all email orders while accounting for only 2 percent of the sends.

The reason: they’re driven by consumer intent.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL

3 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve CX

Retailers are constantly looking to improve the customer shopping experience. For e-commerce brands, it may mean implementing live chat, improving site speed, using 3D product images, and offering free returns. However, the shopping journey isn’t isolated to technical website details and store policies; it also applies to marketing.

With email marketing, brands tend to look at it exclusively as a direct sales channel — especially when it comes to automated emails. And for good reason. A recent Omnisend report shows that in 2021, behavior-based automated emails generated 29.6 percent of all email marketing orders with only 2.2 percent of sends.

But focusing automated emails only on sales and not on how they can improve the customer experience is a mistake most brands make. In today’s environment, brands need to do both simultaneously. Here are three ways e-commerce brands can use marketing automation to improve the shopping experience and increase sales:

1. Ditch the old welcome series.

A welcome series is a set of messages sent to new email subscribers. Last year, these messages generated a conversion rate of 2.8 percent compared to 0.1 percent for scheduled promotional messages, and were responsible for 43 percent of all automated email orders.

CONTINUE READING ON TOTAL RETAIL