Author: Chris Pearson, Partner & Email Marketing Specialist at 3BM
When you get into any brand’s list, there’s a history.
It’s usually a mix of good intentions and decent efforts, but…
Running an ecommerce brand is not easy. There are a lot of moving parts. Your team is taking action. Your customers are reaching out. And you’ve got vendors to manage.
It can feel like you’re spinning more plates than you can handle.
All of that plus balancing your own life in the mix.
So, when it comes to email, unfortunately, it tends to get moved down the list of priorities…
Even though mail can generate 20%+ (I’ve seen as high as 48%) of your total revenue WITHOUT having to ride the acquisition roller coasters (aka Meta and Google).
All you simply need to do is start treating your email list like a business asset, not an obligatory marketing effort.
Here’s how:
A few months back, we onboarded a client in the women’s health space.
This client is a gem. She wants to help people. She is helping people. And she’s open to trying new things to get her products into more of her customer’s hands.
Because she’s so open and willing to let us help her, it’s been a fun and profitable relationship for both of us.
In a month’s time, we were able to increase her email/SMS revenue 139% and her total revenue 29% with what I’m about to share.
How did we go about making this happen?
Here’s what we stopped doing…
We stopped:
- Treating her list like cattle.
- Sending a general newsletter each week.
- Asking customers to buy only during sales/discounts.
Here’s what we started doing:
- Invited her list to “join the community of women” (and spoke to them like a community).
- Sending specific, problem-solution style emails (paired with supporting SMS) that offered a product.
- Asking customers to buy in every single email.
The overarching change we made?
We got more specific with what we were talking about, who we were speaking with, and what we offered to help them with their problems/concerns.
Sending a “catch all” newsletter is like pissing into the wind. The only person that cares is you.
Instead of talking about menopause as this abstract, amorphous thing that affects women’s lives…
We spoke about hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep disturbances. We dimensionalized that struggle and showed the reader “we get it.” Our goal was to connect with the reader so that when we say, “if this sounds like your life right now, give this a try,” the reader responds with “yes” and clicks through to the product.
Here’s an example of the emails we’re sending:
This email is encouraging, supportive, and emotionally available to the reader.
It asks them to “lean in” and be a part of something bigger than themselves.
And it gives them reassurance and hope that they are not alone in this journey.
Many times, what a list needs is not more discounts.
In many cases, what a list actually needs is a way to emotionally connect with and feel heard by someone who genuinely cares.
So…
If your email/SMS revenue is not scaling alongside your total revenue and list growth, then it’s time to take another look at how you’re sending.
Not sure what to look for to increase email/SMS sales?
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