This document provides a comprehensive guide to eCommerce email marketing with 10 tips. The tips include having a solid strategy, mastering welcome emails for new subscribers, surveying customers to understand their needs, building automated journeys, focusing on increasing second purchase rates, using AI for personalization, investing in product recommendations, leveraging user generated content, collaborating with sales and support teams, and A/B testing emails.

1. eCommerce email
marketing made simple
A comprehensive guide

2. Content
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide
1. Have a solid strategy in place 3
2. Master the art of welcoming new subscribers 4
3. Survey your audience to know their needs 6
• Mine and analyze your customers’ past data 6
• Use web analytics for clues on customer activity 6
• Use AI/ML tools for prediction and segmentation 6
4. Build an automated journey for customer nudges 8
5. Focus on increasing your second purchase rate 9
6. Use artificial intelligence for accurate personalization 11
7. Invest in a product recommendation engine 13
8. Use user-generated-content to your advantage 15
9. Bring sales and customer support teams on-board 17
10. A/B test your audience 18
11. Pay close attention to your deliverability 19
12. Wrapping up 20
13. Author Bio 21

3. eCommerce email marketing
made simple
There has been a surprising U-turn for eCommerce businesses since the
events of the last year.
The COVID-19 crisis had a very positive impact, and the online
marketplace got twice as crowded. Customer behavior, demand
prediction, and retention changed their patterns.
About 20% of U.S. households switched brand loyalty to those that
offered better convenience, better prices, and better stock availability.
Pandemic restrictions boosted eCommerce like never before, with 10 years’
growth happening in 3 months.
2021: A year to experiment
Here is a good resolution for eCommerce marketers: Experiment and
think outside the box to drive high revenue from your email programs in
2021.
Remember that even genius scientists have had experiments go wrong in
several ways – history is full of human errors, random errors, and
systematic errors. Yet, trials and errors in experimentation are what lead
to newer and better ways of doing things. Do not hesitate to experiment
with your initiatives.
The majority of last year’s challenges will continue in 2021, with
consumers choosing the online option over physical shopping. You will
need to focus on providing a consistent and smooth customer experience
across your online touchpoints.
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

4. Email marketing is much more than just mailing the right customer at the
right time with the right content. To be distinct and effectively connect
with your customers, have a clear strategy to do things differently from
your competitors.
For marketing, 2020 was the year of evolution amidst disruptive markets;
now, 2021 is all about strategies and experiments to thrive in the
economic revival.
With that in mind, here are ten email marketing tips for you to implement
and drive growth for your eCommerce in 2021:
2
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

5. 1. Have a solid strategy in place
This year, to achieve success with your email program, go back to the
strategy board: relook your goals, objectives, and specific actions from
an experimental perspective. Align your strategy with the overarching
objectives you set.
If your objective is to improve customer loyalty, have a strategy in
place to increase customer retention. Your moves should include:
• Increasing repeat transactions.
• Indulging in velvet rope marketing for high-value customers.
• Introducing loyalty cards/offers for VIP customers.
• Other similar initiatives.
Focus on distinct email campaigns that will matter the most to achieve
your goals.
Have a basic strategy for your regular campaigns like promotional
offers, limited sales, seasonal offers, etc. Next, build upon special
campaigns to send to your customers: plan for new platform feature
releases, new influencer collaborations, unique in-house products for
sale, and others.
3
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

6. 2. Master the art of welcoming
new subscribers
The first impression you make on your new customers is set by the
welcome email they receive on sign-up. It also denotes a new stage in
your relationship with the customer.
Your welcome email should be a lead magnet for inaugural
conversions from the new customers. It should create the right
expectations, educate about your product, tell your brand story, and
feature great offers for first-time transactors.
Besides, welcome emails are known to have four times the opening
rate and five times the click-through rate compared to the regular
emails - make the best use of the leverage with the right content.
The primary metric to monitor your welcome series is the clicks you
receive on your Call-To-Actions (CTAs). Thereafter, you can measure
the Clicks to Conversion rate to calculate your revenue from first-time
signups. Here is what an ideal welcome series of emails would look
like:
• Welcome the customer and memorably introduce your brand.
• Set mailing frequency expectations and promote your
products/content.
• Tell your brand story and provide valuable and educational content.
• Show how you differ from similar brands and promote your brand.
4
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

7. Lush, a cosmetics retailer, runs a
series of welcome emails. The first
email thanks the customer and
offers a video tour of how the
brand makes the products. It also
recommends different product
categories with links to product
pages on the brand’s website. This
is a click-worthy campaign that
encourages new users to explore
what the brand provides.
Image source: Really Good Emails
5
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

8. 3. Survey your audience to
know their needs
Running a survey with your mailing list is the most straightforward way
to know what your audience expects from you. Some marketers run
focus groups to get honest feedback from their loyal customers. Act
on the survey insights, adapt to the demands and tweak your content
accordingly. It will show your audience that you are willing to evolve to
meet their expectations.
Here are some more ways to understand your customer better:
Mine and analyze your customers’ past data: Advanced analytical
tools can help you mine through your historical data to figure out the
right patterns for connecting with your future customers. By doing
progressive profiling, you will know what segments to approach with
relevant products.
Use web analytics for clues on customer activity: Your website or
app can be the most significant source of hints on customer
fulfillment. You can know what they shop and browse, when and why
they drop off and return. Web analytics on your platform gives you
deeper insights into the psycho-analytical behavior of your customers.
Use AI/ML tools for prediction and segmentation: If you use an
email provider, explore if they have tools that help you take action on
your subscriber's needs and wants. Netcore has quite a few advanced
AI/MI tools: our 'Predictive Segmentation' enables you to predict which
users will be the right fit for your content, while the 'Predictive Churn'
6
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

9. tells you which users are loyal and
which are at the risk of churning out.
Our AI engine Raman guides you to
push the right products to customers
promptly.
When you understand your audience
and their behavior patterns, you will
resonate better with them.
The above email by Bellroy asks the
customers for monthly feedback and
how likely they are to refer the brand to
others. It also asks the customers to
support them on social media with
user-generated content. All in all, this
campaign is an excellent way to receive
customer feedback and also promote
the products.
Image source: Really Good Emails
7
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

10. 4. Build an automated journey
for customer nudges
Avoid being one-dimensional when it comes to your email program.
Your company should be known as much for promotional offers and
discount prices as it is for a unique brand story, quality, and service.
Craft your email campaigns smartly to connect with your customers
and nurture the relationship. Start new conversations that will get
them excited to receive your next email.
Now the reality is that you have got a limited time to create a program
of campaigns on top of all other tasks. Therefore, it would be wise to
go in for automation to reach out to your customers at different life
cycle points with different campaigns. Map your ideal customer profile
and create the right nudges according to where they are in the sales funnel.
Think of automated campaigns as a portfolio of stocks that makes
money for you while you are busy with other investment strategies.
Similarly, automated campaigns nudge the customers at the right time
with the right offers triggered by their activity while you are engaged
in other tasks.
Online Ads
Email
PPC
Social Ads
Reviews
Blog
Media
Website
Community
Forum
Social
Networks
Blog
Promotions
Store
Ecommerce
Direct
Email
Word
Of Mouth
Radio
Tv-print
PR
Faq
Knowledge
Base
Newsletter
AWARENESS CONSIDERATION PURCHASE RETENTION ADVOCACY
8
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

11. 5. Focus on increasing your
second purchase rate
A study on online brands affirms that getting a customer to shop from
your portal for a second time helps you to retain them for a longer
time. There is a 54% chance that if a customer shops on your online
business for a second time, they will return for the third time. About
64% percent of the third-time buyers are likely to make a fourth
purchase, and the predictions look even more promising after that.
In 2021, repeat transactions will have a significant impact on your
eCommerce revenue. Focus on getting your first-time customers to
shop a second time within a short span, and it will increase their lifetime
value.
Ensure that you do not let your early shoppers lapse and become
inactive. Keep engaging with them to transact often on your online shop
lest they find other alternatives. The repeat purchase rate tells you if
your customers find value in your products and whether they are loyal
to your company.
Here are some more strategies to increase your repeat transactions.
The following campaign by the home-decor brand Crate & Barrel
appreciates the customer for the purchase and offers them a list of
curated items for a second purchase. These products are hand-picked
according to customer interaction and interests - relevance of the
customer’s content is what gets repeat transactions.
9
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

12. 10
Image source: Really Good Emails
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

13. 6. Use artificial intelligence
for accurate personalization
Providing a personalized customer experience through your email
program has now become the best practice. Such shopping
experiences give greater satisfaction, which ties in with the customer
lifecycle's loyalty and advocacy stages. According to a study,
personalized shopping cart recommendations influence 92% of the
shoppers to buy those products.
Personalize your emails not just in subject lines but also in your
customers' content and context - customers are not merely email
addresses. Segment the data according to their specific interests and
preferences. You can build these segments from the customers'
buying behavior, purchase history, geolocation data, and other
insights.
AI/ML technologies comprise self-learning algorithms that manage the
bulk of your customer data. These provide a unified view of each
customer’s interactions and behavior patterns. AI/ML makes sure that
every customer receives relevant content they individually prefer.
Moreover, AI can also deliver emails at the exact time the customers
check their mailbox every day.
AI/ML technologies were able to increase engagement for brands by
30-35%, according to our Email Benchmark Report 2020.
The following personalized email by Gasbuddy provides subscribers with
their driving performance and fuel statistics. It picks up all the relevant
11
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

14. data points of customers and
creates exciting content -
everyone does love to read
statistics about themselves. It
is informative campaigns like
these that genuinely engage
the customers and build
brand value.
Image source:
Really Good Emails
12
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

15. 7. Invest in a product
recommendation engine
eCommerce platforms do not have a dedicated sales assistant, as seen in
brick-and-mortar stores, for recommending products to cus-tomers. You
can overcome this challenge by using an AI-powered recommendation
engine that delivers real-time recommendations through your website/
app.
recommendation
data. Based on several small micro-engagements of your customers, it can
recommend
plays the role of an automated shop assistant programmed to increase
your conversions.
Our recently released Global Email Trends Report shows that top mar-
keting leaders are choosing to invest in such platforms in 2021.
With thousands of products across scores of categories in an e-com-
all. A recommendation engine makes the exploration more comfort-able
for them and provides a delightful experience.
According to a study of 300 eCommerce websites, 31% of the revenue is
generated by product recommendations. Create a personalized email
series for relevant product recommendations that encourages your
customers to keep coming back to your website/app. A few such examples
would be ‘people also viewed these products’, ‘top picks for you’, ‘best-
selling products’ etc.
13
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

16. Here is an email campaign showing products that each customer will be
personally interested in.
14`
Image source: Barilliance
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

17. 8 Use user-generated-content
to your advantage
Lately, user-generated content (UGC) has become a hot trend in mar-
keting. UGC is any content posted by your customers either on social
media or other online platforms. The content can be in the form of:
• Reviews/Testimonials
• Hashtags
• Challenges
• Social media posts
• Brand experience
According to a report, customers are 9.8X likely to find UGC more im-
pactful than influencer-based content - 79% of the users say their pur-
chasing decisions are highly motivated by UGC. It puts a human face to
your brand and increases retention and sales for your customers.
Create email campaigns with the UGC posted and curated by the cus-
tomers. Apart from being excellent testimonials to your brand's popu-
larity, they also persuade new customers to try your products.
Here are some simple and effective email strategies to ace your UGC game:
• Create a hashtag campaign and pose a creative challenge for the
customers to participate through emails.
• Ask your regular customers to post their own amazing brand expe-
rience and story.
15
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

18. • Get live reviews filled in by your customers using AMP for email.
• Monitor online mentions for your brand and use them in your email
campaigns.
• Ask customers to post a specific hashtag on Instagram or Twitter
and make it a trend. The winner gets a special prize.
• Ask your loyal customers to pose with your products and share a
candid image with others on social media.
• Let your customers become content creators by offering their
unique take on your product and brand experience through your
campaigns.
No. 4711 Coffee asks the customer to share a photo of enjoying their
coffee with a special hashtag. Your customers sharing your product
images in real-life boosts your brand’s popularity.
16
Image source:
Shippingeasy
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

19. 9. Bring sales and customer
support teams on-board
Last year's social mobility restrictions are likely to continue in many
parts of the world, resulting in a major shift to digital engagements.
Providing a hassle-free online experience and addressing key
customer issues should be your top priority.
Your sales and customer experience teams often provide unique
insights into customer behavior and evolving trends. Meet up with
them quarterly to resolve the problems customers regularly face with
your product/service or website/app platforms.
Acknowledge the customers' feedback and think of ways to address
their issues with your email campaigns and programs.
Follow these pointers and transform your email program into a
proactive engagement tool; retain your quality customers by providing
them with a smoother experience.
17
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

20. 10. A/B test your audience
A/B testing your mailing list is an old approach in email marketing, yet,
it is still powerful to use. It continues to be a proven growth hack for
increasing customer engagement, interest levels, and conversions.
While A/B testing is a great way to know what works for your audience,
you need to be specific on what you wish to test: subject lines, send
times, email content, call to action, etc. Have specific email metrics to
measure results like clicks, opens, conversions, and other similar out-
comes.
Break up a small sample of your mailing list into groups A and B. Make
two sets of emails for A and B, keeping the subject line and content
different. After two days of sending the mails, measure the results to
understand what worked and send the winning option to the rest of
the mailing list. A/B testing will inform you on the kind of content or
subject lines your audience prefers and reveal their purchase triggers.
18
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

21. 11. Pay close attention to
your deliverability
You could send the most engaging content to your audience, but your
program will have no value if it does not make it to their inboxes. De-
liverability is the rate of emails that reach your customers' inboxes
and is vital to your email revenue.
Two critical factors that ensure high deliverability are engagement and
a high sender-reputation. When a majority of your customer base
engages with your campaigns, the mailbox providers get positive sig-
nals. They are likely to allow your emails to go inbox due to the high
levels of subscriber engagement.
Sender-reputation is the second critical factor and is similar to a score-
card for your sending domain's performance. Maintained by mailbox
providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and others, it provides regular updates on
how your emails perform according to audience expectations.
Here are some content-related best practices to follow for ensuring
high deliverability:
• Allow users to unsubscribe with an opt-out link in the body and
header of the email.
• Highlight your brand visibility inside the inbox with BIMI, Google
annotations.
• Balance the content composition for text and images in your email
template.
19
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

22. • Have links to trusted websites and useful URLs for adding value to
your email.
• Build your email list wisely and regularly cleanse the data to
remove invalid IDs.
Good deliverability is easy if you follow the best practices. The
foremost is to focus more on sending quality educational content than
promotional material. It will enhance your email program’s credibility
and trust with the mailbox providers.
Wrapping up
Email marketing is a low-risk and high returns channel; hence there is a
lot of room for experimentation. In 2021, every eCommerce marketer
should strive to create new, meaningful, and personalized experiences
for their customers. Incorporate our pointers to build highly successful
email campaigns for your eCommerce programs.
If you wish to explore any of the AI/ML technologies mentioned above,
get in touch with Netcore experts today! We can help you maximize
your email revenue and create stronger customer relationships this
year.
20
E-commerce email marketing made simple: A comprehensive guide

23. 20+
Global Unicorns
Trusted Email Partner&
5000+ leading brands
Years legacy of
Delivering Email
Marketing ROI
20+
Worlds Only Email
Switcher for a smooth
migration
#1
WHY CHOOSE NETCORE FOR EMAIL
AI-Powered Email
Delivery & Campaigns
Powerful Transactional APIs
for seamless integration
Actionable Analytics
for Email Intelligence
Advanced Customer
segmentation, Send time &
Subject line optimization
Managed Consulting
Services by Email Experts
White-Glove Services for
smooth onboarding
netcorecloud.com

24. OUR EMAIL AMBASSADORS
A W A L M A R T C O M PA N Y
netcorecloud.com

25. www.netcorecloud.com
Get in Touch:
Netcore Solutions Inc.
182C-102 500 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10018
E:
W:
engage@netcorecloud.com
www.netcorecloud.com
Email Marketing ROI
Sky-Rocket your
Delivering Billions of Emails per Month at 2.6 sec Lightning Fast Speed