EMAIL MARKETING TIPS FOR BOUTIQUES
Email Marketing Tips
First things first, you need to be sending emails (even if you don't like receiving emails or never click on them yourself). Emails are still a very cheap and effective form of marketing that you don't want to miss out on. Even if you don't reap a ton of rewards from it right away, it's important to stay consistent on it as you build your email list and increase your traffic on your website.
If you are running ANY sort of paid marketing for your online store, it's extremely important to fully utilize email marketing so that you can reap the highest returns over time. Even if for some reason you don't yield a ton of returns right away with the paid marketing (such as Facebook or Google ads), you can essentially 'own' that person permanently (until they either unsubscribe or you remove them from your list) so any investment you put into those ads that immediately didn't show returns should not be viewed as wasted.
P.S. Text and push notifications are great to have in your arsenal as well, but first focus your efforts (and continue to) on your email list. Oh, and P.P.S. you can run re-marketing campaigns with your email list on Facebook and Instagram which is sometimes a good targeting option!
Now for the email marketing tips!
1) Get people to sign up for your emails by putting a pop-up box on your website that is shown to people that have not yet subscribed. I suggest having it show after they spend about 3-10 seconds on your page. I also suggest telling them that they'll receive a 10% off code (suggested is up to 20% off) immediately after they sign up for their purchase to help nudge them to sign up.
2) Send out 1-3 emails per week. Even if people aren't yet converting on these emails or converting on every email, keep sending them out. You'll see increased sales as your list grows with a relevant audience. Don't worry about annoying people - they can just choose not to open it. In fact, even if they don't always open your emails, it's okay as you are still making them think of your business when you send them out (assuming you have your business name as the sender and a good subject line to catch their attention).
3) At least once a year, go in and segment your subscriber list and remove people that have not opened your emails or purchased within the past 365 days. This helps increase your open rate and decrease the likely-hood that they will mark you as spam, but also will reduce any fees you may incur from your email provider. Most email providers are free up to a certain number of subscribers, but then charge in tiers based on the number of subscribers you have or the number of emails you send out.
4) Set up email automations for your business. With the right email platform, once these automations are set up, there is nothing further you have to do (discount codes are automatically generated as well as the newest product pictures).
- In general, I recommend a series of three welcome emails that include a time sensitive discount code that is just for them when they subscribe (the discount can be shown in the second email if a promo code is already given when they sign up on the pop-up box).
- I also recommend doing a series of three abandoned cart emails where the first email does not include a discount code, but the special time-sensitive discount code is given in the second email with a reminder in the third email that the discount code is about to expire.
- In addition to this, I recommend doing a product abandonment email where an email is sent out (no discount code) when someone views a product, but does not add it to their cart. They may have just been browsing or had been pulled away from your website for whatever reason. You can let them know that they can reply to the email if they have any questions or concerns.
- Another great automation is a series of three emails that goes to past customers that haven't purchased within a certain time period (I recommend 45 days for typical clothing stores). With a promo code during the second email (and a reminder in the third that their promo code is about to expire), they are more likely to finally make the purchase.
- Also, in most of these automated emails, I suggest that some of your newest products are shown as suggestions the recipient might be interested in.
P.S. If you don't already have an official rewards program in place, you can set up automations to reward your most loyal customers based on the number of their purchases. You can send them a VIP promo code or dollar amount off their purchase periodically. This can easily be done in one of the rewards apps in Shopify.
5) Use email marketing to ask for reviews! You can send out emails after an order has been fulfilled asking the customer to leave a review wherever you want to focus your reviews on. I recommend collecting emails with the goal that they are displayed on your website, but first choose to direct them to leave you a review on Facebook or Google. There are review apps (on Shopify if you use that) that can pull your reviews from each of these to display on your site. Both Facebook and Google reviews have their different advantages as being the main platform you should be collecting reviews on, but both are great review platform options).
6) For those segments that you're about ready to delete from your email list altogether, give them a few more chances to make a purchase with a super enticing and irresistible offer. Did they sign up several months ago and STILL have not purchased? Maybe give them a 40% off coupon for a full priced item. Possibly they'll be so impressed with your products, shipping, and service that they'll make more full priced purchases very soon.
7) Do you have a lot of products on your website so that the website visitor may not have seen everything? Consider doing a product up-sell email for a complimentary product after they have made a purchase. Show them how cute that pair or earrings or those shoes will go with their new dress.
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I hope you found these tips helpful and put them into action! I'd love for you to share your results in our group, Boutique Connection Mastermind - A Community for Women Entrepreneurs
Need help setting up customized & powerful email automations for your boutique? I would LOVE to help take your business to the next level with our email marketing services! Let's make the most of your retail business! Click here for more info >>
~ Dana-Chérie
