The Importance of Email Marketing on Shopify and BigCommerce: Don’t Miss Out on Potential Revenue

If you’re not leveraging eCommerce email & SMS marketing to their fullest on your online store, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to boost your revenue. Email & SMS marketing is one of the most effective ways to engage with your customers, drive repeat purchases, and increase your bottom line. Let's dive into why this is so crucial for your Shopify or BigCommerce store and how you can set it up for success.

Direct Communication with Your Audience

Shopify email marketing and BigCommerce email marketing allow you to communicate directly with your customers. Unlike social media or paid ads, emails land right in your customers’ inboxes. This direct line of communication ensures your message is seen by your audience, allowing you to build stronger relationships with return customers—an extremely lucrative segment—and keep your brand top of mind.

High Return on Investment (ROI)

Email marketing can generate significant returns on investment, and it’s one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies out there: in 2023, Klaviyo (our email tool of choice) saw a 228% ROI across its customers. With the right approach, you can see substantial returns from your email campaigns, making it an essential channel for any Shopify or BigCommerce store.

Personalization and Segmentation

One of the biggest advantages of Shopify email marketing and BigCommerce email marketing is the ability to personalize your messages. By segmenting your email list based on customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history, you can send highly targeted emails that resonate with your audience. This level of personalization can lead to higher open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately, more sales. Plus, more relevant emails can build up the relationship a subscriber has with your brand, which has ramifications that go beyond email.

Welcome Emails

First impressions matter! Welcome emails are your chance to make a great first impression and start building a relationship with new subscribers. These emails typically have higher open rates and can set the tone for future communications. Use this opportunity to introduce your brand, highlight your best products, and offer a special welcome discount—with the ultimate goal of getting that all-important first purchase.

Abandoned Cart Emails

Abandoned cart emails are a must-have for any eCommerce store. On average, about 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. With a well-timed and well-crafted abandoned cart email, you can recover a significant portion of these lost sales. Remind customers of what they left behind and entice them to complete their purchase with a special offer or discount. This can also be a great place for some personalization: you know that a customer cared enough about this product to add it to their cart, making this a great time for some product education to alternatives to help nudge them toward a purchase.

Post-Purchase Follow-Ups

Don’t let the customer journey end after the purchase. Post-purchase follow-up emails can enhance customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business. Just like your mom always said, a thank you note can go a long way! Provide shipping information, ask for feedback, and make sure your customer feels informed about what will happen next. Tap into personalization again with highly relevant product recommendations, and maybe even a thank you discount, and you may just get another purchase. 

Newsletter Emails

Newsletter email campaigns are a great way to drive sales and keep your customers informed about sales, new products, seasonal promotions, upcoming events, and more. Make sure your promotional emails are eye-catching and include a clear call to action (CTA) to encourage clicks and conversions. Take your newsletters to the next step with segmentation to up the relevance factor.

At Netalico, we’ve seen firsthand how effective Shopify email marketing and BigCommerce email marketing can be. Here are a few examples of how we’ve helped our clients achieve success:

• Milestones: By implementing an automated email strategy, improving email capture, and designing a template so Milestones could easily send more newsletter emails, their email channel has grown—it's now responsible for a large percentage of eCommerce revenue.
• evanhealy: The team approached us to bring their Klaviyo email marketing in-house for more control over content and design. We built flexible templates, optimized flows, and improved segmentation—driving over 55% of total revenue and breaking sale records.
• Oatly: With a well-executed transactional email strategy, Oatly was able to create moments of delight within mundane order confirmation and similar emails, expanding the brand experience and connecting with customers on a new level.

To get started with Shopify email marketing or BigCommerce email marketing, you’ll need the right tools. Here are a few recommendations:

• Klaviyo: A powerful email marketing platform designed specifically for eCommerce. Klaviyo offers advanced segmentation, automation, and personalization features. At Netalico, we have extensive experience in setting up and optimizing Klaviyo for our clients, ensuring they get the most out of their email marketing efforts, and we highly recommend Klaviyo.
• Mailchimp: A popular email marketing tool that integrates seamlessly with both Shopify and BigCommerce. Mailchimp provides easy-to-use templates and robust analytics.
• Shopify Email: Shopify’s built-in email marketing tool. It’s a great option for beginners, with simple templates and automation capabilities.

In our experience, even advanced email marketing programs can always be doing more. Here are our tips for taking it to the next level:

• Consider your segments: if you're just sending to a segment of email openers from within a certain timeframe, you might be leaving money on the table. We've seen clients not sending to recent purchasers because they hadn't been sent any emails yet. Revisit your segments and mix up your newsletter sends. Consider making interest group segments based on purchase and product view behavior.
• Make sure you're using technology to the fullest: universal blocks, template tags, trigger splits, additional filters, product feeds, display logic—all Klaviyo features you might not be using yet! Features like these can help you make emails more personalized, improve performance, and simplify your automated flows. If you're curious, reach out!
• Understand abandoned cart vs. abandoned checkout: did you know you can send both? Send an email flow after someone adds an item to their cart, rather than just after someone abandons a checkout.
• Don't optimize too much for open rate: while open rate is an important indicator of the health of your email program, it's not everything. If your open rate is too high, it could mean you're not sending to as many people as you could be. If your open rate is above 30%, think about broadening your segments.
• Edit automated flows during big sales: it's a common story that a welcome or abandoned cart offer may be about 15%, but during a big sale like Black Friday you may offer a larger discount. If you're still sending your usual flow emails offering 15%, you could be confusing your audience and missing out on the power of your automated flows. Consider a sale version of your flow emails to make sure your sale messaging is consistent and clear. 

Email marketing is an essential component of any successful Shopify or BigCommerce store. It allows you to communicate directly with your customers, offers a high ROI, and provides opportunities for personalization and segmentation. By implementing key strategies like welcome emails, abandoned cart emails, post-purchase follow-ups, and newsletter emails, you can significantly boost your revenue and build stronger relationships with your customers.

Don’t miss out on the potential revenue that Shopify email marketing and BigCommerce email marketing can bring to your store. If you need help setting up or optimizing your email marketing strategy, Netalico is here to assist. With our extensive experience and expertise, especially in using Klaviyo, we can help you create powerful email campaigns that drive results and grow your business.