



You’ve just released a brand new product that your company is excited about and ready to share with customers. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could call up all your interested customers and let them know? Well, with ecommerce email marketing, you basically can. Sending a well-crafted note to the right group of customers could help create buzz about your newest product and get it into the hands of the people who would benefit.
However, customers are likely receiving more emails than ever, and it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. To do this and make sure you’re reaching the right people, your company needs an ecommerce email marketing strategy — and powerful ecommerce marketing software to help you manage it all. Read on to learn how to make the most of your email marketing to boost conversions and build real relationships with your customers to keep them coming back.
Why email marketing matters in ecommerce
Email marketing is a high ROI channel for ecommerce businesses because it’s easy to send out and can lead to conversions. In fact, email has an ROI of 3,800%, which makes it one of the best investments your company can make — and outpaces social media, paid ads, and other digital marketing strategies. One of the key reasons email marketing is so valuable for ecommerce in particular is its ability to impact every stage of the customer journey:
- Acquisition: Email allows you to nurture leads by turning website visitors into subscribers — and then guiding them toward their first purchase. Welcome emails, exclusive discounts, and product recommendations then help convert initial interest into action.
- Conversion: You can use targeted emails and reminders to push your hesitant shoppers toward completing their purchases.
- Retention: Keeping existing customers engaged is far more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. With emails, you can send out info on loyalty programs, post-purchase follow-ups, and re-engagement campaigns to keep people coming back.
Email also fits nicely into your broader digital marketing efforts. Social media builds brand awareness and paid ads drive traffic, and email marketing can then nurture those leads and turn them into loyal customers. Also unlike other platforms, where algorithms control visibility, email gives you direct access to your audience, so you can make sure your messages reach them.
Benefits of launching ecommerce email marketing campaigns
Email marketing is often the cornerstone of an ecommerce strategy for good reason. It’s a very effective way to reach your customers and boost engagement. It’s a direct channel to your customers — whether you're welcoming new subscribers, promoting special offers, or nurturing your best customers. Below are a few of the key benefits that make email marketing a must-have strategy for online stores.
Higher ROI compared to other marketing channels
Email marketing consistently delivers the highest return on investment (ROI) across digital marketing channels. There are a few reasons for that:
- Automation: With the right tools, you can set up automated workflows to craft and send the emails for you. While you’ll need a human to review each email, automation speeds up the entire process — which means you’re investing very little into email marketing. AI email marketing can make it easy to send emails while your company reaps the benefits.
- Segmentation: Targeted emails make sure that the right message reaches the right audience. When your messages are landing well, that can improve conversion rates.
- Personalization: It’s simple to tailor emails to a subscriber’s interests and behaviors, and this small adjustment can lead to higher engagement and sales.
Email can lead to high conversion rates with much smaller effort, which is why so many ecommerce companies use it as a major part of their marketing strategies.
Increased customer retention and repeat purchases
It saves you a lot of time and money to keep your customers rather than finding and converting new ones. Email is a channel that’s particularly effective for nurturing customer relationships and encouraging repeat purchases. You can reward long-time customers with exclusive perks or discounts and tailor offers to incentivize repeat purchases.
These kinds of customer-exclusive deals can help make your customers feel valued and appreciated. By consistently reaching out to your past customers with email, you can build brand loyalty and keep your customers coming back.
Better engagement with personalized and segmented messaging
Email marketing gives you a chance to personalize your communication with your customers and potential buyers. Generic, one-size-fits-all emails rarely perform well and end up in junk mail. But if you customize your emails by using customer names and recommending products based on their interests, you can boost your open rates.
In addition, email makes segmented messaging simple. Segmentation allows you to divide your audience based on demographics, behavior, purchase history, or preferences, so you can keep all of your messaging relevant.
Recover lost sales with abandoned cart emails
One of the biggest challenges in ecommerce is cart abandonment — shoppers adding items to their cart but leaving before completing the purchase. The good news is that email can help cut that down. You can send out abandoned cart emails that remind customers to complete their orders.
Best practices for abandoned cart emails include:
- Creating urgency with limited-time offers or low-stock alerts.
- Offering incentives like free shipping or a small discount to encourage checkout.
- Using multi-step sequences (e.g., a first reminder, a follow-up with an incentive, and a final "last chance" email).
These strategic follow-ups significantly increase the chances your customers will convert and help your business make up lost revenue.
Strengthened brand trust and customer relationships
Successful email marketing gives you a chance to build real relationships. Sending thoughtful, valuable emails helps you establish trust and keep customers engaged beyond a single purchase. Email gives you a chance to continually reach out. For example, you could strengthen your relationships by sending out educational content such as a how-to guide, an industry research report, or tips on how to best use your products. This can help your customers feel connected to your brand, which can help them stay loyal to your brand.
Higher conversion rates with targeted promotions
Well-timed, targeted promotions convert better than generic sales blasts. By tailoring discounts and special offers to the right audience segments with emails, you can take advantage of the higher conversion rates. You could target your loyal customers with “VIP early access” deals or convert hesitant buyers with flash sales that incentivize them to purchase.
Data-driven insights for continuous optimization
One of the greatest advantages of email marketing is its ability to provide real-time, data-driven insights. By tracking email marketing benchmarks, you can keep optimizing campaigns for better results. Typically, you’ll want to track metrics like:
- Open rates and click-through rates (CTR) to measure engagement.
- Conversion rates to track how many subscribers take the desired action.
- A/B testing to experiment with subject lines, send times, and content variations.
These metrics give you the data you need to refine your messaging and make your email campaigns more impactful over time.
Email marketing is a powerful, scalable tool that helps eCommerce brands drive sales, retain customers, and build strong relationships. With automation, personalization, and data-driven optimization, you can create high-converting campaigns that fuel long-term growth.

50 Best Practices for Email Marketers
How do you get readers to click and read your emails? The answer is easy if you take it logically with these best practices.
Types of ecommerce emails you should be sending
A successful ecommerce email marketing strategy involves more than just sending promotional messages every once and awhile. To really see a boost in your engagement and sales, you’re going to want a well-balanced mix of campaigns for every stage of the buyer’s journey. A variety of automated and manual campaigns can nurture customers and turn them into loyal customers. Below are the essential types of ecommerce emails you should be sending to keep your customers engaged.
Welcome emails
First impressions matter, and a well-crafted welcome email sets the tone for your brand. Sending a good welcome email gives new subscribers a reason to stay engaged and keep coming back. Your welcome email should introduce your brand and explain what makes it unique and valuable. Then set expectations on what subscribers can expect to see, from exclusive deals to regular product updates. End by offering some kind of value right away, such as a discount or special gift for their first purchase.
Transactional emails
Transactional emails confirm a customer’s order but also help reinforce brand identity and create a seamless customer experience. You might send an email to reassure customers that their purchase was successful — something many customers expect. You might also follow up with shipping updates and tracking information, so they can follow their order. These emails generally have a high open rate because customers are looking for the information inside, so it’s a great opportunity to also mention loyalty programs or products they might like to encourage repeat business.
Abandoned cart emails
Abandoned carts are a big challenge for most ecommerce companies, and emails are a way to help those carts go through. Send your customers reminders a few hours after they make a cart to come back and complete their purchase. You could even create a sense of urgency by showing them how much is left in stock or offering them a limited-time discount if they return. Your emails might also feature the benefits of the products to get people interested again.
A series of follow-up emails (instead of just one) can also significantly improve recovery rates.
Product recommendation emails
Everybody likes to know someone’s thinking about them. You can tap into that with email marketing by sending customers personalized product recommendations based on their browsing or purchase history. This gets your brand on your customer’s mind, and they feel like your company cares about them and learns more about products they might love.
Re-engagement emails
Not all of your customers stay active forever, but a well-timed re-engagement email can bring them back. You can send them a quick email with exclusive discounts for their next purchase or remind them about new arrivals they might like. Sometimes it’s helpful to ask for feedback about why they haven’t returned and how your company can improve. A re-engagement campaign is a great way to get your past customers interested in your brand again.
Loyalty and rewards emails
Loyal customers are the backbone of any successful ecommerce business — thank them for that! Loyalty and rewards emails can keep these great customers excited about your company. Offer them VIP perks, exclusive sales, extra points for a loyalty program, and even celebrate their milestones (like a birthday). Loyalty and rewards emails make customers feel appreciated and more likely to return.
Promotional and seasonal emails
Promotional emails drive revenue by creating excitement around limited-time deals, holiday sales, and special events. Use urgency and exclusivity, such as “24-hour flash sale” or “limited stock available” to get people flocking to your site. Often, these campaigns perform well around seasonal trends, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday shopping. These emails can help you capitalize on the peak shopping season and increase your sales.
Review and feedback request emails
Customer reviews build trust and influence future buyers, so consider sending review request emails to encourage satisfied customers to share their experiences. Make it easy for them by providing a direct link to leave a review. You might even offer an incentive offering loyalty points or a small discount to thank them for sharing their feedback.
15 proven ecommerce email marketing campaign strategies
A well-executed email marketing strategy delivers targeted, relevant messages that resonate with customers. Below, we explore 15 high-impact email marketing strategies that can help boost conversions and maximize customer retention.
1. Personalize product recommendations
The biggest tip to create a truly successful email campaign is to personalize whenever possible. Personalized product recommendation emails use customer data — such as browsing history, past purchases, or abandoned carts — to suggest items tailored to their interests. Doing so makes it easier for your customers to find what they would be interested in and encourages repeat purchases.
For example, if a customer recently bought a coffee machine, sending an email recommending compatible accessories or premium coffee blends can encourage another purchase. By delivering relevant suggestions, you can create a better shopping experience for your customers and keep them coming back again and again.
2. VIP and exclusive access emails
Exclusivity is a powerful psychological trigger that makes customers feel valued and special. Let them into an exclusive club or send them VIP discounts that make them feel special, and you can build more trust and keep people engaged with your brand. For example, you could send your most loyal customers that have made three purchases or more with you in the last year an email showcasing limited-edition products just for VIPs. Or you could send them an email with a code offering them one-day early access to your year’s best sale.
Customers who feel like insiders are more likely to engage with the brand and continue purchasing over time.
3. Back-in-stock alerts
Back-in-stock emails notify customers when a previously sold-out product becomes available again, giving them a second chance to buy. Since these emails target shoppers who have already expressed interest, they typically result in high conversion rates. Add a little urgency by mentioning limited stock or allowing customers to pre-order.
For example, a clothes retailer might have an option on their website that says, “Notify me when this is back in stock” on a popular color for a particular shirt. When that’s back in stock, the company can send out emails to everyone who selected that option and remind them that this color sells out quickly. That encourages them to jump on this opportunity and can lead to better sales for your company.
4. Price drop notifications
Price drop notification emails alert customers when the cost of a product they’ve viewed or added to their wishlist decreases. Many shoppers hesitate to buy due to price concerns, so notifying them of a discount can push them toward completing a purchase they might otherwise not complete. Including a “Buy Now” button in your email or a time-sensitive offer can create urgency and encourage them to buy as soon as possible. These emails work particularly well for high-ticket items where price sensitivity plays a major role in decision-making.
5. First-time purchaser discounts
Converting new subscribers into paying customers is one of the biggest challenges in ecommerce. So make buying from you for the first-time a little sweeter with a discount. A welcome email with an exclusive discount code gives potential customers an extra incentive to try your brand. You might also highlight best-selling products, customer testimonials, or a money-back guarantee to further build trust. This approach can encourage people to buy from you and set the foundation for long-term customer relationships.
6. Customer win-back campaigns
Inactive customers don’t always mean lost customers — sometimes, they just need a little nudge to re-engage. Win-back email campaigns target customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while with a special offer, personalized product recommendations, or a reminder of their past interactions with the brand. Including an exclusive discount or highlighting new arrivals can reignite interest and encourage these customers to come back. These emails are best when they’re personalized, so it feels genuine and not like another generic sales pitch.
7. Referral and “give-get” emails
Referral emails encourage existing customers to invite friends and family to shop by offering incentives for both parties. A “give-get” structure — where the referrer and the new customer each receive a discount or reward — creates a win-win scenario. These emails work well because they make use of word-of-mouth marketing, which is more trusted than traditional advertising. Then it also rewards everyone involved to help build great relationships with your customers.
8. Anniversary or milestone emails
Recognizing customer milestones, such as the anniversary of their first purchase or their birthday, helps create a personal connection. Your customer feels valued, and you get a relationship with them; everyone wins. These emails often include a small gift, discount, or special message. Personalized milestone emails like this stand out in crowded inboxes because they focus on appreciation rather than direct selling.
9. Post-purchase follow-ups
Post-purchase emails include confirmation emails, shipping emails, and even pro tips for using your product — all to improve the customer experience. A well-crafted follow-up email might include product care tips, how-to guides, or personalized recommendations based on their recent purchase. For example, if a customer orders a new travel backpack, you could send them a follow-up email with packing lists or care instructions to get them excited about their purchase.
These emails can also ask for customer feedback or reviews to help you improve your products and services. A thoughtful follow-up — however you decide it should look — makes your customers feel valued and increases the likelihood of future purchases.
10. Exclusive or subscriber-only offers
Get people excited about being on your email list by offering them exclusive promotions only available to subscribers. These can include early access to sales, special discount codes, or unique product bundles. Positioning these deals as “subscriber-only” makes customers feel like insiders, a member of an exclusive club. That can then increase brand loyalty. This strategy can boost conversions and help build a strong, engaged email list.
11. Flash sale or urgency-driven emails
Flash sales are a proven way to drive quick conversions because people are motivated by scarcity. These emails should include a countdown timer, limited stock alerts, or a “last chance” message to get people nervous about missing an opportunity and encourage immediate action. Highlighting how many people have already taken advantage of the deal can also increase FOMO (fear of missing out) — another powerful motivator.
12. Social proof and UGC emails
Customers trust other customers more than brands, which is why featuring user-generated content (UGC) and reviews in emails is so effective. Social proof emails showcase real customer photos, testimonials, or product ratings to build credibility and show that real people love your products. Encouraging customers to share their experiences on social media in exchange for a reward can generate fresh content for future emails. This strategy can strengthen trust with your loyal customers and help hesitant buyers feel more confident about making a purchase.
13. Interactive or gamified emails
Emails don’t have to be boring. Interactive emails engage customers in a fun and memorable way and stand out in an inbox of dull content. Gamification elements — such as scratch-to-reveal discounts, spin-the-wheel promotions, or interactive quizzes — encourage users to open and engage directly with the email. These types of emails break the monotony of standard promotional messages and can encourage action.
14. Educational and value-based content
Not all emails should be sales-driven — offering valuable content helps keep customers engaged even when they’re not actively shopping. Educational emails can include styling guides, product tutorials, industry trends, or insider tips related to your niche and show that you care about your customers, not just sales. Customers who see value beyond just products are more likely to stay engaged and return when they’re ready to buy. After all, now they consider you a thought leader in your industry.
15. Multi-channel email and SMS campaigns
Combining email with SMS marketing creates a multi-channel experience that gets people engaged with your brand. For example, sending an email about a limited-time offer followed by an SMS reminder could increase the chances of conversion. SMS is particularly useful for time-sensitive messages, such as flash sales or order updates, while emails provide more detailed content. A coordinated multi-channel approach ensures customers receive important updates through their preferred communication channel.
How to build an ecommerce marketing strategy
Simply sending occasional promotional emails isn’t a full marketing strategy. Instead, you’re going to want a nice balance of promotional, conversational, and transactional emails to keep people interested in your brand at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Below, we break down the key steps to building a high-performing ecommerce marketing plan.
- Set clear objectives that match business goals: Define the measurable goals that align with your business strategy. For example, it could be increasing conversions by nurturing leads or boosting customer retention with re-engagement efforts. Having clear objectives helps you craft email campaigns that serve a purpose and contribute to your bottom line.
- Segment your audience for targeted messaging: Not all customers are the same, so sending identical emails to your entire list is ineffective. Segmentation allows you to divide your audience based on their purchase history (first-time buyers vs. repeat customers), behavior data (browsing history or abandoned carts), and demographics (location or age). By tailoring emails to specific customer groups, you increase relevance and hopefully engagement.
- Automate email sequences: Automation is a game-changer for helping you send timely emails without extensive manual effort. Set up a welcome series, an abandoned cart sequence, and post-purchase follow-ups to make sure you have great emails that are sent automatically at the right moment in the buyer’s journey.
- Craft engaging subject lines and clear CTAs: Your email subject line is the first thing subscribers see, and it determines whether they open the email or ignore it. Keep it short and compelling with something to incentivize immediate action. For example, an abandoned cart email could have a subject line like “You Left Something Behind! Here’s 10% Off.” Once inside the email, your CTA should be clear and action-oriented, like “Shop Now.”
- Optimize emails for mobile devices: A lot of your customers are going to open your emails on their phones or tablets, so having mobile-friendly design is non-negotiable. Use responsible designs to make sure it’s readable on all screen sizes and keep your paragraphs short and scannable. You also want your load times for your graphics to be quick, so don’t include a massive embedded graphic that slows down the open time.
Best practices for ecommerce email marketing success
High-performing email campaigns don’t just happen — they’re the result of thoughtful strategy, testing, and continuous optimization. Below are a few essential tactics to help you create great marketing campaigns your customers will respond to.
Use personalization and dynamic content
Personalization is one of the most effective ways to increase email engagement and conversions. And customers expect it. Email best practices for personalization include:
- Using the recipient’s name in the subject line or greeting to make emails feel more personal. This is a small detail that goes a long way to help your customers feel valued.
- Sending product recommendations based on browsing history, abandoned carts, or past purchases. For example, you could send an email about how a customer has been looking at a high ticket item like a TV and offer them 10% off if they return.
- Creating dynamic content that changes based on customer segments (e.g., gender-specific product recommendations or location-based promotions). For example, a clothing retailer might offer coat recommendations for areas that are heading into winter.
Personalized emails make each message relevant to the recipient — which can boost click-through rates.
Implement A/B testing and optimization
A/B testing (or split testing) is a way to identify what resonates best with your audience. Instead of guessing what works, you can use data-driven experiments to make decisions about your emails. These are a few elements in your emails that you might want to test:
- Subject lines: Try different wording styles (curiosity-driven, urgent, personalized) to see what boosts open rates.
- CTA placement and wording: Experiment with button size, color, and copy to maximize clicks.
- Email design and layout: Test single-column vs. multi-column formats, image-heavy vs. text-focused emails, and different mobile-friendly designs.
- Send times and days: Analyze what times of day and days of the week seem to be the best time to send marketing emails.
Maintain a clean and accurate email list
You want a good email list to make sure that your campaigns are reaching the right audience. Over time, inactive subscribers, invalid email addresses, and spam complaints can harm deliverability and lower engagement rates. To keep your list clean, try:
- Regularly removing inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged in the past 6–12 months.
- Using double opt-in emails to ensure you’re collecting valid, engaged email addresses.
- Segmenting subscribers based on activity levels to send re-engagement campaigns before removing them.
- Monitoring bounce rates and cleaning up undeliverable emails to maintain a high sender reputation.
A well-maintained email list leads to better open rates and fewer spam complaints.
Find timing & frequency that works
The success of your email campaigns depends on when and how often you send them. Sending too many emails can overwhelm your subscribers and scare them off, while infrequent emails may cause customers to forget about your brand. Keep your emails relevant by:
- Analyzing customer behavior to determine when they are most likely to engage with emails.
- Avoiding sending too many promotional emails — balance with educational content, updates, and value-driven messages.
- Using automation wisely to send timely emails triggered by specific customer actions (e.g., abandoned carts, product restocks).
- Segmenting based on engagement levels — highly engaged subscribers may enjoy frequent updates, while others may prefer fewer emails.
Finding the right balance ensures you stay top-of-mind without overwhelming your audience.
Ensure compliance and privacy
To keep your customers’ trust (and avoid legal problems), you’re going to want to stay compliant with any regulations. For example, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) requires explicit consent from European customers before sending emails. The CAN-SPAM Act requires you to make it easy for recipients to opt out of your emails if they want. A few key practices to keep in mind include:
- Always obtain explicit consent before sending marketing emails.
- Provide a clear and easy way to unsubscribe in every email.
- Be transparent about data usage and privacy policies.
- Only send emails to subscribers who have opted in to avoid spam complaints and potential fines.

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How to measure the success of your email campaigns
Tracking and analyzing the performance of your email campaigns is how you’ll know what’s working and where you need to make adjustments. Without data, it’s impossible to know where to start refining your email strategy. Below are the most important performance indicators and how to use them.
Key performance metrics
Monitoring the right metrics helps you evaluate the effectiveness of email campaigns. The most critical email marketing KPIs include:
- Open rate: The percentage of recipients who open your email. A low open rate may indicate weak subject lines.
- Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click on links within your email. Higher CTRs suggest that your content, visuals, and CTAs are engaging.
- Conversion rate: The percentage of email recipients who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for an offer. This is the ultimate measure of an email’s effectiveness.
- Bounce rate: The percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered. A high bounce rate can indicate issues with your email list quality.
- Unsubscribe rate: The percentage of recipients who opt out after receiving an email. High unsubscribe rates may signal email fatigue or irrelevant content.
- Revenue per email (RPE): A crucial ecommerce metric that calculates how much revenue each email generates, helping you understand your ROI.
Improving underperforming emails
If your emails aren’t performing as expected, these are a few ways you could tweak what you’re doing to see better results:
- Revise subject lines: If open rates are low, test more engaging subject lines with personalization, urgency, or curiosity-driven messaging. Try adding action items to them to keep a sense of urgency.
- Optimize email content: If CTR is low, improve email copy, visuals, and layout to make the content more compelling and action-oriented.
- Refine CTAs: Ensure calls to action (CTAs) are clear, prominently placed, and persuasive to encourage more clicks.
- Experiment with send times: Test different times of the day or week to see when your audience is most responsive. Maybe you’re sending an effective email after your customers have checked for the day — and then they’re getting buried.
- Improve mobile optimization: Ensure emails load quickly and display properly on mobile devices for better engagement.
A/B testing these elements can help you determine what resonates best with your audience and drive better results.
Using analytics to refine strategy
Tracking trends over time provides deeper insights into what works best for your audience. To take advantage of the data you’re gathering, use analytics tools to:
- Monitor long-term trends to identify which types of emails generate the highest engagement and revenue.
- Segment audience data to determine which customer groups respond best to different campaigns.
- Analyze purchase behavior to personalize content and product recommendations more effectively.
- Test and refine automation workflows to ensure optimal timing and messaging for key email sequences like abandoned cart and post-purchase follow-ups.
Regularly reviewing email performance and making data-driven adjustments will help fine-tune your strategy.
Common pitfalls to avoid in ecommerce email marketing
Even the best email marketing strategies can fall flat if common mistakes go unchecked. By identifying these mistakes and making strategic adjustments, you can improve your email performance and build stronger customer relationships. Below are five of the most common email marketing pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Over-emailing or under-emailing
Finding the right email frequency is crucial — sending too many emails can annoy subscribers into leaving your email list, while sending too few can cause customers to lose interest in your brand. Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for how to find the right balance. Instead, what you’ll want to do is:
- Test different sending frequencies to find a balance that keeps customers engaged without overwhelming them.
- Monitor engagement metrics (open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates) to determine if you need to adjust frequency.
- Allow customers to manage their preferences by letting them choose how often they receive emails.
Over-emailing or under-emailing
Finding the right email frequency is crucial — sending too many emails can annoy subscribers into leaving your email list, while sending too few can cause customers to lose interest in your brand. Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for how to find the right balance. Instead, what you’ll want to do is:
- Test different sending frequencies to find a balance that keeps customers engaged without overwhelming them.
- Monitor engagement metrics (open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates) to determine if you need to adjust frequency.
- Allow customers to manage their preferences by letting them choose how often they receive emails.
Poor segmentation
Sending the same email to your entire subscriber list is a missed opportunity. Customers expect relevant and personalized content, and generic emails often result in low engagement and high unsubscribe rates. If you’re not segmenting your audience and are sending massive email blasts all the time, start there. Break people into groups based on behavior, purchase history, demographics, and engagement levels.
Even if you are already segmenting your audience, if your emails are underperforming, you might have the wrong groupings. If that’s the case, try A/B testing a few new groupings to see if they’re more effective.
Weak subject lines
Your subject line is the first thing recipients see, and if it doesn’t grab their attention, they won’t open your email. Weak, vague, or spammy subject lines don’t entice your customers to open your email. Keep your subject lines sweet and highly relevant — don’t create clickbait style subject lines that get a few more clicks, only to have people lose interest in your brand because they’re disappointed. Here are a few examples of changing a weak subject line to a great one:
- “Check this out!” to “Customer name, you’ll love these new spring collection arrivals!”
- “Your Account Update For March 2025 Regarding The Status Of Your Wishlist Items” to “Clock’s Ticking: Grab Your Wishlist Items Before They’re Gone!”
- “Big Sale” to “24 Hours Only! Don’t Miss Out on 40% Off!”
Not optimizing for mobile
If your emails aren’t performing well, one area to check is that your emails look good on a mobile phone. Customers don’t want to have to scroll horizontally to see the whole email. In fact, chances are if they have to do that, they likely won’t finish the email — and may hesitate to open another. So start by optimizing all of your emails for mobile devices. Keep paragraphs short and make sure your CTA buttons display correctly and lead to the right site.
Ignoring email compliance
Failing to comply with email marketing regulations can lead to deliverability issues, legal penalties, and a damaged brand reputation. Don’t send emails to customers without their consent — or you could damage your relationship with customers and get a legal penalty. Making it difficult to unsubscribe doesn’t keep your email list healthy but can instead land your emails in spam folders. So always check that you’re compliant with any regulations (like CAN-SPAM) that apply to your company and make it easy to find the unsubscribe link in every email. These actions protect your brand and your customers’ trust.
Maximize engagement and sales with ecommerce email marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools for ecommerce businesses. With email, you can nurture your leads through the buyer’s journey, keep your brand on people’s minds, and build long-term relationships with your loyal customers. Unlike social media or paid ads, email provides direct access to your customers’ inboxes. Take advantage of that — and respect it by crafting emails that they’ll love and benefit from.
Use segmentation, A/B testing, automation, and data-driven optimization to create high-performing email campaigns that engage your audience and maximize sales. Whether it’s recovering abandoned carts, delivering exclusive promotions, or fostering loyalty with personalized recommendations, email marketing offers endless opportunities to strengthen customer relationships and increase revenue. The high ROI for email marketing makes it clear: your ecommerce business needs a good email marketing strategy.
Ecommerce email marketing FAQS
Ecommerce email marketing involves sending commercial messages to prospective or current customers via email to promote products, drive sales, and build customer loyalty for online stores.
Email marketing allows ecommerce businesses to engage directly with customers, recover abandoned carts, announce new products, offer promotions, and nurture leads effectively, boosting online sales.
Common types include welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, order confirmations, shipping updates, product recommendations, promotional offers, and loyalty program updates.
Personalization is achieved by segmenting audiences based on purchase history, browse behavior, demographics, and using dynamic content to tailor product recommendations and offers.
Key metrics include open rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, revenue per email, abandoned cart recovery rate, and unsubscribe rate.
By sending targeted post-purchase emails, loyalty program updates, and personalized recommendations, ecommerce businesses can encourage repeat purchases and foster long-term customer relationships.