Remarketing is the process of reaching out to users that have browsed, purchased, or abandoned and getting them to return and complete a purchase. The idea seems simple enough. However, a great deal of work goes into a successful email remarketing campaign.
Online shopping is rarely a linear process. A customer may visit multiple sites, compare prices, and take days to complete a purchase, even if they’ve already added an item to their cart. This happens more often than you think. Some industries experience abandonment rates as high as 83.6%.
When a consumer abandons, it doesn’t matter how streamlined your site is, how well you’ve crafted the copy, or even how great your prices are. The customer left without placing an order.
That’s where a email remarketing campaign comes in. Reengage customers and encourage them to make a purchase using these four important things.
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Keep it Short
If your inbox is anything like ours, it’s not exactly an orderly array of documents. Emails have a tendency to pile up, especially when they come from companies rather than people. Although there’s a chance users will at some point open the email, it’s unlikely they will read it carefully or at all.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Which are you more likely to read? A message from your colleague or an email from an online retailer? That’s why it’s important to keep your messages short.
In the chance that customers engage with your email remarketing campaign, you need to make as much impact in as little time as possible.
At most, the email should be three paragraphs; a short introduction (1-2 sentences), the body (2-3 sentences), and a short conclusion (2-3 sentences). Too much deviation from this structure and the email will likely end up trashed.
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Keep it Personal
There are few things worse than being addressed by an overtly general title. For instance, how likely are you to read paper mail addressed to “current resident” or “occupant”? By the same token, nobody likes being referred to as “valued customer”. Not only has this term become cliché, but it feels strikingly disingenuous, especially when you’re asking someone to take further action.
If you have a customer’s first name, use it in your greeting. The personalization really does make all the difference.
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Refresh Their Memory
Consumers spend approximately 5 hours per week shopping online. Therefore, if a person spends 10 minutes shopping your site, that was, on average, less than 2% of the time they spent shopping online that week.
When re-engaging potential customers, it’s important to realize that although you have a record of what they were looking at, they probably don’t remember exactly what those items were. So, what does this mean for you?
In essence, one of the most helpful things you can do with your email remarketing campaign is to remind the user what they were looking at, ideally with the use of visual elements.
For instance, if a user left a trendy watch in their cart, a static image or cart rebuilder strategy of his abandoned items can help refresh his memory and entice him to continue shopping. This is much more likely to result in a conversion than simply saying “come back and shop.”
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Give a Reason to Return
As a retailer, it’s impossible to know why a potential customer leaves without purchasing. There are countless reasons retailers can muster up to explain abandonment, but one thing is certain – new or returning customers respond well to a little incentive.
While it would be nice to believe customers will purchase with a quick email and a reminder, it does take a bit more than that at times.
Sometimes, an incentive is the best way to get a customer to return to a site. This is not to say you need to give them a steep discount to convince them to complete their purchase. A small incentive is often all it takes to turn browsers into customers.
One of the most effective incentives is free shipping. The most commonly cited reason for not buying something online was paying the cost of shipping.
Other offers, such as taking 10% off the purchase price can also positively impact conversions, especially if the customer was already close to buying it last time. If you’re planning to send more than one email, be sure to know best practices for email frequency.
Wrapping Up
Many online retailers focus their energy on getting people to their site. No matter how well you’ve designed your site, abandonment is a reality in the context of online retail. Rather than ignoring this fact, ecommerce sites must learn to mitigate it without pushing away customers with a poorly strategized email remarketing campaign.
By utilizing an effective email remarketing campaign that builds a relationship with a customer, retailers can turn abandonments to conversions and passive browsers to loyal customers. After all, it’s all about the approach.
Looking for More Ways to Increase Your Conversions?
Check out UpSellit’s 27 Attributes of an Effective Email. This in-depth guide covers the ins-and-outs of crafting the perfect remarketing email. It’s a great resource and it’s totally free! Download it today and start writing awesome emails that convert.
