By Melanie Phillips

Whether you realize it or not, email sequences are one of the most POWERFUL tools for your ecommerce business. 

Your prime goal is to turn your target audience into customers, and email sequences are a very effective way to do this. 

If you aren’t utilizing this simple, but VALUABLE approach for increasing sales, you are missing out on one of the most essential tools for driving your business.

How Many Ecommerce Sites Are There?

The U.S. ecommerce market has increased exponentially in the last 20 years. In 2000, the market was just 27.61 billion; by 2020 it had reached $861 billion. About 1.8 million online retailers operate in the U.S. and 7.1 million globally. (1)

About 2.05 billion people per year buy a product online, which means there are people out there who want YOUR product. In 2021, 74.3 percent of Americans purchased goods online. (1)

Not only this, but the health and wellness industry is booming.  On average, the health and wellness industry is growing at about 9.9 percent each year and is expected to reach $7 trillion by 2025.

What is Email Marketing?

The fact that the health and wellness business is so profitable also means that there are many competitors out there. Email marketing, especially the use of email sequences, allows you to build rapport with your target audience and establish credibility within the large pool of existing ecommerce businesses.

Customers want to be able to trust you and learn how you stand out from others offering similar products. Email sequences are a great way to approach your target customer about your product while you offer valuable information to them. They are one of the most effective ways for keeping your customer engaged. 

Why Email Marketing?

Email sequences are inexpensive. They have a very high return on investment. For every $1 you spend, you can expect to see an average return of $42. The return for ecommerce, retail, and consumer goods or services is even higher with the rate at about 45:1. (2)

You can’t escape social media advertising these days unless you just completely disconnect from the outside world. It makes sense that we have become conditioned to believe that social media ads are exactly what our businesses need. 

While social media is highly important, would you believe that emails are also up to 40 times more effective than social media? (2)

Email is very accessible to users. You know personally how easy it is to just pull up your email from your smartphone. In fact, 85 percent of smartphone users do just that.

The number of email users is growing. By this year, the number of email users is expected to grow to 4.3 billion. What this means is that in just a few years, about half of the world’s population will be using email. (2)

It is extremely efficient. There are a number of tools and strategies out there that make it quite simple to send out emails to millions of customers with just a few clicks.

Email sequences help build long-term relationships with customers and potential customers. This allows you to personalize your content and adapt to your subscriber’s preferences. You can provide freebies and factual information about your product. Email allows you to give your product a personality as well and influence how your potential customer views it. 

Emails can be used to drive traffic to other places such as social media, landing pages, and blogs. This is a powerful way to use several marketing methods at once and really step up your sales.

What is an Email Sequence and What Are Some Examples?

Email sequences are a series of emails that guide the buyer through the customer experience with the end goal of prompting them to take action. (3)

An opt-in email list is going to be crucial for your business. Once you have this, you will likely want to begin with sending a welcome email sequence. Welcome emails have an average open rate of 50%. (4) This is an opportunity to show them how your product can help them and offer a freebie. You’re able to deliver valuable content such as a blog.

Your goal here is to establish credibility with the consumer and build rapport. You will want to introduce your brand and values and then showcase a few products with testimonials. Lastly, you may want to offer your prospective customers an incentive to purchase your products. 

Email sequences have other purposes as well. Once your customer has bought a product from you, it’s a no-brainer that you want to retain them and have them buy your product again and again. You might want to ask your customer for feedback on the product they purchased and offer similar items to them for future purchases. 

It is also very common for customers to abandon their carts. I bet there is a high probability that you have done this very thing. 

An abandoned cart sequence simply reminds your customer that it’s still there and lets them know their cart will be expiring soon. You may also include testimonials of the items that are in their cart and even incentivize them with a small discount to prompt them to continue with their purchase.

Emails can be used to re-engage with customers too. It costs a lot less to engage an existing customer rather than find a new one. The effort is worth it! You can send valuable content and remind them of the brand’s value and offerings. You also want to give them an incentive to buy.  

Promotional email sequences can be used to highlight a promotion you are offering on your product. You can use these to build hype about your sale and motivate your audience. You can announce when the promo is open and when it expires and remind them before it ends. 

By now, you are beginning to understand just how powerful email sequences can be for your ecommerce business. The health and wellness industry is especially lucrative because customers tend to view these products as needed and thus, are more likely to be repeat buyers.