Marketer's Space - Why email marketing matters in ecommerce

Marketer's Space - Why email marketing matters in ecommerce



Hello Marketers,
Welcome to this week's Marketer's space post. Today, we'll discus why email marketing matters in ecommerce businesses.

Running an online store is exciting but challenging. If you're running an online store, you've probably experienced this:
Visitors come in, browse, maybe even add something to their cart, and then they disappear. It happens every day, and without the right tools, those potential sales disappear quietly. That's where email marketing for your ecommerce store comes in.

Email isn't just another communication channel; it's one of the most direct ways to reach your customers, whether they're new signups or long-time loyal buyers.

With Zoho Campaigns, you get all the features you need to make email marketing less of a hassle and more of a growth engine for your business. In this post, we'll talk about the basics of email marketing, a few real-world scenarios, and why email still has an edge over other marketing channels.

What is email marketing in ecommerce?

Email marketing is simply the use of email to connect with customers and bring them closer to making a purchase. That might mean sending a welcome email to someone who's just signed up, reminding someone of the cart they've left behind, or announcing a seasonal sale.

How to access Zoho Campaigns' ecommerce features

In Zoho Campaigns, you can access ecommerce-specific features by heading to the ecommerce section on your dashboard. From here, you'll find ready-to-use templates, integrations with platforms like Zoho Commerce, Shopify, and WooCommerce, and automation workflows designed for online stores. There's no need to code or any complex setups—just simple and straightforward tools built for everyday marketers.



Real-world use cases

Now let's look at some practical examples where email marketing fits seamlessly into your daily workflow:
  1. Abandoned cart recovery: Let's say a customer adds a pair of shoes to their cart but leaves your site before checking out. Zoho Campaigns can send a reminder email automatically, maybe with a product image and a small discount to encourage them to complete their purchase.
         

  1. Welcome email series: When a new user signs up for your mailing list from your product page, you don't have to stop at "Thanks for joining." Instead, send them a welcome email that introduces them to your brand, gives them a look at your bestsellers, and maybe offers a first-time discount.
         
              
  1. Seasonal campaigns: Planning for holiday sales like Christmas or Diwali? You can set up promotional emails in advance, segment customers based on past purchase behaviors, and track campaign performance in real time.
          

  1. Product recommendations: Here's where things get fun. Let's say someone browsed shirts but didn't buy any. Zoho Campaigns can automatically suggest complementary products like jackets or ties without you having to manually craft every email. This feels personal to the customer, but in reality it's the system doing the work for you. It's the same strategy big players like Amazon use, but Zoho Campaigns makes it accessible for smaller businesses.
 
           

Tips for getting started

  1. Start small: Pick one campaign type (like abandoned cart) and test it. This way, you can learn about other related features and master one feature after another.
  2. Focus on timing: Identify your customer base and send your emails when they're most likely to open them—preferably using their geographical locations, which help identify their ideal open times.
  3. Keep it personal: Use segmentation and merge tags to make emails feel less robotic and more personal.
  4. Don't forget smartphones: A big chunk of your audience will open emails on their phones, so it's a good idea to customize your emails to be smartphone-friendly.
 
Email marketing isn't just about spamming inboxes with more emails; it's about sending the right message at the right time. With Zoho Campaigns, you can automate most of this so that you can focus on your marketing strategy instead of doing everything manually.

In the next part, we'll dive deeper into advanced features like segmentation, recommendations, and reporting—all of which can take your email game from "good enough" to truly efficient. Stay tuned for the next part.

Until then, happy emailing!

Regards,
Yashwanth.S
User Education
Zoho Campaigns Team