Last updated - September 24, 2020
Emails offer a direct communication channel with your customers. Be it before-sale queries, order notifications, or marketing communication, emails act as important links in customer engagement. When done right, emails can contribute immensely to customer satisfaction. Let’s take a look at some of the tried and tested email management strategies while running a WooCommerce store.
Ensure the design compatibility of your emails
The design of your email template should be compatible with multiple browsers, clients, and devices. You can’t simply assume that a good design on your end would look exactly the same way when it reaches the customer’s inbox. The best approach to be sure is to use a mail client testing feature like Inbox Preview. You will know exactly how your email looks in more than 40 email clients with this feature.
You can also make your emails more accessible by including a plain text version which eliminates codes and messages from the email. Almost all of the email tools that are available in the market will automatically create a plain text version of your HTML mail. However, it is advisable to test it once before sending out the mail to customers. After all, you have to ensure the message reaches the customer, with or without fancy design additions.
Crisp and relevant subject lines
Your emails should have a relevant subject line. This is more important than being catchy or creative, according to experiments by WooCommerce. The aim is to create a subject line that should tell the recipient clearly the reason to open the mail. The message should be clear with the minimal use of words. For example, if you are intimating your customers about a new product launch or a discount offer, include them at the start of the message.
Consistently personalize all your customer interaction emails
You need to put in good efforts in personalizing the email interactions you have with your customers at all levels. Companies tend to invest more in personalizing their marketing messages, but order-receipt emails remain dry and dull. This can somewhat harm your prospects for customer engagement and repeat purchases. The customer should feel the personalized tone and intent in every interaction they have with your store. This way your customers feel you care about their experience as much as you care about the sales opportunity.
Add a human touch to your post order email
Further elaborating on the previous point, a post-order email is something store owners miss to customize. Add a human touch to your order receipt notification, so that your customer would feel they are interacting with an actual human being. You can casually ask the customer to give a feedback on your fulfillment process. Incorporating their (valid) suggestions for product additions or design tweaks might make the customers feel more involved with your business. MailChimp integration is a good option if you want to automate your email strategy with a personalized feel to it.
Send frequent emails to customers informing about new products
That leads us to the next point – informing customers about product additions to your store. Regularly keeping in touch with customers through engaging emails might just encourage further purchases from your store. The emails you send can have updated information about your new product line, or an upcoming offer. Even if they don’t buy the specific item that you promoted through the email, there is a possibility that they might visit and like something else in your store.
Time your sales plan strategically
There is no prize for guessing this, but you know customers love a discount offer. That doesn’t mean that you should overuse this approach. If your customer engagement emails are predominantly news about sales offers in your store, it may have a counter effect. If discount offers are a regular presence in your store, customers would want to shop from you only when a sales event is on. You can plan offers seasonally; that way you will be ready to handle large volumes of customers too.
Follow-up with customers who haven’t purchased from you for a while
You can send a tailor-made email to customers who haven’t purchased from you for a long time. However, you will have to wait for a considerable period of non-engagement before sending such an email ahead. You can actually combine the above two strategies on this one – inform about new products, and/or offer a discount. There is a high probability that the customer would be happy to purchase from you if the previous purchase was a satisfactory one.
MailChimp integration for better results
Integrate your store with MailChimp for assured results in terms of customer engagement and satisfaction. Using this you can create highly targeted campaigns to connect with your customers.
Some of the features that you can use for your WooCommerce store include:
- Identify customers who spend a certain amount or purchase specific products
- Test and understand the effects of your campaigns
- Automate your email campaigns with product recommendations
- Use demographic data to target customers
- Incorporate Facebook advertisements
- View campaign reports evaluating your campaign’s performance.
