5 Ecommerce Email Campaigns to Grow Customer Loyalty

Did you know US retailers on average need to attract 5 new shoppers to equal the revenue of one faithful customer? Your repeat customers are 9 times more likely to purchase compared to new shoppers.

Obviously, loyalty email marketing campaigns should be high on your list of priorities!

Your best customers deserve to be thanked, rewarded, inspired and educated. Use your email campaigns to surprise and delight them while simultaneously increasing their lifetime value.

Here are five ecommerce email campaigns that have proven effective in building customer loyalty:

1. Educational emails

Become your customers’ trusted expert. Share relevant ideas and tips to help them get the most from your products. A lot of times, you’ll end up creating more use-case scenarios that bring them back for repeat purchases.

Let’s pretend you sell shoes. You keep a running list of all women who buy ankle boots from you, and you trigger an email send 10 days after they’ve checked out – timed to arrive after they receive the boots. This email includes tips on how to stylishly cuff jeans when wearing ankle boots. (Trust me men, this is important stuff!)

The result? Your customer is a) delighted that you offered truly helpful, relevant tips and b) feels confident enough to post selfies in her new boots all over Instagram where her friends will most definitely ask her where she bought them. Bam!

Check out this weekly email Net-A-Porter sends to educate their shoppers about the latest high fashion trends:

2. Holiday, Anniversary and Birthday Emails

Any holiday, anniversary or birthday creates gives you a perfect reason to reach out to your loyal customers. There are so many ways you can make them feel special – give them a special discount or freebie, offer them a relevant how-to guide or just be humorous and send them a link to a funny video.

Be creative and come up with non-traditional reasons to celebrate too. Maybe it’s been 1 year since their very first purchase on your site – celebrate that. Or it’s your store’s anniversary –  give away “party favors” to your most loyal customers.

Tip: When you include a coupon or discount in your loyalty emails, be sure to recommend a few products they might like to use their discount on.  Recommend products related to their past purchases, show them some of their “recently viewed items” or remind them of products they saved to their wishlist on your site. You’ll make their decision process a lot easier and attract more customers back to your store.

Here’s a birthday email I received from Silk (my husband is addicted to their almond milk). I like the social twist they’ve put on the standard birthday email:

3. Thank You Emails

Thank you notes are an excellent way to build relationships with your loyal customers. Praise and thank your shoppers not just for purchases, but for other forms of engagement such as signing up to receive your emails, writing a product review or promoting your online store to their friends on social media. Try to personalize your thank you emails as much as possible and when appropriate, include a note from the store owner.

All3sports.com sends out this thoughtful thank-you note to their valued customers:

4. Product Review Requests

Show your customers you care about what they think, plus get a credibility boost. A few weeks after someone makes a purchase, send an email asking for their feedback about that product. Be sure to mention how important their opinions are to your company. If feasible, think about including an incentive for their feedback. Make it easy for them by showing a photo of the product they purchased and a link taking them directly to the survey.

After they send in their feedback, you might want to follow up with a thank you email. This would create another opportunity to suggest additional products they might like. Tack a coupon onto this email, and you’re sure to drive some immediate sales!

How could I write a blog post on ecommerce email marketing without an Amazon example? Here’s a simple, yet effective email that helps build their enormous database of product reviews:

5. Refill Reminders

Do you sell products that are typically repeat purchases? If yes, this campaign is a no-brainer for you. Simply remind your customers that it’s time to refill! Don’t wait until the day their supply will run out. Send them one or two reminders in advance to prevent them from shopping elsewhere if they run out early.

The best part about replenishment reminders is that they are inherently personalized. You’re demonstrating you know the exact product they need and when they’ll need more of it. Ward off the “sales” vibe by using a helpful, friendly tone as you write the reminders.

1800 Contacts makes it beyond simple for their customers to re-stock their contacts supply:

Now it’s your turn to share! What other customer loyalty email campaigns have you found to be successful? Tell us all about them in the comments below.