#1 Cart Abandonment Emails

Like reviews, this is another type of email that can be automated. Sending out an email to a customer who didn’t complete the check-out process is an incredibly efficient way to not only discover ways to improve the process, but also give the customer another chance to finish what they started.

Most automation platforms will allow you to create rules based on specific page visits. For example, you could set up a rule that says, “show me all the people who visited the checkout page, but did not visit the confirmation page.” You can then automatically send out an email to those who meet that criteria, asking them what went wrong. This is a great way to continuously assess and improve cart abandonment, without even having to think about it once it’s set up.

#2 Segmentation and Personalization!

If I’m a male and have a history of buying men’s clothing, I probably don’t need to know about your current sale on women’s dress shoes. You have the data – use it!

Separating your customers and then designing personalized email messages based on these segmented lists is a sure way to increase engagement. It does take a bit more work upfront, but the work will pay off when your engagement rates skyrocket.

#3 Incentivize Loyal Customers, Re-engage Dormant Ones

Similarly, create lists of customers based on their purchase history (in terms of frequency, amount spent per transaction and last transaction occurrence). This will allow you to identify and incentivize your most loyal customers to come back and do what they do best - buy from you. For example, why not offer a small “Thank You” gift card to those who have a history of spending 30% above your average order value?

On the flip side, create a list of customers who haven’t shopped with you in the last 12 months. Email them, tell them you miss them and invite them to come back via a special promo code. As a consumer, I received a similar email from a retailer I used to frequent when I lived in Boston. As it turns out, I missed them too, by about $200.

#4 - A/B Testing

This is something that should be applied to each and every marketing email that is sent out. It is GUARANTEED to improve your open/click rates, and is incredibly easy to set up on almost any email/automation platform.

Basically, A/B testing for email is taking two versions of a given variable, such as subject line, from name, content or send time, testing to see which of the two is most effective among a small sample of your distribution list, and then sending the winning version out to the rest of the list after a predetermined amount of time. So basically, you get two chances to make a good first impression for the price of one.

To start, I’d suggest A/B testing at least your subject line for every email, and periodically testing your send times if you find your open rates declining. And since we’re on the subject of subject lines, emojis are now supported on most email clients and devices, so throw one in there when applicable. I bet it will win in your A/B test!

#5 - Optimize for all devices and clients

Did you know 53% of emails are opened on mobile? Sure - it goes without saying that your emails should be mobile-optimized, but there are an alarming number of devices that your customers are reading your emails on. Furthermore, for each device, there are a number of different email clients that your customers are using as well. Chances are, if you’re not checking, your email probably looks much different in Outlook than it does in Gmail.

#6 - Reviews

Products with reviews have a 10% higher conversion rate than those without, and email is one of the best ways to capture new reviews from your customers. The best time to ask for reviews is shortly after a customer receives their product, while it’s still top-of-mind. So you can set up an automated email that goes out based on that timing criteria, essentially creating an automatic, ongoing feed of new reviews without having to even think about it.