Email marketing offers the highest return-on-investment of any digital marketing channel. So if you’re serious about growing sales, then you need to sharpen up your email marketing strategy and choose the right tool to help grow your business.

This guide is for you if:

• You’re not sure which email marketing tool to use;
• You’re not sure why you should be using email marketing;
• You’re not sure what features you should be looking for;
• You don’t know how to connect your Shopify store to your email marketing software.

First things first, let’s look at why email marketing is important:

According to A Better Lemonade Stand:

• Consumers are persuaded by the level of personalization that you can offer in emails. In fact, 53% of marketers say ongoing, personalized communication with existing customers results in moderate to significant revenue impact — Source: DemandGen & Campaign Monitor
• Consumers may be ignoring or not even seeing the social media updates you publish for them, but they pay attention to and open the transactional emails you send. Transactional emails have 8x more opens and clicks than any other type of email and can generate 6x more revenue. — Source: Experian & Campaign Monitor
• Consumers are more willing to click on a call-to-action to visit your online store that appears in an email than they are when they see similar call-to-action in social media updates from you. You are 6x more likely to get a click-through from an email campaign than you are from a tweet. — Source: Campaign Monitor
• Consumers who haven’t purchased from you before are much more likely to buy when you take the time to send a personalized email directly to their inbox. Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. — Source: McKinsey & Campaign Monitor
• Young consumers prefer that you engage with them by sending them emails. 73% of millennials identify email as their preferred means of business communication. — Source: WordStream
• You have a much higher return on investment from money spent on email than other marketing channels. For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI. — Source: Campaign Monitor

Now the problem is there are many email marketing tools out there. So how do you know which one to choose?

Below I’ve listed two of my favourites that offer the features you need to create highly-targeted and successful email campaigns that will help you boost sales. They both integrate beautifully with Shopify.

Email marketing tool 1: MailerLite for start-ups

MailerLite has all the features you need to run beautiful email marketing campaigns. It’s free up to the first 1000 subscribers.

Why I love it:

• It syncs beautifully with Shopify. All you need to do is create a MailerLite account here and then download the MailerLite app from inside your Shopify admin and follow the instructions to sync with your online store’s sign-up forms and customer contact list.
• It automatically creates 6 audience segments for you – high-spending repeat customers; repeat customers; high-spending customers; customers with 0 purchases; first-time customers; and customers that accept marketing. You can then create targeted email campaigns that go out to each of these segments. For example, reward your loyal customers with an exclusive discount or offer.
• You can easily create automations. For example, you could create a new automation welcoming new subscribers with a discount code.
• You can boost sales by creating exclusive offers based on customer behaviour (abandoned cart emails and follow-up on purchases).
• Track results – Use real-time reports to track your audience engagement and overall growth. Leverage these insights to make your next email campaign even more targeted and effective.
• The drag and drop email builder is easy and fun to use, allowing you to create beautifully branded email campaigns.
• The free version has more features than MailChimp.

Email marketing tool 2: Klaviyo for established eCommerce businesses wanting to create highly targeted and personalised campaigns

Klaviyo is email marketing software that has been designed for eCommerce businesses wanting to take their email marketing to the next level. It’s free up to the first 250 subscribers.

Why I love it:

• Klaviyo also works wonderfully with Shopify. Sign up for a Klaviyo account here, then add the Klaviyo app from your Shopify admin and follow the instructions to sync.
• Data-driven email marketing.
• Klaviyo does everything MailerLite does, but even more so. The platform is built for eCommerce, so the targeting and segmenting options are comprehensive.
• Data-driven, sales-based results: Go beyond opens and clicks, and see how many sales you generated from your email marketing.
• Social Advertising – Your segments in Klaviyo will dynamically sync to custom and lookalike audiences in Facebook and Instagram so you never have to worry if you’ve got the most up to date list.
• A library of pre-built automation flows – Set up automated email campaigns in minutes for abandoned cart emails, win-back emails, a welcome series and browser abandonment.

Further reading

• Read more about MailerLite’s features here – https://www.mailerlite.com/features
• Read more about Klaviyo’s features here – https://www.klaviyo.com/
• Case Study: See how Shopify merchant Twillory grew by moving over to a targeted email marketing strategy – https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/emailing-engaged-subscribers
• Read A Better Lemonade Stand’s Beginner’s Guide to Driving More Sales with email – https://www.abetterlemonadestand.com/drive-more-sales-with-email/

Need help setting up email marketing?

I’m a web designer and digital marketer who loves helping product-based businesses create beautiful, fast and user-friendly Shopify online stores. As part of my Shopify store set up package, I will:

• Help you set up your email marketing and sync with your online store.
• Create sign-up forms and marketing pop-ups that integrate with your chosen email marketing tool.
• Create a welcome automation that automatically gets sent to your new subscribers.

I also offer eCommerce digital marketing services that include email marketing campaigns, content marketing, social media management and Google Ads.

Contact me here to find out how I can help your eCommerce business grow.