Online marketing is more than just the future – it’s also the present. In fact, more people are shopping online than ever before, and the numbers keep increasing. But for many online marketers, certain aspects of a marketing plan still aren’t being utilized to their fullest. One area that we’ve found needs a closer look for many is that of personalized product suggestion email marketing.
Personalized product suggestion email marketing is just what it sounds like. You take data gathered from a variety of sources related to customers and then use that information to provide them with targeted suggestions on products that they may find interesting or desirable. Information can come from numerous sources including:
- Surveys and questionnaires
- Customer activity on your site
- Items that a customer purchases
- Items a customer adds to a wishlist
- And more
In some cases, these email marketing efforts are targeted towards different groups – data is used to create several different target markets and then emails are sent based on the group a customer is in. In other cases, emails may be sent directly to an individual with suggestions that are entirely unique to them. Either way, it’s vital that you pay attention to this type of marketing to get the best results for your business.
The Importance Of Product Suggestion Email Marketing
This is just what it sounds like – using email clients in conjunction with other online tools in order to offer direct product suggestions to users that can drive up business. Consider some of the stats that support the importance of this:
- 31% of revenues in ecommerce were generated by personalized product recommendations over one quarter at the end of 2014.
- Conversion rates for those who click on product recommendations is more than 5 times higher than conversions of non-clicking consumers.
Despite this, most major retailers still aren’t using product suggestion email marketing to offer suggestions to customers based on their browsing history. There are plenty of reasons for this. Most of the time it’s because marketers or business leaders simply feel like the process takes too much of a commitment to time or that it is too complicated. But today, software solutions have made it much easier to offer direct suggestions for products through the use of email. And if you fail to do so, you’re missing out on a huge percentage of potential sales and conversions.
Getting Better Results From Your Efforts
The single best way to go about improving your product suggestions is simply to get a clearer picture of what customers are shopping for. Online tools and analytical metric measurement systems can keep track of what a customer shops for, then provide you with a look at what they ultimately bought as well as what they browed for before the process. But it goes deeper than this. Once you have the data you need, you’ll want to take steps to create email marketing suggestions that actually help people get interested in what you’re offering and give you repeat business. Here are some ideas to help you get more results.
- Send out emails letting customers know when an item in their wish list has gone on sale or permanently reduced in price. Often, customers either forget about an item they were interested in or are placing it into the wishlist so they can buy it later when they have the money – or when it drops in price. If they don’t regularly check their wishlist they’ll never know and may forget it. These emails could be all it takes to net another sale.
- Emails that create urgency are great as well – using them to alert a shopper that an item they were interested in is low in stock can help them purchase it. They may be on the fence about a purchase or may just be trying to decide when to buy it. An email telling them they’re running out of time could help convince them to buy. Similarly, letting them know that they only have a few days before the sale price ends could inspire them to buy.
- Send out email alerts that let customers know when a new product similar to others has been released. New products can often be even more desirable than the one a customer was originally interested in. And if a customer owns a specific product and new accessories have been released, informing them about the new items could help generate additional sales. As such, it makes sense to let them know when something new is available that is related in some way to items they already have or have looked into buying in the past.
- A regular newsletter that talks to customers briefly and introduces them to different new products or last-chance items can help generate conversions. These emails should be short but informative, and let customers know all about the various specials, sales, and products that are available. Don’t send them out daily – weekly or even bi-weekly is all it takes to keep customers informed and interested in everything your company has to offer.
You can use one or more of the ideas above to start formulating a better strategy for marketing through email. Start by gathering data on customer interests and then craft emails that will tell them what they’re missing. You could improve your sales in a big way through just a little bit of effort.
The key with these emails is to remain friendly and personal while still conveying a sense that something needs to be purchased. You want to inform customers of various buying options while not seeming like you’re pressuring them or constantly sending out spam emails. The ideas above should help you figure out good strategies for better overall success with your email marketing campaigns including product suggestions. Our software solutions can help you master this part of online marketing. Contact us today to learn more about how our software works and about what we may be able to do for you.
