3 Email Marketing Templates to Convert New Customers

Where do your new customers come from? Facebook ads? Google search results? Thin air?

Time and again, studies show that email marketing is the most effective channel for customer acquisition. Reports estimate 44% of all consumers made a purchase based on an email newsletter last year. McKinsey & Company found that email helps acquire new customers 40 times better than social media.

Conversion rates and click-through-rate in those emails are 3x better, and the value of those conversions can be up to 17% higher. Special offers emails even drives the biggest shopping day of the year – claiming responsibility for over 25% of Black Friday transactions.

All that is to say this: if you aren’t using email marketing to convert new customers, you’re losing out on some serious business. Let’s change that. Take advantage of these 3 tried and true email templates for customer acquisition.

Email Nurturing

Consumers are wary when shopping online, especially for pricier items. That’s why most of the people who visit your online store aren’t ready to buy from you yet. Leads want to get to know your business, and your products, inside and out before they make a purchase.

Lead nurturing email marketing campaigns help consumers on this journey. They streamline information potential customers need. Then nudge them through the buyer’s journey by sending an email until they become actual customers.

MarketingSherpa estimates as many as 80% of leads never make the switch to customer. Lead nurturing email campaigns can change that. Building trust in your brand, identifying customer pain-points, and creating urgency around your solution with personalized emails will boost conversions and win more customers.

Uncommon Goods does many things really well here:

• Pull from the user experience of social media. To make products engaging, the email borrows a Pinterest-esque style that feels more like designing a space than being sold to.

• Highlight a variety of product types and styles. Until a lead converts and actually buys something, you’re only guessing at what they’re looking for. The best nurture campaigns offer leads a whole host of options – then use clickthrough data to zero in on product preferences.

• Mobile optimize the email. Mobile overtook desktop long ago and online shopping leads the way. If you aren’t sending responsive emails, you’re missing out.

Email Retargeting

Online shoppers spend a lot of time browsing products and thinking about buying. That means they’re often viewing items in your online store, then navigating away without buying. That leaves you with an idea of what they’re looking for.

Email retargeting taps into that treasure trove of browsing data and converts those leads into paying customers. When you know what items potential customers look at and don’t buy, you can craft personalized emails.

Figure out why they didn’t make buy the first time – then do what it takes to ease that reason. Encourage the sale by making it as easy as possible for consumers to convert right from the email.

If we gave out awards, we'd crown Amazon king of email retargeting. Learn from them:

• Offer similar items for the shopper to consider. Whether they didn’t convert because of price, features, or other concerns, include products like those they viewed online.

• Keep the call-to-action low pressure. That you’re sending a retargeting email at all means the consumer wasn’t ready to buy yet. A CTA like Amazon’s “Learn More” gets shoppers back to your site without too much pressure.

• Make it easy to convert. Limit the number of clicks and amount of time it takes for consumers to go from email to order confirmation.

Cart Abandonment Emails

Cart abandonment is an epidemic in ecommerce. Some 70% of all online shopping carts remain incomplete. Cart abandonment emails have some data to work with – you know exactly which items shoppers are considering.

An abandoned cart indicates something blocking conversion. The idea behind abandonment campaigns is to figure out that is and get rid of it. A robust abandonment campaign covers a few steps:

1) remind the shopper about their cart,

2) determine why they didn’t complete the purchase, and

3) offer a discount.

Abandonment emails can also gather data to help you stop cart abandonment in the first place. They can identify common blockers among shoppers – like high shipping charges or a complicated checkout process.

Casper’s abandonment email combines the reminder with an attempt at alleviating buyer anxiety. Here’s how to do it:

• Give a little push. We get distracted online all the time. Reminding shoppers they added an item to their cart can sometimes be all the push they need to buy.

• Clear and compelling CTA. Don’t mince words. Highlight a clear call-to-action and make it prominent and easy for shoppers to click. Once they do, make sure it’s as quick and painless as possible to get through checkout.

• Cut out potential blockers. It’s hard to know exactly why a cart was abandoned. Offering reassurance that your store and your products are of the utmost quality (via reviews or testimonials) can be a good first guesstimate.

Win More Customers With Email

Loyal customers are golden, but customer acquisition is the only way to keep growing your ecommerce business.

Bottom line, optimize your emails for mobile devices, craft subject lines that capture buyer's attention and increase open rates. Using the right email marketing tools for email newsletters, autoresponders, cart abandonment and email list management; as well as selecting a reliable email service provider, are key to running successful and cost-effective campaigns.

Email marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing channels for just that. Dive in and your books will thank you!