If you want to see an almost immediate ROI and multiply your sales, we’d say, yeah. Marketing automation for e-commerce is totally worth it.
I work with successful small- to mid-sized e-commerce stores with customer bases of anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000. If you’re like most of these e-commerce companies, e-mail marketing is one of the most profitable tools in your tool box.
For many e-commerce stores, I see a pattern: stores e-mail their customers regularly and, in the beginning, click-through-rates are okay. But as they send out more and more general e-mails that are not tailored to each individual’s preferences and interests, click-through rates begin to fall rapidly as unsubscribes start to rise.
To increase click through rates and sales, many times the strategy is to offer bigger sales, lower prices, free shipping and margins erode.
If this sounds familiar here is a quick case study about using Marketing Automation, personalization and behavioral tracking information to increase sales.
CASE STUDY
The Client: A niche retailer with one brick-and-mortar outlet that has been in business for 150 years and an e-commerce store that has been in operation for nearly a decade.
The Problem:
- Low to no growth in website sales
- Decline in e-mail campaign results and click-through-rates
- No real-time reporting on campaign’s overall performance
- Increased competition
Initial E-mail Strategy: The client e-mailed their entire database of 25,000-30,000 customers a weekly product offering with call-to-action offers like 10% off, 20% off, coupons, and free shipping.
Initial Results: Open e-mail rate = 18.3%-19.5% Click-through rate = 1.48%-2.07% Unique visitors to the site from an e-mail campaign = 372-527
Phase I Solution:
- Employed a marketing automation solution: SharpSpring
- Installed tracking codes on the e-commerce website and integrated all third-party data with SharpSpring
- Used SharpSpring’s Shopping Cart API to integrate the shopping cart data and abandon cart data with SharpSpring
- Segmented buyers into 14 different categories based on individual behavior tracking
- Developed clean, sharp e-mails with personalized content that reflected each segment’s interests and preferences
- Developed an abandon cart program that automatically sends e-mails that entice buyers to complete transactions
Phase I Results:
- Overall click-through rate on segmented and non-segmented e-mails = 4.5%-4.84% (That’s approximately 300% INCREASE!)
- E-mail open rate for segmented list = 23.5% – 48.7%
- Click-through-rates for segmented lists = 15% – 24.4% (Approximately 1000% or TEN TIMES the click through!)
- Number of unique visits per campaign = 974-1369 (Increased 600-850 visits per campaign.)
- Average number of orders increased 165-205 per month!
So, is it worth it? You do the math.
- Take the number of customers in your e-mail base X your click-through rate = visits to your site
- Take the number of visits to your site X your current conversion rate (the % of people that visit and buy)
- Take that number of buying customers X your average order or profit = THE NUMBER YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Now, look at your click-through rate: if you could increase it by 50-100% what would that mean for your bottom line?
- Also, check out: if an abandon cart program could convince 5-10% of the buyers to finish the transaction, how would that impact your sales?
There are several other factors to consider when deciding whether marketing automation is right for your business, but when it comes to ecommerce sites, the answer is usually yes. I hope this breakdown was helpful and that you’ll get in touch for a free consultation.
I am currently working on Phase II for this same client, which will include the development of automated lead nurturing campaigns for lifecycle marketing. Check back soon for results!
Dan Roche
Marketing Consultant
Lake34.com
