Ecommerce Newsletter Ideas That Generate Sales

Ecommerce businesses got a boost as many were forced to jump on to the bandwagon post the pandemic. With the simplicity that Shopify allows, many players started an online business from the comfort of their homes to match the supply with the rising demand. As the number of players in the market increased, so did the need for marketing. There are many marketing communication channels to choose from viz. social media platforms, websites, blogs, articles, or emails. Although, email marketing majorly contributes toward sales generation either directly or indirectly. In a study that conducted research on email marketing and its influence on business, 59% of respondents said that marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, while just over 50% buy from marketing emails at least once a month. So when you start your email marketing journey, you know for sure that the efforts directly convert to sales.

Email newsletters are a highly anticipated and loved piece of communication among most audiences. Newsletters are specifically sent to customers and leads that have proactively signed on to receive your communication and are highly likely to open and engage with the email. Here we talk about a few newsletter ideas that will help you generate sales. 

Before we do that, let's understand the concept of a newsletter. A newsletter, as the name suggests, communicate news, updates, interesting stories, and other relevant content for the audience.  In the case of newsletters sent by e-commerce businesses, the email usually talks about new products and services, discounts, events, and more. Newsletters are sent out to the audience at certain set intervals either weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or quarterly. The frequency allows your audience to expect and look forward to the email.

What types of content work for e-commerce newsletters?

Since we are looking to attract our recipients to the website for a buy, the 3 things that we need to focus on in the email are:

- Interesting subject lines for higher open rates

- Relevant content for better engagement

- A call-to-action to influence purchase

1. Interesting subject line ideas for e-commerce newsletters

The first thing that the recipient encounters in a newsletter is the subject line. Your email's open rates are highly dependent on the subject line. Simple rules to follow for the subject line are:

- The sweet spot for subject lines is 7-10 words and 40-60 characters.

- Personalize the subject line

- Limit punctuation and emojis

Some examples of subject lines that we've come across:

a. Short, crisp subject lines that communicate the main points of the email as well as showcase creativity by tying the content to relevant events and references. Here's an example of BH Cosmetics' newsletter sent around the time of Halloween:

The subject lines are short, convey the 40% sitewide discount and are also themed around the festival of Halloween to engage the customer in.

b. Create a sense of urgency to ensure that the recipient takes action. Do NOT overdo the same, we all know how "Hurry!..." emails end. Tie the urgency with an ongoing campaign whether it's an exclusive deal or a sale or even a short term exhibition. Here's an example from Flipkart, a major ecommerce player in India:

c. Most email service providers showcase a certain amount of characters from the email before the email is opened. This is a space that many players miss to notice. You can utilize the same by extending your subject line, here's an example:

While Indigo is a commercial airline and not an ecommerce player, the newsletter rules that apply are the same. Notice how the company utilizes the email body summary to create urgency instead of the subject line itself. It's a subtle but sure way to gain the readers attention!

d. Brighten up that drab subject line with emojis. As we all know, among a sea of words in black and white, a colorful emoji is sure to capture your reader's eye as they scroll through their inbox. Here's an example of a beauty products ecommerce store, Nykaa, who used emojis in their newsletter:

2. Relevant content for better engagement

Once your subject line lures the reader in and brings up the open ratio on your newsletter, it's time to dazzle them with your email. Now email body MUST relate to the customer. Some content ideas that can help you convert these readers to buyers are:

1. Launch and introduce new product lines and releases. As already mentioned, customers who accept to receive your newsletters are usually interested in the brand and their products. Product updates, new launches, etc. are a topic of interest for most. Here's Fossil sending across a beautifully designed mailer showcasing their new line of beaded products:

b. Communicate more in less by using GIFs. Many brands that follow a minimalist approach in their ecommerce site and communications, often tend to use tools that help communicate more in less. Here's an example of https://shop.atticuspoetry.com/ that widened the number of products that the recipient sees by adding a gif as the email banner:

c. Communicate rewards and memberships that loyal customers can leverage. Most customer reward programs see a spike in memberships post emails. Email newsletters for members can also be customized to include their membership information and encourage them to improve their reward earnings. Here's an example of Swiggy, a food delivery partner application that communicates this beautifully:

3. A call-to-action to influence purchase

As the title mentions, we wish to redirect the customers to the website for an immediate action - which maybe a membership sign up, new collection launch introduction, an appointment for an exclusive exhibition, or even a chance for them to shop during a discount offer. The only advice here is to cut to the chase and ensure that the call to action button in the email is available for the recipient to click right away. Let's take a look at this email from TataCliq where the email creates a sense of urgency, communicates about an ongoing favorable discount and also allows the customer to access these discounted items within the first scroll of the email:

Some CTA content options that garner high clicks are:

- Check-out the new collection

- Sign-up now

- Book an appointment right away!

- Read more

- Buy!

- Explore now

- Upgrade now

So now that you have a few ideas to boost sales on your Shopify, why waste time? Get that newsletter started!