If there is a major marketing weapon that tends to be overlooked and under used by many small businesses, it is email. Can a solid and well developed email strategy actually give your business a solid return as well as boosting ecommerce conversions? The answer may very well surprise you. It seems that momentum is gathering and strengthening and you just may have to give your email campaigns a new look. In some recently gathered data and research, Omnisend has seemingly come to the conclusion that email is poised to drive ecommerce conversions like never before. The following is take directly from that gathered research:
- Throughout 2020, we saw email conversion rates skyrocket compared to the previous year and the first half of 2020. Conversion rates for promotional email campaigns finished the year at a solid 6.49%, a 111% year-over-year improvement. If you consider that the average conversion rate through the first five months of 2020 was 3.8%, it becomes evident just how much email became a primary channel as at-home shopping increased.
- Automated message conversion rates also had a breakout year in 2020, ending with an incredible 29.8%, a year-over-year (YoY) lift of 95%. Compared to other messages, this represents an increase of:
- 359% over 2020 promotional campaigns.
- 95% over 2019 automation.
- 853% over 2019 promotional campaigns.
- The three highest-converting automated messages of 2020 were welcome (51.9%), cart abandonment (33.9%), and lapsed-purchaser messages (21.3%). It’s hard to believe that any message would convert over half of its recipients, but welcome messages did just that. If an ecommerce business is still not sending optimized welcome messages they’re leaving money on the table, period.
- Overall, open rates for both promotional campaigns and automated messages increased in 2020 compared to the previous year. Promotional campaigns ended the year with a 10.14% open rate, a 22% lift year-over-year. However, the real winner for most-opened emails is automated messages, which averaged a 32.6% open rate, a 31% YoY lift, and a 220% lift over promotional campaigns.
- When it comes to the most-opened automated message, product abandonment, sporting an open rate of 37.8%, takes the crown. Rounding out the top three most-read messages were post-purchase and browse abandonment, both at 34%—proving that consumers welcome relevant messages.
- When it comes to transactional messages (specifically order and shipping confirmation messages), companies often view them as just that—transactional. But these messages are so much more. Because these messages have the highest engagement, they possess an excellent opportunity to drive significant revenue for businesses.
- In 2020, these two messages combined saw a 55.9% open rate, 27.3% click rate, and a 9.5% conversion rate. The open and click rates mark a slight improvement from 2019, while the conversion rate of these messages jumped 346% year-over-year.
- Email marketing is a trusted opt-in channel, generating high ROI at lower costs than paid search and paid social. Companies who invest in growing their email list and sending relevant, timely messages will find themselves reaping those rewards. With at-home shopping at its highest levels, consumer shopping habits are being reshaped and reformed—and email is a significant part of that. Not only is email marketing not dead, but the evidence shows that it may just be beginning.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
