Email marketing ROI (return on investment) isn’t always clear — even after you review analytics reports. But email marketing is measurable and determining your ROI is a critical way to understand the effectiveness of your eCommerce email marketing campaigns.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to understand, measure, and increase ROI on your email marketing efforts.
Table of contents
- What is email marketing ROI?
- How do you measure email ROI?
- Email Marketing ROI Stats 2022
- How to increase email marketing ROI
- 1 . Warm your emails
- 2. Set up an Email Marketing Welcome Series
- Welcome Series Email Examples
- 3. Automate Abandoned Cart emails
- How to Create an Abandoned Shopping Cart Email Sequence:
Let’s dive in!
What is email marketing ROI?
Email marketing is still one of the top ways to reach your target customer. Depending on your goals, a targeted campaign can educate, entertain, or entice a shopper to buy.
The return on investment (ROI) of your email marketing campaign tells you whether the number of resources put into creating a strategic campaign — namely, time and money — are helping you achieve and surpass your goals. This determines the success of your campaign and shows whether your strategy is effective or if it needs a new direction.
How do you measure email ROI?
The first step to measuring email ROI is to be sure you have a good understanding of your goals.
Why are you sending this email? Are you looking to share a company announcement for good PR, or are you hoping to increase customer loyalty by offering discounts? Reminding a customer about an abandoned shopping cart, or launching a new product line? What is the outcome you’re looking to achieve?
After nailing down your goals, the next foundational step is to ensure you’re sending to the right audience. Segmented lists are far more effective than sending one-size-fits-all emails to everyone on your list.
Next, it’s important to note that each industry has its own average email ROI, so there is no standard answer to the question: “What should my ROI be?”
Rather, it’s wise to make sure that your point of comparison when evaluating your results is in line with your market competition and industry standards.
The easiest ways to measure email ROI?
- Work with an agency that can handle your email marketing strategy, content, and analytics.
- On your own team, you can track ROI by making sure that the URLs you use within your emails have a tracking code. Google offers a URL tracking code campaign builder, but we also love this free, user-friendly Campaign URL Builder that our friends at Orbit Media created.
- Last, you can find free email ROI calculators around the web, like this one by Omnisend.
Email Marketing ROI Stats 2022
Some impressive, recent email marketing stats to keep in mind:
- According to Litmus, the retail and eCommerce industry typically sees a 45:1 ROI.
- Segmented audiences can bring in as much as a 760% increase in revenue, according to Hubspot.
- Consumers who buy via email promotions spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers. (Wordstream)
- Email sells more than social media: 60% of consumers say they’ve made an email-fueled purchase as opposed to 12.5% who have bought via a social media buy button. (Constant Contact)
- Welcome emails have 86% higher open rates than other marketing emails — keep reading to learn more about Welcome Series campaigns. (OptinMonster)
- There are 4 billion daily email users; that’s forecasted to jump to 4.6 billion by 2025. (Statista)
How to increase email marketing ROI
Now that you understand what ROI is, why it’s important, and how to measure it, we’ll show you how to get those numbers up.
- Warm your emails
- Set up a Welcome Series
- Automate Abandoned Cart sequences
1 . Warm your emails
What does it mean to warm emails?
In email marketing, warming your email — also known as IP warming — is crucial to your success. By gradually sending emails to your most engaged database, spam filters will see you as a “good” sender and strengthen your sender reputation with inbox providers.
Why do we need to warm emails?
It helps you tell email clients like Gmail that you’re constantly getting a lot of opens and replies, and therefore you need to be at the top of their inbox.
How long does it take to warm emails?
It takes about four weeks for your domain to be properly warmed up and ready for email outreach.
If your domain has been previously used, you will still need to warm up sending from a new email marketing platform.
How do you actually warm emails?
Send emails to your highest engaged list by setting up flows such as a Welcome Series, Abandon Shopping Cart, or Browse Abandonment. Turn these on and run the flows for a week before you start sending campaigns. It’s crucial that you only send to the most engaged customers (less than 10,000 contacts).
For the first email sent, aim for open rates of above 30%. Target those who have opened in the last 30 days or those who subscribed within the last 15 days.
If you send to inactive subscribers, you will risk having your emails moved to spam by inbox providers.
Klaviyo, one of our partners who we often recommend for email marketing, suggests: After your first send, a rule of thumb is to aim for open rates of 20% or higher, unsubscribe rates less than 0.2%, and spam complaint rates less than 0.08%.
For subsequent sends, and as long as you’re getting open rates above 20%, you can create a similar segment and relax the engagement criteria to 60 or 90 days. Continue with this strategy for a couple of weeks, and then further relax your engagement criteria to 120 or 180 days.
2. Set up an Email Marketing Welcome Series
The first few emails your subscribers receive are some of the most important messages of the customer lifecycle.
- Welcome emails have 86% higher open rates than other marketing emails.
- 74% of new subscribers expect to receive a welcome email.
- Subscribers who receive welcome emails show 33% more long-term brand engagement than those who don’t.
How to write a Welcome Series email
- Start with a strong subject line: Including the name of the subscriber is extra-effective when followed by an enticing call to action
- Personalize: Emails with personalized greetings are 25% more likely to be opened by readers for example and emails coming from the CEO of the company.
- CTA: Create a strong call to action to engage with your new subscribers, such as:
- Read more
- Learn more
- Click here
- Submit
- Download
- Sign up
- Buy now
- Shop now
- Offer: Include a special promotion like free shipping or Welcome15 code off their first order
Welcome Series Email Examples
Welcome Email 1: Send immediately after email sign up
Subject Line: [first_name], welcome to (Brand name)!
Body:
Thank you and welcome to the {Brand name} family! Starting today, we will send you a series of exclusive emails with amazing tips and tricks to get the most out of [your account/product].
[Explain why you’re different/exciting/what they’ve been looking for.]
If you have any questions or need any help, don’t hesitate to contact our support team!
Thanks again,
[Business_Owner_Name]
[Signature_Of_Business]
Welcome Email 2: Send 24 hours after email sign up
Subject: Welcome to ( brand name)! Let’s get started.
Body:
Hi [first_name]!
Welcome to [Brand name]—we’re so excited to show you our offerings. We believe that [company values]. That’s why we aim to [company mission].
Here are a few of our most popular products that [showcase why they align with your company values]:
- Product #1
- #2
- #3
We’re so excited to have you as part of our community.
Thanks again,
[Business_Owner_Name]
[Signature_Of_Business]
Welcome Email 3: Send 36 hours after email sign up
Subject: You’re in! Your $15 off code is inside…
Body:
Welcome to [company name]!
Thank you for subscribing to our weekly newsletter and for your interest in [Brand name]!
As thank you, here’s an amazing $15 off on your first purchase! Just use code #### at checkout!
If you need any help, you can send us an email or reach us through our social media accounts.
We’ll be happy to help you!
Thanks again,
[Business_Owner_Name]
[Signature_Of_Business]
Once a contact clicks on your email, you need to continue to impress them with a striking landing page, follow-up emails, and other marketing efforts that are tailored to them personally.
If this is done correctly, your welcome emails are just the beginning of a seamless customer experience that will build customer loyalty!
3. Automate Abandoned Cart emails
According to Klaviyo, about 70% of shopping carts are abandoned on average.
SeeWhy reported that only 16% of online merchants sent shopping cart abandonment emails, which is surprising because statistics also show that reconnected cart abandoners will spend 55% more.
The number one reason carts are abandoned is “unexpected costs” like shipping, tax, & other fees. Those last-minute surprises at checkout translate to poor customer service.
Amazon has trained us all to assume free shipping on all website purchases. According to Invesp, “61% of consumers are somewhat likely to cancel their purchase if free shipping is not offered.”
How to Create an Abandoned Shopping Cart Email Sequence:
Here are some of the email templates that routinely convert at a high level.
(Email Abandonment Flow examples below from our email marketing platform partner, Klaviyo.)
Email 1: Send within 4 hours after Abandonment at full price
Important: Include images of abandoned items, reviews & recommended products as well as a single call to action to drive visitors back to the cart.
Subject Line: [first_name], still thinking about it?
Body: We saved all of the great items you’ve added to your cart so when you’re ready to buy, simply complete your purchase here!
If you have any questions or need any help, don’t hesitate to contact our support team!
P.s. We can only reserve the items in your cart for a short period of time, after which we can’t guarantee they stay in stock for long!
Thanks Again,
[Business_Owner_Name]
[Signature_Of_Business]
Email 2: Send 24 hours after Abandonment + free shipping
Important: Include images of abandoned items, reviews & recommended products as well as a single call to action to drive visitors back to the cart.
Subject Line: [first_name], Last chance, your cart is going to expire!
Body: We are reaching out to let you know the items saved in your shopping cart are about to expire in 24 hours. For your loyalty to our brand, we would love to offer you free shipping for this purchase with code ####. This special offer is only valid for 24 hours so complete your purchase here!
If you have any questions or need any help, don’t hesitate to contact our support team!
Thanks Again,
[Business_Owner_Name]
[Signature_Of_Business]
Evaluating your email marketing ROI takes time, but it’s critical to determine the success of your marketing campaigns.
Contact us if you have any additional questions, or if you’d like to work together on an effective email marketing strategy that increases traffic and online sales.
