The 4 types of emails to use for your e-commerce business

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You may be missing opportunities if you’re not leveraging each of these four types of emails in your ecommerce business.

The 4 types of emails to use for your e-commerce business

If you thought email marketing was about consistently emailing your list, you’re right!  But there’s so much more involved in the strategy behind your emails than just showing up in your reader’s inboxes on the regular.

In this article I want to break down the types of emails you can send to your subscribers so you have a better idea of how you can fit these into your strategy and build a valuable relationship with your subscribers.

Because that’s what email marketing is all about… building relationships.  

The customer journey

The journey of your subscriber from reader to client can be short or long, it depends on their needs, how urgent they want a solution and the results your offer creates.  

And it doesn’t stop at them becoming your client. Research shows that it’s easier (and cheaper in terms of client acquisition) to continue to serve current clients with new offers than it is to create new clients.

With email marketing the client journey can be engineered rather than relying on social media platforms alone to drive your offers (paid or free) in front of your potential clients or clients.

Harnessing the power of email is vital for the lifeblood of your business. So let’s get into the weeds about the types of emails you should be using to build your relationship which ultimately creates clients (and raving fans!).

1. Transactional emails

These are the types of emails that should be automated once your client or customer engages with your products or services.  These emails sound like they’re a bit of a bore and are a necessity, but I’d like you to think differently about it and remember that once you have a client your relationship is only just beginning.

Transactional emails are things like receipts, status notifications, updates on purchases and correspondence acknowledgements. They not only comfort your clients (so they don’t think you’ve forgotten them) but it’s an opportunity to further build trust and loyalty by using personality driven emails that connect with your readers.  You don’t want to sound like a robot, so think about how you can bring these emails into alignment with your brand voice and message.

2. Relational emails

These emails are essentially for building trust and authority through the content and information you send your readers. Relational emails are your consistent newsletter or blog post articles sent in a way that engages your reader - not just “Here’s the latest blog! Go check it out!”.  You can share educational moments, inspirational stories or outreach engagement campaigns that get your readers to engage through valuable content or questions to get to know them better.  

These emails help you build your expertise in your niche and get your readers to know more about who you are, who you serve and what you do.  You are building a relationship - not just in the hope that your reader will become a customer but so they become a fan. Once they know how you help people they become your word-of-mouth-machines.  

As you establish yourself as the one-in-the-know about your particular subject, through relational emails, you being to create your ‘bat-signal’ (a term coined by Kevin Rogers of Copy Chief). This signal is the thing you’re known for which will ensure people will always mention you when your expert subject comes up. These emails should be part of your long term strategy to build the know, like and trust factor and to provide value to your readers.

3. Promotional/sales emails

As it says, these emails are where you promote your offers… and when I say “your offers” I mean what it is you’re selling.  But remember selling doesn’t always mean an exchange of money, it can be an offer of sign up for a webinar or “download this thing”.  It’s still necessary to sell these things even though you’re not asking for money, people have to buy into the idea of why it’s a good thing they do what you’re asking them.

So any email that you’re asking them to trust you by taking a certain action is a promotional email. Selling doesn’t have to be a sleazy or manipulative trick to get people to respond to your offer, in fact these emails are still relational.  They still need to have the connection with the reader and above all show them that you respect and care for them through the way you ask them to take action.

At the end of the day, if you’re selling something that you know without a doubt is going to benefit a certain type of reader, then it’s your duty to do what you need to do to take that action.

4. Blind emails

Now this kind of email is almost an umbrella email for both the promotional and relational emails.  However with the previous two types you are being completely up front about what you are offering them - whether it’s a click through to read a blog, asking them to sign up for a workshop or coaching through the process of a sale.

Blind emails are a different way of positioning your offers and information.  They mostly come in the form of an inspirational or a future pacing email but there’s no mention of what is on the other side of the click.  You invoke curiosity and emotional need for them to click.

These emails can be long and detailed by getting your reader into an emotional state that makes them want to click, or they can be super short, a line in fact, where they just offer a enough curiosity to take them through to the next step in the journey. The purpose of the blind email is not to sell but to get the click!

So, my friend, it’s time to engage!

Those are the four types of emails you can use to send to your readers, all are meant to engage and create connection with your audience and build your relationship with them.  Because at the end of the day “friends buy from friends”. It’s worth the time and effort to put into crafting emails that connect so that you get raving fans and repeat sales.