What did the email copywriter say to the other email copywriter?

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There’s so much knowledge to be gained from people who are working in ecommerce – even if they are in direct competition to what you do. Katie Thies is an email copywriter just like me – I asked her a few questions so she could share her insights from working in ecommerce on what you can do to get better results from email.

What did the email copywriter say to the other email copywriter?

You may wonder why an email copywriter would highlight another email copywriter’s work.  Wouldn’t we be in direct competition? 

It’s true, Katie Thies works in the same niche as I do, but there’s a wealth of knowledge that needs to be distributed to help more businesses make a difference with what they do.

So on that note, I thought I’d call on my friend Katie to impart the insights she’s gained while working with ecommerce companies to find out what’s working and how you can can get better results from your email campaigns.

Scroll down to read my quick interview with Katie Thies.

An interview with Katie Thies

How did you get into writing for ecommerce?

I worked at an e-commerce subscription box startup, Try the World, then went on to work for a small business, Walmart E-commerce.

I learned a lot about the two polar ends of the e-commerce landscape — a niche specialty business vs. the world’s biggest dropshipper — and saw all they had in common and different between them.

But they had a few similarities. The biggest one being that product-market fit is essential to e-commerce survival.

What do you see as the most underused tactic in ecommerce that can make a big difference?

Testing messaging. Many brands struggle early on to get their UVP (Unique Value Proposition) right.

And when they finally find something that works, they don’t frequently innovate and evolve their message over time.

As you grow from zero to a thousand customers, then to a hundred thousand, then to a million, what your brand means to people changes dramatically. And evolving your message to match why people seek you out, is critical to success.

What do you see that most e-commerce businesses get wrong when it comes to email?

They don’t send enough email. I’ve seen a belief with some clients that a weekly campaign is the standard. And that’s what they’re working toward, but they don’t always hit it.

Weekly is the absolute bare minimum. Really, two or three times a week would be a lot better. It seems to be a mindset issue with a strong fear of over-emailing winning out.

But if you invest in the quality of your email, and you see the increased engagement when you start to email more, you quickly get over the fear of over-emailing.

What metrics do you look at when assessing the success of a sequence or broadcasts?

If you have a list of more than 1,000 people, split test every subject line. Even if you’re the god of email marketing, you will be surprised by some of the winners you get. Most of the time, you’ll choose the winner based on Open Rate.

But the most important metric in ecommerce is Revenue. Even if you’re sending to a blog post, your email should drive revenue. If your revenue is low, the problem may not be with your email. It may be your website or landing page. But you need to know there’s a problem in order to investigate. And Revenue is how you identify that problem.

What has been your biggest win or success when it comes to your work (and why)?

Doubling my client’s email revenue in 2 weeks was an exciting win.

But I think the biggest win is that over the years we’ve been able to build a process that consistently adds 30%, 50%, 100% to our clients’ revenue from email. Being able to point to consistent wins has given our small team immense confidence in what they’re doing.

Any last thoughts or advice on ecommerce marketing strategies?

E-commerce is a game.

Everything can be a test. From a Facebook ad, all the way to a new product launch. Everything is an educated guess to see what will stick. And ecommerce is better-suited to rapid testing and pivoting than any other industry.

The e-commerce landscape is vast, and if you keep trying new things, eventually something will stick.

ABOUT KATIE

Katie Thies is a conversion copywriter who has been mentored by copywriting legends like Joanna Wiebe and Amy Posner. She works with select e-commerce clients on brand messaging and website CRO projects, but the primary focus of her micro-agency is on building her clients’ email marketing to 35%+ revenue from email. You can find her at katiethies.co.

What can we learn from Katie?

Katie tells us an important message throughout her answers here. That is… the market is always flexing, changing and evolving, as is your business. It’s not safe to stay static, but instead to adapt and test continuously to find the best ways to serve your customers and thereby make a difference through what you do and the products you create.