Email + Content:Creating Rich Shopping Experiences

With online shopping at an all-time high, consumers expect a convenient user experience that goes beyond product grids and category pages on the website. They crave rich customer journeys that inspire and delight. And they want this level of engagement from the very start of their journey to the final purchase – and beyond. Nowhere is this more evident than in the impressive results ecommerce marketers have seen with the combination of email marketing and rich landing page content.

When email and content are designed in tandem, they complement each other throughout the customer experience to create a seamless and impactful journey from inbox to landing page. Email becomes a major revenue generator, and shoppers are inspired to buy. In this ebook, we’ll examine why email marketing matters to retailers and how digital marketers can match strategic email campaigns with rich digital experiences to boost metrics across the board.

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In the United States, more than 90% of adults use email¹. We send approximately 74 trillion emails every year, and people sent and received approximately 269 billion emails per day in 2017. There are now an estimated 3.7 billion email users online – and these metrics will only increase. A strong email marketing strategy is critical for success, and brands that don’t adapt are leaving revenue on the table.

Email is an effective marketing tool for several reasons. Thanks to recent developments in technology, companies can personalize the consumer journey in real-time, delivering relevant content in the moment based on past behavior and predicted future needs. Accenture reported that 56% of consumers are more likely to shop at a retailer that recognizes them by name, and 65% are more likely to shop with retailers who know their purchase history.

Consumers expect messages to be personalized – especially if

Email is here to stay

they’ve shared data with a retailer or brand. If this data is not used or is used erroneously, retailers risk unsubscribes. Ultimately, personalization creates loyalty; consumers expect to feel known and cared for throughout each email campaign. Brands can deliver this through segmentation and personalized campaigns like welcome series, product recommendations, cart recovery and post-purchase emails.

Brands must listen to shoppers and offer a relevant, personalized experience from the beginning of the customer journey to the end – those that do gain an impactful advantage.

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Content that converts

Once you have reached the right audience through highly strategic email marketing campaigns, and once your customer has taken the next step and clicked a link, how do you effectively deliver them to your website to guide them down the customer journey? And how do you make their transition to buyer seamless and genuinely enjoyable to make your email campaigns revenue generators? Your subscribers have taken a leap of faith by clicking your email link – they need to be rewarded with an engaging and relevant shopping experience.

The solution lies in rich, shoppable landing page content. This variety of content includes quizzes, buying guides, embedded videos, digital lookbooks, and more. These digital experiences stand out from the standard product grid because they inspire customers while providing the instant shoppability buyers expect.

Today’s online consumer is no longer satisfied with the typical shopping experience; they want more than static images and product category pages. They expect retailers to deliver content that inspires, delights, engages, and educates. Brands that make rich content creation a priority set themselves up to succeed, and those that complement their email marketing efforts with rich content will be industry leaders.

+ Targeted Email With Segmentation

+ Post-Purchase Email

+ Cart Recovery Email

We will examine three common types of email marketing campaigns and how to empower them with rich content that will inspire and convert.

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Segmentation has been proven to increase loyalty: It makes customers feel valued by your brand for taking the time to send them communications that are more likely to interest them. Retailers use segmentation to deliver targeted communications that are relevant for individual consumers. Retailers can segment contact lists by anything from interests to demographics to subscriber behavior.

Just as digital marketers use customer data to craft targeted emails, they can take it a step further by sending shoppers to targeted content landing pages. To complement this more personalized approach, we recommend a highly targeted buying guide that has been expertly compiled to suit shoppers’ individual needs. Shoppers will not only feel satisfied with their email communication, but with the continuation of thecustomer journey as well.

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A great example of a curated experience is francesca’s “Back to Campus” buying guide. With rich visuals and integrated quickviews for instant shoppability, it is a one-stop shopping destination. Because this collection has been specifically curated to target college-bound women, it would perfectly complement an email campaign segmenting the contact database by age and gender. Consumers are delivered relevant content that is personally useful to them, and they will be more likely to remember the francesca’s brand when shopping in the future.

+ Targeted Email With Segmentation

The relationship shouldn’t end after a purchase: Post-purchase emails are a strategic way to encourage engagement and customer retention. These emails can be a simple “thank you” email, but the best examples of post-purchase emails are the ones that go above and beyond. They use the information at hand to create rich communications that continue the customer journey beyond the final purchase.

To stand out from the crowd, we suggest an inspirational content landing page. A digital experience that inspires the customer around the product they just purchased is a perfect way to keep the shopper engaged with your brand, despite having already made a purchase.

Johnny Was’ “How to Tie a Scarf” experience demonstrates the power of this type of campaign. Through rich imagery, sliding carousels and step-by-step guides, shoppers will learn how to style the scarf they just bought. There is no pressure to make another purchase, as the value provided in this experience is not monetary but instead highly relevant information. By following up with a post-purchase email that includes inspirational content, shoppers will come to trust your brand as a source of information as well as quality products. And they’ll be encouraged to shop again.

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+ Post-Purchase Email

Cart abandonment is a challenge for every retailer. According to Statista, the most common cause of cart abandonment is unexpected costs². The follow-up series is therefore critical; It must make a compelling offer that will outweigh customers’ pricing concerns. First comes the obligatory reminder email, linking directly to the cart to encourage shoppers to complete the customer journey. But for most buyers, this is not enough. This is where content comes into play.

We recommend a second email linking to a curated collection of similar products with varying price points to provide the shopper with other purchase options, such as what Annie Selke created with its 33 Main experience. For instance, if data shows a customer left a pillow in their cart, directing them to this rich and inspirational experience is the perfect follow-up. With complementary bedding products, the wealth of options will provide endless shopping opportunities to encourage the buy.

Cart recovery emails are now expected, so take the opportunity to surprise shoppers with rich content that’s shoppable and inspirational.

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+ Cart Recovery Email

Conclusion

When digital marketers create relevant and highly strategic email campaigns, the landing pages that they drive to must be just as impactful – and vice versa. Shoppers expect every moment of their customer journey to be engaging and every brand interaction to be inspiring. When this elevated experience is delivered, consumers take notice. Strategic emails that link to rich content create a one-two digital marketing punch that drives revenue and engagement, ultimately inspiring long-term loyalty among shoppers.

Zmags helps ecommerce marketers create and publish rich digital experi-ences through a user-friendly interface that requires no IT involvement. Us-ing Creatorby Zmags, brands can create fresh, shoppable content that drives product discovery and inspires consumers to purchase. Creator integrates with all leading ecommerce and content management platforms enabling marketers to optimize their website content. Leading brands like Ethan Al-len, Harvey Nichols, New York& Company, Vivienne Westwood, All Things BBQ, and Godiva use Creator by Zmags to deliver interactive and entertain-ing shopping experiences with rich contentlike buying guides, quizzes, look-books, video, and more. To learn more, visit www.zmags.com.

Oracle + Bronto arms high-growth retailers with sophisticated marketing automation to maximize revenue opportunities. The Bronto Marketing Plat-form powers personalized multichannel content that generates the higher engagement needed for retail success. Keenly focused on the commerce marketer, Bronto continues its longstanding tradition as a leading email marketing provider to the global Internet Retailer Top 1000 and boasts a client roster of leading brands, including Rebecca Minkoff, Timex, Lucky Brand, Theory, Brooks, Ashley Homestore and Christopher & Banks. For more information, visit www.bronto.com.

1. Is Email Marketing Dead? Here’s What the Statistics Show. Retrieved on December 5, 2017 from https://optinmonster.com/is-email-marketing-dead-heres-what-the-statistics-show/.2. Primary reason for digital shoppers in the United States to abandon their carts in 2016 and 2017. Retrieved on December 6, 2017 from https://www.statista.com/statistics/379508/prima-ry-reason-for-digital-shoppers-to-abandon-carts/

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For more information, visit www.zmags.com and www.bronto.com