The best dropshipping niches are very competitive.
You could spend hundreds of dollars on paid ads and have no sales to show for it. With social media ad algorithms changing constantly, you need an alternative strategy to fall back on.
According to Custora E-Commerce Pulse, email accounted for 19.8% of all transactions – second only to paid search (19.9%) and organic traffic (21.8%). Whether your customers are browsing products but not checking out or not buying at all, dropshipping email marketing can help you drive sales.
The numbers prove it. The average revenue per email is set to increase from 12.9 cents to 17 cents by 2026.
However, you can’t get away with generic emails if you want to keep customers engaged long enough to buy. The key is to follow email marketing best practices that are aligned with customer needs. And that’s what this blog post is all about.
In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into:
- how to build and manage an email list
- how to create effective email content
- how to set up triggered emails
- advanced dropshipping email marketing strategies
- dropshipping email marketing examples and case studies
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Use email sequences based on customer intent to engage new visitors and guide them to conversion.
- Focus on no more than 3-5 key metrics to measure dropshipping email marketing campaigns.
- Validate the contacts on your list and remove inactive ones regularly. This can not only improve email deliverability but also boost engagement.
- Based on the level of engagement, segment your list into engaged, active, and inactive subscribers. This allows you to tailor your messaging strategically.
- When writing email subject lines and body copy, focus on the benefits, not the features. Avoid using spam words.
- Use templates and email builders to automate email design, content creation, and A/B testing.
1. Understand the Role of Email Marketing in Dropshipping
Dropshipping email marketing involves using timely, personalized emails to engage, nurture, and convert customers based on their journey stage.
For example, building brand awareness, providing product information and special offers, and eventually driving sales.
Why is email marketing so effective? It provides better reach and greater control over content and targeting than paid ads. Emails are much more personal and less obtrusive than paid ads.
Users can decide whether to opt-in to a campaign or not, unlike ads. Dropshipping email marketing can drive loyalty and repeat purchases if you segment your audience and create relevant messages.
Here are the different types of email marketing campaigns dropshipping businesses can adapt:
Welcome emails
Welcome emails have the highest engagement rates of any email marketing campaign. This is the first email customers receive when purchasing or subscribing to your list. The goal is to introduce your brand and invite the recipient to learn more.
Abandoned cart recovery
When customers add items to a cart but don’t check out, they could have second thoughts regarding price, refunds and returns, website security, shipping costs, etc.
Cart abandonment emails remind them about the product features, create social proof, and throw a discount to complete the transaction.
Highlight the product features and use subtle persuasion to recover the sale.
Promotions
From seasonal discounts to new product announcements, promotional emails allow you to spread the word fast. If you are planning a flash sale or other special events, themed emails work great.
Post-purchase confirmation
Purchase confirmation emails, a.k.a thank you emails, do much more than providing order tracking information. Email marketing campaigns of this type can reduce the odds of a return for dropshipping.
Leveraging post-purchase emails, you can easily upsell or cross-sell other products or share ‘how-to’ information to help customers get more out of their purchases.
Customer retention
‘We miss you’ emails are a great way to reengage with customers who may have become less active with your brand. You can tailor your message to specific segments and create personalized offers to communicate with them.
Dropshipping email marketing can thus engage customers once they arrive on your website and keep them returning for more.
Read also: What is Dropshipping And How You Can Do It
2. Track Key Email Marketing Metrics for Dropshipping Businesses
You can use any number of email campaigns depending on your product type and target customers. However, monitoring the right metrics ensures your email marketing efforts work. These include:
Open rate
This is the percentage of emails that recipients opened. It shows your audience is engaging with your content.
Click-through rate
This metric shows the percentage of people who clicked one or more links in your email. A high CTR indicates your offer and messaging are valuable to readers.
Conversion rate
This is the percentage of people who purchased or subscribed to your list after reading your email. What you define as a conversion event can vary depending on your campaign goals.
Besides these metrics, you also want to monitor bounce and unsubscribe rates. They have implications for your email deliverability and customer satisfaction levels.
Read also: 6 Social Media Strategies for Your Dropshipping Success
3. Build and Manage an Email List
What’s the most efficient way to build your email list? The first step is to get visitors to give you their emails. To do that, implement the following strategies:
Create an effective opt-in page
A well-designed opt-in page is key to building a quality email list. Position the sign-up form in a prominent place to attract the reader’s attention. However, limit the number of fields to 3 or 4- name, email address, and phone number.
Provide an option for users to sign up via their social media accounts. This makes the sign-up process easier and gives you access to all the necessary information.
Lead magnets
As the name suggests, a lead magnet is a valuable offer, discount, or downloadable content that users must sign up to access. Include a clear headline and copy about what’s inside. Use images, testimonials, and statistics to break down the content within the lead magnet.
Subscription forms
Placing lead forms on product pages throughout your website increases the chances people will subscribe. If there’s space on the sidebar, make use of it.
The key is to A/B test different placements to understand what works best. Ensure you highlight the value they’d receive on signing up for exclusive offers, previews, etc.
Contact Us page
Customers may want to look up your business name and location to ensure you’re legit. Use a professional business email address instead of a Gmail or Yahoo. This helps you build trust with customers.
List building best practices for dropshipping email marketing
It’s not enough to have thousands of subscribers; what matters is how many actively engage with you. The key is to:
Clean up your list
For your email marketing efforts to bear fruit, you need an up-to-date email list.
Make it a routine to validate your list, sunset old, inactive contacts, or those with missing information.
Segment your list
Based on the level of engagement, divide your list into Engaged, Active, and Inactive categories.
Analyze each group’s purchase history, interests, and preferences and send them personalized emails. Segmentation can enable you to align messaging with customer needs and drive engagement.
Add an ‘Update Email Preferences’ link
People may be interested in getting emails from you but not at the address you have on file.
Make it a point to include an update preferences option in the email footer. This should enable subscribers to opt out of specific campaigns, change their email addresses, etc.
Use opt-in lists
Compliance with GDPR and fair use policies set by email providers means that marketers must avoid purchasing email lists and focus on opt-in campaigns.
Keep track of performance
Keep an eye on the open, click, and bounce rates, and optimize your dropshipping email marketing strategy to get better results over time.
Leveraging A/B testing can help zero in on the best placements and copy and design elements that get the most engagement.
Build look-alike audiences
Leverage your email list to target similar interests and preferences via Facebook or Instagram ads.
This complementary approach can provide better reach and ROI for your business.
4. Segment Your Email Audience
Segmenting your list allows you to be strategic about your messaging and offers. In other words, you personalize them to the preferences and interests of customers in a timely and responsive manner, depending on where they are in their journey.
For example, you must consider local time zones and stagger send times so customers receive them during the day.
Techniques for segmenting an email list
Depending on your goals, segment your list based on demographic, behavioral, or transactional characteristics. You can also use a combination of these to reach niche segments.
Demographic segmentation involves dividing customers by age, income, gender, location, etc. It can create targeted offers like free shipping for students or seniors. You can also segment your customers based on their spending patterns.
Leverage factors like purchase frequency or average order value to segment them into high-spenders, value-buyers, etc.
For example, high spenders can be sent event-related emails (sale previews, VIP upgrades), while value-buyers can be sent coupon codes and discounts. Behavioral segmentation is based on page views, search patterns, products added to the cart, social media engagement, email engagement, etc.
Read also: How To Maximize Profits With Private-Label Products (2024)
5. Craft Effective Dropshipping Email Marketing Content
Dropshippers can dramatically increase conversion opportunities through time-tested email copywriting techniques. Here are a few of them.
Compelling subject line
The key to creating a good subject line is to ‘sell the benefits’ and be concise. The ideal length is 24-40 characters. Stick to simple, everyday language and don’t make the reader think.
A/B tests multiple variations to see what works best.
Use the AIDA model
When writing your email body, use a hook (opening statements, questions, etc) to attract attention. This should highlight the product’s benefits, not the features.
Use bullet points to break up the text and grab the reader’s attention.
Close with an action-oriented CTA
Tell the reader exactly what you want them to do in two or three words. For example, ‘Sign up’ and ‘Buy Now’.
Remember: you only have a few seconds to make an impact.
Don’t use spam triggers
Spam words like free, guarantee, etc can impact deliverability. Maintain a list of such words and never use them.
Personalize your content
Addressing the recipient by name, sending birthday or anniversary specials, and using the sender’s photo in the sender icon are all great ways to personalize your email.
Provide value
Ultimately, the value readers get from your emails makes them want to keep opening and reading them. Use segmentation and customer journey mapping to create relevant content.
Use visuals and design elements effectively
Recently, drop shippers have been focusing on branding to differentiate themselves and connect with customers. This calls for effective design elements that represent your brand.
For example, your emails’ logo, tagline, and brand colors must create a clear association in the reader’s mind. These elements must be consistent with your website, product packaging, and social media presence, creating a seamless experience.
Make sure you test your emails for breaks or distortions. Images can look different across email providers. A/B-seed testing can help you sort out matters before it’s too late.
Read also: How to Build a Dropshipping Brand that Clicks
6. Leverage Triggered Email Sequences
Triggered emails close the time gap between an event and a response. For example, send abandoned cart emails to customers with items in their cart. Using a sequence provides more engagement opportunities and avoids loss of revenue.
Email automation tools like EngageBay allow you to define customer actions or triggers for sending emails automatically. These could be new sign-ups, abandoned carts, or completed purchases.
Advanced Email Marketing Strategies
Once the customer completes a purchase, it opens the door to upsells and crossells. An upsell is pitching a product of higher value, while a cross-sell involves promoting a related product of the same value. The beauty of email marketing is you can mix and match both based on your marketing goals.
The key is to map your customer journey, define trigger actions, and build a workflow based on how many people have opened or clicked through.
However, the key is to A/B test subject lines, offers, and CTAs before sending emails. Use the insights you gain to optimize specific email elements and get better results over time.
Remember to warm your list with informative content during a holiday or event. This will increase your email engagement over time. Also, make sure you focus on only one product per email.
Throw in a few testimonials so customers can see how beneficial your product has been for others. A lot depends on getting the timing right, though. Send your post-purchase confirmation email when the customer clicks the buy button. That’s when they’re most receptive to new offers.
Read also: Dropshipping Basics — A 101 Guide For Small Business Success
Dropshipping Email Marketing Case Studies
Here are some remarkable examples of dropshipping brands that have turned email marketing into fine art:
Porte+Hall
Porte+Hall is a branded drop shipper selling designer doormats for indoor and outdoor use. You’d notice the conspicuous lack of a CTA button in this example. However, it uses storytelling and images well, drawing the reader in effortlessly.
Thanks to a white background and black text, the text is easy to read. To keep readers engaged, the brand uses a judicious mix of welcome, promotional, and special event emails.
Here’s a quick teardown:
Banner copy
The banner copy is quirky and thought-provoking.
Hero image
The hero image complements the banner copy by showing how a luxurious doormat in bold print elevates the daily experience of returning home.
Body copy
Notice how the copy stands out against the pastel background. The font type is the same as on the website, creating a seamless experience for the reader.
Takeaway
This example highlights product features using digital photography and builds an engaging narrative around it. If you’ve wondered whether long-form emails worked, this one’s an eye-opener. It uses storytelling principles to entice the reader to click the link at the bottom.
Instead of adding a CTA, the brand uses a descriptive closing statement.
It tries to appeal to the reader’s buying motive. Notice how the footer is rendered darker to contrast with the main message and encourage the reader to engage with the brand.
Solgaard
The 4th of July is perfect for travel brands to showcase their stuff. Solgaard, a sustainable travel brand, capitalizes on the holiday mood quite well. The company started operations as a drop shipper and went on to build its products.
They also promote their mission of cleaning up plastic waste from the ocean across their website, email campaigns, and social media.
Here are some notable aspects of this example:
Free offer
Solgaard wastes no time in introducing its free shipping offer right at the top
Hero image
Notice how the minimalist hero image highlights the brand name. This is a great way to create a positive association in the minds of consumers.
Body copy
The email promotes a $65 discount across all its products on the 4th of July. Keeping with the theme, it features two products, each with its own CTA. The CTAs are rendered in classic black and white with concise descriptions.
For repeat customers, the email offers membership in its loyalty program via a dedicated banner image.
The email also reels off benefits like free shipping, extended warranty, and environmental impact if readers need more convincing. Combined with the $65 discount, they make a compelling proposition customers would find hard to resist.
Takeaway
One takeaway from this email example is that multiple CTAs may confuse the reader. It’s usually best to focus on one product.
My Shop
Sometimes humor works where discounts and freebies don’t. In this example, the hero image and the banner copy gently remind the customer that their purchase is pending, and an image of the product should be included just in case they don’t recall what it was.
Instead of the standard 10% discount, the brand lists all the reasons customers ought to buy- 24-hour delivery, loyalty points, etc.
If the customer changes his mind, the email provides a navigation menu in the email header and footer so that the customer can browse other products.
Takeaway
Using humor can elevate your email copy. However, make sure it isn’t confusing. Adding a product image can trigger a purchase impulse in the customer’s mind and increase the purchase odds.
Read also: Customer Service For Dropshipping — A Detailed Guide
Conclusion
Dropshipping email marketing enables you to provide the right mix of promotional and educational information at the right moment. It can be used to guide customers and build long-term relationships with them.
EngageBay builds comprehensive customer profiles and lets you capitalize on key touch points through triggered emails and personalized email sequences. Its reporting and analytics capabilities provide a constant feedback loop to make your messaging more effective.
Sign up with EngageBay to give your dropshipping business the edge.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Does email marketing work for dropshipping?
Email marketing can be highly effective as it helps businesses nurture customers and drive repeat sales. It can complement Facebook ads as a customer acquisition channel and help recover abandoned carts.
Dropshipping email marketing campaigns help increase brand recall, promote new products, and engage existing customers. They allow businesses to deliver targeted messages to customers at a consistent frequency and low cost.
2. How do I email my supplier for dropshipping?
When communicating with prospective suppliers, ensure that:
You spell out the products, delivery timeframes, quality standards, pricing, and stock levels you’re looking for. Request customer references and samples to assess the supplier’s track record independently.
Concerning pricing, get quotes for standard and expedited delivery. Moreover, let them know you’re looking for a long-term partnership beneficial to both.
3. What is the best marketing for dropshipping?
Taking a cue from their eCommerce cousins, dropshipping businesses can benefit from omnichannel marketing campaigns that combine paid ads with organic social media, email marketing, and content marketing. Blogs, downloadable guides, and videos can educate and build customer trust.
Email marketing and organic social media can complement paid ads in recovering abandoned carts, promoting new products, and driving traffic to your website.
