Of all the tools and platforms a business needs to be successful online in 2025, one could make the argument that email marketing is at or near the top of the list.
Email marketing can help boost ecommerce sales. Additionally, based on its relatively low cost, the return on investment (ROI) from email marketing can be significant for just about any size of business.
However, email marketing has many nuances and an ever-changing set of best practices. This means a business’s strategy must be on point for email marketing efforts to be successful, provide that desired ROI and actually generate ecommerce sales.
Why You Need Email Marketing
Why invest in email marketing in the first place? The data doesn’t lie.
Not only do billions of people use email marketing every day, but they’re also accustomed to seeing marketing and sales-related messages reach their inbox.
In fact, those messages have a massive impact. According to OptinMonster, 59% of consumers reported in a survey that marketing emails have an impact on their purchasing decisions. That’s certainly related to the fact that 80% of small and medium-sized businesses use email marketing as their most important method of online customer retention.
Email marketing is an excellent channel for B2B businesses, as well. Nearly 60% of B2B marketers reported in a survey to Mailmodo that email is their top revenue generator across all channels.
On top of that, Mailmodo shares that 31% of B2B marketers report that email newsletters are their primary way to nurture leads and B2B customers prefer to be contacted over email by a wide margin.
So, what does your business need to succeed and increase ecommerce sales? The team at 154i have put together these best practices as a starting point.
Go all-in on email marketing by contacting 154i today to request a quote.
Understanding Your Audience
As with nearly all marketing strategies, it’s important to maintain a solid understanding of who your customers are. In email marketing, the term “audience” is preferred.
Ideally, email marketers will identify different customer segments that are sorted by product preferences, associated use cases, past purchases, etc. Audience segments can also be sorted by more standard information, such as gender, location and age range.
This data and demographic information should be utilized to send more personalized and relevant emails to each audience segment. There will sometimes be an overlap in messaging, but the audiences prefer email content and messaging to be as personalized as possible. Not only does this establish trust, but it can help nurture a more positive, emotional connection to your business.
Personalization can have a tremendous impact. More relevant emails can turn first-time buyers into loyal customers and increase the average order value over time, according to research from BigCommerce.
That sounds like a winning strategy to us.
Crafting Engaging Subject Lines
Writing better subject lines is one of the best strategies to improve not only open rates, but also click-through rates.
Think of it this way: A catchy, but clear subject line gets your audience interested in what the rest of the email content has to say or offer. They’re then more likely to click links, especially if paired with a clear call-to-action (CTA), which we’ll touch on later in this post.
The best subject lines are catch, but also short and sweet. Don’t use words that could be deemed as too salesy or a trick to get opens. That won’t work and your emails could instead head directly to the spam folder. Aim for compelling, authentic and true to your brand.
Additionally, test different subject lines frequently to see what styles your audiences prefer. Some segments may respond better to one style of writing, while another prefers a different style.
Optimizing Email Content
Though a well-crafted subject line makes a great first impression, you still need to seal the deal with optimized content in your messages.
With emails seeking to boost ecommerce sales, focus on high-quality product images. Make sure each image is optimized for size and include both a mix of product and lifestyle photos.
Product descriptions within the email also need to be on point. Clear, concise and compelling product descriptions that connect with your readers in your brand’s voice will prove the most successful. Descriptions that show how your products solve your customers’ problems are even better.
Timing and Frequency
When and how often your customers hear from you via email will also directly impact your business’s bottom line.
For ecommerce, the best days to send emails are Tuesday and Thursday, generally around 10 a.m. However, though those times are good starting points, test sending times often to find when your audience actually prefers to receive communication from you.
Frequency also matters greatly in determining email marketing success for your business. Try not to overwhelm customers with too many emails per week, but remember: It usually takes multiple touches before a customer will make a purchase.
We recommend aiming for 1-3 emails per month, with the occasional additional email added to the schedule.
Building Trust and Loyalty
If your emails don’t provide readers with a reason for subscribing, then they’re much less likely to stick around.
Reward loyal subscribers with special deals or discounts reserved just for being part of the mailing list or for signing up in the first place. This helps build loyalty and also foster trust.
Keeping a consistent and similar schedule for sending emails also creates better relationships with your subscribers.
Measuring and Analyzing Results
Finally, to determine success in email marketing – as with any marketing effort – you have to keep an eye on metrics and results to determine whether goals have been met.
With email, be sure to track open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates. Experiment with A/B testing to see what types of subject lines, content or promotions work best for your specific audience.
Do yeed help establishing and maintaining an email marketing strategy for your ecommerce business? Contact the experts at 154i to determine the best strategy and increase your ROI.