Email is popular with small ecommerce firms, but it lags behind other channels, according to Ecommerce Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses, a study by GoodFirms.
GoodFirms surveyed 100+ specialists at small eStores. Of those, only 46.62% find email to be an effective marketing tactic.
The leader is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, cited by 82.08%. Second is content marketing (74.66%) and third is social media (67.26%).
Worse, the study calls email “a modest marketing weapon for eCommerce stores.” Huh?
GoodFirms offers no explanation for this disrespect, and the small survey sample may or may not be representative. But the firm notes that an earlier survey it conducted found email is used by 96.88% of marketing managers. And it states that email “resolves the three biggest challenges of eCommerce vendors -- lead acquisition, conversion, and retention.”
Take the case of Blinds Direct, as cited in the new study.
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“We send around 3-4 emails per week, and the content differs in each," says Ellie-Paige Moore, marketing manager at Blinds Direct. "If we are holding a sale, one email will definitely be based on this topic. The remaining emails would focus on new products, bestsellers, and current trends.”
The latter strategies do not necessarily increase sales, but “they always drive traffic to the site,” she says.
Are you new to email or need a refresher? The study describes five types of marketing emails: