9 Email Campaigns That’ll GUARANTEE Revenue For Your E-commerce Business

I’m sure you hear e-com business owners constantly complaining that “email marketing is dead”, “It’s outdated”, or “It doesn’t even work anymore”. WAH WAH WAH! *crybaby sounds*. Little do they know that the most successful e-com brands STILL thrive off email and will continue to do so.

After all, There’s a reason why brands like Chubbies (an 8-figure business), send out 3-5 email campaigns a week. IT GENERATES TONS OF REVENUE!‍

But what separates the businesses that are struggling with email marketing and think that email is “dead”, compared to those who are crushing it, and managed to scale to 7,8, and even 9 figures using email?

‍HINT: It’s simpler than you may think, but you’d be surprised at how many businesses ignore this, leading them to become just another number under the “90% of businesses fail” category.

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Why Most Email Campaigns Fail MISERABLY!

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The reason why most businesses make little to NO money with their campaigns is because they treat it like it’s social media. The amount of e-com businesses sending out emails about company announcements, product announcements, beautiful photos, and shoots is mind-boggling.

‍Drill this into your brain: The purpose of email campaigns isn’t to show your email list things that YOU care about (company announcements). The whole point of it is to generate revenue, and you do that by answering the question that’s hardwired into ALL your readers' brains “WIIFM” which stands for What’s In It For Me.

Aside from businesses sending out emails that their audience can care less about, another big problem is being against using discount codes/incentives.

‍“But why use discounts, don’t they just make us lose money and damage the integrity of our prices?”‍

Nope. Most people won’t buy your products without it. That’s because people react to DEADLINES, and discounts are a great way at using urgency/deadlines to push sales.

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Think about it, most people only start doing their taxes or start their school project when it’s almost the deadline. The sense of urgency that they need to do this now before it’s too late pushes them to do it. Nobody would do anything without urgency and deadlines.

Even 9 figure brands still use discounts in almost every email they send out, because they know how effective it is to push more and more sales.

Still don’t believe me? A/B test email campaigns that use a discount code versus one that doesn’t.

Now that you know what’s holding you back, it’s time you send out campaigns that’ll not only take your email marketing to the next level but your entire business. Using these 9 campaigns, you’ll have your email list running to grab their wallets every time you pop up in their inbox. It can turn your 5, or 6-figure business into a 7 or 8-figure one (we’ve done this many times before).
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1. % Off sitewide with a deadline

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You’ve probably seen this campaign hundreds of times. Whenever a brand is looking to drive more sales, the classic % off sitewide is the go-to. The trick here to make this offer irresistible is using a deadline.

‍Pro tip: Tie this offer to niche events, holidays, times of the year, or even your brand anniversary.

‍Let’s take a look at how Onsen executes this offer:

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As you can see, there’s not too much going on in this email. Yet, I bet it drove them tons of sales. 

But what makes this email effective? It’s the combination of simplicity + urgency. The first thing the reader would notice when opening this email is the big “20% off sitewide”. Make sure to keep this campaign short and to the point, skipping all the fluff that your customer doesn't care about.

What takes this email to the next level is the use of a deadline. This triggers urgency in the reader, making them not want to miss out on this opportunity to buy.

It’s also good to note how they tied this email to a special time of the year: Father’s Day.

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2. BOGO offer

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BOGO stands for Buy One Get One. This is a very common yet effective campaign/offer to run if you’re looking to increase your AOV and sales. There are different variations of BOGO. Ranging from Buy one get one free, buy one get X% off, buy three for the price of two, and many more.

‍Here’s how Pura Vida does this:

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Pura Vida chose the most popular variation of BOGO, that being; Buy one get one free. This offer is great if you’re trying to get rid of some inventory and want some quick sales. 

But yet again, the best part about this email is the use of deadlines. In this case, customers only have 24 hours before they miss this opportunity to get 2 products for the price of one.

They also mentioned that you should “Stack up before we stock out”. This is a clever way of telling the reader that if they don’t buy today, they can kiss any opportunity to get their product away.

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3. Tiered discounts

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The tiered discount campaign is great at allowing customers to make mental calculations, allowing them to justify their decision of buying your products.

This campaign is great at increasing AOV, and of course, driving tons of sales.

‍Here’s what City Beach does:
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The offer goes like this: 10% off for people who spend $100, and 20% off for those who spend $200.

What makes this email effective is how they entice urgency in the reader by using a 3-day deadline.
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4. Big discount with a minimum order

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This is a common discount to use, especially if you’re looking to increase your AOV (average order value).

The price should be determined by the cost of your products. The cheaper your products are, the lower the minimum order. For example; If your products are around $12, a good minimum order value is $35. 

‍Here’s how Material uses this offer:

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As you can see their discount is 15% off any order over $75. This is a fair price considering their products typically range from $20 - 45. 

But this email can be improved, do you know how? Hint: It’s a common theme throughout this blog.

If you said adding urgency and deadlines then you’re correct. Without a deadline, this business is missing out on tons of extra sales. With a simple phrase like “this offer ends in 48 hours”, they can see tons of extra revenue pull through.
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5. Gift with Purchase

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There are multiple ways you can execute this offer. These are the 2 most common yet effective ways; Buy anything on the site, receive a free product or you can do a mystery gift. Either way is effective, so you can A/B test which one works best for you.

You typically want to give away a low-ticket product, for example; if you sell dog grooming kits, you can gift them with some treats or a dog collar.
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Here’s how FitBit does it:
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While a free sport band is a great offer, the email itself can be improved. By simply adding more urgency this email can easily see a 50% increase in effectiveness. 

Aside from adding the typical “this offer ends in X amount of hours”, you can instead make it so only the first 100 people that order get the gift.

This adds tons of scarcity and people would be running to grab their wallets before they miss out.

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6. Plain Text follow-up with abandoned carts

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Nothing works better than a personal email, that sounds like it came from a friend. This campaign is similar to the abandonment cart flow, which if you’re looking to build one or improve it, I highly recommend reading our blog post about it: Check it out
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‍The plain text follow-up email is a great way to show your list that you’re more than just a business trying to make money off them, rather, you’re a brand that cares for each customer.

Aside from that, this campaign is a machine when it comes to racking in those sales of people who forgot or didn’t want to check out their shopping carts.

‍Here’s how Feels uses this email:

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This email does a fantastic job of sounding personal and as if it was sent from a relative. Also, it sounds like the brand truly cares about each customer and wants to hear more about them. Overall, the copy in this email is amazing and would do great.

The only thing that would be the cherry on top for this email, is a discount code, but make sure it sounds personalized. You could say something like “Use this code XXX, I made it just for you. It expires tomorrow night. Call me if you have any questions”.

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7. FREE shipping with purchase

This is the simplest out of all the other campaigns, but that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective. The free shipping offer is a classic campaign that has been used for years and continues to work.

‍Here’s how Attn Grace utilizes this:

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This email checks off all the boxes, it’s simple and has a deadline. I’d suggest adding a bit more personality to the email. You can do this by writing better copy and/or a more unique design. 

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8. Surveys

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Surveys are a great way to dial in your product, business, or service's weak points. The customer feedback will open your eyes to what can be improved in your business.

Business owners are very deep into our businesses, which can blind us from the flaws. It’s like the saying goes “You can’t see the forest for the trees”. This campaign is like a potion that unveils the truth to you.

Aside from that, this campaign also does a pretty good job driving sales, even though that’s not its main purpose.

‍Let’s take a look at how Gainful does this:
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As you can see, this email is very simple. But what separates this survey campaign from the rest is the incentive. Going back to the principle of What’s In It For Me, your customer will NOT submit their review or take your survey if they don’t gain anything from it.

So what you want to do is add an incentive, which in this case it’s 75 reward points. You can add a 10% discount, free shipping, or even a gift. 

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9. VIP Customers

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Your VIP customers love and appreciate your brand, so why not give some of that love back? You can do this by sending out a VIP Customers exclusive campaign.

In this email, you want to show your appreciation for them supporting your business by giving them something back in return. Whether it’s a big discount code, a gift, or even early access to exclusive products.

‍Here’s what BaubleBar does:
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BaubleBar gives their VIP customers a HUGE discount of 35% off everything. While this is a great incentive, the copy is lacking. The biggest problem in this email is that they aren’t showing any genuine appreciation for their VIPs, all they did was throw in a discount code. 

Instead, you should write a few sentences showing that you care. It could be as simple as this “We truly appreciate your support and love for our brand, in return we made you an exclusive code to show you how much we care…”.
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Summary

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• Email marketing is still a powerful tool for generating revenue in e-commerce businesses.
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• Most email campaigns fail because they focus on company announcements and don't address the reader's "WIIFM" (What's In It For Me).
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• Using discounts and incentives can be effective in driving sales through email campaigns.
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• Nine email campaigns that can guarantee revenue for e-commerce businesses are discussed below:
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• ‍1 % Off sitewide with a deadline: Offer a percentage discount on all products and create urgency by adding a deadline.

• 2 BOGO offer: Buy One Get One free or discounted, with a limited time to grab the deal.
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• 3 Tiered discounts: Offer increasing discounts based on the order value, encouraging customers to spend more to get higher discounts.
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• 4 Big discount with a minimum order: Provide a significant discount for orders that meet a certain minimum value.
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• 5 Gift with Purchase: Offer a free product or mystery gift with any purchase, and add urgency by limiting the offer to a specific number of customers.
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• 6 Plain Text follow-up with abandoned carts: Send personalized follow-up emails to remind customers about their abandoned carts, potentially including a personalized discount code.
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• 7 FREE shipping with purchase: Provide free shipping as an incentive to encourage customers to make a purchase.
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• 8 Surveys: Conduct customer surveys to gather feedback and improve the business, offering incentives like reward points, discounts, or gifts to encourage participation.
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• 9 VIP Customers: Create exclusive campaigns for VIP customers, offering them special discounts, gifts, or early access to exclusive products as a way of showing appreciation for their support.
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• To improve these email campaigns, businesses should focus on creating urgency through deadlines and using personalized language to make the customer feel valued and appreciated.

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Woah, you really do want to scale your business with email marketing, don’t ya? Well, every single e-commerce business owner has the same goal in mind.
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• Emails that are so effective, that they’re your main source of revenue.
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• A loyal customer base that’s itching for your next email so they can grab their wallets and max out their credit cards.
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• Having consistent revenue without having to spend a single dollar on ads.

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We can’t blame you. That’s the dream. But it begs the question, what’s holding you back from making that dream a reality?

Is it because your email list isn’t big enough? Or is it because you don’t have enough time since you’re focusing on a million things at once?

‍WRONG! The real reason is that you don’t have a team of experts on your side to take care of or guide you with your email marketing.

What you need isn’t a bigger email list or anything like that, all you need to take your email marketing to the highest level in your industry is a team of people who understand EVERYTHING email related and care for your brand and its success.

You need a brand that has taken countless 5-figure e-commerce businesses and turned them into email marketing powerhouses that consistently make 7 and 8 figs.

Oh, that team of experts is us by the way…
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You can book a free consultation call with us where we’ll go over the ENTIRETY of your email marketing, and give you very practical advice on how to improve it.

There are ZERO catches to this, it’s a no-brainer. Do what you want with this information, but we highly recommend you click the button below. We’ll be looking forward to talking with you :)

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