Podcast Ep. 13: The #1 Email Marketing Strategy for Fashion Brands
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
Your email list is your most valuable marketing asset. There are so many different methods and angles to look at when it comes to an email marketing strategy. In today’s episode, I’m going to teach you one specific strategy that you can implement today that averages 70.5% higher open rates and 152% higher click-through rates than traditional email newsletters that you may be sending weekly. This is serious stuff, so stay tuned…
TRANSCRIPT
There are so many different methods and angles to look at when it comes to an email marketing strategy. We could spend an entire day just talking about email marketing. But for the purposes of today’s episode, I’m going to teach you one specific strategy that you can implement today that averages 70.5% higher open rates and 152% higher click-through rates than traditional email newsletters that you may be sending weekly. This is serious stuff, so stay tuned…
But first! Applications to Factory45 are now open for 2022! Factory45 is the online business school that takes sustainable fashion brands from idea to launch. If you’re serious about taking action and starting your fashion or accessories brand this year, then apply to join us at factory45.co/apply.
I will start with this friendly reminder: When it comes to ecommerce marketing and selling a physical product online… IT’S NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE SELLING! IT’S ABOUT WHAT THEY’RE BUYING. In other words, the best ecommerce brands focus their sales strategy on their customer. So as we’re going through the content today, I want you to be thinking to yourself — whether you’re selling right now or not: How can you make a genuine connection with your potential customer in a way that they feel heard and supported? Because it’s never about what you’re selling, it’s always about the experience your product provides them…
It’s the aspirational feeling they want to attain. The void your product will fill. The problem it will solve. If you’re able to effectively connect those dots, then that’s when you’ll start to eliminate your competition. You’ll have the secret sauce that most brands never end up finding.
So, with all of that said and now in the forefront of your marketing strategies, let’s talk about some of the tactical and practical marketing tips you can use to nurture your audience and eventually drive sales to your online store.
It starts with your email list. Your email list is your most valuable marketing asset and one of the only online marketing tools you actually own. To clarify, you pay your email platform a monthly fee to own your email list — that means they can’t take it away, or change an algorithm or decide to shut down your account. Which is unlike Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms where you don’t own any of your content once it’s published and your account can be shut down overnight.
If you’ve listened to this podcast before then you know that I talk about building an audience before you launch and as part of that system, I encouraged you to set up a landing page and email-optin to capture the email addresses of visitors who come to your site. You may have started sharing some of your content (like blog posts, YouTube videos, podcast episodes or Instagram posts) with your email list and sending out a weekly email. This is a great way to start building trust with your future customers. I encourage communication with your list at a minimum of twice per month.
So for the purposes of this episode, I’m going to assume that you have a landing page or some sort of website set up and that you’re actively growing your email list. Having that foundation is going to allow us to take your email marketing to the next level with… an automated email series.
An automated email series. What does that mean?
This is a series of 4-6 emails you’ll send out in a scheduled sequence to nurture a new subscriber and welcome them as a new follower. For our purposes, we’re going to call this email sequence your… Welcome series.
The purpose of your Welcome Series is to get a potential customer familiar with your brand and product offering so they’ll eventually purchase from you. Although you should continue sending out blog posts and interesting content in your newsletter, without a Welcome series, a new subscriber can feel like they’re walking into the movie theater after the movie has already started. You need to get them caught up with who you are and what your company does. Because the truth is, Most people don’t take any action on their first visit to your website. That’s why it’s so important to capture their email address before they leave, so you can stay in contact with them through consistent and compelling email content.
If a visitor does end up opting-in to your list, then you’ve just passed the first barrier to entry. This is great news because a person who opts in to your list has a much greater chance of eventually purchasing from you.
In determining how many emails should comprise your welcome series, start backwards. Figure out what you want to say and then determine how many emails it will take to say it. The question you need to ask yourself is: If someone is new to your email list what do they need to know about your product or company?
Here are some ideas:
- Who you are (the founder story can create immediate connection, making it personal and real)
- What your product is / what you sell
- How you’re different from your competitors
- What your current customers say about you (testimonials + rave reviews)
- A special offer (like a free download or another type of lead magnet)
Once you determine the main message you want to convey, you need to break it down into a series of emails that your new subscribers will receive over the course of a few days or a couple of weeks. Remembering that The Goal is to bring new subscribers back to your online store, motivate them to make an initial purchase early in the relationship, order regularly from you and increase their order sizes as time goes on.
Email #1 Example –
Time: Immediately after signing up
Main points:
- Introduce yourself
- Introduce your company and product offering (make it very clear)
- Remind them to download the freebie they opted in for if you haven’t launched yet or to take advantage of the discount code or free shipping offer if are currently selling
- Make the email personal (as if you’re only writing to one person)
- Extend thanks and gratitude for their support
Email #2 Example –
Time: 48 hours later
Main points:
- Offer an interesting anecdote about your company that connects back to the customer
- Reminder that discount / exclusive sign-up offer is going to expire
- The purpose is to continue generating brand awareness
- Keep it short
Email #3 Example –
Time: 3 days later
Main points:
- Brand content or a blog post that your ideal target market would be interested in.
- Could also be photos of past customers wearing your product
- You could highlight a certain product offering
- Not a sales push
Email #4 Example –
Time: 5 days later (only if they haven’t purchased yet)
Main points:
- Escalate the discount code or exclusive offer with an additional incentive
- Provide another piece of interesting content about your brand
- Create a sense of urgency to push the purchase
This is obviously just an example of what your welcome series could look like and will hopefully spark some ideas or inspiration but the key point to remember is what I said earlier: if someone walks into your movie, after it’s already started, how can you catch them up? What do they need to know about your brand, your offer, what you sell or what you’re going to sell so that they immediately feel welcomed into your community and excited to receive a future email from you.
So if there’s one action step you take this week, create a 3-5 email welcome series — it doesn’t matter if you have an email list of 5 people or 500, it doesn’t matter if you’re in pre-launch phase or are currently selling. You’ll want to have a welcome series up and running so that you can keep your subscribers engaged, opening your emails and looking forward to the next ones.
I also want to let you know that applications to Factory45 are officially open! If you’re interested in launching your sustainable fashion brand this year, then I encourage you to fill out an application before they close on March 22nd! Go to factory45.co/apply
Alright, so I hope this episode was helpful — I know it was a little bit in the weeds but I wanted to make sure I was giving you some specific and practical examples that you can start implementing. Thank you so much for listening and we’ll be back next week!
