7 Email Retargeting Best Practices for Your eCommerce Business

Email retargeting is a powerful tool for nurturing leads and increasing customer lifetime value. You want to follow the best practices to get the most out of your email retargeting campaigns. In this post, we will take a look at seven email retargeting best practices that you should be following.

1. Expand your email retargeting reach with SafeOpt

Email retargeting is an extremely effective email campaign because it uses email to target shoppers who have already shown interest in your products and services. But, you can (mostly) only use it when you have the email address for shoppers. Thanks to innovative new solutions like SafeOpt, you can expand your email retargeting reach in a way that drives revenue and is fully compliant with email and privacy regulations.

SafeOpt works like this:

• Shoppers sign up directly with SafeOpt or its publishing partners to receive verified deals from brands.
• Merchants like you install a simple  SafeOpt script on your site.
• When a shopper visits your site, adds something to their cart and doesn’t complete the purchase, you can now send them a promotional email helping them finalize that purchase, even if they didn’t join your email list.
• Your brand only pays SafeOpt for customers that convert from the retargeting campaign.

Expanding your email retargeting reach is a proven way to generate ROI. Using a solution like SafeOpt is particularly effective because it helps you mitigate abandoned carts, which are a huge problem for ecommerce merchants.  

2. Personalize your subject lines

Personalizing your retargeting email is a great way to connect with your audience and create a more engaging experience. By tailoring your subject line, content, and even the design of your email, you can ensure that your message is received and understood. Here are a few best practices for crafting personalized emails:.

• Utilize customer segments to tailor messages specifically to the recipient's interests and past behaviors. For example, if you know that one of your recipients loves golfing, include information about golf courses in your email subject line.

• Make use of catchy headlines that will capture the reader's attention. Headlines should be simple yet descriptive enough for readers to understand what's inside the email. Remember to use emojis where applicable!

• Keep content streamlined with other digital campaigns so that it's easy for readers to understand what they're reading. Avoid long paragraphs or verbose language in order to keep emails concise and on-brand.

• Craft catchy images for use in emails along with headings and subheadings that are easy to scan. Remember also to include personal details such as the recipient's name or location in order to humanize the email experience.

Finally, test different subject lines against each other using A/B testing software in order to find those that perform best (based on open rates). Fine-tuning these variables will help you increase engagement and conversion rates on all of your emails.

3. Make the most of scarcity & urgency

Using time-based offers and last chance campaigns to increase urgency will help your retargeting emails perform better. This creates a sense of scarcity that compels customers to act quickly. Additionally, you should limit the number of emails that a customer receives —giving them the feeling that there is only one opportunity left to buy.

For example, you could include language in your retargeting email copy that says “Only 1 day left!” or “This sale ends soon!” This will help to emphasize the urgency of the offer and increase the chances that your customer will take action. A winning combination for retargeting emails is when you combine this sense or urgency with the personalization aspects mentioned above.  

4. Use segmentation to target different audiences

Email marketing is a powerful tool that can be used to drive conversions and increase ROI. Yet, you can’t just “spray and pray” with your email retargeting because it will annoy your customers and not be effective. Instead, make sure you’re using your segmentation to correctly target the right group of people with your messages.

Your retargeting emails will already have a core layer of segmentation: people who have already visited your site or abandoned a cart. But, you can segment further to deliver messages that are even more effective.

Leverage your existing data to provide better segmentation. For example, if you know that certain customers primarily check out using a promo code, you can include one in the retargeting email. This can have a dual benefit: you can get the promo code shopper over the finish line and by not sending promo codes to others on the email retargeting list, you can potentially boost your revenue.

It's also important to monitor analytics in order to optimize your campaigns and determine which strategies are working best for each individual customer segment. By analyzing purchase data and other behavioral indicators, you can make informed decisions about where or how to invest resources next.

5. Design for mobile

Making sure that your email retargeting campaigns are effective on all devices can be a challenge. That's why it's important to design for mobile from the start. Over 61% of emails are opened on mobile, so it’s vital to make sure your retargeting emails load quickly and look great on all devices.

First and foremost, use a mobile friendly layout so that your emails load quickly. Make sure to utilize responsive design so that the user experience is consistent across all devices — desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet. You can also optimize images for better performance and make sure text is embedded in the image when needed to save space.

Designing for mobile also includes the copywriting and overall message. Make sure the message is concise and easy to understand — even on small screens. That primarily means focus: instead of promoting 10 products with 10 call-to-actions, promote three.

Speaking of call-to-actions, make sure your CTA buttons are mobile friendly and include a hover state when necessary for easier viewing on smaller screens.

5. Experiment with different send timings

Email retargeting is a great way to capture the attention of customers who have already shown interest in your products or services. By sending targeted emails at optimal times, you increase the likelihood that your emails will be read and acted upon.

Timing is important. You don't want these valuable messages to hit your shoppers’ inboxes at a time when they’re not going to interact with your email.

To identify the best time of day for email engagement, start by analyzing your customer's existing email behavior. Look to when your customers are typically opening and engaging with your email content and try sending your retargeting emails during those times.

Don't be afraid to experiment with different timing strategies, though. Sometimes it may be most effective to send an email early in the morning or late at night. Every experiment with your retargeting email send times is an opportunity to learn about what works best. From there, you have to incorporate those learnings into your next email.

7. Leverage product ratings and reviews in your emails

Humans are social creatures. That’s why social proof like product ratings or reviews can really work in your retargeting emails.

Try to incorporate reviews or product ratings in the content of your retargeting emails. This may be enough to help the recipient finalize the purchase they previously showed interest in. Research suggests that 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations, so use that to your advantage.

Email retargeting as a growth engine  

Your ecommerce business can thrive once you start using these email retargeting best practices and expanding your reach with tools like SafeOpt.