3 Must-Send Emails to Increase Engagement and Order Frequency
Furniture World News Desk on
4/29/2019
Today's Furniture wholesale buyers and consumers are increasingly choosing to buy online (especially for repeat orders). In fact, online furniture and bedding sales increased 16.4% in 2017 (exceeding $15 billion) and is projected to make up 18% of total furniture and bedding sales by 2022 (
Furniture Today).
A great website is key to cashing in on the multi-billion-dollar online opportunity, but a “build it and they will come” approach is rarely the answer. Instead, support your website with email marketing for a proven and inexpensive way to maximize your investment, engage a wider audience, and capture sales or product interests day and night. In fact, Litmus found that email’s ROI is 42:1 ($42 returned on every $1 invested).
Get started with three must-send emails to engage customers throughout the year, drive website traffic, and increase order frequency between traditional market cycles and popular shopping days.
3 Emails Ideas to Woo Your Customers:
Abandoned Cart Example from Uttermost, a Whereoware client. |
1. Event Invites
Everyone loves an invite to a good party, and your customers are no different.
Whether you’re hosting an in-store sale, showroom party at High Point, or a virtual event, email is an easy way to tie online and offline experiences together, drive in-store and online traffic, and interact with recipients in a non-salesy, customer-focused way.
In your email invitation, include high level event details, and then link to a website landing page with more information. You can add a webform to capture RSVPs, link to Google Maps to provide turn-by-turn directions to your store, or upsell, by highlighting newly released products, seasonal trends, best sellers, or exclusive opportunities to shop early.
2. Abandoned Cart
Abandoned Cart emails work around the clock, motivating customers to return to your website and complete their purchase, ensuring you recoup missed revenue! In fact, SaleCycle reported that nearly 76% of retail carts were abandoned in 2018. Instead of leaving revenue on the table, set up an automated Abandoned Cart email to trigger when your customers add items to their cart, but don’t purchase.
A simple Abandoned Cart email reminds subscribers they left a product in their cart and links directly to the cart or retailer portal to complete the purchase. Upgrade these emails by displaying the abandoned product (hey, it caught their eye before), upselling with complimentary products from that furniture set, or linking to the store locator near them.
3. Re-engagement (Inactive Customers)
Are some of your customers a bit distant lately? Use targeted emails to wake up your “sleeping” customers.
Reach out to inactive customers to remind them of your brand, reduce customer churn, and increase sales. Tell them “we’ve missed you”; offer a special deal; invite them to visit your website, showroom, or storefront; or request they update their email preferences, so you can send them more relevant content.
Take things to the next level by displaying personalized product recommendations or products they’ve purchased in the past. If your recipients still don’t engage, send the “inactive” list to your sales reps for personal follow up.
Use Email to Nurture Customers and Increase Order Frequency
As more of your customers browse and buy online, email is a low-cost and effective channel to maximize your website investment, recoup lost sales, increase engagement, drive instore and online traffic, and engage customers throughout the year. In fact, Accenture found that multichannel customers are 25% more profitable than human-only experiences.
Abandoned cart, re-engagement, and event emails are three popular campaigns to add to your marketing mix. Get creative, measure results, and tailor email topics to build a consistent, ongoing relationship with your customers, while driving repeat orders and upsells between market cycles and peak selling seasons.
Need help with email? Whereoware has a team of 25 email experts and our Pharos Product Suite offers both a responsive email build tool and affordable email platform for furniture vendors and retailers. Let us know how we can help.
Director of Marketing at Whereoware, Alyson Hunter specializes in content marketing, public relations, and lead generation to increase brand awareness and sales. Whereoware is a leading B2B digital agency and software company supporting Furniture and Gift and Home clients for 19 years. Talk to a Whereoware digital expert or get a demo of our Pharos Product Suite, built to solve B2B marketing, sales, and e-commerce challenges.