Email Marketing Tips From 8 Shopify Stores

Ecommerce is big business. According to recent research online retail sales increased over the years from a value of £33.24 billion in 2012 to approximately £69.71 billion in 2018 and they’re expected to exceed £76 billion in 2019.

This is one of the many reasons why today is a great time to start an ecommerce business. And today it’s easier than ever to start an online store. There are so many amazing tools and resources to get up and running quickly.

One of the most popular and easy to use tools is Shopify. It’s a complete ecommerce platform that allows you to create, manage and grow your ecommerce business. Shopify powers a staggering 1,000,000 stores – from first time sellers like GFTD (check out our interview with the Founder here) to multi million pound businesses like Gym Shark.

Now it’s one thing to have your ecommerce store, and it’s another thing to have a profitable e-commerce store! So we’re going to give you some tips on how you can do just that. In this post, we’ll be focusing on the importance of email marketing for your ecommerce business.

We’re giving you eight examples of ecommerce websites built with Shopify and sharing tips and tricks that you can implement in your ecommerce business to help you build your email list.

But firstly…

What’s the big deal about having an email list?

Well for starters, email usage is growing every year. And it’s predicted to grow by 2 to 3% between now and 2023. According to recent stats, more than half the global population now use email. Apparently in most businesses, each person sends and receives 126 emails daily.

That’s a lot of email!

Secondly, It helps you build a relationship with your customers, which helps them get to know, like and trust you.These customers have invited you into their inbox. In this noisy, busy world that we live in, this is gold. You’ve got their attention.

This is important because your email in a customer’s inbox gives them a reason to remember you, and to return to your store, and hopefully purchase something.

Thirdly, it’s yours! It’s different to social media in that you’re not at the mercy of a social media algorithm deciding whether your post gets seen or now. If someone opts in and signs up for your email newsletter, that list belongs to you.

Cue: the happy dance!

via GIPHY

Now let’s check out these 8 Shopify stores and see what tips and tricks we can learn from them for how to build our email lists:

SkinnyMe Tea

SkinnyMe Tea(SMT) is an Australian based company whose mission is to help people achieve their health and wellness goals. It was founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur @gretta and combines her passion for tea and detoxing into a single product.

When you scroll to the bottom of the homepage, you get this popup:

There’s also a sign up form in the footer at the bottom.

When you sign up, the thank you message looks like this.

Things to note:

the use of a discount to entice your next or your first shop.
And also notice the clever use of the word “Club”. They want to make you feel as if you’ve joined something exclusive.

Beardbrand

Beardbrand have a simple mission. To make men awesome. Their origin story is super interesting. Beardbrand was featured in the New York Times and they used that feature as a catalyst to launch the store. They started from a YouTube channel and a blog in 2012 and they now have a vibrant community of “beardsmen” and sell products to keep your beard, body and hair clean, conditioned and healthy.

Here’s the sign up form on their homepage. They’ve used a ‘lead magnet’ – i.e. an incentive to get you to give them your email address. In this case the incentive is a “5 Day Grooming Bootcamp”.

This works really well because:

they’re providing value from the start
they’re getting the subscriber used to receiving an opening emails from them, which in turn helps their email deliverability rates

Do you notice the envelope icon with a red dot in their top navigation? Well if you click on it, you get this pop up sign up form:

They also have this sign up form in the sidebar of their blog:

And this sign up form at the bottom of every product page:

And here’s the welcome email that you receive when you’ve signed up:

Things to note from their welcome email:

they offer you a 50% discount code off their grooming starter kit
they prime you to expect to receive their daily 5 day email series from tomorrow

Taylor Stitch

Taylor Stitch clothing are “responsibly built for the long haul”. They are committed to creating the best possible clothing while pledging to limit their environmental impact. They started 10 years ago as a shirting company, and have expanded their range to produce bottoms, outerwear and footwear.

As soon as you arrive at their website, you get an instant full page pop up:

They also have an email sign up in the footer of every page:

And here’s the thank you message you get when you’ve signed up:

And here’s the welcome email you receive.

Notice again the use of a money off coupon and the use of the word “family”.

Harper Wilde

Harper Wilde began with a question:

Why is shopping for bras such a pain?

This question led to more questions… which ultimately led to them creating “everyday bras that match a woman’s real needs”. And they’ve done it with humour!

Here’s the popup that you get on their homepage.

I love their use of humour!

And here’s their email opt in form in the footer of every page:

And in keeping with their humorous tone, here’s the thank you message:

And here’s their welcome email:

Cambridge Satchel Company

They started in 2008 as a satchel company that was inspired by British leather school bags from the olden days! The company was started by Julie Deane and her mother Freda with a budget of just £600. They’ve expanded their selection from satchels to include large and small bags, and lots of different accessories.

Here’s the popup you get on their homepage. Note the use of a prize draw to encourage sign ups.

And here’s the thank you message:

Here’s the opt in from the top navigation:

When you click on “Newsletter”, it leads to this form:

And here’s the opt in form about three quarters of the way down the homepage. Again notice how they’re naming their community “CSC Tribe”.

Now here’s a missed opportunity. This is the first piece of email communication you get from them. There’s very little branding, absolutely no added value and no personality. Don’t do this folks!

ColourPop

Colour Pop are an award-winning cosmetics company based in Southern California that “pride themselvs on being cruelty-free, wallet-friendly, and keeping their customers at the center of their world”. They launched in 2014 and rather uniquely everything happens under one roof.

When you first arrive at the site, you’re greeted with this slide-in popup. Notice the wording for dismissing the offer.

Either “Yes, I want 10% off!” or “I’ll pay full price”.

They also have an email sign up at the bottom of the page:

And they’re welcome email is super on brand. It’s bright, it’s colourful, and it’s animated.

Poketo

Poketo was started in 2003 by husband-and-wife team Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung. They have “curated and created a collection of design-conscious goods meant to cultivate a creative lifestyle.” They sell things like stationery, apparel and home goods. In addition to their online store, they also have 4 LA based retail locations.

Here’s the lovely colourful popup that you get when you arrive on their homepage:

And keeping consistent with the branding, here’s the thank you message:

Now Poketo, like the Cambridge Satchel Co, also have a double-opt in, but they’ve done it really well. It’s simple, but it’s on brand.

Their welcome email is also excellent:

It introduces the brand
Gives a money off code
Tells you where you can find their physical stores
and signposts their social media channels and their branded hashtag

Gymshark

And last, but by no means least is Gymshark. The multi-million pound fitness apparel and accessories brand started in 2012 by teenager Ben Francis. Gymshark has grown into a huge brand with more than 1.2 million customers, and 215 employees at its Solihull headquarters in the West Midlands.

They have a very confident opt-in. When you click “Sign up now” you’re taken to the opt in form below.

Notice how much more info they collect than a standard email opt in form. They’re collecting your date of birth and your gender as well.

They have a double opt-in as well:

And when you’ve confirmed your email address, this is the email that you get next:

Phew! This was a long post. Hopefully you’ve now got some great ideas from the examples I’ve shared from these 8 Shopify stores about how you can grow your email list for your ecommerce business.

Have a question or a comment? Leave it below!