Improve Your eCommerce Email Conversion Rates

Email marketing is like the wise old sage of the marketing world – it’s been around for ages, and yet it’s still one of the most powerful ways to connect with your customers. And for eCommerce businesses, it’s an absolute must-have in your marketing toolkit. 

If you’re like most savvy eCommerce store owners, you’re already using email marketing to drive traffic and boost sales. But in a world where it’s getting harder and harder to grab your subscribers’ attention, your efforts might not be bringing you the results you want. 

If that’s the case, it’s time to take a closer look at your email campaigns and figure out how to increase your email conversion rate. 

In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the email marketing conversion rate, from what it is, why it’s important, and how to track it. 

What Is Email Marketing Conversion Rate?

Typically, when you send an email campaign to your subscribers, you want them to take a specific action. It can be anything from checking out a new product you just launched to buying something from your eCommerce store.

When they actually do that, it’s called an email conversion.

In other words, an email conversion is when someone takes a specific action you asked them to take after opening the email you sent them.

The email conversion rate is the percentage of people who took action out of everyone on your list who got the email. So, if you sent an email to 100 subscribers and 8 of them clicked on your link or bought something, your conversion rate would be 8%.

💡 Tracking your email conversion rate is a fundamental way to evaluate how well your email marketing strategy is doing. Ideally, your conversion rate should grow or stay the same. This lets you know that your email marketing efforts are paying off.

The average conversion rate you should strive for varies depending on factors such as your industry and target audience. When it comes to eCommerce businesses, an average email conversion rate is somewhere between 8% to 9%.

But even though this is a good thing to know, it’s better to compare your conversion rates to your own benchmarks rather than rely on the industry averages.

Why is the Email Marketing Conversion Rate Important?

Your email conversion rate is one of the most important metrics to measure how effective your email campaigns are.

Why is it so important?

Mainly because it tells you how many people are taking action after opening your emails. But also because it tells you whether your email marketing strategy is helping you make more money.

Your email conversion rate determines the ROI of email campaigns. By tracking the conversion rates of specific campaigns, you can figure out which ones are generating the most revenue. This way, you can focus your efforts where they’ll have the biggest impact.

Tracking your email conversion rate can also help you spot the campaigns that aren’t doing so well. Knowing this will help you optimize your strategy to get the best possible results. 

How do you measure your email conversion rate?

Now that you know what email conversion rate is and why it’s so important, you might be wondering how to calculate it. 

Fortunately, it’s not too complicated once you know the formula. 

Let’s dive in. 

Factors to consider when measuring your email conversion rate

When it comes to measuring your business’ email marketing conversion rate, you’ll have to make some decisions about what you want to measure and how you want to measure it.

This is easier for some businesses than others, but in any case, it is unavoidable if you want to increase the conversion rate of your eCommerce.

If your business is an eCommerce company, defining your conversion rate is simple enough, with many choosing to go with completed purchases as their metric for eCommerce email conversion rates.

However, you may want to measure your conversion based on other factors that aren’t necessarily a completed purchase. You can choose to measure your micro and macro conversions.

Micro conversions are small actions a subscriber takes after receiving your email. It can be clicking a link, adding an item to a cart, or filling out a form. These actions might not necessarily lead to an immediate sale, but they’re important steps on the path to conversion.

A macro conversion, on the other hand, is a bigger, more meaningful action that directly leads to a sale or other major outcome. In the case of an eCommerce business, completing a purchase is an excellent example of a macro conversion.

While macro conversions are always the ultimate goal, keeping an eye on micro conversions can show you how people are engaging with your emails. When you track both, you’ll have a better understanding of how your email marketing strategy is really doing.

How to calculate email conversion rate?

Once you have all of the metrics that you need, it’s really simple to calculate your conversion rate.

All you have to do is take the total number of conversions, whether they are based on completed purchases, lead capture, or something else, and divide that by the total number of sent emails.

Then, multiply the number that you get by 100 to get a percentage.

In the event that you had, for example, 500 conversions based on an email that was sent to 10,000 people, your conversion rate would be 5%, because 500 / 10,000 is 0.05. That as a percentage is 5%.

If you work out your conversion rate and it is as low as that, you’ll know that you need to invest more time and money into your email marketing strategy.

7 Ways to Increase Your Email Conversion Rate

If your email conversion rate is low, it means you’re leaving money on the table. Luckily, there are a few ways to increase your email conversion rate and maximize the potential of your email campaigns. 

In this section, we’ll share with you the 7 most effective ways to do that. Let’s dive in. 

1. Use segmentation and personalization

Your subscribers receive tons of emails every day. The best way to grab their attention and compel them to take action on the emails they receive from you is through segmentation and personalization. 

By segmenting your email list, you can send subscribers more targeted emails relevant to them. And you can make those campaigns even more engaging by personalizing them to each recipient.

Personalized and segmented emails lead to higher conversion rates and more sales. According to Campaign Monitor, emails with personalized subject lines increase open rates by 26%, while segmented email campaigns can cause a 760% increase in revenue. 

That’s a pretty good reason to start segmenting and personalizing your campaigns! 

2. Add CTA

If you want your subscribers to take action after opening your email, you have to guide them. This is why using calls-to-action in your email campaigns contributes to higher conversion rates.

Having clear and visually appealing CTAs is crucial, as it helps your subscribers know exactly what you want them to do next.

📌 Make sure your CTAs stand out by using contrasting colors, bold fonts, and compelling language that creates a sense of urgency or excitement.

3. Test your subject line to improve your eCommerce email open rate

Think about the first thing you see when an email lands in your inbox. Yes, that’s right: a subject line.

Your email subject line is the most important factor in getting subscribers to open your emails. If it doesn’t grab their attention, they won’t even open your email – let alone take action.

💡 A compelling subject line will entice your subscribers to click through and engage with your content.

But you won’t know which subject lines work best among your subscribers unless you start testing them. By trying out different subject lines and seeing which ones get the most opens and clicks, you can fine-tune them to be more purposeful and persuasive.

However, one thing to remember is to avoid using gimmicky or clickbaity language at all costs. While it may be tempting, this approach can backfire and lead to distrust or disengagement from your subscribers.

4. Fix email deliverability issues to be sure to reach the inbox

The first step towards higher conversion rates is making sure your emails get delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes.

According to OptinMonster, roughly 17% of emails fail to reach the intended inbox, ending up in spam folders or getting blocked from reaching your subscribers’ inboxes altogether.

Unless you’re ok with losing revenue potential, you need to make sure your emails are free from deliverability issues.

There are several ways to fix the deliverability of your email campaigns:

• Using a reputable email service provider that has a good reputation and deliverability rates.
• Making sure your email list is clean and up-to-date, with no invalid or inactive email addresses.
• Using a double opt-in process to confirm subscribers and reduce the chances of fake or spam email addresses.
• Avoiding spammy content and formatting, such as all-caps, excessive punctuation, or misleading subject lines.

5. Identify the best time to send emails

Sending your emails at the right time – the time when your subscribers are most likely to open them – can lead to higher conversion rates. Depending on the type of emails you send, the right time will differ. 

💡 Analyzing your email statistics can help you find the best times to send specific campaign types. 

You can also test different times or use automation tools to help you determine the optimal time to send your emails and increase your chances of reaching your subscribers at the right time. 

6. Optimize your emails for mobile

It is no longer optional for your emails to be optimized for mobile. In a world where more and more people are doing everything on their phones, responsive email design is key. In fact, according to OptinMonster, 77% of email opens come from mobile devices.

When optimizing your email templates for mobile, make sure that all the design elements fit nicely on the screen. 

Avoid using large images that take a long time to load, ensure the text is large enough to read without zooming in, and leave enough space between the links and the buttons to make them easily clickable. 

7. Try A/B testing

A/B testing is a highly effective way of creating an email that has the highest chance of a conversion.

Use it to test minor changes between email formats or phrasing to find out what your customers prefer. Then go with the version that leads to more conversions.

How to Track Email Conversion Rates?

Tracking your conversion rates is key to optimizing your email marketing strategy for success. You want to know which campaigns are performing best, which aren’t doing well, and why. This will allow you to focus your efforts where they bring the best results. 

Here are two ways to track your email conversion rates. 

Email marketing analytics

If you’re serious about your email marketing strategy, you’re either already using or planning to use an email marketing software.

This is the best place to track your email campaign metrics. Every good email marketing software has analytics that can provide you with a wealth of information about every single campaign you send to your email list.

These analytics will reveal metrics such as open rates and click-through rates for each email campaign. This will help you gain a comprehensive view of how your campaigns are doing. 

Web analytics

While you may think that Google Analytics is a tool that can only be used to track how your website is doing, you can also use it to track your email conversions. 

To do that, you need to do two things: integrate it with your email marketing software and set up conversion goals. A conversion goal is an action you want your subscribers to take on your website after receiving your email. 

For example, let’s say you send out an email newsletter about a new product you want your subscribers to buy. In this case, Google Analytics will show you how many people actually completed the purchase rather than how many people clicked on the link in your email campaign. 

This approach to measuring conversions goes further, as it allows you to see whether the subscriber who clicked on the link in your email (micro conversion) actually went through with the purchase (macro conversion).

FAQs about eCommerce Conversion Rates

Written by

Andriy Boychuk