12 Inspiring Ecommerce Email Marketing Campaign Examples

Once you create your subscription form, you’ll be able to decide when and where it should appear on a website. For instance, you can display the popup right away, after a visitor spends some time in your store, when they land on a particular product page, or when they are about to leave without purchasing.

When you proactively encourage customers to subscribe, you’re investing in your business growth.

Think of it this way. By converting your store visitors into subscribers, you get a chance to convert them into repetitive customers later using various ecommerce email marketing tactics.

Now, without further ado, let’s have a look at what these tactics are and how successful businesses use them.

1. Lush – holiday collection launch

We all know Lush as the cosmetics juggernaut making bank off of people who love natural products and exquisite scents. They’ve grown a huge army of fans with adept marketing strategies, and their ecommerce email marketing campaigns are a part of this.

Besides the interesting CTA (Call to Action) text, this email is an excellent example of a seasonal promotion email. The headline is obvious, clear, and concise. Halloween is here and Lush wants you to know they have some great products in store for it. Even the product descriptions are littered with great references to the spooky holiday!

Lush sure knows how to target their Halloween loving audience. This is an overall excellent design and an easy-to-recreate concept you should keep in the back of your mind when holidays like this come around.

2. REI Co-op – customer relationship nurturing newsletter

I shouldn’t even have to tell you what REI Co-op is all about. Doesn’t this masterfully designed email give you all the answers you need?

To state the obvious, REI Co-op is all about the outdoors. Camping gear, to be specific.

Barring the excellent “this could be you” type of photos, what really jumps out on this email is the text. REI creates a real sense of urgency, letting you know just how vital camping is to human life. This is capped off with some classic CTA text in “Let’s go”.

Another interesting aspect of this email is the link to what seems to be a blog post highlighting the benefits of being outdoors for extended periods of time.

Newsletters that deliver valuable content are great for nurturing the relationships with your existing customers.

Remember that promotions shouldn’t be the only reason to reach out to your subscribers. Product updates and educational content are great for driving their attention too.

Keep this email in mind when you’re looking to add something to your emails to stand out from the crowd.

3. Casper – purchase confirmation email

So, you’ve just made a sale. Awesome! Now all you have to do is make sure the item ships properly, right?

Stop right there!

You’re ignoring one of the most important ecommerce email marketing tactics – the purchase confirmation email.

While the purchase confirmation email is mainly used by the customer to ensure the purchase has gone through smoothly with no hiccups, they can be used for so much more. Your confirmation emails can directly influence your customer’s impression of your brand, build loyalty, and even drive more sales.

Look at how Casper, the online mattress store, utilizes the opportunity to impress new customers and deliver additional value.

Casper does that by having a little fun with their email. Through silly text and imagery, they put their own spin on the purchase confirmation and surely leave a lasting impression.

They also make sure to mention all the contact information and the referral program at the bottom of the email.

4. Wine Enthusiast – perfect welcome email example

Who doesn’t love a good glass of wine?

Also, who doesn’t love a perfectly crafted welcome email? Considering welcome emails have an open rate of nearly 92%, everyone should love them!

The timing of a welcome email speaks for itself. The quicker you can get your welcome email into the hands of a new addition to your email list, the better.

Wine Enthusiast’s email is a great example of how to knock your welcome email right out of the park. Simplistic and easy to view design, classic CTA, and relevant imagery.

Wine Enthusiast wants to let you know that being a part of their email list means being the first to learn about their exclusive offers and access new items – that’s a great way to show appreciation to a new subscriber.

What’s even more noteworthy here is the special deal – free shipping on $99+. Nothing helps your click-through rates quite like a discount. And combining that with other exclusives to make the customer feel like a member of a special club is a recipe for success.

5. Fetching Fields – concise and effective promotional email

Where are all my fellow dog owners at?

Fetching Fields is a company targeting dog owners who want to give their furry friends the best in organic foods and treats.

The company wastes no time letting you know all about their unique selling point. It’s the primary focus of this promotional email. Fetching Fields knows who their audience is, and they want to make sure they get their point across. All-natural ingredients and all organic.

On top of that, they offer free 3-day shipping on all orders to sweeten the deal. So, if you’re looking for a formula to create a high-converting email, that is a clear unique selling point combined with a special deal.

6. Fender – social proof used to boost sales

Now, being a music fan and guitar player myself, I just had to throw this promotional email into the mix!

Personal bias aside, though, Fender does a great job marketing their American Ultra Jazzmaster in this email.

Fender features Mateus Asato and Gina Gleason, two larger than life guitar players who use the Jazzmaster as one of their main instruments, to promote their product. This is a common tactic in the music industry because it’s a great example of social proof.

Using social proof – on your website and in your emails – adds a layer of trust to your brand and ultimately helps sales.

While you might not be in the musical instrument business, social proof is something that anyone in any industry can benefit from.

7. Rifle Paper – holiday sale campaign

Remember when we talked about using holiday promotion to your advantage?

Well, why not combine that with a nice, juicy discount? Sounds like a recipe for success, doesn’t it? Rifle Paper does just that with this email.

They use a simple design combined with a Christmas discount and a great CTA text button to craft a high-converting email. Nothing too fancy here.

Remember though: your emails don’t need to be fancy to be effective. And you don’t need to be a designer to craft a perfect ecommerce email marketing campaign.

8. Adidas – out-of-stock email alert

Here’s an interesting concept. Have you ever thought about what an out-of-stock product email can do for you?

When you provide customers with the option to get notified about their products returning to stock, you make them feel special and cared about. And this is exactly what Adidas does with this email.

Keep out-of-stock notifications in mind when you’re crafting your ecommerce email marketing strategy.

9. Food 52 – abandoned cart email

I love this abandoned cart email. The playful text really speaks to the customer in a casual tone. The word choice makes the email feel a lot more personal and the company – more relatable.

Why are abandoned cart emails so important?

We’ve talked previously on our blog about preventing cart abandonment with timely popups. But given that preventing 100% of abandonment is unrealistic, you should also consider reaching out to those who left without purchasing.

The purpose of cart abandonment emails is to try and reel your customer back in.

Abandoned cart emails boast nearly a 45% open rate, and it’s important to get these emails to the customers soon after the abandonment happens – while your business is still in the forefront of their minds.

Food 52 also manages to create a sense of urgency by letting their customer know that the products they’re interested in won’t be around much longer.

10. Green Cleanse – re-engagement email

Green Cleanse is all about healthy living. They make this apparent in their emails. Visually speaking, this is an excellent example of a well-designed email. The imagery, color scheme, and fonts are all easy on the eyes. And it announces a new product which means – a great chance to re-engage with the customers.

Take a moment to check out the minimalistic call to action used in this email.

The thing is, CTA’s don’t always need to be extraordinary. Sometimes, a simple “Order today” is all you need to get the customer to click through.

On top of that, for their new “Surge” juice, they offer two different options: a button to order a 6 pack, and a button to order a single bottle. The extra option may not seem like much, but the option to try the product before purchasing in bulk makes a huge difference for the skeptical customer!

11. Taylor Stitch – special deal email

Something we haven’t talked about in-depth is the headline. Being the first thing a customer reads in your email, you’d think it would be vital to craft a compelling headline for a successful ecommerce email marketing campaign, right?

Taylor Stitch does exactly that with their “Time for Twenty” promo campaign.

What could this mean? Twenty percent off? Twenty dollars off an order?

How about both!

Their headline is intriguing and perfectly tied into the gracious discount they’re offering. Pulling the customer in with the copy is a surefire way to maximize those click-throughs.

12. SkillShare – product recommendation email

Here’s a simple, but vital concept: personalization is key when it comes to ecommerce email marketing. SkillShare knows it, and now so do you.

In case you haven’t heard about SkillShare, they’re all about getting knowledge to the masses through online courses and workshops.

What you see here is an automated email with a list of recommendations based on user activity on the SkillShare website. This principle can be easily applied to nearly any industry. And you don’t need to be a tech genius to use this tactic – your email marketing solution probably comes with these tools already.

Another little personalization hack you should have spotted in the SkillShare email is the customer’s name.

According to Experian, personalized emails get 29% higher open rates and 41% higher click through rates.

Using a customer’s name and previous website activity will help you make them feel cared about and boost the efficiency of your ecommerce email marketing campaign.

Combine various tactics to craft perfect emails

Now that you’ve seen different tactics, it’s time to take action and start planning your ecommerce email marketing strategy.

Remember that you don’t need to stick to one type of emails. Use different tactics for different scenarios and consider A/B testing to see what you can optimize.

Not sure where to start? Find out which personalization features are available in your email marketing software. Then make sure to add the field capturing your subscribers’ first names to your email subscription popup.

Finally, go ahead and pick a few ideas for your email list building strategy.