Email Marketing KPIs

Email Marketing KPIs

by | May 31, 2022 | Email Marketing

Are you sending emails for your business simply because you know you should? Are they converting? Do you know how to tell if they’re working for your company?

Emails are an important part of your digital marketing strategy! Your email marketing Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are an easy way to measure how many recipients read your emails, make purchases, enjoy your email content, and more. Your KPIs serve as a roadmap and help you to determine if you’re meeting your goals.

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WHY EMAIL MARKETING IS IMPORTANT

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WHAT IS A KPI AND WHY DO I NEED IT?

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EMAIL KPIs TO TRACK

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DELIVERY RATE

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BOUNCE

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OPEN

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CTR

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CONVERSION RATE

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REVENUE / REVENUE PER SUBSCRIBER

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UNSUBSCRIBE

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ROI

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SUBSCRIBER ENGAGEMENT

WHY EMAIL MARKETING IS IMPORTANT

Email marketing helps your company to grow and is often an important factor in gaining new leads for your company. Emails are used for lead generation (85%), sales (84%), lead nurturing (78%), and customer retention (74%).

With those kinds of numbers, it’s impossible to say that email marketing doesn’t work or won’t help your company. Maybe you’re not seeing the sales that you’re hoping for yet, but tracking your KPIs will help! 

WHAT IS A KPI AND WHY DO I NEED IT?

Your KPIs are important tools for benchmarking your success and understanding exactly what happens when you click “send” on an email campaign. In 2022, 33.3 billion emails are expected to be sent and received each day. That’s a whole lot of emails. You may be thinking, “if that many emails are sent, how do I know if people are reading mine, and why would they?”

Your KPIs are your answer. Email Key Performance Indicators allow you to measure how many people are reading your emails, what links are being clicked, what kind of content your audience prefers, and what types of emails they like to receive, and you can A/B test content, subject lines, and more.

EMAIL KPIS TO TRACK

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of it. If you work with a marketing email provider like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or Constant Contact, many of these KPI insights will be provided to you through the software, but it’s important to know what the data means and how it may affect your goals. 

DELIVERY RATE

Your email delivery rate tells you how many of the email addresses that you intended to get your email campaign actually received it. Although you sent the email to your full email list, every recipient may not see it in their inbox. A number of factors can play into this that we’ll get into in your bounce rate. Your goal is to get your delivery rate as close to 100% as possible.

BOUNCE

When an email doesn’t make it to its intended inbox, that’s called a “bounce.”  Imagine you have a bouncy ball that you’re trying to throw through an open window to your friend inside. If you throw it through the window, that email is delivered. 

If you miss, that’s a bounce. You may miss the window for many reasons: the wind blew the ball off course; there was a screen in the window that you didn’t see; your friend wasn’t there to catch it; or maybe you’ve just got bad aim (No judgment—it happens!). The same is true for your emails. They may bounce for multiple reasons: a typo in the email address or getting sent to the “spam” folder are the most common culprits. But there could also be a network error, or the inbox could be full. 

Monitor this rate closely to learn why your emails aren’t getting through to their intended recipients. If there are a lot of blocks, you may need to change up your subject lines or authenticate your URL.

OPEN

This is the first KPI on your list that tells you something about your audience. Your email open rate tells how many people opened the email after seeing it in their inbox. Some of the questions that can be answered by your email open rate are: 

  • Was your subject line compelling?
  • Was the recipient familiar with the sender’s email address? (For example, a client may see an email come through from our company as “Root & Roam” or as “Stacy, Founder of Root & Roam,” depending on the digital strategy behind our campaign. If you’re testing this out, an A/B test can show you if your audience recognizes a person from your brand or the brand alone.) 

CTR

Your click-through rate is the percentage of recipients who opened your email and proceeded to click a link in your email. You can use this as a good way to tell if the email contains copy, graphics, or discounts that your audience resonates with! Generally speaking, the higher your click-through rate, the more your audience likes the content in your email. If they’re not clicking your links, try changing up what’s inside your email!

CONVERSION RATE

So now you know how many people are receiving your email, opening your email, and clicking through to your website. These are great insights, but you might find yourself thinking, “but are they actually buying from me?” That’s what your conversion rate will tell you! There are many integrations (Klaviyo and Shopify play together very well!) that will pull this data for you right into your email platform. Conversion as a sale is typical for an eCommerce website, but if you’re in a service industry, a conversion may look like an appointment booking, the length of a page view, redeeming a code, or something else. If there isn’t a native integration to keep track of your conversion, Google Analytics and Google URL builder can track this as well. The higher your conversion rate, the more conversions you’re getting. 

REVENUE/REVENUE PER SUBSCRIBER

If you want to know exactly how much money you earned from an email campaign, this one’s for you. This will tell you the dollar amount (or associated dollar amount) your email brought to your business. Divide this by how many subscribers are on your email list to get an estimated value per person. 

If you’re tracking conversions differently, like the number of appointments made, you can associate a dollar amount with this. For example, if each appointment made brings in approximately $X of revenue for your company, multiply the number of conversions with your approximate value to get your revenue estimate. 

UNSUBSCRIBE

You’ll want to keep track of how many people are unsubscribing from your emails. If you find that one type of email is causing more recipients to unsubscribe, you can stop sending that type of content. A high unsubscribe rate signals to email providers, like Google, that the content is not something that should be sent. This can land your emails in spam folders or worse—get your domain blacklisted from sending emails at all. 

ROI

Email marketing return on investment is high—and it’s an exciting metric to see! This metric shows how much revenue was generated for your company compared to how much it cost you to develop the email. 

On average,  email marketing has an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. 

If your ROI is lower than you’d like, consider heading back to your digital strategy for some updates, or, if it’s within budget, hire a graphic designer!

SUBSCRIBER ENGAGEMENT

Knowing how often a subscriber engages with your company is important. With this info, you can “bucket” customers and send more targeted emails.

 If they’re a high engagement customer, they open, read, click, and potentially purchase through a high number of your emails. Consider an “insider sale” or “loyalty program” for these customers. 

If they’re a low-engagement customer, consider sending “win back” emails and/or removing them from your newsletter list.

SUMMARY

With all these metrics and KPIs, you can make sure that your company is meeting its goals and making adjustments as needed. As you begin to track your email marketing KPIs, you’ll see a shift in the content, conversions, revenue, and ROI. You’ll see customer loyalty soar as they become more familiar with the brand and get the content that resonates with them.

 If your email marketing campaigns and strategy need a boost, reach out to Root & Roam! We’re excited to help you develop something that helps build your company!

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Connecting with customers through social media engagement

Connecting with customers through social media engagement

by | Apr 11, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

Social Media Engagement – While social media has proven to be a remarkable tool for projecting voices, it’s important not to forget one of its most powerful features: connecting with and engaging your audience. So how can you go about this?

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Reasons to use social media to connect.

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Benefits of social media engagement.

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Ways to engage through social media.

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Connect with Root & Roam.

You’ve got the content down: Facebook fans thoughtfully respond to your well–written captions, while Instagram followers excitedly comment under your high-res, eye-catching photos. The audience is there, the engagement steadily rising—what’s next? Rounding out your social media engagement strategy through connection!

Reasons to use social media to connect.

  • Build brand loyalty. When a customer encounters your product and a competitor’s product down the aisle, your product will be the one they consistently put in their basket.
  • Encourage further user engagement. This means more direct messages, comments, reviews, current audiences directing other users to your page, etc. And discover more ways to engage through social media!
  • Discover new audiences. As your current audience thrives and grows, you’ll encounter new viewers and have the chance to direct them to your page.

Benefits of social media engagement.

By adopting new ways to increase social media engagement with customers, you’re humanizing a brand, both building its trustworthiness and influencing the feeling it evokes. This is one of the greatest benefits of social media engagement, since this feeling ultimately carries some brands (rather than others) to the forefront of a customer’s mind. 

As the relationships between audiences and businesses grow, social media engagement ensues, strengthening your brand image even further and creating more opportunities for connecting with potential customers.

These conversations are vital to bolstering connections and broadening your audience; they work to personify your brand, allowing it to stand out better and become more relevant in users’ lives. As discussed earlier, with each positive one-on-one interaction, the memorability of your page grows! Plus, it allows others to feel seen and included, rather than talked at. Taking this conversational approach with your social media engagement strategy is about engaging with audiences, answering questions while asking them some of your own, and allowing them to feel heard by your business in an entirely new way.

Ways to engage through social media.

The first thing is to get acquainted with your audience. Learn about them! Who are they? What are their interests? What do they respond to? 

Then, develop content based on this information, and balance it with what resonates with you. Let social media be a way to build trust and relationships with your community. (Check out this article on Hootsuite, which covers this in-depth.)

When looking to increase social media engagement, be sure to

  • enthusiastically respond to direct messages;
  • thoughtfully answer comments;
  • post user-generated content (UGC); and
  • engage with other users’ content.

The key to these practices is to be genuine. A social media user can tell when efforts to engage are merely made with the intent of promoting pages rather than contributing to the community. Inauthentic attempts at connecting with customers can backfire! 

Instead, try to meaningfully comment on things interesting and relevant to your brand or social media page. This can help build positive associations with your page and encourage users to start conversations with you, presenting more opportunities to reap the benefits of social media engagement!

For this reason, the daunting influx of comments and direct messages occupying your notifications shouldn’t be seen as a chore, but as multiple ways to positively engage your audience through social media. 

Take time to answer questions, address concerns, or have a leisurely and enjoyable conversation! While you may hold several of these conversations throughout the day, this is likely an infrequent occurrence for your follower/customer, making it more exciting and memorable. It’s what social media is for—connecting and engaging!

Reposting UGC serves a similar purpose as holding conversations with social media users. It helps users feel included and convey a sense of community—which ultimately encourages more engagements, connections, brand loyalty, and in turn, far more chances to make a sale!

Connect with Root & Roam.

All in all, prioritizing customer/audience connections can play a significant role in propelling your social pages forward, allowing you to define your brand through one-on-one engagements positively. And, in case you need a refresher on building your brand, check out our last blog post! If you’re looking for more in-depth help finding ways to engage through social media, the experts at Root & Roam are always here to help. Call us at 325-455-3130 to learn more!

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The History of Marketing

The History of Marketing

by | Jan 14, 2022 | Branding, Digital Marketing, Event Marketing, Graphic Design, Traditional Marketing

The history of marketing – Marketing is defined as the action of promoting and selling products or services. For as long as there has been something to trade, barter, or sell, there has also been marketing. From the first example of branded materials to the invention of the printing press to modern technology, let’s take a trip through time and discover the history of marketing.

The_history_of_marketing, The history of marketing goes back thousands of years. In this image, we explore the history of marketing from 1450 (the first appearance of printed advertising) to the more recent boom of social media in the early 2000s-2010s. This timeline of marketing history takes you through the major events that made the industry what it is today.

Looking Forward

As we step into the new year, marketing looks a bit different than it did 200 years ago. Cutting-edge technology and business practices, coupled with new consumer habits, require brands to step up with new marketing techniques in 2022. Forbes magazine predicts that this year consumers will be more inclined to purchase a brand than a product. Buyers want to do business with brands that share their values. Forbes also predicts that consumers will prefer to be taught, rather than sold on the ethics of a business. They understand that company X may have the best customer service around, but they are looking for companies to educate them on their biggest questions.

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SWOT Analysis for Marketing—Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat Analysis

SWOT Analysis for Marketing—Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat Analysis

by | Jan 13, 2022 | Digital Marketing

SWOT Analysis – Completing a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) Analysis is an integral part of completing your business’ marketing strategy. While working on your marketing plan, it is important to check in with and take into account what the competition is up to in your market.

Read on to learn about what a SWOT analysis is, how to perform one, and some of our favorite insights.

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SWOT Analysis for Marketing—Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat Analysis

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WHAT IS A SWOT ANALYSIS FOR MARKETING?

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WHY SHOULD I COMPLETE A SWOT ANALYSIS?

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HOW DO I DO A SWOT ANALYSIS FOR MARKETING

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Marketing Strength Analysis

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Marketing Weaknesses Analysis

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Marketing Opportunity Analysis

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Marketing Threat Analysis

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How Do I Use a Marketing SWOT Analysis?

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Gain A Better Understanding of your Marketing Plan and Strategy.

WHAT IS A SWOT ANALYSIS FOR MARKETING?

A SWOT analysis is a great way to get an overall picture of your standing as a company. You can complete a SWOT analysis on any area of your business or the business as a whole. A project, department, campaign, or new idea may warrant completing a SWOT analysis. 

There are 4 aspects of a SWOT Analysis that will allow you to better understand your company or project.

WHY SHOULD I COMPLETE A SWOT ANALYSIS?

Completing a SWOT Analysis will help you to gain a better understanding of your market at large. If completing an analysis for a full scope marketing plan, this analysis will shine a light on the areas of your business that are doing well; where your competition may be outperforming you; where there may be opportunities for your company to get ahead; and threats in the industry that you will want to keep an eye on. 

This will also allow you to analyze your project or marketing plan. For example, you may realize that there is heavy competition or that some of your company’s weaknesses need to be strengthened for you to be able to compete and stand out among your competition. That’s exciting because that’s where the growth happens! You can start thinking through training, hiring, or outsourcing these pieces to ensure your success.

HOW DO I DO A SWOT ANALYSIS FOR MARKETING?

Ready to dig in and get the insight you’ve been craving? It may seem daunting, but when broken down into segments, you’ll find more information than you thought possible!

    1. The first thing to do is to have a clear idea of what you will be researching. Check in internally to define your scope. Are you analyzing your full marketing capabilities? Are you looking specifically to kickstart a new effort or campaign? Make sure you have a clear idea of the project so that you focus your research in the right direction.
    2. Next, determine who your competitors are. If your research is for your full scope of marketing capabilities, you likely know who your main competitors are. Keep those competitors in mind, but also run an audit in your favorite SEO tool (We like SEMRush!) to see if there are any newcomers in the market to include in your competition. It’s always a great idea to keep an eye out for changes—consider scheduling a report weekly or monthly with this data so you can continue to grow and pivot as the market does!
    3. Finally, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of it: completing each analysis. For each section, review the questions below as a guideline for where to start. For strengths and weaknesses, you’ll focus your research internally. Opportunities will include internal and external research, and your Threats will come from external sources, including your competition’s website(s), market research and reports (there are many specialized market research companies as well as free information available across the internet), and Google Search Trends. If your company subscribes to any industry publication, this would also be a great resource!

As you begin your analysis, you’ll come up with additional ideas, thoughts, and questions. Include them in your analysis! Our following factors are a jumping off point, not an end all, be all!

Marketing Strength Analysis

Internal Factors

    • What internal efforts are you running that are performing well?
    • In what areas does your company or team excel? 
    • Is there a particular aspect that brings in more conversions (sales, leads, traffic, or any other Key Performance Indicators) for your company? 
    • What are your key distinguishers that set you apart from competitors?

Marketing Weaknesses Analysis

Internal Factors

    • What internal efforts are taking more time because they’re not optimized? 
    • What is not performing well?
    • In which areas do you see that your team isn’t properly trained? 
    • Is there a position you need filled immediately?
    • What are your team’s pain points?
    • What internal obstacles do you face?

Marketing Opportunity Analysis

Internal Factors

    • What strengths, if any, aren’t being used to their full potential? 
    • What great ideas have you and your team been mulling over that haven’t come to fruition yet? 
    • Do you have yearly goals to meet that can be met through identifying new opportunities?
    • Is there something your consumer has been asking for that you could provide?

External Factors

    • What areas of the market aren’t being served?
    • What is the current landscape of the market? Review industry reports to identify the pain points that you may have not yet considered. For example, are manufacturing costs estimated to increase? Is the supply chain facing weaknesses?

Marketing Threat Analysis

Internal Factors

    • Is your company prepared to take on the extra orders, leads, or other business that you are working to achieve?
    • Is the market saturated? How much work will it take for you to compete in the arena?

External Factors

    • What areas of the market aren’t being served?
    • What is your competition up to—and what are they doing well?

How Do I Use a Marketing SWOT Analysis?

A common visualization tool for a SWOT analysis is to include all of your information in a matrix. This matrix is a simple 2×2 grid layout of these categories to help you analyze, at a glance, where you may have matches in your strengths and opportunities, as well as in your weaknesses and threats. This allows you to note areas where you can quickly take advantage of the market and your skills as well as areas where it will be important for you to grow and track your competition. Below, you’ll find an example of a completed matrix. This visualization may help you to identify trends that are working well for your marketing plan or areas where your plan may not be working as you strategically intended. Reading across rows will help you to clearly see your internal or external factors, while reading down columns will quickly identify areas to focus on marketing efforts or strengthening your team.

AREAS TO ACT ON NOW AREAS FOR GROWTH
INTERNAL STRENGTHS
(What you already do well)		 WEAKNESSES
(Where your performance can be improved)
EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES
(Gaps in the market)		 THREATS
(Changes in the industry)

If you are working on a marketing strategy for a burger company, your SWOT Analysis for marketing may look like this:

AREAS TO ACT ON NOW AREAS FOR GROWTH
INTERNAL STRENGTHS
3x faster than our competition
Our product is grass fed
Repeat customers		 WEAKNESSES
Small Team
Only offer 3 products
Cost per Acquisition is high
EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES
Market shift towards locally sourced
Sustainability more important than ever
Customers willing to pay more for a higher quality product		 THREATS
Beef prices rising
Supply chain shortages

From your SWOT matrix, you should be able to—

    • look down the left column and see that customers are looking to buy a product at a higher price, like a grass-fed burger. That would provide insight that your product and offerings are in line with the market—this is a great marketing opportunity to promote the high quality and sustainability of your grass-fed beef! 
    • look at the right column and see that you only offer 3 types of burgers, and supply chain shortages may cause a problem here, leaving you with only 1 type of burger left to sell! Knowing this up front offers you the opportunity to grow: you could make a Plan B, source alternate products/suppliers, or consider diversifying your menu in these situations.
    • look at the top row and see that your staff is great but thin. Make a plan to round this out before your marketing plan gets into high gear! 
    • look at the bottom row and see that the market is pushing towards a higher quality product and is willing to pay more—which is great, since the cost of the product is increasing. Make moves now to increase your prices to gain the ROI that you need! 

Other insights you may glean from your analysis—

    • Once you convert a lead into a customer, they are loyal. Consider a rewards program to lower your cost per acquisition.
    • Cost per acquisition is high, and prices in the industry are rising, which indicate that your competition will also be preparing to spend more per acquisition. Consider alternate ads/spends that target an untapped market.
    • Your team is a key selling point. Promote your team and their unique value to the marketplace!

Gain A Better Understanding of your Marketing Plan and Strategy.

As your marketing strategy grows and evolves, use a SWOT analysis to gain a better understanding of your marketing plan, its effectiveness, the market, and areas where it may be necessary to pivot. Your SWOT analysis will provide an effective and simple way to quickly identify your marketing’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats! If you’d like more insight into your marketing efforts and to complete an audit of your marketing situation, Root & Roam can help. Complete the form below, and we’ll be in touch!

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Choosing a Graphic Designer

Choosing a Graphic Designer

by | Dec 6, 2021 | Digital Advertising, Digital Marketing, Graphic Design, Publications

Choosing a Graphic Designer – Quality graphic design is a vital element of your business. A quality graphic designer can help your company’s visibility, sophistication, efficiency, and desirability over the competition. It is essential to stand out effectively with your products and services in the marketplace, so it is essential to choose a quality graphic designer who can meet your needs.

5 factors to consider when choosing a graphic designer

1. Skills

It is important that the graphic designer is on top of the latest design, marketing, and Web trends. Knowledge is power, and a quality graphic designer will be able to apply their knowledge to help your company succeed. Another element in their skill set should be efficiency in the latest design software. The more efficient and knowledgeable they are in these programs, the more confident you can be, knowing they are using the best software to create great designs.

2. Experience

No matter if you are choosing a freelancer or design firm, industry experience is also important. A reputable graphic designer will always be up to speed on the latest strategies and best practices. A quality graphic designer or firm should be able to present their work experience to you. This can come in the form of a presentation of their portfolio or customer testimonials.

3. Portfolio

A strong portfolio can give you an idea of the designer’s sense of style, capabilities, and whether they are a good fit for the projects you need. Look for work that shows freshness, creativity, and attention to detail.

4. References

If a designer is able to provide you with references or testimonials from clients they have worked with successfully, this is a good indicator of a positive attitude and dedication to presenting quality, professional design to your business.

5. Personality/Professionalism

A quality graphic designer will take pride in the relationships they form with a client. They should be responsive, knowledgeable, and active listeners. You should get a good sense that they are on your team, consistent, and are understandable to your company’s vision.

Not all designers are created equal. With these five factors, choosing a quality graphic designer can be a long, but worthwhile, process. Adding a quality graphic designer to your design and marketing efforts will not only improve your brand identity but will also help you stand out against the competition.

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    Selling on Shopify: How To Set Up An ECommerce Store

    Selling on Shopify: How To Set Up An ECommerce Store

    by | Nov 24, 2021 | Analytics Reporting, Root & Roam Blog, Website

    Selling on Shopify – As the world is ever-changing, more and more people are doing their shopping online. From basic necessities to clothing and groceries, just about everything is available for purchase through the World Wide Web. Perhaps you have a brick and mortar store or you’re just getting started and seek only to sell online, but you just don’t know where to start. There are numerous ecommerce-specific platforms available, but the ecommerce experts here at Root & Roam agree that Shopify is the gold standard. 

    Shopify is a full featured, robust platform that handles the most nitty gritty of online selling. They have made it simple to process payments, create shipping labels, and design the actual look and feel of your website all in one place. Shopify has even built in various high-powered and highly effective ecommerce marketing tools. Gone are the days of confusing, clunky, hard-coded ecommerce websites. So, just how do you set up a Shopify store? Read on for our expert guide.

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    Selling on Shopify

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    How to set up a Shopify store

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    Utilize ecommerce marketing

    HOW TO SET UP A SHOPIFY STORE

    First things first—Shopify offers a 14-day free trial, and, once your trial period has expired, Shopify offers three tiers ranging in price from $29 to $299 per month. All of these plans will get the job done. However, the higher tiers give you access to more features like advanced reporting and deeper discounts on shipping. Advanced reporting in Shopify allows you access to reports such as a live view of your website, customer statistics, information on how your customers find your website, and more. Once you have selected the plan that best fits your needs, the setup process begins and consists of the following steps:

    Choose a Shopify Theme.

    Shopify offers several free themes, as well as third party paid themes in their Shopify theme store. The free themes are definitely enough to get you started. However, if you want more styling options and features, you’ll want to browse through the paid themes. Shopify’s themes are all mobile-friendly, and you won’t have to worry about configuring for mobile devices. Once you’ve chosen a theme, you can start customizing it and plugging in your content as you see fit. Don’t forget to develop your navigation, customize your checkout pages, and add legal pages like a privacy policy and terms of use.

    Create Your Products.

    Adding your products is relatively straightforward. Shopify has all of the necessary fields within their product listing sections. Be sure to complete as many fields as possible and use thorough, keyword-heavy product descriptions. Add high-resolution images that showcase different views of each product. Input pricing, skus, inventory, etc., for each product. You’ll also need to categorize each product into the appropriate “collection.” The collection a product belongs to will determine how the products are displayed on your website.

    Determine Payment Methods.

    What payment methods do you plan to accept? You’ll need to set this up in Shopify settings. Will you accept all major credit cards? What about Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or PayPal? It is during this step that you will also need to provide your business information so that you can receive payouts.

    Configure Shipping.

    The possibilities are endless when it comes to your shipping terms. Do you plan to offer free shipping, flat rate shipping, or calculated shipping? Are you able and willing to ship internationally, or do you plan to only ship domestically? Will you use multiple carriers or stick with one tried-and-true option? It is imperative to determine your shipping structure up front and configure all options to match. If you plan to offer real-time, calculated shipping rates at checkout, you will need to shop and install a third party app from the Shopify app store.

    Don’t Forget to Collect Tax.

    Depending on the types of products you sell, where you are shipping them, and where you are physically located, you will need to configure the tax section in Shopify settings. Obviously, it is important to comply with all state and federal tax guidelines.

    Test and Retest Your Store.

    Once you have set up your Shopify store, it’s imperative that you test all aspects. Click around the front side to ensure all links are properly configured. Check to be sure your products are categorized in a way that makes sense and your product listings and individual product pages appear as you want. Add products to your cart, and walk through the checkout process, paying close attention to shipping options and the collection of taxes. Essentially, do anything and everything to try to “break” your site or the rules you’ve set in place. If everything operates as it should, you’re ready to go live!

      HOW TO UTILIZE ECOMMERCE MARKETING

      Shopify offers an assortment of ecommerce marketing tools to help you make more sales. One of the simplest ways to grow your audience is by encouraging visitors to sign up for email newsletters or SMS (text) updates, special offers, and announcements. Once you’ve gained these leads, you can build marketing campaigns to drum up site visits and increase conversions. You’ll want to use a third party service like Klaviyo, Omnisend, MailChimp, or Wishpond to create flows and push customers or potential customers through the funnel. If you choose to run SMS campaigns, be sure to meet all legal obligations in your Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy!

      Shopify Abandoned Cart Emails

      Another simple marketing tool that Shopify offers is abandoned cart emails. These emails are sent out at a specified time if a shopper places items in their cart but does not complete the checkout process. Shopify offers basic abandoned cart emails, but to really make the process more robust, it is recommended to use a third party service like Klaviyo. According to Shopify Partner Ezra Firestone, “Ecommerce customers who receive multiple abandoned shopping cart emails are 2.4 times more likely to complete the purchase than those who receive only one follow up email. And customers who receive multiple abandoned cart emails have a multiple transaction rate 44 percent higher than those who didn’t.”*

      Shopify Integrations

      Shopify integrates with several other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google to boost your efforts to the next level. You can use these integrations to build ad audiences to retarget and upsell your current customers, build like audiences that would be interested in your business based on the profiles of those who are already your customers, and re-engage users who visited your website but did not complete a purchase. Use a free Shopify app like Kit to build targeted social media ads and campaigns. (Kit is free, but you will pay social media platform fees for running ads.) 

      The ecommerce marketing options are truly endless. However, anything beyond basic needs will require the use of a third party app. When you find the one that fits all your needs, the cost is well worth it!

        Shopify Best Practices

        Now that your Shopify store is up and running, and you’ve got some ecommerce marketing campaigns in place, it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Don’t get too comfortable just yet, though! Successful websites and marketing campaigns are consistently monitored, weak spots identified, and adapted to be even more effective. The World Wide Web and all of its various algorithms are constantly evolving. Thus, it is important to stay up-to-date on advancements and trends and adjust accordingly. 
        If you find yourself in need of a new ecommerce site, or you’re unable to stay atop of the constantly changing environment, give the Shopify experts at Root & Roam Integrated Marketing Agency a call. We have extensive experience in both developing and designing Shopify websites, as well as running highly successful ecommerce campaigns.

        Resources

        https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/how-to-build-an-abandoned-cart-email-sequence
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