In 2024, email marketing continues to show its strength, with an impressive return on investment (ROI) of up to $36 for every $1 spent. This makes email one of the most cost-effective marketing channels available to businesses today. Email notifications are a key part of any eCommerce business, especially for those using BigCommerce. They play a significant role in keeping your customers informed, which helps build trust and loyalty. When done well, these messages can also streamline your operations, making everything run more smoothly and increasing your sales. In this guide, we’ll explore the best practices for setting up and using them in BigCommerce to help you get the most out of your store.
Understanding BigCommerce Email Notifications
BigCommerce offers a range of email notifications that are essential for keeping both customers and staff informed about important events. These notifications are important because, according to recent data, the average email open rate across industries has increased to 34.46%, making email a highly effective communication channel for businesses. This statistic highlights the importance of using these messages to ensure your messages are actually being seen by your audience.
Types of Email Notifications in BigCommerce
BigCommerce provides several types of email notifications to help you manage your store and keep your customers updated. Here’s an overview of the main types:
- Order Confirmations: These emails are sent to customers immediately after they place an order. They include details such as the items purchased, shipping information, and payment confirmation. Given that welcome emails have an impressive open rate of 63.91%, it’s clear that timely email notifications like order confirmations are highly effective in engaging customers.
- Shipping Updates: Once an order is shipped, a notification is sent to let customers know their order is on the way. This can include tracking details so customers can follow their package’s journey.
- Back-in-Stock Alerts: If an item that was previously out of stock becomes available again, customers who signed up for notifications will receive an email letting them know they can now purchase the item.
- Abandoned Cart Reminders: If a customer adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, you can send a reminder email to encourage them to return and finish the order.
- Product Review Requests: After a customer receives their order, you can send a follow-up email asking them to leave a review of the products they purchased.
Each of these email notifications serves a different purpose, but all are designed to keep your customers informed and engaged. Using them effectively can help boost your store’s performance.
Importance of Timely Notifications
Sending timely and relevant email notifications is essential for keeping your customers happy. When customers receive updates quickly, it reassures them that their order is being handled properly, which builds trust in your store.
Here’s why timely notifications matter:
- Customer Trust: When customers are updated promptly, they feel more confident in your business. Knowing what’s happening with their order at each stage keeps them informed and reduces any worries.
- Reduced Support Queries: Timely notifications can prevent customers from reaching out to your support team with questions about their order status, saving you time and resources.
- Increased Sales: Notifications like back-in-stock alerts and abandoned cart reminders can help recover lost sales by encouraging customers to complete their purchases.
For example, if a customer is waiting for an item to be restocked, a quick email notification as soon as it’s available can lead to an immediate sale. On the other hand, if customers are left waiting without updates, they might look elsewhere. Keeping your notifications timely and relevant is key to maintaining a smooth customer experience and ensuring that your store continues to grow.
Best Practices for Setting Up BigCommerce Email Notifications
Setting up your email notifications correctly in BigCommerce is essential for keeping your customers informed and engaged. This section will cover the best ways to customize your email templates, set up order and shipping notifications, and use back-in-stock notifications effectively.
Customizing Email Templates
Customizing your email templates is important to ensure that your messages reflect your brand’s style and voice. Here are some tips on how to do this effectively:
- Align with Your Brand: Use colors, fonts, and images that match your brand. This helps create a consistent look and feel that your customers will recognize.
- Personalize Your Emails: Include the customer’s name and any relevant details about their order. This makes the email feel more personal and can increase engagement.
- Dynamic Content: Use dynamic content to tailor the email based on the customer’s behavior or preferences. For example, you can show products related to their recent purchases or items they’ve viewed on your website.
Atom8 – BigCommerce Automation from GritGlobal makes it easy to customize your email templates. It allows you to incorporate dynamic content that matches your brand’s voice, which can help enhance customer engagement. By taking the time to customize your emails, you can ensure that they stand out in your customer’s inbox and encourage them to take action.
Setting Up Order and Shipping Notifications
Order and shipping notifications are vital for keeping customers informed throughout their purchase journey. Setting these up correctly can improve customer satisfaction and reduce the number of support requests.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up these notifications:
- Order Confirmation: Set up an automatic email notification that is sent immediately after a customer places an order. This should include details like the order number, items purchased, and the expected delivery date.
- Shipping Notification: Once the order is shipped, send another email notification with tracking information. This helps the customer know when to expect their package and allows them to track it along the way.
- Delivery Confirmation: After the package is delivered, send a final email notification to confirm that the order has arrived. You can also include a link to review the products or provide feedback.
With Atom8 – BigCommerce Automation, these email notifications can be automated, reducing the need for manual work. This ensures that customers are kept informed at every stage of their purchase journey, which can lead to higher customer satisfaction and fewer inquiries to your support team.
Utilizing Back-In-Stock Notifications
Back-in-stock notifications are a great way to inform customers when an item they wanted is available again. Here’s how to make the most of these notifications:
- Compelling Subject Lines: Write a subject line that grabs attention. Use phrases like “Back in Stock!” followed by the product name. This creates excitement and encourages customers to open the email.
- Product Suggestions: If the original product is still out of stock, suggest similar items that the customer might like. This can help you save the sale even if the original product isn’t available.
- Clear Call to Action: Make it easy for customers to purchase the item by including a clear call to action. Use buttons or links that direct them straight to the product page.
Atom8 can automate these back-in-stock email notifications, making it simple to keep your customers informed about product availability. By using back-in-stock notifications effectively, you can improve your conversion rates and keep your customers happy.
Advanced Email Notification Strategies
Using advanced email notification strategies can take your BigCommerce store to the next level. These strategies not only improve communication with your customers but also streamline your internal operations, making everything run more smoothly.
Leveraging Automation Tools
BigCommerce Automation tools like Atom8 are great for handling advanced email notifications. These tools allow you to automate tasks that would otherwise take up a lot of time and effort. Here’s how you can use them:
- Reminders for Incomplete Orders: Atom8 can send automated reminders to customers who have started an order but haven’t completed it. This can help you recover sales that might have been lost otherwise.
- Low Stock Alerts: You can set up automated email notifications that alert you when stock levels are low. This ensures that you can reorder products before they run out, keeping your inventory in check.
- Fraud Detection Alerts: it can also send alerts if there’s a potentially fraudulent order. This helps protect your business from fraud and ensures that your customers’ orders are processed securely.
Using BigCommerce Automation tools like Atom8 for your email notifications not only saves time but also increases efficiency. By automating these key tasks, you can focus on other important areas of your business, knowing that your notifications are being handled smoothly.
Enhancing Internal Communication
Internal email notifications are essential for keeping your team informed and on the same page. With tools like Atom8, you can automate these notifications to ensure that your team is always aware of what’s happening in your store.
Here’s how internal notifications can help:
- Order Status Updates: Automated notifications can keep your team updated on the status of orders, helping them manage their tasks more effectively.
- Low Inventory Alerts: Your team can be automatically notified when stock levels are low, allowing them to reorder products before they run out.
- Customer Inquiries: Atom8 can also automate notifications about customer inquiries, ensuring that your team responds quickly and efficiently.
By automating internal email notifications, you can improve communication within your team, leading to better coordination and faster response times. This not only helps your team work more efficiently but also enhances the overall customer experience.
Providing Post-Purchase Support
After a customer makes a purchase, it’s important to continue providing support to ensure their satisfaction. Email notifications are a great way to do this, and with Atom8, you can automate these notifications to make the process even smoother.
Here are some ways to provide post-purchase support through email notifications:
- User Guides: Send automated emails with user guides or product care tips to help customers get the most out of their purchase.
- Product Care Tips: Provide tips on how to care for or maintain the product they’ve bought. This shows that you care about their experience even after the sale.
- Request for Feedback: You can also automate a follow-up email asking customers to provide feedback or leave a review. This helps you gather valuable insights and shows customers that their opinion matters.
Providing post-purchase support through email notifications helps build customer loyalty and ensures that they have a positive experience with your brand. Automating these notifications with tools like Atom8 makes it easier to stay connected with your customers and keep them coming back.
Measuring the Success of Your Email Notifications
To make sure your email notifications are effective, it’s important to measure their success. By tracking key metrics and performing tests, you can see what’s working and make improvements where needed.
Key Metrics to Track
There are several key metrics you should monitor to understand how well your email notifications are performing. Here’s an overview of the most important ones:
- Open Rates: This metric shows how many people opened your email. A high open rate usually means your subject line was interesting and caught the recipient’s attention.
- Click-Through Rates (CTR): CTR measures how many people clicked on a link within your email. This is a good indicator of how engaging your content is and whether your call-to-action was effective.
- Conversion Rates: This metric tracks how many people took the desired action after clicking on a link, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. A high conversion rate means your email is successfully driving action.
By keeping an eye on these metrics, you can see which email notifications are working well and which ones might need some tweaking. For example, if your open rate is low, you might want to try different subject lines. If your CTR is low, consider changing the content or call-to-action to make it more appealing.
A/B Testing Your Notifications
A/B testing is a powerful tool that allows you to compare two versions of an email notification to see which one performs better. This helps you find the best format and content for your audience.
Here’s how you can use A/B testing:
- Subject Lines: Test different subject lines to see which one gets more opens. You can try varying the wording, length, or tone to find what resonates best with your audience.
- Email Content: Try sending two versions of the same email with different content. For example, you could change the images, text, or call-to-action to see which version gets more clicks.
- Send Times: Experiment with sending your email notifications at different times of the day or week to see when your audience is most likely to open and engage with them.
By regularly performing A/B tests, you can continually improve your email notifications. This ensures that you’re always sending the most effective messages to your customers, leading to better engagement and higher conversion rates.
Conclusion
Tracking the performance of your email notifications and making adjustments based on key metrics is crucial for success. Whether it’s through A/B testing or monitoring open and click-through rates, these practices help ensure that your emails are engaging and effective. To streamline and enhance your email alerts, consider using Atom8 – BigCommerce Automation. It can help automate and optimize your email strategies, making it easier to achieve better results. If you’re ready to take them to the next level, feel free to contact us for more information on how we can help.
