On my mind: Humanizing eCommerce emails and respecting the inbox

I think people who say "email is dead" want email to be dead.

Can't blame them.

Children's Place emails me about a super duper mega bottom of the barrel sale every other day.

(I'm not innocent either. I've sent pointless emails to keep my job.)

We wouldn't pester people like this in real life—at least I hope not—so we shouldn't do it online either.

So... how to make things better?

Send Fewer Emails:

Do we really need to send daily emails?

eCommerce should send 1-2 promotional emails per segment, per week, max. (Unless it's BFCM or another holiday when people expect emails ). That's on top of the sequence emails. Better yet, those still in welcome sequences shouldn't get promotional emails.

Personalize: 

It better be relevant.

The products I've clicked on, added to my cart, and/or already bought—these should give you a strong indication of what interests me.

Have I taken a quiz? Self-segmented? Use that data, please.

Two-Way Convo: 

Email is supposed to be a two-way street, but it's become a billboard of sorts.

Every now and then, ask your audience to respond to your emails. Or at least tell them they can reply to you. Not just talk at them. Talk to them.

Don't use a "noreply" email. Use name@, hello@, etc.

Build a rapport with your readers and boost deliverability. Win.

Accessible: 

Let's cover as many people as possible.

eCommerce emails tend to be image-heavy (except you, Sticker Mule, you're one of a kind), but not every company can afford to HTML code their emails.

In which case let's use as much plain text as possible and add proper alt-texts to images.

Easier said than done

Many email marketers would like to do these, I'm sure of it, but emails drive revenue. Our overlords demand revenue. And we need to deliver to keep a roof over our heads.

So let's at least try to make our emails as accessible, relevant, and personalized as humanly possible.