10 Killer eCommerce Email Examples to Impress Your Subscribers

Would you like to use some effective eCommerce email examples to inspire your own marketing campaigns?

Email marketing has an average ROI of 3600%. It consistently and overwhelmingly beats other marketing formats like social media and paid search. Where else can you make $36 for every $1 you spend?

Is anyone out there wondering if email marketing is dead? It clearly isn’t.

If you’re not using email for your eCommerce business, you’re leaving money on the table.

In this blog, I’ll dive into some of the best eCommerce emails to help you take your marketing game to the next level. As a bonus, I’ll also share some best practices for eCommerce email marketing.

• eCommerce Email Examples
  • Welcome Emails
  • Promotional/Offer Emails
  • Cart Abandonment Emails
  • Transactional Emails
• eCommerce Email Marketing Best Practices

eCommerce Email Examples

First, we’re going to share some real-life examples to help inspire your own eCommerce email ideas.

Email campaigns for eCommerce sites tend to fall into 1 of 4 categories:

1. Welcome emails
2. Promotional/Offer emails
3. Cart abandonment emails
4. Transactional emails

Let’s look at some of the best eCommerce emails of each type.

1. Welcome Emails

Welcome emails have the highest open rate of any emails you send to subscribers. The open rate for welcome emails is an astounding 55.61%.

They’re also typically pretty short: 65% of welcome emails are 50-150 words long.

For such a short length, welcome emails pack quite a punch. They have 4x the click rate and 23x the conversion rate of other marketing emails.

Here are some eCommerce welcome email examples to start building that important relationship with your new subscribers immediately.

Warby Parker Welcome Email

Warby Parker’s welcome email is simple, clean, and easy on the eyes, with lots of white space. It’s also super fun and modern.

Subscribers are given a subtle-yet-effective call to action (CTA) right away with “SHOP NOW” text in a contrasting color.

There’s even an animated graphic.

The light-hearted messaging and high-energy animation are true to Warby Parker’s brand. They seek to make shopping for glasses simple, easy, and fun, and this email establishes that mission.

Key takeaway: White space is a wonderful thing. Increase your padding to create a modern and easy-to-view email. Also, a few things add a bit of fun, like a well-placed GIF.

Patagonia Welcome Email

Patagonia’s welcome immediately punches you in the gut with a stunning image of a “typical Patagonia customer.” Or at least, it’s a photo of what their target audience aspires to be. The email is telling new subscribers that this could be you, and Patagonia will support you every step of the way.

To generate more sales, however, Patagonia should add a clear call to action that takes subscribers to their online store.

Key takeaway: When you understand your buyer persona, you’ll know just how to appeal to them. Get to know your target audience, so you can use the right imagery and text to get them excited about your brand.

West Elm Welcome Email

With a coupon code right at the top, gorgeous photography, and a clickable menu, West Elm nails their welcome email. They know their market, and it shows.

The wording of their call to action is warm and familiar and inspires a sense of trust and comfort. If you want to be cozy and stylish, West Elm can get you there.

Key takeaway: Clear navigation, an image that speaks to your market, and a coupon code go a long way to removing barriers to online shopping.

If you’re starting to build sales, you might not be able to offer discounts to everyone, but there’s probably something else that fits with your brand that you can put up as an incentive.

Check out our list of lead magnets to get some ideas.

A great welcome email includes most, if not all, of these six components:

1. A “thank you” to your new subscriber or customer
2. The lead magnet or whatever incentive was promised in exchange for subscribing (coupons are common)
3. Information about what the subscriber can expect from your emails
4. An introduction to your company
5. Instructions for whitelisting you
6. Contact information and links to social channels

Next, let’s look at some examples of promotional emails.

2. Promotional Emails

Offering subscribers something of value is a great way to get and keep their attention, endear them to your brand, and generate sales.

Of course, you must figure out a balance that works for your business. Offering discounts and promotions all the time may negatively impact your bottom line if you already have thin margins.

You can also offer additional value without discounts by including exclusive content like email newsletters, webinars, free ebooks, templates, etc.

Interested in sending promotional emails that engage and inspire your subscribers? Here is a great example.

REI Promotional Email

REI loves to let you know about their sales. If you’re an REI member, you also get special promotional emails offering greater discounts and coupons.

The image with a simple text overlay is very effective here. The text is unobtrusive, and even the CTA button is muted compared to the star of the show: the coupon code.

But not all of their emails offer discounts. REI also sends promotional emails that contain a calendar of events from your local REI. These emails are very simple and let customers know that REI doesn’t just want to sell them stuff; it wants to teach them stuff.

Key takeaway: You don’t always have to include discounts in your promotional emails. Things like events and quality content add value for your subscribers too.

3. Cart Abandonment Emails

Did you know that an average of 70% of shoppers abandon their carts, costing eCommerce businesses an estimated $260 billion in lost revenue?

The good news is that there are ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment. One of the easiest ways is to remind shoppers that there’s something in their cart with an abandoned cart email.

Target Abandoned Cart Email

Why do most of us abandon an online shopping cart? Because we don’t want to spend the money right then, or because we know we can buy it another time.

This email from Target lets the shopper know that an item in their cart is now on sale. So if cost was the reason for abandonment, this email has a high chance of sealing the deal.

You should also send emails if a cart item is low in stock, so shoppers will know that they need to buy right away to avoid missing out. After all, the FOMO (the fear of missing out) is a powerful marketing tool

Birchbox Abandoned Cart Email

We like this abandoned cart email from Birchbox. They hit on one of the important reasons that a customer abandons items in their cart: they just realized they don’t want the item in there.

Birchbox shows the shopper the items in their cart, but they also include a recommendation for a different, related product.

Teefury Abandoned Cart Email

Teefury, a pop culture t-shirt store, does an excellent job of using their distinctive brand voice. They have a Lord of the Rings-themed CTA that says, “Grab Your Baggins.” This nerdy pun is likely to appeal to their shoppers and is just really fun.

At the bottom of the highly entertaining email, Teefury doesn’t mention the abandoned cart again. Instead, they give shoppers the option to “see what else is new.” Like Birchbox, Teefury understands that sometimes folks just change their minds.

Google Store Abandoned Cart Email

A lot is happening in this beautifully simple abandoned cart email from Google Store.

For starters, Google Store highlights free shipping on all orders at the top of the email. Free shipping removes a common barrier to online shopping.

Next, they create a sense of urgency with the copy “Going, going, (almost) gone.” Including the “heads up” underneath changes the tone of the urgency. Instead of a scare tactic, it feels like a friend who wants to make sure you don’t miss out on something you want.

Key takeaway: Cart abandonment emails are a must. They can be fun and lighthearted or understated and urgent, but you need to be sending them.

Transactional Emails

Transactional emails are automatic emails sent in response to a specific trigger. Order and shipping confirmations, account creation, and billing emails are all considered transactional emails.

There are several more types of transactional emails, but let’s focus on a couple of post-purchase email examples.

These emails provide customers with the information they need to complete and track their purchases. But they can also serve a few other purposes, like building excitement for the product or inviting shoppers to tell friends about their purchase.

Dollar Shave Club Order Confirmation

Dollar Shave Club’s order confirmation email is tame and no-nonsense compared to their quirky website. They welcome the shopper to the “club” and recap the order.

After that, customers are incentivized to share Dollar Shave Club with a friend.

They finish off the email with more business information.

This email from Dollar Shave Club checks all the boxes of an outstanding order confirmation email. It’s eye-catching and informative and reminds customers you can be fun and professional.

Zulily Order Confirmation Email

Zulily’s order confirmation is light and bright. Again we see the “invite a friend” incentive. In addition to that, Zulily offers free shipping until midnight the night of the email. This encourages shoppers to revisit Zulily and shop after confirming their recent order.

Key takeaway: Don’t ignore your transactional emails. They offer another opportunity to engage with your customers and build brand loyalty.

Take some time to plan out a transactionally triggered drip campaign using an email marketing automation tool, and see our guide on getting started with eCommerce email marketing automation.

For more examples, don’t forget to explore these 8 Product Recommendation Email Examples to Drive Sales.

eCommerce Email Marketing Best Practices

To ensure that your eCommerce emails are effective, follow these best practices:

Write attention-grabbing subject lines: The subject line is the first thing your customer sees when they receive your email. Therefore, it’s crucial to make sure that your subject line is attention-grabbing and compelling. Use action-oriented language and keep it short and to the point. A good subject line can increase the open rate of your email.

Personalize your emails: Personalizing your emails by addressing your customer by their name can significantly impact the success of your email campaigns. Personalized emails have higher open and click-through rates than generic emails. You can also use your customers’ purchase history and browsing behavior to personalize your email content and offers.

Use clear and concise language: Keep your email copy clear and concise. Make sure your message is easy to understand, and avoid using industry jargon or technical terms. Use short sentences and paragraphs and focus on the benefits of your products.

Include strong CTAs: A strong call-to-action (CTA) can encourage your customer to take action and complete the desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Make sure your CTA stands out and is compelling. Use action-oriented language and avoid generic phrases like “click here.”

A/B Test: Testing your email campaigns can help you improve the performance of your emails. Test different subject lines, email copy, images, and CTAs to determine what works best for your audience. Analyze the results of your email campaigns and make changes accordingly. A/B testing can be a great way to decide which email copy works best for your audience.

Get Started with Your Own eCommerce Emails

That’s it! After seeing these examples, you hopefully have some great eCommerce email ideas of your own.

However, even the best email campaigns are useless if don’t have any email addresses in your list.

The stronger your list, the more sales you will generate with these emails.

OptinMonster is the best lead generation software available, and we can help you grow your email list FAST.

Take the Urban Southern case study as an example. Urban Southern started without an email marketing strategy to speak of. After using OptinMonster to grow their email list, they increased sales by 400%!

What’s cool about Urban Southern’s success is that any business can do the same with a strong email marketing campaign and great content.

By improving their blog content, Urban Southern increased their site traffic. Then, they took advantage of the increased site traffic to grow their email list by adding a single lightbox optin to their site.

You read that right. Better content and a single lightbox popup led to a 400% increase in sales.

Quick Tip: Here are step-by-step instructions to build your own lightbox optin with OptinMonster!

Are you ready to see these kinds of results? Give OptinMonster a try!

Related Resources:

• Email Marketing: The #1 Ridiculously Easy Way to Grow Your Business
• 40+ Email Marketing Statistics You Need to Know
• How to Create a Winning Email Marketing Strategy

Published by Jennifer Butler Keeton

I'm writer and digital marketer with over 15 years of experience. As a former marketing director for small nonprofits, I understand what it's like to be a one-person marketing department. I'm here to help you generate more leads in less time.

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