If you’ve been reading the news, you might have noticed that two of the most relevant e-commerce players have been launching a built-in email marketing feature within their platform in a few days.
First, on November 5th, Shopify officially announced the launch of their email marketing feature called —wait for it— Shopify Email. 😒
A bit boring, but simple to get it within their tools offer.
Then, just one day later, Square announced a similar feature but, in this case, much more stylish branded as Square Marketing.
What does this say about Email Marketing for E-commerce?
It brings us to a further analysis of a trend in Email Marketing Software Solutions out there.
A few months ago, the Sumo team also launched a product designed to be a Shopify focused Email Marketing solution called FAM. Mainly it’s a Shopify plugin derived from another software started by the team, called SendFox.
One of the fastest email marketing software growth hacks is to provide dedicated email marketing flows and solutions for e-commerce needs. That’s why platforms like Klaviyo, Convertkit and improvements made in Mailchimp are getting such momentum.
Email Marketing is still one of the most profitable channels for any business out there.
Why there’s a need for a new Email Marketing solution for E-commerce?
Let’s get this straight. All the email marketing functionality and features are pretty basically the same in any of the platforms out there. You can have a robust e-commerce email marketing machine running in any of the most popular email marketing platforms out there. It would mean the same for most of the goals.
However, the reason for these new solutions to be exploding in the market is because of their industry focus frontend features. To be precise, it’s the way they make it simple for any marketer or shop owner just to use the custom flows and designs for e-commerce.
Imagine that it’s a filter toggled on your software that will only show the e-commerce most common needs for email marketing. Data sync with your store back-office, drag and drop design-builder with curated e-commerce email design. Preloaded messaging flows according to user behavioural moves in the store.
It’s a mix of simplicity of features, removing all the unnecessary tools – mistakenly, in our opinion – and pre-made flows and messages ready for most e-commerce needs.
It is a solution made for a specific market need: lack of knowledge on how to do it internally and removing the friction to start it in the first place.
Pros and Cons of these Email Marketing E-commerce solutions
To summarize this, nothing better than describing a few pros and cons of choosing these focus-driven platforms instead of the established ones.
Let’s start with the Pros.
- Turn-key solution for any entrepreneur with an e-commerce store in his hands;
- No-Brainer email marketing automation flow for e-commerce at the turn of a switch;
- Pre-built message content and design with branding customisation;
- Drag and drop built-in design features;
- Sync and data communication plugins between the leading platforms. E-commerce back-office and frontend, payment platforms, logistics platforms, analytics tracking, database consolidation;
- Pricing is adequate to their needs since it’s so focused on this market;
- Less friction to start;
- It’s a way to implement best practices in the market and benefit everyone;
- It just works.
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If we analyse the pros, of course, it’s an excellent way for any e-commerce store to migrate to these services. In fact, if you want to focus on testing your e-commerce idea and see if there’s a market for it, without much effort on the channels and tools, it’s the best solution for you.
But let’s see some of the highlighted cons before making a decision, shall we?
Let’s approach the Cons.
- The flows and messages will be very similar for most of the e-commerce stores out there;
- Lack of tone-of-voice and branding personality;
- Risk of stagnation since there are no impulses to know more and improve from what it’s already done;
- The same filter that removes all the other features and capabilities that usually wouldn’t be so useful will also make it harder for you to use it in that way;
- It’s not their core business.
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For the same reason that I don’t like to use a one platform fits all kind of thing, like in marketing inbound-outbound automation platform, for instance, is that it’s not specialized in anything. It’s like those professionals who know almost everything but don’t excel in anything in particular.
Even though email is pretty standard and has been around for quite some time, it’s a craft to get it right in every single chapter. From certification to IP and brand sender reputation, to deliverability, to message coding, analytics, safety measures, etc. To do it right takes time, experience and investment in the right processes.
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By no means do I mean that there’s no room for new contenders. By all means, let’s have them. The more, the better. I have a hard time believing that platforms that focus elsewhere (e-commerce software, electronic payments, etc.) can have the same level of commitment and effectiveness as the complex core email marketing platforms that need to adjust constantly to every Email Service Providers’ protocol changes and filters.
Even so, each case is different. For some people, even for some of our clients, this will be perfect, and we’ll help optimize for the best results.
Either way, consult with someone you trust in the area before jumping on board. Watch reviews and the pros and cons of each solution. See if the all package is the best fit for your needs.
If you need any support in this area, just let us know for sure that we’ll be glad to help you with this.
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