Grocery store customers today are no longer loyal to brands and stores. The most affordable and convenient option will win their dollar. Therefore, it’s critical for grocery store marketers to connect and build relationships with past and future customers both online and offline.
This is possible using a mix of grocery e-commerce and email marketing.
If you’re not already sending helpful (yet promotional) email messages to your customers’ inboxes, then make 2022 the year you start.
Let’s explore how grocers can build and engage an email list of loyal customers.
4 ways to build an email list of grocery customers
There are several ways grocers can build an email list. For example, if you have a website, start with a pop-up asking visitors to subscribe.
But don’t trigger the pop-up until after a certain amount of time or the visitor performs a specific number of clicks. Both validate their interest, increasing the odds of them completing the pop-up form.
Also, only ask for a name and email address, so it’s quick and hassle-free to sign up.
Here are other ways to add more emails to your list:
- Ask customers to sign up at checkout (e.g., train cashiers to collect emails and insert them into your system)
- Advertise your newsletter on receipts (e.g., include a URL or QR code to allow customers to subscribe to your newsletter)
- Promote your email subscription at community events (e.g., have it on business cards, flyers, and brochures)
Then to sweeten the deal and improve the conversion rate, give customers an incentive to sign up (e.g., offer a $10 coupon for your store).
Select a reliable email client
Mailchimp. Klaviyo. HubSpot. Omnisend. These are just a few of the popular email marketing tools grocers use. The goal is to find one that’s simple and integrates well with your systems.
For example, stor.ai enables you to:
- Create customer segments
- Schedule email newsletters in advance to send in the future
- Design email layouts
- Collect data to monitor the performance of campaigns
Plus, it integrates with your POS system, making it easy to insert products directly into emails.
Once you found your email tool, it’s time to build an email strategy. But first, let’s cover some of the campaign types you can develop.
11 types of email campaigns grocers should create
Designing high-performing email campaigns requires careful planning and lots of testing. A/B split tests help with this. These allow you to test variables in emails to see which works best—for example, using two different subject lines to see which performs better.
You can also test promotions, calls to action, image vs. no image, and text vs. HTML. Do this in all of your campaigns to continue improving metrics and outcomes.
Now, for the list of email types you should have in your campaigns:
- Welcome email with an incentive inside
- Recipe suggestions (with links to products customers can buy online)
- Promotion for online and in-store sales
- Abandoned shopping cart emails
- Back in stock emails
- Holiday and seasonal emails
- Personalized emails (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
- Shopping lists with links to buy products
- New product offerings
- Weekly email newsletters with stories, coupons, etc.
- Email notifications for deliveries and curbside pickups
This isn’t an all-inclusive list of campaign types, so get creative and see what your customers engage with most.
How to build an email marketing campaign for your grocery store
Executing an email marketing campaign for grocery stores is simple with the right tech stack. You have an email marketing platform—now you need a system that integrates with it to create a seamless process.
Or you can opt for a tool that does it all. For example, stor.ai has a dashboard where you design, schedule, and send emails straight from the platform.
Before you begin, develop segmented lists to ensure maximum engagement from recipients.
Stor.ai makes including products simple since it pulls data directly from your POS. Then customers can make a purchase immediately after clicking on the product link:
Build email campaigns that build customer loyalty and sales
Email marketing aims to build relationships with current customers. So don’t go overboard with promotional emails. Instead, build an email marketing strategy that includes an informative email newsletter, and personalized content customers will find helpful.
The more relevant emails are, the higher the engagement will be. So make all marketing emails count by putting email personalization first.
All you need now is email automation to set your plan in motion. With stor.ai’s e-commerce grocery software, grocery store owners can build relationships and sales simultaneously. Email is one of the most effective digital marketing channels because customers opt-in to receive promotional emails from you.
Ready to reap the benefits of email (and grocery e-commerce)? Then book a demo with stor.ai today.