What’s a low-cost way to attract customers to your online business? 

Short answer: ecommerce emails. Not only do ecommerce emails have an outstanding ROI, generating $42 in sales for every dollar spent, but they’re an excellent tool for building brand awareness and customer engagement. 

Examples of ecommerce emails include: 

  • Order confirmation emails
  • Shipping notification emails
  • Subscriber confirmation emails
  • Special offer emails
  • Cart abandonment emails
  • Thank you emails
  • Product launch emails
  • Product guide emails

A typical ecommerce email includes features like personalization, an optimized subject line, a clear call-to-action, eye-catching graphics, and more.  

In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at the different types of ecommerce emails along with real-life examples and beautiful email templates.

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The most important types of ecommerce emails to send to your customers

Wondering what type of emails you should be sending to your customers? Here are the four main categories of ecommerce emails to consider: 

  • Promotional emails: The main goal of promotional emails is to get customers to make a purchase. Promotional emails include special offer emails, seasonal campaigns and product launches.
  • Informational emails: These emails are used to provide information about your product or service. Examples include product guides, brand announcements, product usage ideas and more.
  • Transactional emails: These are automated emails that are triggered by specific customer activities such as password reset requests, email signups, online purchases, etc. Examples of transactional emails include order confirmations, shipping confirmations, cart abandonment emails and password reset emails.
  • Reengagement emails: These emails help you win back unengaged customers by offering them incentives that could reignite their interest in your brand.

9 ecommerce email templates & examples to learn from

Looking for inspiration to help you craft incredible ecommerce marketing emails? Here are nine email templates and examples to get you started.

1. Subscriber confirmation ecommerce emails

Why you should send subscriber confirmation emails

You just got a new subscriber! Yay! Before you start sending them a bunch of emails though, it’s a good idea to make sure they meant to sign up. If not, they probably won’t be happy when your messages land in their inbox, and they’ll drag down your metrics with spam flags and unopened emails. 

A subscriber confirmation email is also called a double-opt in as it’s essentially a second step that subscribers go through before being added to your email list. Using the double opt-in method ensures that the email addresses you get are real and your subscribers are truly interested in receiving your emails—increasing your conversion rate significantly.  

Takeaways from the Saffron Avenue ecommerce email template example: 

  • The stunning graphics capture the reader’s attention quickly. Using images in email is important because people retain 80% of what they see and just 20% of what they read.
  • The email lets users know that the process is quick and easy, reducing any friction that might arise from people being too busy to finish signing up.

2. Welcome ecommerce emails

Why you should send welcome emails

Adding people to your list without sending a welcome email is like inviting guests to an event and ignoring them when they arrive. And if you skip this chance to connect with your subscribers, you’ll be missing out on a lot of engagement opportunities. 

Welcome emails generate four times more opens and 5x more clicks than regular email newsletters because your subscribers expect to receive one. With Flodesk, you can easily set up automated welcome emails in five easy steps. 

Takeaways from the Little Whimsy example: 

  • It uses beautiful graphics and design to draw readers in. 
  • It communicates excitement and makes new subscribers feel welcome. 
  • It sets clear expectations about what new subscribers can expect in the future. 

Email templates make it easy to craft beautiful welcome emails like this. They can also give you ideas for what content to include. For example, the welcome email template from Flodesk (shown below) is personalized and offers customers a gift for signing up. It includes a clear call to action and all the details you need to make it your own. Try this email template for free today!

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3. Promotional ecommerce email

Why you should send promotional emails

Your customers want promotional emails—49% of consumers say they’d like to receive this type of email from their favorite brands. In addition, 86% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly while 15% would like to get these emails daily.

Takeaways from the Hair For The Girls email template example: 

  • It includes an irresistible offer. 
  • The offer is only available for a limited time, creating a sense of urgency. 
  • The clear call to action makes it easy for customers to redeem the offer. 

Want to send the right offer to the right person? Read How to Use Targeted Email Marketing to Boost Conversion Rates

4. Cart abandonment ecommerce email

Why you need to send cart abandonment emails

The average cart abandonment rate is 65.23%. That means at least 6 in 10 customers will fill their shopping carts and then leave without completing their purchase. Sending cart abandonment emails can help you recover some of those sales. 

When sending cart abandonment emails, don’t be afraid to remind customers more than once. Sending three emails about an abandoned shopping cart instead of just one increases the number of purchases by 69%

Takeaways from the Chewy example: 

  • It attempts to alleviate friction by offering free shipping on orders over $49—a good play considering 68% of carts are abandoned due to shipping-related issues. 
  • The graphics and imagery are on-brand and perfect for Chewy’s target audience of pet owners. (Who can resist those puppy eyes?)

5. Order confirmation ecommerce email

Why you should send order confirmation emails

Finally made a sale? Don’t forget to confirm the order. 64% of shoppers consider order confirmation emails to be the most valuable messages in their inboxes. 

Takeaways from the Patagonia example:

  • It clearly thanks the customer for their purchase with no other intent or distractions, creating a good customer experience.  
  • It lets the customer know exactly what to expect next (a shipping confirmation), which makes it more likely that they’ll open the next email.

6. Thank you ecommerce emails

Why you need to send thank you emails

Sending thank you emails is a great way for ecommerce brands to connect with customers in a more personal way, building an online experience that’s similar to shopping in person. And brands that provide a superior customer experience bring in 5.7x more revenue than those who don’t. 

Takeaways from the Sigfus Designs example: 

  • The email encourages subscribers to make a purchase by including a limited-time discount code for 10% off any order. 
  • It makes subscribers feel like they’re VIPs by giving them the inside scoop on a new product release.

7. Product launch ecommerce emails

Why you need to send product launch emails

Your newsletter subscribers are your most loyal customers, and they’ll probably be the first to buy your new product. So it only makes sense to let them know when you’re getting ready to launch. 

You can build anticipation before your launch by creating stand-alone product launch emails or, even better, creating a sales funnel with Flodesk Workflows. Product launch emails can include feature announcements, pre-order offers, event invitations or future launch plans. 

Takeaways from the RJ Home example above: 

  • It builds anticipation by announcing a new product release but not showing the actual products. Instead, it gives subscribers the time and date that they can log on to see the new lineup. 
  • It uses a single call to action button that lets readers know exactly what to do (shop now). More isn’t always better when it comes to CTAs—we recommend using only one when possible (and never more than three) so that the reader doesn’t get overwhelmed with choices. 

Want to learn more about optimizing your emails? Check out 10 Email Optimization Strategies for Big Wins in Your Next Campaign

8. Informational ecommerce email

Why you should send informational ecommerce emails

As we mentioned earlier, people want informational content from your ecommerce newsletters. They want to learn new things and stay up-to-date on what’s happening with your brand. 

Takeaways from the Everything Just Baked example:

  • It provides a curated list of the brand’s favorite products to help customers decide what to order next. 
  • The unique language in each CTA makes the brand more relatable and entices people to take action.

9. The social media ecommerce email

Why you should send social media ecommerce emails

People sign up to receive your emails because they like your brand and want to stay connected. Social media gives your loyal subscribers another way to do that—while giving you another way to reach them. 

Takeaways from the Jo & Co. example:

  • It includes a direct link to their YouTube video in the email, allowing subscribers to watch right away. Attaching a video in an email like this can boost your click through rate 200-300%. 
  • It also includes a link to follow them on Instagram so that users can choose the channel that they prefer or use the most.

Send ecommerce emails your customers want to open

Email campaigns can have a huge impact on your bottom line as an ecommerce business—boosting sales, building relationships with customers and creating a positive brand experience. 

All of this is especially true if you use effective ecommerce email templates, like the ones offered by Flodesk. As the fastest growing email marketing company, Flodesk makes email marketing beautiful and truly easy to use. 

Plus, Flodesk stands out from the crowd by encouraging its members’ success and list growth, offering unlimited email sends, unlimited subscribers and unlimited access to all features for a flat fee of $38/month. 

Ecommerce email templates FAQs

1. What is an ecommerce email?

An ecommerce email is an email that’s sent from an ecommerce business to an existing or potential customer. These emails can be promotional (special offers, discounts, etc.) or informational (newsletters, product launches, and more). They can also be transactional, which means they’re sent in response to a customer’s action.

Transactional emails are typically sent automatically—after a customer makes a purchase, for example. These emails include welcome emails, order confirmations, shipping notifications, and more.

2. How do I write an ecommerce email?

The first step when writing an ecommerce email is to define both your target audience and the goal of your email. Next, craft an irresistible subject line and draft the body of your email. Then, include a compelling CTA that encourages subscribers to take action.

It’s also important to incorporate good design practices when writing an ecommerce email to keep your subscribers engaged. Strong ecommerce email templates can make sure your emails have beautiful graphics, enough space between sections, and on-brand colors and fonts.

3. What is the best builder for ecommerce email templates?

We may be a little biased, but we think Flodesk is the best template builder for your ecommerce business. Why? Flodesk offers an intuitive builder and beautiful templates that allows you to design emails that people love to get. 

Plus, their proprietary Layout blocks truly set them apart from the competition. Layouts help members create custom graphics, design collages and sign off every email with a speciality script font signature right within the email builder—no third-party design software needed. Once emails are sent, Layout blocks render in a special way to ensure they’ll look great on any device in any inbox. Sign up to try Flodesk for free today!