eBay Tips 2008: eBay Shops Email Marketing

Even if an eBay Shop doesn’t necessarily float your boat as a way of selling, you can still gain benefit from the suite of marketing tool available to Shopkeepers. In particular, the email marketing feature is a powerful facility that can help you sell more. Bear in mind that it does take time to get up to speed so if you start now you’ll hopefully be able to start moving the dial in time for the Christmas Rush 2008.

Build a mailing list
Email Marketing is only effective if you have a good cohort of people receiving the mail. You have to recruit people and that can take time. Start now and include the sign up link prominently in your Shop, all your listings, every outgoing mail and also flag up your mailing list in your despatches. There’s no magic number but aim to recruit at least 100 members. Many Powersellers have lists totalling hundreds, even thousands.

Craft a mail
eBay helps you build the mail, so no HTML skills are necessary. Think about what you want to say, match the design of your email to your Shop and promote specials or lines you want to shift. It’s important that you project a friendly tone and a feel that’s reflective of your on-eBay brand. Ultimately, of course, sending out emails is about selling more but you don’t just do that with overt selling messages. Connect with buyers any way you can: share news, tell stories or express a view.

Experiment
Constantly bombarding your list isn’t a clever strategy: experiment with timing, content and design to understand what works. Interestingly, purely commercial messages might not necessarily be the most fruitful approach. Simply reminding people that you’re there and still open for business (being ‘front of mind’) can be enough. One of the most effective emails I ever heard about just a cheery Christmas greeting thanking the recipient for their custom and hoping to see them again in the new year. The email, despite including not marketing messages, prompted an influx of purchases.

That’s all on Shops, folks.

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