Mailchimp has always been a good choice for eCommerce email marketing. Now it’s also a viable alternative to more expensive eCommerce platforms. This article will explain why that is and cover how you can use Mailchimp for eCommerce.
Mailchimp’s eCommerce Features
Mailchimp has many features that make it a solid choice for eCommerce marketers. The most important feature, online stores, was just added in 2021.
Online Stores
Thanks to the online store feature, you can run all of your eCommerce activities out of Mailchimp if you want. You can build a store on Mailchimp for free and sell products without relying on more expensive alternatives like Shopify.
But as your business grows, you’ll need to upgrade to customize your website and reduce transaction fees. And Mailchimp’s marketing platform comes with costs of its own. So be sure to consider all relevant costs and fees if you’re choosing between Mailchimp and other platforms.
eCommerce Integrations
There are many great integrations that make Mailchimp a powerful eCommerce platform. Some of Mailchimp’s eCommerce integrations[1] include:
- Payment Processing (e.g., Stripe and Square)
- eCommerce Platforms (e.g., Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and BigCommerce)
- Customer Service (e.g., LiveChat)
- Customer Engagement (e.g., Bonjoro)
- Loyalty Programs (e.g., Firewards)
- Gift Cards (e.g., Gift Up!)
- Website Visitor Identification (e.g., LeadPost)
Those are just a few of the ways you can get more out of Mailchimp with third-party software solutions. You can see the whole list on their Integrations page. They have integrations for tools for analytics, accounting, point of sale, and a wide range of other eCommerce needs..
Email Marketing
This is what Mailchimp does best of course. It’s more expensive than it used to be, but you can still get started for free and it has more features than ever before. Here are a few of the tools you’ll need to get the most out of Mailchimp for eCommerce.
Email Acquisition
Email acquisition is critical to the success of an eCommerce business. That’s because email marketing is the primary way you’ll recover abandoned carts, increase purchase frequency, and build customer loyalty.
To do that, you’ll need a large email list of qualified leads. Here are a few ways you can generate leads with Mailchimp:
- Pop-Ups. Mailchimp has its own pop-up form builder and it integrates with tools like ConvertFlow to turn more of your website visitors into leads.
- Forms. It’s easy to create simple forms with Mailchimp, but you can build more advanced forms with tools like Formsite and Formstack, which integrate with Mailchimp.
- Website Visitor Identification. In addition to pop-ups and forms, website visitor identification tools like LeadPost can match up to 40 percent of your anonymous web traffic to third-party data. Then, matched visitors’ names, email addresses, and mailing addresses can be sent to Mailchimp for further marketing.
Customer Segmentation
Another feature that makes Mailchimp useful for eCommerce is customer segmentation. Based on the latest data, eCommerce personalization is an essential factor of success. Almost half of shoppers say they’ll abandon a brand if the company doesn’t get personalization right.
To avoid losing customers to competing brands, use website visitor identification to generate more leads with more data that you can use to segment them properly. Then build audience segments that you can target with relevant campaigns.
Analytics
Mailchimp also includes an audience dashboard and built-in analytics that allow you to measure the performance of your website and marketing campaigns. It also integrates with tools like Email Heatmaps, Mixpanel, and Swydo so that you can get deeper insights into performance.
Maximize Sales with Mailchimp for eCommerce
If you need an email marketing platform or a full-scale eCommerce platform, Mailchimp for eCommerce is worth considering. It integrates with all major eCommerce platforms, so you can just use it for email and connect it to Shopify or whatever platform you use. Or, if you’d like to keep everything under one roof, Mailchimp’s online store capabilities make it a viable alternative to other eCommerce platforms.