SaleCycle's Marketing Team, looks at three less common examples of triggered emails to help both you and your customers get more from your website.
So let’s kick this blog off with a few assumptions. I’m going to assume you’ve got a nice welcome email setup for new subscribers. No-brainer.
I’m going to assume you’ve got a cart abandonment email campaign in place too. Double no-brainer.
And that when customers buy something (whoop!) that you’re following these up in real-time with the relevant confirmation and delivery emails. That’s the hat-trick, well done!
Now let’s look at some less obvious examples of email automation and why they might be a good addition to your marketing mix.
Cart abandonment emails are proven to be incredibly effective at adding value to the bottom line. Around 75% of those people who add something to their shopping cart will leave your site without completing their purchase, and this email is a great way to reconnect and bring them back.
But what about that huge (and it is huge!) pot of visitors who look at products on your website – but don’t add anything to their cart? These window shoppers have given you a clear indication of the stuff they’re interested in; and with that, an opportunity to trigger an email which shows you’re listening to their needs. This is where browse abandonment emails can help.
You’ll need to have collected an email address from them before, and use some clever technology to ensure you can match this website activity with their email address; but then it’s just about choosing your message and deciding how specific you want to get.
Looking at a dress… Why not recommend the best-selling dresses that week? Browsing hotels in New York… why not trigger an email with your top 5 rated hotels in NYC?
Once you have the data, the options are limitless.
We’ve mentioned cart abandonment emails already; and plenty of smart brands will run a multi-cycle campaign to reconnect with these hottest of prospects. For example, sending the first email 40 minutes after the abandonment; and a second email 24 hours later to tempt those visitors who’ve still yet to return.
But how about a third email – a few days later – to find out the reason that person abandoned? A number of forward thinking brands are using this kind of email to get the kind of first-person insight that you just can’t get from analytics and website audits alone.
This is real data from real abandoners and gives you an invaluable chance to look into the reasons people cite and see what improvements you can make.
If a high proportion of your abandoners cite a lack of payment options as the issue, then how about offering a PayPal option? People having trouble with your checkout process, then how about seeing how you can shorten it and remove non-essential fields?
Give the power to the people.
So after all your hard work, you’ve got the sale! Celebrations to the side, this gives you an immediate opportunity to start adding value. We all remember business studies at school and being told how much more expensive it is to acquire a new customer, than to keep an existing one. Well, ‘myth busting’ articles aside – the theory is true.
Wait a little while for your product to arrive in the hands of the consumer; let them enjoy and experience it; then think about what they might want next.
This purchase level data gives you the opportunity to be ultra-personalised when it comes to recommending future purchases, and is where a well-crafted upsell/cross-sell email can be so effective.
If someone’s just bought a new 50” 4K television, then how about sending an email a couple of weeks after it lands recommending the top rated sound bars and surround sound systems to complete the cinema experience?
Someone bought a new pair of jeans… then how about recommending other similar fit jeans (upsell) or a the most popular t-shirts by the same brand (cross-sell).
Always be adding value and your customer lifetime value will add up too.
Remember, they came to your site for a reason…
