By Kevin George
Triggered emails can help to build long-lasting relationships with prospects and customers alike. According to GetResponse, these emails show a 38.03% open rate and a 6.76% click-through rate.
One of the biggest advantages of triggered emails is their longevity. It is quite possible that visitors who receive these emails engage with them some months later. According to statistics, around 18 to 23% of engagement is noticed after 24 hours of deployment.
So, how will you make your triggered email campaigns more impactful for readers?
Here is a detailed article to help.
#1. Segment your audience according to the customer journey
The spray-and-pray technique of email marketing is no longer effective. Instead, marketing professionals must take a customer-centric approach and try to send triggered emails that are relevant for the readers.
According to a 2017 report by Mailchimp, segmented campaigns exhibit better performance when compared to non-segmented ones.
They show:
- 31% higher open rates
- 64% higher unique open rates
- 37% lower unsubscribes
While segmenting, you can start with basic customer journey parameters like:
- New subscribers
- New customers
- Active subscribers or customers
- Inactive subscribers or customers
- Re-engaged subscribers or customers
If you want to go for complex segmentation criteria, you can consider demographics, geographical location, purchase history, products browsed for, and resources downloaded.
#2. Send relevant emails based on user behaviour
Your triggered emails must be aligned with the trigger event. In other words, if a customer has placed an order, he or she will expect a confirmation email with all the necessary order details. No wonder, these emails have a 60% open rate.
Let me share an example with you.
A few days back, I searched for plus-size products on an eCommerce store. They sent me a triggered email promoting their “Plus Size Store”.
#3. Use data to create a personalized experience
The key to sending impactful triggered emails is data. If you collect more data about the customer’s interests, purchase preferences, and behaviours, you will be able to target them better. After all, 71% of customers believe that personalized experiences will affect their decision to interact with emails.
Having enough data will help you set engaging triggers that are more appealing for your customers. For example, if you are in the banking and finance sector, you can send out triggered emails whenever an EMI payment is due or there has been an update to the credit report.
Executing triggered emails at different stages of the buyer’s journey
First Stage: Brand New Subscribers
Visitors who have filled out your sign-up form in the expectation of getting a freebie or discount can be categorized as new subscribers.
Optimove suggests that 80% of prospects complete the first purchase on the day they register. 7% of them do so within the first week of registration. You must aim to crack the purchase within the first seven days.
Welcome emails help to build a strong relationship with the new subscriber. Through these emails, you can let your subscribers know about your offerings and encourage them to make their first purchase from you.
Take a look at this welcome email by Moo in which they have offered a discount coupon code and featured their unique selling points (USPs).
Second Stage: New Customers
Leads who make their first purchase on your website will be considered new customers.
According to research, only 15% of first-time online customers will become repeat buyers. Repeat buyers contribute to one-third of online shopping revenue and spend three times more than one-time shoppers.
Use triggered emails to nurture these customers and make them purchase yet again. You can even incentivize them with an exciting offer.
eCommerce email marketers can trigger a post-purchase feedback email to increase subscriber engagement.
Similarly, SaaS business owners can ask customers for their input about how they liked the services.
See how HubSpot has sent out a short, yet engaging feedback email to interact with their customers.
Third Stage: Active Customers
When a customer downloads several resources from your website and makes repeat purchases, you can categorize them as active customers. They are likely to be brand evangelists who will help you acquire new customers.
You can make loyal customers feel special by sending out VIP offers and bonuses. In addition, you can also invite them for exclusive interviews and then include their responses on your website testimonials or blog posts.
The BuzzSumo team, in partnership with Mantis Research, sent a survey invitation email to their loyal audience asking them to participate in it and invite their friends and family too.
Fourth Stage: Dormant Subscribers and Inactive Customers
Subscribers who have not engaged with your emails in the last few months are considered to be dormant. Lost customers, on the other hand, are the ones who have not purchased from you in quite some time.
As obvious as it may seem, the longer the inactive time, the tougher it becomes to revive them.
You can reactivate such users with the help of re-engagement emails. Remind them that you are grateful for their association with your brand. You can also share all the USPs that make you stand out from the competitors.
Take a look at this re-engagement email by Noom that works like a charm to bring back inactive customers.
Wrapping up
Hitting the marketing triad of delivering the right content to the right person at the right time has become a breeze by setting up triggered email workflows. They not only help to engage prospective and existing customers but also assist customer retention.
If you have not started investing in triggered email workflows just yet, now is the right time.
Tools like Salesforce and Marketo can prove to be extremely useful for this.
By Kevin George
Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest growing custom email design and coding companies, and specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and free responsive HTML email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.