Email Triggers and Automation
Simple Trigger Tactics for increasing the value of email programs
This is more of an idea dump than anything, because if you’re trying to grow the value of your email program, you’re probably looking for new tactics. Or, if you’re not doing any email automation today, you’re missing out on some major low-cost opportunities to drive business.
Most email platforms offer some form of rule-based automation based on behaviour. Even some CMS platforms like Shopify have built in automated campaigns like abandon cart. There really isn’t an excuse not to have a handful of these email programs running in the background of your marketing operations.
I’ve been a fan of email marketing for years, and if you’re looking for assistance, check out my email marketing services.
Below is a list of trigger campaigns I’ve come to rely on and have proven effective.
Related Items
Think of these as more than just another opportunity to sell. Are there clear opportunities to improve a customer's enjoyment of your product with related items?
Sell clothes?
Complete the outfit
How to maintain your clothes
Exciting new releases that relate
It shouldn’t be difficult to find these, you’re likely already trying to see these as related items on product pages online, or in your cash aisle in store. The trick is to make these actually mindful choices, not just random odds and ends. It’s too easy to hit ‘unsubscribe’ if it looks like a bad cash-grab.
Product Reviews
In my experience, you often don’t have to incentivize customers to review your products, you just have to be willing to ask. By asking customers to review products so that your company can make improvements or help other customers is a genuine reason to ask for a review. Selfishly, product reviews are gold, and without soliciting them, it can take a long, long time to collect them passively.
Setup: A bit trickier, as you want your email to show the exact purchase and link to the product online. Don’t expect the customer to go out of their way to find it on your site. Check for online tutorials for your email platform, or if you haven’t chosen one yet, I would encourage you to explore this idea before committing.
Preparation for Arrival
Depending on the nature of what you sell, it serves the customer well to advise them on what to expect. Large items, items with complex setup, installation, etc. can all benefit from a tailored email informing the customer.
Having worked in big-box retail, I can tell you that customers will often fail to prepare for deliveries without clear direction. Measuring door openings, clearing space, even moving shoes and debris from the door so a delivery team can get in safely.
Abandoned Cart Series
You might have an abandon cart email already, if not, shame on you, but you might not have an optimized campaign. I’ve done a fair bit of experimenting with abandoned programs to see what drives conversion.
Time to send: A few hours, the next day; there is an optimal time for your business when to send the reminder. Too soon, and it probably won’t drive action. Too late and they may have gone somewhere else. Test this!
Offer: It’s common to see a discount in an abandoned cart email. I disagree with this as I believe this can drive a learned behaviour in customers to simply wait for the email and get their discount. Still, this might be a valuable tool on high-margin products that you need extra leverage to move and are ok to lose some profit. Use sparingly.
Second Sends: I’m a fan of the multiple path abandoned series. If a customer doesn’t act on the first in any way, then trigger a second email. It’s on these later series that I feel that offers can be used more often, where your first email hopefully picked up the easier conversions without sacrificing profit.
Value Proposition: The content of an abandoned email doesn’t have to be just what people saw. How can you make it more convincing to customers? Do you offer financing? Do you have incredible delivery? Free returns? Try promoting the aspects of your business that set you apart and you might give that extra reason to close a customer.
Price Drop
Not too different than an abandoned cart series, notifying customers of a price drop can be a big converter. This is often based on something in a cart going down in price, and has to confirm that the customer didn’t already buy the item. Be careful that this is in place, notifying customers of price drops on things they bought will trigger a lot of price matches.
Back in Stock
There are some apps off the shelf that have this functionality built in. For specific, high-demand items, you may wish to enable a sign up for alerts functionality on back in stock. I have seen this employed well on high-value, high-demand items, but it can become a burden on small, high fluctuation items where it causes more of a headache than driving sales.
Key Takeaways
These suggestions are broader opportunities that can appeal to the majority of your customers. The more specific the campaign, the less customers it will likely impact, and the return for your effort can start to decrease. That should not dissuade you going after these, but they are usually a lower priority.
Not sure how to get started with trigger campaigns? Let’s talk!
