Triggered emails are an essential component of every successful email marketer’s retail digital strategy. They have the benefit of not landing in the spam or junk folder because they are usually sent when someone interacts with your brand. We take for granted the ‘Welcome Email’ because it seems like a no-brainer but it actually behooves you to send one. According to ReturnPath, people that read at least one welcome message read more than 50% of their messages from the sending brand during the following 180 days.
There are many other types of triggered emails a retailer can send that can have just as much of an impact on your bottom line. In addition to the ‘welcome email’, here are seven others that are sure to turn emails into revenue.
Triggered emails every email marketer should add to their retail digital strategy:
- Cart abandonment email
The average cart abandonment during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend in 2015, according to Barilliance study, was 72 percent, a 7% increase from the prior year. This is money being left on the table that you can reap if you just send a gentle reminder cart abandonment email. Only 35.2% of the 1,000 largest online retailers in North America follow up with at least one email after a customer abandons an online shopping cart, according to a study from Listrak.
- Post purchase email
The best types of emails are follow-up emails after a purchase. It keeps the dialogue and engagement going with your consumer. Channel the good feeling they already have after their purchase by asking them to stay in touch or follow your social media channels/blog. Or, encourage them to leave a review of the item after it has shipped.
image source: getelastic.com - ‘X’ Days left email
Sometimes life gets busy and you need that reminder of how many days left until the sale ends or a countdown to the big holiday. These are welcomed and pleasant reminders for the ever-connected busy individual.
- Price drop email
Who doesn’t love to know something they’ve been wanting is now on sale?
- Happy birthday email
Everyone loves it when someone else recognizes their birthday, even if it’s only to wish them a “Happy Birthday” in an email. You don’t necessarily have to offer a discount, but that’s a nice addition. Simply sending a Happy Birthday message to your customer keeps you hopefully top of mind for the next time they need your product or service. And birthday emails have a 342% higher revenue rate than promotional emails.
- Order and shipment confirmation emails for related or suggested products
Most retailers (57%, according to Listrak) feature similar or related products in cart abandonment emails and 42% feature them onsite. Yet there are missed opportunities such as: shipping confirmation emails, back-in-stock emails, post-purchase emails and welcome series, to name a few. Try to incorporate recommended personalized products in as many places as possible to increase conversions, such as on order or shipment confirmations.
- Receipt emails, a great place to introduce new products and get customer feedback
These are enticing reminders to get people back to your e-commerce site and to introduce a relevant product or service to them. This order below contained olive oil and some other pantry items from Amazon, and they are offering me to try Prime Fresh for free.
Receipt emails are also a great place to get feedback.
Regardless of the trigger, there are plenty of opportunities to incorporate customer feedback, introduce new products, personalize and build relationships, and be top of mind the next time someone needs your product or service. Isn’t it time to up your email marketing game and take your retail digital strategy to the next level?
