The Delights of Email Marketing: Pulling the Trigger
by Steve White
No... not that kind of Trigger!
Back in November 2009, I promised a series of blog articles detailing why I enjoy being an email marketer. In my first article I outlined the brilliance that is heat map analysis and how potentially rewarding it can be. This time I’m tackling something that is viewed by many as the next big thing in email marketing: triggered emails.
There are two types of retail focused emails:
1. The trunch email – These are emails sent to batches in batches.
or
2. The triggered (or automated) email– These are targeted emails sent out based on a customer’s action, either positive or negative.
The triggered email has been around for a while, an order confirmation email sent after you’ve made an online purchase is a good example. However, as we become more sophisticated with our email marketing, this type of email has a more important part to play in email marketing strategies.
Although there are many types of triggered email they all have one thing in common that makes them so appealing to marketers like you and I: relevancy. And as we know the more relevant a marketing message the greater the chance of a whopping series of KPIs!
I would also like to point out at this stage that triggered emails, although they can sound quite technical, are in fact very simple to implement and are generally no more expensive than a ‘run-of-the-mill’ trunch email. If you can capture customer data, which I’m sure you can, then there really is nothing holding you back.
Servicing the customer
Triggered emails up until this point have largely been service orientated, like the order confirmation email. In addition to that, with some retailers you may even receive a second or indeed third message detailing the exact whereabouts of your purchase as it makes its way to your front door.
These emails are fantastic and more and more retailers are using these messages to promote additional services and products, but at the end of the day they are still service orientated emails, important as they maybe for the customer service. What we really what to know is how can triggered emails improve your marketing performance and ultimately your ROI?
Abandon ship!
The Retail Bulletin in 2006 reported that online shoppers love to window shop just as much as their offline counterparts. In fact, The Retail Bulletin stated that as many as 87% of online shoppers abandon their baskets before paying up. 87%! Surely, this is too big a number to ignore?
If that number scared you then this might cheer you up. eConsultancy report that 46% of consumers say they would be likely to complete a purchase if they were to receive a reminder. Remember, people abandon baskets for hundreds of reasons and many have nothing to do with the actual product or shopping experience. For example, perhaps during a quiet period at work you decide to do some internet shopping when the MD walks in unexpectedly, prompting you to abandon your shopping basket. If it wasn’t for their arrival you may have gone on to complete that purchase. So you can see, just because there has been an abandonment it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s been because of a poor customer experience… that sale could still be made!
If this article triggers you into action, then I would suggest that you start with the abandoned basket email. Not only should it have the biggest impact to your bottom line, but it should also be relatively simply to set up. Just bear in mind that it might be an idea to test the timing and indeed the content of this message.
Positive behaviour
In my opinion, many retailers fall into the trap of throwing newly acquired email addresses straight into the main email pot without any dedicated welcome programme. A much smarter strategy could be to introduce those fresh customers to specific triggered messages relating specifically to their point in the customer journey. After all, they are obviously attracted to your brand, so why not introduce them into your email programme with care and attention?
Within an hour of that new email subscriber giving you their email address, that individual should be thanked and officially welcomed to your brand. The customer has recently interacted positively with your brand so you should be looking to build upon this. Inform the customer of the great benefits and outline exactly what they can expect from being a subscriber to your emails.
Negative behaviour
The third type of triggered email that I’ll bring to your attention is tackling the issue of negative customer interactivity… or should I say no interactivity. What do you do if your customer just isn’t interacting with your email programme? What do you do? Do you just keep them in your main pot and cross your fingers that soon enough they might see something that might be of interest to them? You could do that, but a better option would be to introduce an automated programme of activity looking at reactivating that customer.
Firstly, you will need to decide what measure will be your trigger. Is it the period of time the customer has failed to purchase? Or will it be the fact that the customer hasn’t clicked/or even opened an email for while? The second thing you will need to ask yourselves is at what point does a customer’s failure to interact with your brand trigger those alarm bells. This is key. If you go too early you may well be bugging a customer about something they weren’t even aware of – but leave it too late and you may never see that customer again.
Don’t be afraid to be upfront with your messaging. Ask the customer if there’s a problem or ask them where they’ve been. Remember this customer once subscribed to these messages, so the fact that they’re no longer interacting is a definite problem.
Use the data that you have available
As we know, relevancy drives marketing success. The greater degree of relevancy you can cram into your marketing message then the greater chance you have of a conversion. So as email marketers we really should be counting our blessings – the online world gives us so much up-to-date data about our customers. If you’re fortunate enough to have access to a web analysis tool then you know exactly what I’m talking about. We are able to track the customer’s journey from email right through to purchase, or indeed departure. This information can provide the platform for a raft of additional triggered emails.
For example, a customer visits your website and spends some time searching across three different product categories, but leaves without making a purchase. How cool would it be if we were to fire off a message acknowledging that fact?
“Dear <customer>
I’m sorry you couldn’t find what you were looking for. We have over 10,000 products so why don’t you call our service team on <0800 000 0000> and I’m sure they could help”
Or say a customer visits a product category page and spends 2 minutes browsing but leaves without making a purchase. Why couldn’t that trigger an email? We know that the customer at this current time is interested in that product range, so why not continue the conversation by sending that customer a message?
I literally have just scratched the surface of triggered emails. However, I do hope that it’s given you some food for thought. If you manage the variables correctly then there really isn’t any reason that why you shouldn’t be seeing some very big improvements to your bottom line very soon. The only problem you will have is explaining to your boss why you hadn’t implemented them sooner!
Tags: Abandoned Baskets, Advertising Agency Manchester, Automated Email Campaigns, Award Winning Email Campaigns, eConsultancy, Email Marketer, Email Marketing, Email Marketing Agency, Marketing Agency, Multimedia Marketing Agency, Online Marketing Agency, Online Shoppers, PPC Agency, SEO Company, Steve White, The Retail Bulletin, Triggered Emails, Trunch Emails
