How Do Savvy Retailers Send Email?
3 Super Effective Email Messages for Retailers to Send
Internet retailers don't discount the email channel - they know full well it is the best opportunity they have to drive action. Email has long been and continues to be a fundamental part of business success and those that focus on optimizing the experience through the channel are those that tend to have the highest brand recall and engagement - not to mention revenue.
What emails do these super-successful online merchants (or anyone else sending email really - be their service provider or information publisher) send to improve the likelihood not only that they convert users but keep those users buying from and interacting with their brand in the future?
There's an endless list of course, and email senders are only limited by the available data and their creativity. That being said, there are some types of emails that should be mandatory in your enterprise and everyone should take steps to ensure these work and user flows are performing at their optimum level.
THE WELCOME SERIES
At the very minimum, senders need to concentrate on the automated messaging delivered for the purpose of customer onboarding after registration/purchase. After a customer submits information or creates an account, audit and optimize the welcome email that is delivered. This can be transactional, informational or even navigational in nature. Let them know what they can expect to receive from you and how often/when, share information about you and your company perhaps, and of course, take every opportunity to direct them back toward additional products and services. The ideal welcome series consists of several messages/campaigns which are delivered every. Track the performance of every send and optimize the frequency and content with split testing to see gradual improvement.
THE POST-PURCHASE
Post-purchase programs can serve several purposes and they're one of the most effective strategies available for senders today. Implementing (and auditing) a post-purchase email marketing program enables businesses to gather customer feedback. Ask customers to rate their purchase and give them an opportunity to leave a review, share a photo of their customer support representative with a direct line, or suggest a personalized offering based on any data available (e.g. previous order, source of the first click, etc.). A personalized follow-up campaign that targets customers who buy certain products or requests specific information offers invaluable up- and cross-selling possibilities when the opportunity presents itself.
THE WIN BACK
Even customers you've sold or gathered data from previously shouldn't be excluded from brands messaging strategies. Targeting customers after period of inactivity to win them back is good business (at least if we buy into the idea that it's
more cost effective to retain than to acquire users/clients). If someone hasn't visited a website/application, logged in, purchased or made some activity (like a site visit) in the last 3 or 6 months, send an email "reminder" that recommends products or information they might value or perhaps even a message highlighting new features since their last visit. The win-back strategy most effective? Reward the most active clients regularly based on their monetary value (which has been shown repeatedly to increase lifetime value) with something exclusive just for them (e.g. early access, custom content, etc.) .
These are just a few ideas, strategie and workflows that can and should be part of your marketing efforts, but more importantly, set up in your marketing automation software.
What approach do you believe would be most beneficial to your enterprise?
