Let’s talk about automated email campaigns. These are one of the first things we recommend to ecommerce businesses, since they are some of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective ways to attribute conversion.
Starting with the basics
Automated emails are ongoing email campaigns that are triggered by a customer’s action or a period of time passing. They can be set up in any email marketing platform and don’t need much maintenance, but we typically revise them on a quarterly basis. Email automations are an easy way to convey personalization, retain customer interest, upsell, and nudge old customers to repurchase!
Let’s break it down by category…
Welcome Series
Fun fact: welcome emails have the highest open rate of any email campaign (about 91%)! Plus, they can generate up to 89% more revenue and 332% more sales. However, you’ll only see these results if you make a good first impression and follow the best practices. Here’s how to do it right:
- Send at least 2 emails (but note that 3-6 is standard practice)
- Send each email 1-2 days apart over the course of 1-2 weeks
- Offer a discount (typically 10%) upon signing up, and include this in the first email
- Make it more customer-centric: thank THEM, and welcome them to your exclusive email club
- Keep it short and sweet
- Personalize, personalize, personalize
- Show off your brand’s personality
- Highlight your most popular products
- Include social proof/testimonials
In order to keep them short, each email should contain 1-2 pieces of content, in the following order:
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- 1. Welcome, thank you, here’s your discount code
- 2. Discount code reminder
- 3. Your brand story- why it was founded & what makes it unique
- 4. What to expect from the newsletter (frequency of emails, types of emails, & any other relevant info)
- 5. Follow us on social media
- 6. Encourage action (share popular products, tell them what’s new, etc.)
Abandoned Cart Series
Let’s be real– we’ve all received these before, and can all agree that they work. Sometimes we just need an extra nudge. On the business side, it’s crucial to get the message across without being too pushy. Here’s how to write a winning abandoned cart campaign:
- Take a customer-centric approach (offer help at first, provide customer service information)
- Personalize: include customer name & items left behind
- Create a sense of urgency
- Have one clear call to action- make it the focal point and make it LARGE
- Include social proof
- Keep it short
- Use the CTA “Complete My Order”
In addition, timing is everything when it comes to abandoned cart emails. Here’s how to space them out:
- 1 hour after cart abandonment (this has been proven to have the highest conversion rates!)
- 1 day after cart abandonment
- 3 days after cart abandonment
- 1-2 weeks after cart abandonment (optional)
And finally, here is the order of content that should be followed:
- 1. The reminder
- Specify the product, keep it simple, give a slight nudge, use witty and fun language
- 2. The re-reminder
- Give a bit more of a nudge, bring in the urgency
- 3. Dealer’s choice
- a. Apologize- ask if anything went wrong and offer help
- b. Incentivize (give either a discount code, free shipping, or a small gift)
- c. Social proof (reviews, testimonials, helpful information)
Purchase Follow-Up Series
Spoiler alert: after the Order Confirmation, Shipment Notification, and Delivery Notification, the emails don’t stop. The next steps are to collect feedback, offer customer service help, strengthen your brand’s identity and personality, and most importantly, cross-sell and upsell.
2-5 emails is standard practice, and they should be spaced out as follows:
- 3 days after delivery
- 4 days later
- 7 days later
- 14 days later
- 30 days later
The content of each email should follow this order:
- Thank you for your order
- Optional: offer discount on next order
- Ask for feedback
- Solicit reviews, provide customer service information, link a short survey
- Cross-sell and upsell
- Display products that complement their previous order, remind them of discount (if applicable)
Lapsed Customer/Win-Back Series
With the new iOS 15 privacy updates, cleaning out your email list is more important than ever. Win-back emails give your inactive subscribers the opportunity to opt back in and repurchase before biting the bullet and removing them altogether. Follow these tips to recapture the interest of old purchasers:
- Use witty, humorous subject lines
- Be friendly and playful yet true to brand voice
- Include social proof
- Have one simple call to action
- Show them what they’re missing out on
- Reward customer loyalty
- Personalize
- Advanced tip: segment by level of activity/how loyal the customer was
The toughest part of creating a lapsed customer campaign is figuring out when to send these emails. Typically, we recommend starting 3 months after the customer starts disengaging. However, if your brand’s customer cycle is shorter or longer than this, you can start sending emails at the end of the customer cycle, a.k.a. when someone is likely to repurchase.
The win-back series should consist of 2-5 emails spaced out no more than 1 week apart. Here’s the order of content your campaign should follow:
- 1. Say hello and remind the customer you exist
- Show your top-selling products and make the customer feel appreciated
- 2. Offer an incentive
- Discount, free shipping, or a small gift- make this time-sensitive and urgent!
- 3. Ask for feedback
- Incentivize for leaving a review
- 4. One last chance
- Include a CTA to keep the subscription alive, otherwise they will be removed
- 5. Goodbye
- Tell them they’ve been removed from your email list 🙁
Overall, automated emails should be short, creative, personalized, and should include a clear call to action. Each campaign should be approached with a different strategy, and we highly encourage A/B testing for all!
Want us to take over your email automations? Let’s get in touch!
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