Conversion rates are no joke, which is why you should be taking your automated email campaigns very seriously. Whenever you’re tracking and analyzing your recipients’ emails, there are a few questions you always need be asking:

  • Are they responsive?
  • Do they convert?
  • When do they unsubscribe?
  • Where are they when they open the email?

These kinds of metrics are easy to monitor because there’s an excess of tools out there. Without asking these types of questions, you could be throwing your marketing budget down the drain.

Although email behavior tells you a lot about your recipients, I believe the real gem is hidden on your website. The main reason for this is simple: 10x more user data is generated on the website compared to email.

When a prospect searches for your website it’s because they know they have enough time to leisurely browse through your products at their own pace. What’s more, it can be a richer source of data because any reputable brand keeps their website up to date with the latest offers and stock.

3 Simple Automated Campaigns Known to Increase Conversions

Yesterday’s email marketing was more like a flyer handed out to commuters rushing to catch the next train home. They either didn’t have the time to look or they wouldn’t be interested in the products featured. But email has moved on: now, you can take the power of website data and combine it with email. That changes everything. Consider these three automated campaigns when getting started.

1. Browse Abandonment Reminders

People come, people go. Some will buy, some will leave after having a look. Of course, not all of your visitors will convert, but there is a very important group of visitors who came and left without deciding. It could be because they didn’t have time, they wanted to look somewhere else, or they didn’t like the price. As I said, I’m specifically talking about those with an intention to buy. With a simple automation program in place, you can target those visitors, bring them back and convert them into customers.

Here’s how it works:

An email is sent after they leave without buying; with a catchy subject line will at least help them remember they were about to buy something:

  • “Hey, don’t leave us just yet!”
  • “Having trouble making your mind? Let me do that for you.”
  • “Hello, is it me you’re looking for?”

Remember, reminder emails will only work if people actually open your emails. Make sure your subject line is unique enough to shine in the clutter. Then the content is down to you: you can show them the top-selling products in the category they were looking at, show them the products they clicked on, show them cheaper alternatives of the products they were interested in, or even give them a little incentive to come back and buy from you!

Bonus Tip: Don’t leave this to chance: product recommendation widgets are cleverly designed to recommend products based on highly sophisticated algorithms. Let the widget do the hard work while you sit back and watch email marketing revenue increase.

“When should I send my campaign?” Unfortunately, there’s not a standard answer to this. And, anybody that tells you there is doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. It completely depends on your industry, your reputation and even your recipients’ habits, amongst a million other variables.

What’s important to focus on are your goals, your expectations for each campaign, and then work backwards. For example, how long typically does it take for a visitor to convert into a first-time customer? Once you know this you can set up a lead nurturing campaign within this time frame to speed up the process and increase the conversion. At this stage testing in essential: test different content, offers, product and even tone of voice.

Bonus Tip: If you’re unable to track the time it takes for your visitors to convert into first-time buyers or map out your customer lifecycle, get in touch with us today.

2. Cart Abandonment Reminders

The difference between cart abandonment and browse abandonment emails is that at this stage you know the visitor has a higher chance of converting as they’ve already chosen and had the intent to buy the products. Great news! It’s even easier to help them convert.

You can send a similar email, with or without an incentive, and entice them back to your website. The key is to make sure this program and browse abandonment one does not clash. It’s also great opportunity to up-sell similar products and the most effective way to increase average order value. And don’t forget, product recommendation engines effortlessly do this for you. Just remember to exclude segments from each other and do not send your recipients duplicate emails.

Bonus Tip: The best time to send these emails will be revealed after some tests conducted by you. Do not rely on others and never stick to their statistics.

3. Post-Purchase Offers

This program is a must-have simply because it will help you extend your organizational customer lifetime value.

A post-purchase email is usually sent after a transaction is completed, telling your recipients there is more stuff that would be of interest to them. Sending complementary goods is an example of this email category. Up- and cross-selling of goods can easily be done with the help of this program. Customer intelligence tools can help you identify ‘product affinity’ which again means the machine is doing the hard work; all you have to do is add the widget to your campaign.

What is the end result? Each recipient receives a personalized email with informative content to further improve his or her shopping experience, and customer loyalty increases.

Bonus Tip: Within this campaign you should always focus on your wider organizational objectives. You’re essentially nurturing brand advocates, which is a central process for any business.

Final Thoughts

While these are just the three basic programs known to significantly increase revenue, there are certainly many tactics that can be applied to achieve the same goal. Limiting the number of automated email campaigns that you’re running to just three is not ideal, but it’s a great place to start!

If you’re having trouble implementing any of the above, get in touch today to hear about our product recommendation engine or stay tuned for more advice on how to use marketing automating to increase revenue.

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