Email marketing automation is a powerful way of marketing for merchants. Many business owners don’t know which automation campaigns to use and test.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to build long-lasting relationships with your customers, with automated campaigns offering a significant opportunity for increasing your conversions and retaining customers.
For eCommerce businesses, automated emails are one of the best ways to encourage repeat purchases. There’s no denying that email marketing is still an important marketing tool in 2020.
Here are some of the best automated email campaigns that win customers back;
Abandoned Cart Emails
Magnet Monster says that over 2/3rds of people shopping on your website will abandon their carts. For eCommerce store owners, this is one of the biggest missed opportunities. A whopping 68.89% of people abandon their carts on eCommerce sites.
Whilst the abandoned cart rate for shoppers is still very high, Business Insider estimates that savvy store owners can recover about 63% of that lost revenue. This is why it’s crucial to have a cart abandonment strategy and an automated cart abandonment sequence.
To make abandoned cart emails the most effective they can be, rather than sending just one email, use a sequence of emails.
Setting up abandoned cart emails
With email marketing, timing is everything. You don’t want to bombard a potential customer and put them off. But at the same time, you want to get them when your brand and product is still in their head.
If you don’t already have data from email marketing to set up your campaign, the best place to start is with the following timings for abandoned cart emails:
- Email 1: send 24 hours later.
- Email 2: send 48 hours later.
- Email 3: send 72 hours later.
As more customers are added to your list and more emails start to go out, you’ll be able to build a much more targeted and precise campaign with the data.
An automated email sequence for abandoned carts will also massively depend on your product, price and many other variables. The best way to make abandoned cart emails work for you is to test different sequences, the number of emails being sent and what time you’re sending the email.
Keep an eye on your conversion rate, if it’s working, don’t try to fix it.
First Email: You’ve left something behind
The first email should be a simple reminder for customers to complete their purchase. Be concise, don’t fill your email with too much information as the main goal is to drive people back to your store.
Use a compelling headline, this is a great way to show your brand is in touch and isn’t too pushy. You can also use this email as an opportunity to create urgency, you can do this by letting them know if their item is running low on stock or if the cart will hold the items for a limited amount of time.
Second Email: Time to show off
The second abandoned cart email in the sequence should address any concerns or objections that cart abandoners may have.
One of the best ways to overcome potential customer objections is by listing product benefits and FAQs to tempt users to complete their purchase.
It’s always worth asking in your first email a question that requires some form of feedback as to why they haven’t completed their purchase.
Check your data on a regular basis to see what works well and test different emails to see what works best.
Third Email: Make an offer
Now it’s time to offer potential customers what they’re been waiting for. A discount, a coupon or even a free gift. You need to pick something that works for your customers and your bottom line too. Your offer should compel customers to purchase what they’ve left in their cart. Remember to run split tests to work out what approach works best for your audience.
Welcome email sequence
A welcome email will be the first email someone receives when they subscribe to your mailing list. BUT there’s a second welcome email you could be sending. A welcome email for customers who haven’t converted yet.
Welcome email series:
Your second welcome email should have several goals.
- Welcome new subscribers.
- Give subscribers an incentive to purchase.
- Set the right expectations.
- Connect with subscribers on other channels.
This is a chance for your brand to connect with visitors that haven’t purchased yet by showing them product offers, setting the right expectation and your brand’s tone of voice and allowing potential customers to connect with you on other channels too such as social media.
New Customer Emails
First Email:
This email should be sent immediately after their purchase. Similar to the new subscribers’ email, you should be welcoming them to your business, thanking them for their purchase and explain what’s next.
When will their order arrive? Returns policy? When will their order be dispatched? You can also take this opportunity to show them more about their product or suggest related products.
Second Email:
Your second email should be a check-up to see how their experience went. Make it as easy as possible for them to get in touch with regards to any questions or issues they may have.
Third Email:
Two days after your second email, the product should’ve arrived. Be sure to check the delivery times f your products and update any email copy to reflect any delays that may occur. You don’t want to send an awkward email to someone asking them how their product is when they haven’t received it yet.
Your third email should be used to inform customers that their product should be with them. Ask them if the product has arrived with them safely. You’re better of finding out any issues at the start rather than a few days or weeks down the line. That way, you show you’re customers that you’re willing to help them and are supportive, this can lead to repeat purchases in the future.
Fourth Email:
Your 4th email should be sent around 4-5 days later, another simple email to get some feedback. You should use your fourth email to ask for a product review. During the purchasing process, visitors will look at customer reviews according to The eMarketer Ecommerce Insights Report, almost a quarter of consumers said they always look at customer reviews, while 40.8% said they use them often.
Don’t overcomplicate your email with trying to get another purchase or pushing content out, this email should be focussed around your customer submitting a review about your product and you should make this as easy as possible for them.
Fifth Email:
It’s been a week since your customer purchased a product from you. This is a great time to send a time-sensitive promotional email. Your fifth email should include a promotional offer based on your customers’ interests or purchase history.
Sixth Email:
As a final touchpoint, you should remind them how much time or the stock levels left on your previous email a day later.
Repeat customer emails
Repeat customers can often make up a large part of your revenue. Customer loyalty should be praised as you’ll have an easier time trying to convert them as you already have an existing relationship with them.
Here are the emails you should be sending to repeat customers;
First Email:
Two days after a product arrives with a repeat customer you should be sending a check-in email. This email should make sure that the product has been delivered and that they’re happy with the product. You can also use this as a chance to ask for a review.
Second Email:
The best time to send your second email in this sequence is around 4 days later. As this email is for repeat customers, you’ll know more about their purchasing behaviour which makes it easier to tailor the email for them with products that they may like.
Struggling to get users to convert from your emails? Here are 10 ways to increase landing page conversions.