The discovery stage of the customer lifecycle is one of the most important.
It’s an opportunity for brands to set the foundations of their relationship with their potential customer. Make a good first impression. And encourage consumers back to their website.
But with competition being fierce in many industries, brands have to pull out all the stops to stand out from the crowd.
That’s where email marketing comes to the rescue.
Email offers a direct channel for brands to introduce themselves to consumers. And to welcome, educate, and reassure.
Still unsure? Then read on to learn about 5 ways that email marketing can support the discovery phase in the customer lifecycle.
Direct communication
The inbox is a busy place.
Even so, email remains one of the most, if not the most, successful channels for marketers.
Email marketing boasts higher conversion rates than social media, direct traffic, and search. And for every £1 they spend on email marketing, marketers can expect an average return of £35.
This proves how effective email marketing is for engagement. Making it the ideal channel to increase awareness during the discovery phase of the customer lifecycle.
But of course, to ensure that the email is opened, there are some steps that we would recommend marketers follow:
Timing
Review past data to identify the dates and times when you receive the most engagement with your emails. And use this information for future campaigns.
Subject lines
Make sure you spend time crafting the perfect subject line so that it doesn’t get lost in the inbox. Aim to personalise, entice, and speak to the desires of your recipients.
AB testing
Most elements of an email can be AB tested for optimal results. The best performing emails will help you identify the best time frames, subject lines, and calls to action to use moving forward.
Spam filters
You don’t want to risk triggering spam filters and your email never being seen. Instead, follow our tips to ensure you don’t end up in the dreaded spam folder.
Personalisation
Personalisation is our favourite tactic for any stage of the customer lifecycle.
Even in the early stages of engaging with a potential customer, brands can collect basic demographic and behavioural data in order to personalise their communications.
In a busy inbox, a little personalisation can go a long way in helping a brand stand out from the crowd. So consider using it in the following instances:
Subject line
Something as simple as adding a first name to the subject line of an email can increase open rates by 26%.
Product recommendations
Identify the user’s most browsed products or pages to either add them to a segmented promotional campaign, or use dynamic content to populate their favourite products into the email.
Geolocation
Use the location of the recipient along with dynamic content to promote your closest store and encourage the potential customer to continue their research and discovery, offline.
Warm welcome
First impressions count.
Which is why it’s so important to offer a warm welcome to potential customers who are getting familiar with a brand.
Welcome emails can generate up to 60% in open rates and 14% click through rates. Meaning welcome campaigns are the perfect tactic to introduce potential customers to your brand.
Some brands will send a welcome campaign after the first purchase. But if a brand is focusing on the discovery phase, they can be sent even earlier.
Encourage potential customers to sign up to a newsletter, email updates, or supply their email address to access content. This offers the perfect trigger to send a welcome email and start the relationship off positively.
To ensure your welcome emails make an impact, you can download our Ultimate Guide, or follow these high-level tips:
Timing
Send welcome as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours after an action. This way the recipient has a smooth journey from taking their action and then receiving your response.
Subject lines
To stand out in the crowded inbox, a welcome campaign subject line should include personalisation, showcase your brand personality, and entice the recipient to open.
Automation
Automation ensures that every communication is sent at the perfect time, and that the right message is sent based on the recipient’s actions.
Incentivisation
Once you have warmed up the recipient with a welcome, key information, and product promotions, an incentive may offer the final nudge that they need to make a purchase.
Share other channels
Whilst email marketing is one of the most successful channels available. It isn’t for everyone.
For instance, 95% of Gen Z consumers say that email is essential to their lives. But even so, 54% state that their favourite influential channel is social media.
That’s why it’s so important to engage with potential customers on all the relevant channels. And as email is so prevalent in people’s everyday lives, it’s the perfect medium to share other channels.
There are different ways of achieving this, such as:
Social channel links
Such as those you see at the bottom of many email templates, but brands can also include social share buttons under relevant content.
Social feeds
Brands can either use dynamic content to automatically populate their emails with their social or hashtag feeds. Or they can manually input photos and testimonials taken from social channels.
Social campaigns
Promote social campaigns that involve the recipient having to like or follow a social channel to get them involved.
Channel promotion
Sometimes the best ideas are the most straightforward. Brands can simply be open with their recipients and promote their social channels as another way to engage.
Link to relevant content
A key part of the discovery phase is engaging a potential customer with information that will familiarise and warm them to your brand.
Many brands will be reliant on the potential customer finding this information themselves by browsing their website or social media channels. Unfortunately, consumers have an attention span of roughly 8 seconds. So brands can’t expect consumers to have the time or patience to get to know them.
Instead, brands have to put this information right in front of them. So that consumers don’t have to work for this knowledge. And brands can encourage consumers back to their website.
Here are some ideas for content that is perfect during the discovery phase:
Social proof
Reviews, testimonials, and social media posts all reinforce that you are a reputable brand that can be trusted. As well as triggering ‘FOMO’ in consumers who don’t want to miss out.
Guides and blogs
Guides and blogs aren’t just for B2B brands. B2C brands can use this content to start engaging consumers with their offering. Such as guides to summer fashion, interior design tips, or recipes.
Videos
If written content isn’t your thing, then introduce consumers to video. This could be a product unboxing, a how-to video, or something fun that reflects your brand personality.
Events and workshops
If you have any events or workshops where you will also be sharing knowledge and expertise, make sure you shout about them. Perfect for consumers that prefer the face-to-face experience.
Need support in helping consumers discover your brand?
Fortunately, we are experts in email marketing. And we have tonnes of ideas for how email can help in the discovery phase.
Get in touch with your team of experts to hear more.