14 Triggered Email Campaigns You Should Be Using Published April 26, 2018 Triggered emails are personalised messages that get triggered by specific actions a customer takes online. Hyper relevant and timely, this form of automation is designed to increase engagement and drive conversions. But how can marketers use triggered emails to improve customer journeys? We explore fourteen triggered email campaigns that do just that. 1. Welcome Our first triggered email idea is the perfect tool to entice new subscribers to make their first purchase: the welcome campaign. Welcome campaigns are a series of triggered emails that get sent when a new subscriber signs up for your email list. They are an excellent way to introduce your brand in bite-sized chunks and ease your subscriber along to conversion. A good welcome email might sell your brand USPs, introduce key product lines, and explain the benefits of engaging with your emails. Including a welcome discount is an effective way to get first-time buyers over the line. 2. Browse Abandonment What happens when someone browses your products but leaves without buying? The answer is often that you lose that sale. It doesn’t have to be that way. Browse abandonment campaigns are emails that get triggered when someone browses a product and then abandons your website. They remind the browser about the product they just viewed and tempt them back to buy. 3. Cart Abandonment Cart abandonment emails focus on items a shopper has put in their cart but left without buying. Like browse abandonment emails, they’re designed to direct the customer back to your site to continue their journey. These triggered emails are a tried-and-tested method of recovering revenue you may otherwise have lost. Offering discounts is a good way to persuade shoppers to complete their purchase. 4. Transactional As with all purchases, just after a customer buys something online they may experience buyer’s remorse. This post-purchase anxiety leads people to question whether they made the right decision to part with their money. Post-purchase marketing helps combat buyer’s remorse. Triggered emails are an efficient means of carrying this out. Sending transactional emails that are triggered when someone makes a purchase is one example of this. They could confirm an order or give details of delivery. Sending these details is an effective way to put your customer’s mind at rest. 5. Helpful content Another post-purchase marketing method that reduces buyer’s remorse is to send helpful content. This could be a how-to or care guide for the product they’ve just bought. Useful content like this helps your customers get the most out of their purchase. This makes it more likely that they’ll buy from you again. 6. Cross-sell Once a customer has bought from you, how can you increase the lifetime value their custom offers your business? One of the best ways is through cross-selling. Cross-selling emails are automated product recommendations that get triggered when a customer makes a purchase. These recommendations relate to what the customer has just bought. They may encourage them to “complete the look” or “get the most” from their purchase. 7. Upsell Upselling is another smart way to increase customer lifetime value. Like cross-selling, upselling happens when someone makes a purchase. This form of product recommendation suggests higher value related products, tempting the customer to spend more. Further reading: The Complete Guide to Upselling and Cross-selling 8. Ask for review Ratings and reviews are a smart way to show your shoppers social proof and remove barriers to purchase. What’s more, the act of asking someone for a review gets them more invested in your brand. It shows them you care and creates positive brand sentiment. This increases the likelihood that they’ll buy from you again. Review emails can be set up as a triggered email campaign that gets sent once your customer has received their product. To increase response rate, getting the timing of these right is important. They should be sent after the customer will have had enough time to try use their purchase. 9. Refer a friend Asking customers to refer a friend is an effective way to increase your customer base. What’s more, it creates more brand loyalty. When a customer refers a friend to you, this reinforces the relationship they have with you. This is another way to encourage repeat purchases. Set up triggered emails to be sent after a customer makes a second purchase from you, to increase the likelihood that they’ll participate. Make sure there is something in it for them too. Offering a joint discount to them and the person they refer is a good way to go. 10. Loyalty scheme Sending triggered emails inviting customers to join your loyalty scheme is a wise way to build brand loyalty. Like refer a friend schemes, these could be triggered by your customer’s second purchase. Make sure you sell the benefits of joining your scheme. Whether it’s bonus points, exclusive views of new products, or free delivery, be sure to tell them what they’ll get. 11. Renewal If your products are sold on a subscription basis, renewal emails are the ideal triggered email campaign to increase repeat purchases. These can be set up to be sent out before your customer’s current subscription is due to expire. Use these as an opportunity to entice them to renew. 12. Replenishment Do you sell products that run out and need to be replenished? If so, replenishment emails are the triggered email campaign for you. These get sent out just before the product is likely to run out. They are an effective way to encourage your customers to buy that product again. What’s more, replenishment emails make it easiest to buy again from you. This reduces the chance your customer will stray to a competitor. 13. Birthday Birthday emails get triggered when your customer turns another year older. They are nice excuse to get in touch and offer up a discount or special birthday treat. Personal touches like this help build brand loyalty. That said, it is important to remember that basic demographic personalisation is not as effective as behavioural marketing. Our recent research uncovered that only 7 percent of consumers are likely to engage in marketing communications that reference their birthday in the subject line. In contrast, almost half of consumers would be likely to engage more with a retailer that sends offers that are relevant and interesting to them. This suggests browse or cart abandonment and product recommendations tactics like cross-selling and upselling are likely to have the biggest impact. 14. Re-engagement Try as you might, there will always be some customers that go quiet on you. Re-engagement or win-back campaigns help you wake these sleeping subscribers. These triggered emails should remind recipients what’s great about your brand and persuade them to re-engage with you. A discount might help sweeten the deal. Takeaway These fourteen triggered email campaigns are all effective ways to enhance customer journeys. Whether by combatting buyer’s remorse, encouraging repeat purchase, or building brand loyalty, each tactic improves the experience you offer your customers. Building better, more personalised experiences is the best route to increased revenue. To implement the triggered email ideas we’ve explored, you need to make sure your marketing automation technology is up to scratch. To see ours in action, book a demo via the button below. <!– end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code →