triggered eMails

Your Magento Website is Awesome. Your eMails Should be Too!

​A well developed multi-phase eMail marketing program can enhance the relationship of a merchant with their customers by encouraging loyalty and repeat business. Merchants need to develop eMail copy and templates consistent with their brand for triggered, transactional, and promotional eMails. In order to get the very most out of eMail marketing efforts, we recommend a combination of triggered eMails based on visitor actions as well as transactional eMails to support specific customer purchase activity

Triggered eMails

Triggered eMails are targeted towards up-sell and re-sell opportunities. For example, when a customer abandons a cart, merchants can set a triggered eMail to send after a certain amount of time to remind them to come back. Triggered eMails are planned, built and scheduled to target customers after they have interacted with your site. In fact, many consumers have become savvy enough to add items to the cart and just wait for the best promotional eMail to come along. Abandoned carts have evolved into a form of window shopping.

Create triggers based on actions that should be followed up with via automated eMail such as:

  • Cart abandonment
  • Price updates
  • Favorites or wish list updates
  • Birthday messages and offers
  • Welcome Messages
  • Replenish reminders
  • Recently browsed reminders
  • Post purchase up-sell and cross sells

It’s important to set up triggered eMails properly so customers are not bombarded with multiple communications in short time periods. Many eMail service providers (ESPs) have the ability to determine delivery frequency. Utilize the ESPs functionality to avoid issues like a customer getting several triggered eMails in one day, or worse, getting the wrong triggered eMail. Create rules, set up workflows, set limits, and add filters to ensure customers get the right eMail at the right time that is consistent with your brand.

The Initial Time Investment

One hurdle regarding the implementation of triggered eMails is that it takes time to set them up properly. Particularly if there isn’t a plan in place already or if this is a new approach for your company. The setup does require some investment to work through your unique customer cycle. The heavy lifting is in the planning and testing of which action points are necessary for your unique needs.  

However, the great benefit to marketing automation and triggered eMails is that once they are set up and running smoothly, there is little effort needed to maintain them. In addition, there are many tools within eMail marketing platforms that assist with this activity to make the process manageable. Select a quality ESP with workflows and true automation capabilities. With a quality ESP, triggered eMails are far less ongoing work to optimize once they are running.

Transactional eMails

Transactional eMails are a type of triggered eMail, but are generally only for customer service automation. The CAN-SPAM act describes the purpose of transactional eMails as:

  1. Facilitates or confirms a commercial transaction that the recipient already has agreed to;
  2. Gives warranty, recall, safety, or security information about a product or service;
  3. Gives information about a change in terms or features or account balance information regarding a membership, subscription, account, loan or other ongoing commercial relationship;
  4. Provides information about an employment relationship or employee benefits; or
  5. Delivers goods or services as part of a transaction that the recipient already has agreed to.

Transactional eMails are required to be direct and generally only contain information needed by the customer. However, transactional eMails are a great way to emphasize your brand, build trust, and show customers that you’re an organized, professional business that cares about them.

Create transactional eMails based on actions that should be followed up with automatically such as:

  • Welcome eMails
  • Receipts – Completed a purchase
  • Shipping confirmation
  • Shipping Updates
  • Invitation Rate/Review items

In a study from Experian Marketing services, transactional eMails prove to drive greater revenue per eMail. In addition, transaction rates are eight times higher than promotional bulk mailings for order confirmations and four times higher than promotional bulk mailings for shipping and return/exchange based messages.

The Experian report also noted that customers opened and clicked through transactional eMails at a much higher rate than they do with promotional eMails. In fact, it was noted that transactional eMails are opened and engaged with repeatedly. This type of engagement allows merchants an avenue to cross-sell products to highly engaged customers.

Transactional eMails Provide Significant Monetary Value

The Experian Marketing services study also found that transactional eMails provide higher revenue per eMail as well as strong transaction rates in comparison to bulk promotional eMails. In fact, the average revenue for a transactional eMail is two to five times greater that bulk promotional eMails.

Experian isn’t the only study noting the value of transactional eMails. In a study from the Data & Marketing Association, they found that over 75% of eMail revenue is generated by triggered campaigns, rather than traditional promo campaigns.

Incorporate Triggered and Transactional eMails Into Your eCommerce Strategy

Triggered and transactional eMails often take a backseat to day-to-day management tasks and other seemingly more important marketing efforts. However, data shows how valuable these types of eMails really are. High open rates and ROI for triggered and transactional eMails shouldn’t be ignored. Merchants need to include these types of eMails into their automated multi-phase eMail marketing program. Contact us to learn more about triggered and transactional eMails. Or, give us a call to talk to a Magento expert: 513-469-3345.

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