7 Strategies to Personalize Automatic Mailings based on the actions of Subscribers

In an era of personalized marketing, a standard-fits-all approach to email marketing doesn't perform today. Email marketers and businesses that are e-commerce generally have plenty of data about their customers, however they are unable to utilize this data to the fullest benefit. There is a growing number of businesses utilizing email marketing, it is necessary that you, as an email marketing professional you implement new ways to keep your customers engaged.

Gone are the days when using the 'first name' of the subscribers on email was thought to be one of the most successful tactics for increasing conversions. The ability to send subscribers relevant, timely emails which are appropriate to their preferences is essential to keep them interested in your business.

Personalization and automation, when used together, work wonders. A research compilation shows that, according to Experian, brands that personalize promotional marketing emails experience more unique click rates and one-percent higher open rates than those that are not personalized. Additionally, it states that triggered emails generate more response rates to conversion with the same amount of sends as compared to "batch blast" email blasts.

If you are looking to design custom-designed campaigns for your online store emails, you need to use a couple of simple but sophisticated procedures to drive your campaigns to the right place.

  Answer the Right Questions  

In order to send out automated emails, you need to collect data from your customers. An effective way to do this is by asking customers to select certain preferences choices to assist to segment the information. When the customers subscribe to your email newsletter, you should inquire about the reason for opting for your emails. Your responses will provide insights that will lead to sending more relevant and better-targeted emails.

Here is an example of an email sent by Marisa Murgatroyd, founder of Live Your Message. In this email, she asks her email subscribers to take a quick survey, which will allow her to separate them based on their preferences and send them only messages that are for them.

  Create Customer Personas  

Once you get feedback from your customers, build the personas of your customers from the collected data. If you can understand your customers as well as your email subscribers and gaining more personalized experiences for them. This can help provide the email recipients greater focus and an experience that is more customized.

  Consider Location and Time  

Examine your email accounts according to location and time in order to find out what is most effective for your needs. Certain hours of the day are proven to be better in terms of . Customers may be spread across the world in different time zones and hence it is necessary that you provide all customers with the same service. Your customers may respond more positively to emails if they are sent at certain times of the day. It is important to do A/B tests for your emails to determine the most effective time when the customers contact you and then set the send time accordingly.

  7 Types of Automated emails triggered by subscriber behavior  

Once you've collected enough data for you to correctly divide your subscribers into segments and then set up automated trigger emails based for specific segments and behaviors.

  Here are 7 types of triggered emails that you can send to your customers:  

  1. Welcome E-mails

The welcome emails trigger to create a connection with your newly joining subscriber. It is the initial email that you send to confirm the signup. This will help you sort your database by asking your customers about their preferences. The best approach is to run an series of welcome emails with the first one as a pure welcome note and introducing the services you offer, then the third one asking about the subscribers' preferences, and the next few emails about offers and discounts for their future purchase.

Have a look at this example of Welcome Email from Hootsuite. This email directs the user to begin using their web-based tool. This is the first email of their series that is triggered and it is delivered as soon as the customer decides to sign up.

  2. Mails from abandoned carts

The emails for abandoned carts are ones that are sent to buyers who have added items to their shopping cart, but did not go through with their purchase. Highlighting the abandoned products by offering discounts or a free shipping option to go to checkout is a great option to convince them to finish the purchase.

Take a look at this email from the company Asics. They have highlighted one of the products that have been abandoned by placing it on top of the main banner and showing the rest of the items in the cart below. They have also displayed items to encourage cross-selling, increasing the chances of the customer to revisit the website to make a purchase.

3. Back in Stock Emails

Emails with back in stock are those emails that are sent out to customers who wanted to buy a particular product that is out of stock and has chosen to be notified whenever it is in the stock. The sending of an email to inform the customer about the availability of the product is an excellent method of bringing them back to your website to make the purchase.

This email from Kauffmann The Mercantile can be a great example. This email is a fantastic instrument and tool to make your customers feel special.

4. Price Drop Reminders

Emails about price drop are sent to those who have left your store online or abandoned their cart likely due to the cost of certain products on which there's no discount. If the items you previously looked at are offered at a reduced cost, it's a good idea to notify the customers about the discount. This is an excellent occasion to draw in customers who had previously considered buying from your.

Check out this sample from Target and Target informs customers about the new discounted price for the products in their cart, along with other products that are recommended. This will convince the customer to purchase the product.

5. Order Confirmation

When customers have completed their checkout and placed an order, you must immediately notify them via email of their order confirmation to them. It will confirm the order and thanking them for completing the transaction. This will help them recheck their purchase and adjust it should they need to. Include a payment receipt and order summary to keep the transaction transparent. Also, give them options to keep track of their purchase and give a feedback. You can also consider , cross-selling or offering similar products.

Here is an example of an order confirmation email from Amazon. The purchase in question was an ebook. Note the way Amazon offers similar ebooks in the bottom of the email.

  6. Order Following-up E-mails

Once your customer places an order from your website You must deliver follow-up emails to customers who placed an order. Automate follow-up email messages with relevant product suggestions along with related suggestions about products. These emails will also include information about tracking orders, an the order's summary, and details about payment.

Take a look at this email sent by Etsy which informs customers regarding the status of their delivered order.

7. Re-engagement Emails

Re-engagement emails focus on rejuvenating the relationship between your clients and subscribers who haven't opened your emails or haven't purchased from you in a specific amount of time. Re-engagement emails that are effective can encourage visitors to visit your website. It is possible to send a string of messages to attract your disinterested customers and draw customers to purchase from your website. Additionally, you can include deals and promotions to encourage customers to return to your site to make a purchase.

Here's an example of the reengagement emails from Pinkberry, offering their subscribers a free yogurt if they visit a Pinkberry location within 7 days of:

  Automated emails work best when they are personalized  

Hyper-personalization is what will keep your email subscribers interested in your business. The next time you plan for your email marketing campaigns be sure to not just add their names in the email messages. Creating personalized emails based on your subscribers' preferences and habits is the key to ensuring your automated email campaigns work efficiently.

Kevin George is the Head of Marketing for EmailMonks, one of the fastest growing businesses for email design and programming which specializes in creating beautiful email templates, conversion of PSD files to HTML email conversion, and free HTML template for email. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts regarding email marketing techniques and the best practices on his blog on email marketing.