Email Marketing on Autopilot
Written by Franco Varriano.
Do you know why self-driving cars are the way of the future? Because they will give you your time back. Instead of listening to music during your hour of commuting every day, you can get work done and leave the office an hour earlier. That time adds up and makes a big difference in your life.
Self-driving cars might not be here yet, but automated email marketing is. By setting up automated email campaigns, you can make money while you’re working on other parts of the business.
And that’s just the beginning. This article will show you the power of automated email marketing and how it can free up more hours, and new avenues of profit.
What is Automated Email Marketing?
Email marketing automation sends emails based on the specific criteria you determine. Instead of sending the same email to every potential customer at the same time, you can send personalized emails to individual prospects at just the right time.
To top it all off, your automation software sends the marketing campaigns on your behalf. You only have to set it up once. It runs on its own after that.
For example, your automation software can send a welcome email to each new subscriber when they join your email list. You only need to write the email once: then, it can be sent thousands of times over the course of several years.
We call these evented emails because they only occur once a certain event takes place. And there are many different automated workflows you can create depending on the conditions that interest you.
Evented emails are a great marketing tool because they help you develop better customer relationships with less effort. We’re going to explore five different types of evented emails to help you understand the benefits of email automation.
Let’s go through some different strategies you can employ:
1. Emails Sent 2 or 3 Weeks After an Initial Purchase
People are creatures of habit. Making a habit of understanding your customers’ routines will benefit your bottom line.
For example, if you sell a consumable product, your email marketing software can send an email when the customer should almost be finished with it. By then, routine dictates that they will be thinking about replacing your product, and you want to make sure they go with your brand. By sending the email 14 or 21 days after their purchase, you’ll not only remind them of their initial purchase, you’ll do it at the time and day which may very well be their best day for online shopping.
Follow up emails are also great when you offer free trials. As their trial is approaching expiration, send them an email offering a discount on the paid version. If they want to continue using your product, this email will land you a new customer.
2. Special Thank You Emails When Customers Place Additional Orders
People love being valued and appreciated. When you trigger emails to be sent right after customers’ second or third purchases, you’re recognizing and appreciating their repeat business.
These simple, personalized emails are great for building customer relationships. The emails show your love in real-time, just when the customer wants to hear it.
Your goal here is to shape customer loyalty so that your customers feel good for buying from you. If you want to thank your customers in a way that stands out, consider sending a special discount in the follow-up email.
Don’t underestimate the value of thanking and appreciating people. It can be an easy and small step that turns unengaged customers into raving fans.
3. Monthly Emails to Engage Customers Before They Become Idle
The best customers are repeat customers. It’s your job to keep new customers engaged and interested in your products before they become idle (which happens 180 days without another purchase).
Engage each customer at least once a month after they purchase something from you.
For example, you can set emails to be sent at the following intervals:
- 30 days since last purchase
- 60 days since last purchase
- 90 days since last purchase
- 120 days since last purchase
- 150 days since last purchase
By sending periodic emails (like every 30 days), you’ll keep them informed, excited, and most importantly, thinking about your company.
Now, if you want to send effective emails you need to add value to your customers’ lives. You can use these emails to promote your latest products, or share stories that demonstrate how your products have helped other customers.
Engaging your customers regularly will help increase sales by retaining their business. There’s no reason to let your customers go idle when you can easily set up an automated marketing campaign to keep in touch with them without any extra effort.
4. Emails Once a Customer Becomes Idle
If your customer hasn’t purchased from you in over six months, they’ve become idle. At this point, you want to send them an email enticing them to come back to your business.
Since your monthly engagement didn’t seem to work, you’ll likely need to give them more incentive. This is a good opportunity to send them a super special offer inviting them back to your store. Idle customers can be revived with the right campaigns. As long as they haven’t unsubscribed from your list, you still have the ability to communicate with them.
Make it worth their time and they might make another purchase from you.
5. Emails Once a Customer Churns
There are two types of churning:
- Transparent churn – Also called “voluntary churn,” this is when your customers unsubscribe from your list or report you as spam. You aren’t allowed to email these people anymore.
- Opaque churn – These people are still subscribed to your list, but they aren’t interacting with your company or seeing your emails. Maybe your emails are going to an address they rarely check or they delete your emails before reading them.
Obviously, there is nothing you can do about transparent churn. But with opaque churn, there’s still an opportunity to bring them back.
You can set this evented email to send once an email subscriber churns (they haven’t made a purchase from you in over a year). Similar to the idle campaign, it should tell them it’s been a while since they’ve purchased from you and entice them to come back to your store.
Since it’s common for churned customers to delete your emails without reading them, it’s extremely important to create subject lines that really captivate them.
You have two options with this strategy. You can send the email to:
- Every customer who has churned (not made a purchase for one year or longer)
- Each customer once they churn in real-time (right when they hit the one-year anniversary of their last purchase)
If you have a new product or offering to reveal, sending this to every customer that’s churned can be a good idea. However, if you have an offer that isn’t fresh or time-sensitive, it’s great to automatically send it to each newly-churned subscriber.
Don’t let a customer’s lack of repeat purchases stop you giving them an opportunity (and a reason) to buy from you again.
Use Marketing Automation Tools to Improve Your Business
The beauty of the emails is that they are automatic. Once you set them up, they do the work for you.
You already have your customers’ email addresses: put them to good use with an automated marketing platform.
Like self-driving cars, they help you achieve your goals while you’re busy doing other things. While everyone else is patiently waiting for self-driving cars, you can enjoy the benefits of self-driving emails now.
And if you’re one of the thousands of merchants who are already using Rare’s Smart Email Marketing software and want to see how our Customer Success Team can work with your brand to grow your revenue – feel free to book a call at your convenience here.
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