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

In an era of personalization, a universal strategy for email marketing does not work anymore. Email marketers and businesses that are e-commerce often have a lot of customer data, but they don't always use the data to its full benefit. There is a growing number of firms using email marketing it is necessary that as an email marketer you find new methods to maintain your customers' interest.

The days of making use of the first name of subscribers in the emails was considered to be among the most successful tactics to increase conversions. Making sure that subscribers receive timely, relevant emails which are pertinent to their needs is vital to keep them interested in your business.

Personalization and automation, when used together, work wonders. An research compilation illustrates that according to Experian, brands who tailor their promotional emails have an increase of 27% in unique click rates and 11% greater open rates over those who don't personalize. It also states that triggered emails result in more conversion responses for the same number of messages as compared to "batch or blast" emails.

In order to create personalized campaigns for your e-commerce emails, you must follow few simple and sophisticated techniques to manage the effectiveness of your emails.

  Be Prepared to Answer the Questions You Should Ask  

To send automated emails, it is necessary to collect data from your customers. An effective way to do this is to ask customers to select certain preferences choices to assist in segmenting the data. If your customers sign up to your email newsletter, you should ask them their purpose of selecting your emails. Their responses will offer insights that will lead to sending more relevant and better-targeted messages.

This is an example of an email message from Marisa Murgatroyd, founder of Live Your Message. In the email she asks email recipients to complete a short questionnaire, which allows her to segment them based on their preferences and then send only emails that are relevant the most pertinent to them.

  Develop Customer Personas  

When you receive responses from your customers, build the personas of your customers from the data you have collected. In order to understand your clients and your subscribers' email preferences better and gaining better experiences that are more tailored to the users. This can help provide your subscribers to your emails a more targeting and customized experience.

  Take into account Time and Location  

Examine your email accounts according to location and time in order for a better idea of what works for your needs. Certain hours of the day are proven superior for email delivery . Your clients could be spread all over the globe in various time zones. Therefore, it is necessary that you cater to all of them. Some customers will respond better to your emails when they're delivered at specific times in the day. Make sure you do A/B testing for your emails and find out the best time when the customers are able to contact your email and then set the send timing accordingly.

  7 Types of Automated Emails Triggered by Subscriber Behavior  

When you've got enough data for you to correctly classify your email recipients, it's time to make automated trigger emails based for certain segments or behaviors.

  There are seven types of triggered emails that you can send to customers of yours:  

  1. Welcome Emails

These welcome emails help establish a connection with your newly joining subscriber. It is the initial email you will send to confirm that you have signed up. This will help you sort your database by asking your subscribers to share their preferences. You should preferably run a series of welcome messages with the first one as a pure welcoming note that introduces the services you offer, then the third one asking about the subscribers' preferences, and following emails about special offers and discounts on your future purchases.

Check out the example welcome email from Hootsuite. This email directs the user to start using the online service. This is the first email of their series that is triggered and will be sent out after the user opts in.

  2. Absent Cart Emails

Abandoned cart emails are emails that are sent to customers who have added items to their cart but didn't make it to the checkout. Highlighting the abandoned products and offering a discount or free shipping to the checkout process is an excellent way to make them complete the purchase.

Have a look at the email sent by the company Asics. They've highlighted one the items that were not sold by putting it in the top banner. They also show the rest of the items on the cart below. They have also displayed items to encourage cross-selling, increasing the chances of the customer returning to the site to purchase.

3. Back in Stock Emails

Emails with back in stock are the emails sent to customers who wanted to buy a particular product which was not in stock and has chosen to receive an email notification when the product is available in the stock. The sending of an email to inform that the buyer of the availability of the product is a great option to bring the customer back to your website for the purchase.

This message from Kauffmann The Mercantile is an excellent instance. This is an excellent instrument and tool to make your clients feel appreciated.

4. Price Drop Reminders

Emails about price drop are sent to clients who have abandoned your online store or cart likely due to the cost of specific products for which there is no discount. When the previously browsed products are offered at a reduced cost, it's a good idea to notify the customers about it. It is a good occasion to draw in customers who were once interested in buying from you.

Look at this example from the retailer Target that has notified the customers of the reduced price on the products in their carts, as well as additional products recommended by Target. The customer will be convinced to purchase the product.

5. Order Confirmation

When customers have completed their checkout and placed an order, make sure to send an order confirmation email to them, validating and thanking them for completing the transaction. This allows them to review the order, and alter it if necessary. Add a receipt of payment along with an overview of the order to make the transaction transparent. Give them the option to track their order and to provide feedback. It is also possible to consider selling similar products or cross-selling.

Here is an example of an order confirmation email from Amazon. The purchase in question was an ebook. Notice how Amazon suggests similar books at the end of the email.

  6. Order Following-up Emails

Once your customer places an order on your site When a customer places an order on your website, you must send order follow-up emails. Set up automatic follow-up emails with relevant product suggestions as well as related suggestions for products. These emails will also include information about tracking orders, an the order's summary, and details about payment.

Check out this email from Etsy which informs customers about the progress of the shipment of the order.

7. Re-engagement Emails

Re-engagement emails aim to strengthen the relationship between your clients and subscribers who don't have opened your emails or haven't purchased from you in a specific amount of time. Re-engagement emails can be effective in bringing visitors to visit your website. Send a sequence of emails to win back your disinterested customers and draw customers to purchase from your site. Additionally, you can include deals and promotions to encourage your subscribers to revisit your site and place an purchase.

Here's an example of a re-engagement email of Pinkberry which offers their customers a free yogurt if they visit any Pinkberry site within seven days of:

  Automated emails are most efficient when they are personalized  

Hyper-personalization is what will keep your email subscribers interested in your business. If you are planning for your emails, make sure you not just add the names of your subscribers in your emails. Making personalized emails that are basing on your subscriber's interests and behaviors is crucial to ensure your automated email campaigns work effectively.

Kevin George is the Head of Marketing at EmailMonks one of the fastest-growing email design and coding firms that specializes in crafting stunning email templates and Photoshop to HTML email conversion and Free HTML template for email. He loves sharing his knowledge and ideas about email marketing strategies and best practices at his email marketing blog.