When it comes to email marketing automation, small business owners often say to themselves: “this is not for me. Maybe some day in the future.” This article deals with the reasons why it is worth starting email marketing automation right now without putting it off for the future. Moreover, how to do it easily by yourself, not waste money and start earning 24/7 are also discussed.
- You have a lot of customer data that you do not take advantage of.
Believe it or not, there is a lot of basic data behind any company that may be easily utilized for email marketing automation and sending data-driven emails to customers. For example:
- Data about your customers: what they buy, when they last purchased, if they still active, etc.
- Data about your customer activity in your most recent email campaign: did they open it, did they visit your store, what they clicked on most, did they buy or not, etc.
- Data about on-site behavior: abandoned carts and new subscribers, etc.
All of this data is easy to get hold of and can be used for future, highly relevant communication with your customers and for re-sending email campaigns or other marketing actions.
The SalesForce 2015 State of Marketing Report highlights that only one fourth (24%) of online retailers use abandoned cart data and only 34% of them use data about inactive customers to win them back. However, 9 out of 10 marketers who employ this data admit that sending automated workflows helps them achieve their email marketing objectives. So, using your basic customer data can help grow your business and allow you gain an advantage over your competitors.
- You ignore customer interaction with your store.
When you cannot provide personal feedback to your customers every time they interact with your store, it is time to set up automated email workflows. They will help you avoid one-sided communication and allow you to react to your customers’ behavior on a 24/7 basis.
Automated workflows might differ according to the email service provider that you use, but the idea remains the same. If a visitor subscribes to your newsletter, an automated welcome email is sent. If customers slip away, they receive a re-activation email. If customers abandon their shopping carts, again, your automated workflow reminds them about it and results in a great 4.64% conversion rate. There are even more profitable automated workflows, but the ones mentioned are the main ways to start being responsive to your customers.
- Automated welcome emails successfully break the ice for the first purchase.
Welcome emails help build your online store’s credibility and encourage your new subscribers to buy. It is a great way to introduce your subscribers to your brand and to establish their expectations for future communication via email, promotional material and exclusive deals only for subscribers. The numbers below prove the effectiveness of welcome emails.
- 74.7% of new subscribers expect a welcome email (BlueHornet Report, 2013).
- The open rate of welcome emails is 45.47% (Soundest Ecommerce Email Marketing Research, 2016).
- The conversion rate of welcome emails is 1.04% in comparison to promotional emails, which is only 0.17% (Soundest Research, 2016).
- Revenue per welcome email is calculated to be $0.61, while promotional emails each earn only $0.10 (Soundest Research, 2016).
- You retain customers after they abandon your store and do not show up anymore.
There are two scenarios possible for making customers return to your store:
4.1. When they have just abandoned their shopping carts, you send them an automated cart recovery email.
7 out of 10 shopping carts are abandoned. There are many reasons why customers leave your store without purchasing. One of the main reasons is indecisiveness. For some of us, it is difficult to make a decision straight away. Send an email reminder after some time with the products from the cart displayed and you will be surprised by the results. Customers tend to open this kind of email more (47.10% open rate), and they click more and end up with purchases. The conversion rate of cart recovery emails is 4.64%. The average revenue per email sent is $5.46. This compares with a humble $0.10 per promotional email.
Source: Soundest | Ecommerce Email Marketing
4.2. When your customers have not purchased for a long time and you realize that they have slipped away, you can send a reactivation email series with incentives inside.
This automated workflow is probably the last chance to win your customer back. This is why merchants put all their trumps inside reactivation emails – free shipping, discounts, gifts, etc. – saying “Please come back, we miss you”. As already mentioned earlier, your company does not have to be big to implement this solution. When it comes to retaining lost customers, every order counts.
- Email marketing automation helps you to upsell and build your social media community.
By this I mean automated thank-you emails that are sent after purchases are completed. You can use them in many ways:
- After purchases, your customers are greatly interested in you, so take advantage of this. Invite them to follow you on social media. You will then be able to reach them for remarketing.
- Again, take advantage of the good mood of your customers and ask them to leave a review on your store.
- Send them recommendations related to the purchased items (cross-sell and up-sell).
- Offer a discount for the next purchase, etc.
By sending a thank-you email after a purchase you will always look relevant and be able to consolidate the connection between you and your customer.
The Bottom Line
The automated workflows mentioned above are only a few of the many that can be used. A deliberate, data-driven communication flow will strengthen the connection with your customers, and will make them trust you more and engage with your brand more. All in all, start sending relevant emails to your customers and don’t leave your money on the table anymore.
Author:
Karolina Petraškienė is a content marketing manager and email enthusiast in Soundest – a Mailchimp alternative tailored for Ecommerce. For over a decade she has worked in the inbound marketing field for businesses as well as in IT education.
Karolina Petraškienė
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