Did you ever realize that you could have lost a sale by not doing something as simple and integral to the process as making an offer? Sometimes it’s not always about previously planned sales, sometimes is all about a triggered process that is able to reach consumers in right place and time. The online Email Marketing Guide tells us that trigger based emails are “a branch of email marketing that can make a big difference in your email marketing results. Triggered messages are sent out automatically based on important or momentous events that are related to your subscriber's actions. Trigger based messages can make subscribers feel valued - whether in the form of a welcome email, a reminder to repurchase a needed product, a message to let the subscriber know you miss their business, or even a celebratory birthday email, among others”.
Having this in mind, let’s take a look at some quick email techniques that help triggered or automated mechanism:
- Customize your confirmation emails to send response emails only to those who consciously subscribe to you, always giving them the option to unsubscribe.
- Send thank you mails letting people know what they can expect from you and at what frequency.
- If you want to send a response welcoming a new subscriber on board, try and make it personal – maybe a video greeting instead of just text?
- Just like taking someone on a walk through your store, your email auto-responders can be geared to give readers a good orientation of your business.
- You can also use triggered emails to create hype about an upcoming launch or as post follow up to purchase of a ticket to an event of yours, feeding reminders at intervals
- Create a promotional freebie that is educational such as a free online course
- Create RSS feeds for your new content so that your readers find you on their ticker
- Create an auto-responder email that sends out wishes and special offers to subscribers on their birthdays, anniversaries etc.
- If you run a medical or healthcare practice, you can use this triggered mechanism to be able to send out reminders for appointments etc.
- Some subscribers may not have opened an email because something about it didn’t appeal to them or you didn’t reach them at the right time or in some cases they may read and not click on the follow-on link – in these cases why not send it again, slightly changing the headline or some other aspect of the content?
- If your product needs upgrading, make note of the renewal or upgrading dates for each purchase and send reminders and special offers close to the upgrade date.
- If a client changes address or city you will ideally need to know about this – send out change of location forms and use the new information to see how you can serve them better in their new space.
- If a potential customer abandoned or cancelled a sale it would be good to send a follow up after some time has lapsed – It may be due to a problem you could fix for them
- Send how to information immediately after a purchase as an after-sales service
- Learn to upsell and cross sell – customers may want a newer model to the product they have already purchased or they may want a companion product such as shoes to follow a handbag purchase.