7 Methods to Personalize Automated emails based on subscriber actions

In an age of personalization, a one-size-fits-all approach to email marketing doesn't make sense anymore. E-commerce businesses and email marketers generally have plenty of information about customers but they are unable to utilize that data to their full benefit. With an increasing number of companies using email marketing, it's essential that, you, as an email marketing professional you find new methods to maintain your customers' interest.

The days of making use of the first name of the subscribers on emails was considered to be one of the most successful tactics to improve conversions. The ability to send subscribers relevant, timely emails that are appropriate to their preferences is vital to keep them interested about your brand.

Automating and personalization, combined, can be a boon to businesses. The research compilation shows that, according to Experian, companies who personalize their marketing messages have more specific click rates as well as 11% more open rates as compared to those that are not personalized. It also states that triggered emails generate 624% higher conversion responses in the same quantity of sends as compared to "batch and blast" blast and batch emails.

In order to create customized campaigns for your e-commerce emails, you must adhere to a few easy and complex methods to run your email campaigns effectively.

  Be Prepared to Answer the Questions You Should Ask  

To send automated emails, you need to collect data from your customers. The most effective method to collect this is to ask customers to select certain preferences choices that will help you to segment the information. If your customers sign up to your email newsletter, you should question them about their reasons for selecting your emails. The responses will give you insights that will lead you towards sending pertinent and more targeted emails.

Here's an example an email from Marisa Murgatroyd, founder of Live Your Message. In this email, the emailer is asked to complete a short questionnaire, which allows her to categorize according to their preference and send them only messages that are most relevant to them.

  Build Customer Personas  

Once you get the responses of your customers, build the personas of your customers using the data you have collected. In order to understand your clients as well as your email subscribers it will allow you to create better experiences that are more tailored to your customers. This helps give your email subscribers a much greater focus and an experience that is more customized.

  Take into account Time and Location  

Examine your email accounts according to location and time in order to find out what is most effective for your needs. Certain times of day prove to be better when it comes to . Customers may be spread across the world in different time zones. Therefore, it is necessary that you provide all customers with the same service. Customers might respond better to your emails when they are sent at specific times of the day. Make sure you do A/B test for your email and determine the ideal timing for customers to are able to contact your email and adjust your sending time to match.

  7 Types of Automated emails triggered by subscriber behavior  

Once you've collected enough data to classify your email recipients It's now time to make automatized trigger emails for specific segments and behaviors.

  Here are 7 types of emails with triggers that you could send out to customers of yours:  

  1. Welcome Emails

The welcome emails trigger to connect you to your new subscriber. It is the initial email that you will send to confirm that you have signed up. This will help you sort your list by asking your customers about their preferences. You should preferably run an sequence of welcome messages that include the initial one is a welcome note and introducing your offerings, followed by a second one will ask about your subscribers their preferences and subsequent emails with offers and discounts for the future purchases they make.

Have a look at this sample Welcome Email from Hootsuite. This email directs the user to sign up for their online tool. This is the first email in their triggered series and is sent when the subscriber decides to sign up.

  2. Abandoned Cart Emails

Emails about abandoned carts are those that are sent to buyers who have added items to their shopping cart, but did not proceed to checkout. Highlighting the abandoned products and offering a discount or free shipping to checkout is a great method to get them to complete the purchase.

Have a look at this email from The Asics. They've highlighted one of the abandoned products by putting it up on the main banner. They also show the rest of the items on the cart beneath. They have also displayed items for cross-selling, which increases the chances of the customer returning to the site for a purchase.

3. In Stock Emails

Emails with back in stock are the emails sent to clients who wish to buy a particular product which was not in stock and has chosen to receive an email notification when the item is back in inventory. Sending an email that notifies customers of availability of the product is an excellent way to get the customer back to your website to purchase the item.

This email from Kauffmann The Mercantile is a good illustration. This notice is a great instrument and tool to make your customers feel special.

4. Price Drop Reminders

Emails about price drop are sent to clients who have abandoned your online store or cart most likely because of the price of specific products for 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. It's a great opportunity to attract customers who were once interested in buying from you.

Look at this example of The Target and Target informs customers about the new discounted price for items in their shopping carts, as well as other recommended products. The message will convince customers to make the purchase.

5. Order Confirmation

Once customers check out and have placed an order, you must immediately notify them via email of their order confirmation to them. It will confirm the order the order and thanking them for making the purchase. This allows them to review the order, and alter it should they need to. Add a receipt of payment along with an order summary to keep the transaction transparent. Give them the option to track their order and to provide feedback. You can also consider , selling similar products or cross-selling.

This is an example of an order confirmation email sent by Amazon. The particular purchase was an ebook. Note how Amazon suggests similar books at the bottom of the email:

  6. Order Follow-up E-mails

Once your customer places an order through your website, you need to send order follow-up emails. Automate follow-up email messages that include relevant product recommendations as well as related suggestions for products. The emails also contain the tracking information for your order, a summary of your the order's summary, and details about payment.

Take a look at this email sent by Etsy to inform the buyer regarding the status of their delivered order.

7. Re-engagement Emails

Re-engagement emails aim to strengthen the bond with those clients and subscribers who don't have opened your emails or haven't purchased from you within a certain timeframe. Effective re-engagement emails induce the visitors to visit your website. You can send a series of emails in order to woo those customers who aren't interested and encourage them towards buying from your website. It is also possible to include promotions and special discounts that will entice your subscribers to revisit your website and make a purchase.

Here's an example of an email re-engagement sent by Pinkberry that offers its customers complimentary yogurt when they go to any Pinkberry site within seven days:

  Automated emails are most efficient when they're personalized  

Hyper-personalization is what will keep your email subscribers interested in your business. When you next plan for your email marketing campaigns be sure to not just add their names to the emails. The creation of personalized email messages that are based on the subscribers' behavior and interests is essential to ensure that the automation of your email marketing campaigns works successfully.

Kevin George is the Head of Marketing for EmailMonks one of the fastest-growing email design and coding companies 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 opinions on email marketing tips and top practices in his blog about email marketing.