7 Ways to Personalize Automated Emails Based on Subscriber Actions

In an era of personalization, a universal method of marketing via email doesn't work today. Businesses that sell e-commerce and email marketing generally have plenty of information about customers but they mostly fail to use the data to its full benefit. With an increasing number of companies using email marketing, it is necessary that as an email marketer, you implement new ways to ensure your clients are engaged.

Gone are the days when including the "first name" of subscribers in the emails was considered to be one of the most successful tactics to improve conversions. Making sure that subscribers receive timely, relevant emails that are relevant to their interests is essential to ensure they are interested with your company.

Personalization and automation, when used together, work wonders. A research compilation shows that, according to Experian, brands who tailor their promotional emails experience an increase of 27% in specific click rates as well as one-percent more open rates as compared to those that are not personalized. It also states that triggered emails generate 624% higher results in conversion in the same quantity of emails as opposed to "batch blast" email blasts.

If you are looking to design personalized campaigns for your e-commerce emails, you need to follow few simple and sophisticated techniques to manage your email campaigns effectively.

  Ask the Right Questions  

To send automated email messages, you must collect data from your customers. An effective way to do this is to ask your customers to choose certain preference choices that will help you in segmenting the data. When customers opt-in to your newsletters, you can inquire about the reason for selecting your emails. Your responses will provide information that can guide to sending more relevant and better-targeted messages.

Here's an example an email message from Marisa Murgatroyd, founder of Live Your Message. In this email, the emailer is asked to fill out a brief survey, which will allow her to separate according to their preference and then send only messages that are the most pertinent to them.

  Create Customer Personas  

After you have received responses from your customers, build customer personas out of the data you have collected. By understanding your customers and email subscribers better, you can develop better experiences that are more tailored to them. This helps give the email recipients more targeting and customized experience.

  Consider Location and Time  

Test your emails according to location and time in order to determine what works best for you. Certain times of the day tend more effective for email delivery . Your customers may be scattered around the world, in different times zones, so it's essential to meet the needs of all. Some customers will respond better to your messages if they're delivered at specific times during the day. Make sure you do A/B tests for your emails to determine the most effective timing for customers to reach out to your emails and adjust your sending time accordingly.

  7 kinds of automate emails triggered by subscriber behavior  

Once you've collected enough data for you to correctly divide your subscribers into segments, it's time to create automated trigger emails based for particular segments and specific behavior.

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

  1. Welcome Emails

The welcome emails trigger to connect you to your new subscriber. It is the initial email you send to confirm the signup. It can help you filter the list of subscribers by asking subscribers to share their preferences. The best approach is to run the series of welcome messages with the first one is a welcoming note that introduces your offerings, followed by a second one asking for the subscriber their preferences and subsequent emails with promotions and discounts that they can avail for your future purchases.

Check out this sample Welcome Email from Hootsuite. The email guides the subscriber to sign up for their online tool. This email is the first in the series of emails that are triggered. It is sent as soon as the customer decides to sign up.

  2. Absent Cart Emails

Emails about abandoned carts are those that are sent to buyers who have added items to their shopping cart, but did not make it to the checkout. The emphasis on the products that were abandoned by offering discounts or free shipping to proceed through checkout is a fantastic way to make them complete the purchase.

Have a look at this email from 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 below. They also have displayed products to encourage cross-selling, increasing the chances of the customer returning to the site to make a purchase.

3. Back in Stock Emails

Back in stock emails are those emails that are sent out to clients who wish to purchase a specific item that is out of inventory and who have chosen to be notified whenever the product is available in inventory. Notifying customers of the availability of the product is an excellent way to get the customer back to your website for the purchase.

This email from Kauffmann the Mercantile can be a great instance. This email is a fantastic instrument and tool to make your clients feel appreciated.

4. Price Drop Reminders

The price drop emails go to clients who have abandoned your store online or abandoned their cart probably because of the price of some products that there's no discount. When the previously browsed products are available at a discounted price, it is good to inform customers of it. It's a great opportunity to attract customers who might have been interested in purchasing from your.

Look at the following example from Target that informs customers about the discounted new price of the products in their cart, along with other recommended products. The message will convince customers to buy the item.

5. Order Confirmation

After customers checkout and place an order, immediately send an order confirmation email to them, confirming as well as thanking them for having completed the transaction. This will help them recheck their purchase and adjust it should they need to. Add a receipt of payment along with an overview of the order to make your transaction in the public domain. Additionally, offer them the ability to monitor their order, and provide feedback. Also, you can think about crossing-selling, or presenting similar products.

Here is an illustration of an order confirmation email sent by Amazon. The purchase in question was an ebook. Note the way Amazon recommends similar ebooks at the end of the email.

  6. Order Following-up E-mails

When a customer has placed an order through your website You must email follow-up messages to the customer. Automate follow-up email messages which include product-related recommendations and related product suggestions. The emails also contain the tracking information for your order, a summary of your order summary and payment details.

Take a look at this email sent by Etsy that informs the customer about the progress of the shipment of the order.

7. Re-engagement Emails

Re-engagement emails are designed to renew your relationship with subscribers and customers who haven't opened your emails or didn't purchase from you in a specific amount of time. Re-engagement emails that are effective can encourage visitors to visit your website. Send a sequence of emails in order to woo those customers who aren't interested and encourage customers to purchase from your site. Additionally, you can include offers and discounts to entice customers to return to your site to make a purchase.

Here is an example of a re-engagement email sent by Pinkberry that offers its customers free yogurt, if they come to a Pinkberry location within 7 days of:

  Automated emails are most efficient in the event that they're customized  

Hyper-personalization is what will keep your email subscribers interested in your business. When you next plan for your email campaigns, make sure you do more than just include their names in the emails. Making personalized emails that are based on your subscribers' preferences and habits is essential to ensure that the automated emails you send out work efficiently.

Kevin George is the Head of Marketing at EmailMonks one of the fastest-growing email design and coding companies that is a specialist in the creation of stunning email templates, conversion of PSD files to HTML email conversions and free HTML email templates. Kevin loves sharing his experiences and ideas on email marketing tips and best practices at his email marketing blog.