by Fatema Mulla
Email workflows are a highly effective way to not only provide excellent service and keep customers engaged, but can also be instrumental in helping to increase your store’s online sales.
Sending personalised emails triggered by specific actions taken by customers (new customer, first purchase, cart abandonment etc.), will help to enhance the experience your customers have with your brand, and subsequently lead to a rise in sales for your online store.
These 6 email workflow triggers in place are a great place to start for your eCommerce store:
1 - Subscription Workflow
When a new visitor subscribes to your mailing list, or creates an account on your site for the first time, it’s always a good idea to have a workflow in place that will allow you to send emails to new customers on your mailing list.
Send them an email thanking them for subscribing, with subtle reminders for offers or sales.
Make sure the focus is on customer relationships and not on promoting products to them. Use this to begin nurturing relationships with new customers, thank them for subscribing, and inform them of the benefits they’ll receive from subscribing.
This example from Kate Spade shows an effective welcome email sent out when a customer subscribes to their mailing list.
2 - New Customer/Welcome Workflow
Similar to subscription workflows, sending welcome emails to new visitors who make a purchase can also contribute to additional sales. Offer them a warm welcome to your store and thank them for becoming a customer.
Similar to the subscription workflow, new customer welcome workflows are a great way to kick off your relationship with new customers. It also helps to keep your customers engaged even after they have converted and purchased a product from your store.
Your customer experience will be enhanced by welcoming your customers and offering thanks with a new customer workflow.
This example from Milligram (formerly NoteMaker) shows an email sent to a customer who has purchased for the first time, with an additional discount to thank them.
3 - Post Purchase Workflow
Maintaining communication even after a customer has converted gives you the chance to upsell to them with products related to their previous purchases.
Post purchase workflows are essential for eCommerce stores, and allow you to not only thank customers for their purchase, but also provides you with an opportunity to further promote relevant products to them.
Post purchase workflows are some of the most effective in increasing online sales, as they can be used to promote:
- Upsell offers
- Storewide discounts / offers
- Sale promotions
- Customer reviews
Post purchase communication also demonstrates that you value your customers, which can be hugely influential in increasing long-term sales.
4 - Re-Engagement / Inactive Customers Workflow
Don’t forget about your inactive customers! Have a workflow in place that will allow you to send emails to reawaken inactive customers who may have forgotten about your store.
You can set up your re-engagement workflow to be triggered by specific conditions, such as the length of time since last purchase, last email click or last blog session.
In re-engagement workflows, you can offer discount coupons or a similar incentive that will encourage inactive customers to purchase from your store again.
This example from Pinkberry shows a re-engagement email sent out to customers who have not purchased in a while.
5 - Shopping Cart Abandonment Workflow
Emails triggered by shopping cart abandonment can massively contribute towards more sales and is usually the first email workflow a brand will create. Customers will often add products to their cart and forget about them, or change their mind and abandon cart.
In this case, it’s definitely helpful to have a workflow in place that will send emails to remind customers of a purchase they abandoned and encourage them to complete the process.
Plus, you can use this opportunity to offer discounts and other incentives to encourage them to buy more than originally intended in an effort to drive even more sales.
This example from Williams Sonoma shows a triggered email sent out when a customer abandons cart to remind them that they have left something behind.
6 - Cycle Purchases Workflow
Many eCommerce stores tend to have repeat customers who follow a specific purchasing cycle and purchase from your store in a particular pattern. Having a workflow in place triggered by these particular cycle purchases can help to boost more sales.
For example, if you have a customer who orders a six months supply of a beauty product, you can set up a workflow to remind them in five months that their supply will be running out soon, and that they should purchase another supply again.
This is also an effective way to remind customers to renew purchases and drive more sales.
Summary
Email marketing is one of the most effective strategies an eCommerce store can use to not only increase online sales, but also improve other important metrics, such as customer engagement, profitability, ROI and more.
If you want to know more about how you can use smart email marketing to boost your store’s sales, just get in touch with our team and we’ll be happy to help.
