Earlier this year, our South African team went into a blogging frenzy with a 6-part series to celebrate the launch of our TriggerMail feature. From experience I know that it sometimes takes you a while to adjust to a new feature, hey? But given my recent articles (and that case study!) on the conversions you can reap simply through segmentation, I thought it might be a good to look into what you can do with autoresponders, or TriggerMails.
If you’re not sure what TriggerMail is, have a look at our video or the blog series.
I know you’re aware of the obvious benefits of sending automated emails (saving time, building customer relationships through saying ‘Happy Birthday’ – things like that), but if you’d paid attention to the segmentation blog article, you might have picked up on something else. Triggered or prompted emails are a way of targeting your subscribers – much like with segmentation.
How do I go about it?
You don’t have to jump in the deep end! If you’re not sure if this approach is entirely for you (although I do strongly recommend it), simply start off by setting one or two TriggerMails. Say for instance you’ve captured your subscribers’ birthdays on your subscription form – why not set an email to be sent to them a week before their birthday with a ‘birthday wishlist’ containing a few items they can get a discount on in the week of their birthday? Or simply send them a birthday discount voucher? Quick tip: Birthday email messages have proven to generate a very good response and revenue!
Basically you can integrate your segmentation and TriggerMails to monitor a customer’s past purchases, the anniversary of their account, if they posted reviews or comments on your site, payment reminders, even their wedding anniversaries and then set TriggerMail to automatically send them a relevant email related to the occasion. Anything from congratulations and best wishes, to discounts or product information on something they might find interesting.
If you find that your subscribers respond well to these emails you can always find ways of integrating more TriggerMails into your campaign.
Why would I want to set these TriggerMails?
It’s just an added excuse to contact your customers and develop their relationship with your brand – except instead of blasting off emails that might not be relevant to them, you pique their interest by showing them that you do keep track of their interests. You’re emailing them more frequently, but with more relevant emails. Surely a customer is more likely to read and respond to an email that benefits them personally, like offering them a birthday discount or telling them more about a product they’re particularly interested in?
Won’t I be bombarding my readers?
Yes, you’ll be in touch with them more frequently, but remember that because these emails are prompted by an action the subscriber took or by a date or product specifically related to them, not all the contacts on your list will be receiving the email. You’ll only be sending out emails to small portions of your list. However, because these emails are more targeted, they should give you a greater ROI than your bulk email sends.
But should I then still be sending out mass emails and newsletters?
Of course! Your newsletter or you bulk sends is how you gather more subscribers. After all, it is the one all your subscribers sign up to initially. Using TriggerMail just helps you refine those relationships more and push potential customers to become actual customers, or existing customers to new purchases. Autoresponders merely complement your email campaigns by balancing your bulk broadcast emails with relevant, targeted emails sent to small portions of your subscribers. And because they’re automated it frees up time to focus on other things – be it a cup of tea or a promotional strategy.
Simply put, adding TriggerMails to your campaign helps you send the right message at the right time to spur your subscribers to action.
