Often I find that, even though we offer you plenty of tools to jazz up your campaign (and clients know how to use them technically), their biggest problem is trying to find out how to strategize and use these tools in their campaigns effectively. Last week our US site posted a blog article on how to implement Welcome emails into your email campaign. (Take a look, it’s helpful.) In the same vein, I thought I’d give you a few tips on how you can make use of TriggerMail in your campaigns.
TriggerMail = These are emails that are automatically generated and sent out to your subscribers when they perform a specific action. They’re also known as advanced autoresponders. Find out more about them here.
Why TriggerMails work:
They’re initiated by an action – that means they’ll only be sent to a subscriber if they did something to initiate the email (like clicking on a link, signing up to a list, or making a purchase). TriggerMails aren’t sent at random; they’re very specific and recipients respond better to something they see as more personal than a mass email blast.
Ways you can use TriggerMail to connect with your subscribers (and boost your campaign):
Welcome them
Send out an automated welcome message whenever someone subscribes to your mailing list. Welcome emails have some of the best open rates of all marketing emails. It’s an opportunity to get your subscriber relationship off to a good start, and offer them some useful information (like your contact details, promote your social media presence, explain what your newsletter is all about and give them a bit more information on what to expect from your email marketing campaign).
Ask them
Use an online survey tool to create a post-purchase customer or product survey, then set up a TriggerMail to automatically send a link to the survey to your customers after they’ve made a purchase. According to Mark Brownlow, post-purchase surveys get 20% more revenue than regular marketing emails. Plus, you’ll get valuable customer feedback and testimonials to boot!
Reminder them
We’re all busy. If it’s been a while since your subscriber has updated their profile information, it’s nearly time for them to pay their subscription fee or invoice, or you have an event you want to remind them of; schedule an automated email. They’ll appreciate a polite reminder. Another idea is to send reminder emails to past customers or clients. If they haven’t made a purchase or contacted you in a few months, remind them that you still think of them as a valued customer – you can even include a special discount code.
Celebrate with them
Sound a bit too obvious? You’d be surprised at how few email marketers make the effort to set up celebration messages for their campaigns. With the focus in email marketing on targeting and relevance, can you think of anything more personal that celebrating what’s going on in your subscriber’s life with them? Offer them a special promotion or discount, or even just a word of thanks or congratulations, on their birthday or the one-year anniversary of their first purchase (the day they became your customer), or the day they signed up to your mailing list. Subscribers appreciate a bit of personalized effort.
Invite them
Email marketing is the perfect way to spread the word and invite people to your latest event. Not only does it create interest in your promotional events, client Christmas party or the conference or seminar you’re hosting, but it also helps you track attendance. Setting up an RSVP trigger enables you to automatically track who clicked “Yes” or “No” in your email. (Your subscribers can even submit food preferences, or tell you whether they’ll be bringing a partner.) It may sound technical, but it’s no more difficult to set up than any other TriggerMail.
TriggerMails can be set up to react to pretty much any action your subscriber makes – from transactional emails to birthday messages. These are just a few ideas for your campaign; if you’ve used it in a way that’s particularly benefited your campaign drop us a comment below. We’d love to hear about your own strategies!
