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We have talked a great deal about personalization, and the increasing demands that consumers have stated--and acted on--for the marketing content they receive to be tailored to their wants, needs, and current events, both life events and broader cultural ones. But one area in which brands and email marketers alike continue to lag behind when it comes to personalization is behavioral triggered emails, and it isn’t too difficult to see why; these emails are sort of the bread and butter of marketing efforts, and it can seem silly to invest the effort in making them personal, when they’re much more blatantly transactional. But at Site Impact we know that a personal touch can turn a basic campaign into something really special.
Welcome emails, cart abandon emails, and a few other types top the list for the varieties that brands most consistently automate. Behavioral triggered emails are a basic component of a smart email program--but just because they are inherently transactional on some level, that doesn’t mean that they should be impersonal. Think of the small business in your area that doesn’t necessarily have the flashiest technology or the biggest inventory or even the largest marketing budget--but they do have stellar service, which is why they stay in business year after year. Incorporating a little bit of that service mindset into your triggered emails can reap big rewards, driving increased spend as well as repeat business. Making even your most basic emails a little more engaging, a little more personal, takes very little time and effort with the tools currently available, and it’s an investment that will pay off--every brand should be doing this.
There are two components to getting started in making your behavior-triggered emails more personal: the first is pure strategy and the second is a bit more subjective. First, you need to find out what capacity you can personalize at; this includes the budget you have, and the tools you can put at your disposal, as well as the time and effort you can and will bring to the equation. It’s easiest to choose two or three triggered email types to start with, and then roll out the strategy through the rest of your program; for example, personalizing your welcome emails, or your cart abandon emails.
From there, you have to make some fairly subjective decisions. One form of behavior triggered email that you can move onto after you start seeing results is the shopping suggestion email; this is a little tricky and depends on reliable and fairly broad data on your recipients and customers, but it is a type of personalized email that studies show reaps big benefits. People like suggestions tailored accurately to their tastes and buying history--but they get quickly turned off by suggestions that don’t resonate. You can also bring personalization to re-engagement campaigns--but with similar caveats. It may take some trial and error to see what areas your brand gets the most benefit out of.
Overall, adding a personal touch to your automated emails is just good sense; it increases customer loyalty and boosts spend and engagement with all of your campaigns. Just by making a welcome email a little friendlier, or by adding a personalized suggestion to a cart abandon email, you can capture the heart--and the spend--of your customers much more consistently. Contact Site Impact to learn how we can help you make your transactional emails just a little bit more personal.
