The power of automated email notifications

3 August 2017Kelly Paik2 min read

There’s no denying just how pivotal automated email notifications have been for businesses to stay on top of their customers’ minds in an overcrowded marketplace.

Automated email notifications are the highly targeted messages you fire off to the customer’s inbox as a result of certain actions they take on your site. Such dispatches can catch would-be customers who’ve abandoned their cart and need a little prodding to finish the process. Or the missives can re-engage old customers who haven’t been shopping with you lately and could probably benefit from a reminder of what you have to offer.

If implemented well, these emails will keep your customers engaged and increase their lifetime value. And just a 5 percent increase in retention translates into a 25-95 percent increase in profit, according to Harvard Business School. So it’s worth taking the time to set up effective email notifications that promote retention.

So if you’re looking to step up your marketing email notification game, try out some of these examples of notifications that go beyond the abandoned cart.

The welcome email for new subscribers

Give new blog and newsletter subscribers a warm welcome with a custom email notification. Not only does it go a step further than the traditional signup confirmation, it gives you another chance to introduce yourself and position your brand in more detail.

Optimizing welcome emails is an art – one with measurable impact for the business. Find some pointers on how to optimise your welcome email provided by Hubspot.

“More Products You Might Enjoy” for recent purchasers

If your customer just bought something from you, chances are they’re open to other products in related categories. Maybe they’re stocking up on this type of goods. Maybe they have a whole shopping list they need to get through and you want to be there to provide as many of those items as possible. Take a look at historical data of what items tend to get bought together or in close succession and let the customer know you just so happen to have these on hand.

Special offers and coupons for first-time customers

Again, if they bought from you once, they’re probably in the market for related products. Similar to the previous example, coupons and discounts will keep customers interested in your business and build loyalty as they work through the rest of their shopping list.

Upcoming purchase reminder

Have products your customers tend to stock up on at regular intervals? Find out how much time it usually takes for them to go through an order, then send a thoughtful reminder a few weeks ahead of time.

New lead nurturing

There are certain things a lead can do on your website that signal they’re more than just looking. Maybe they downloaded some free content or signed up for your newsletter. And there’s a good chance you have a lead ripe for some targeted marketing notifications with free product demos or offers.

Even more, if the lead takes some middle-of-the-funnel actions like heading over to your pricing or product details pages, you may want to go as far as setting up an automated internal workflow that notifies a member of your sales team. Send over any and all information the lead has filled out on the website along with their potential interests given their web activity.

Old lead re-engagement

So a lead came to your site and didn’t convert. Maybe it was bad timing or maybe they ultimately chose your competitor. But now they’re back and they’re showing some signs of rekindled interest. Seize the second chance with a marketing email that pushes them over the line into a converting customer.

These are just some of the ways marketers have been able to engage with customers using automated email notifications. Can you think of others you should try that could increase customer engagement even further?