Introduction
Email marketers strive to send the right email at the right time. But in practice, with all the different campaigns and analytics to report on, can this actually be achieved? The answer is yes with triggered emails! For instance, as soon as you have a new subscriber, they should receive a welcome email. When they make their first purchase with you, why not celebrate that with an email that highlights the benefits of the purchase? Triggered emails rely on automation to provide a unique experience for every subscriber. Instead of generic email blasts, every subscriber gets personalized content based on the actions they take. These emails save you time so you can focus on the other aspects of email marketing. And because they reach your audience at the right time, they typically will be among your strongest, most engaging emails.
Examples of triggered messages
- Welcome This is the first email you’ll send to your new subscriber. This email is the beginning of your relationship with them and should include information on your company, set expectations on how they will hear from you, and encourage engagement.
- Data-Based Email Sending a birthday or signup anniversary email reinforces the personal connection your organization has with your audience.
- Onboarding This is an extension of the welcome email and typically would happen after an action bigger than a simple email subscription. Something like becoming a member, signing a contract, or buying a product could warrant an onboarding series to get the new audience up to speed on your organization and services.
- Transactional If someone just made a purchase or put forth a donation or commitment to your organization, setting up a message to give an overview of the purchase or agreement keeps them informed and assured the transaction went through.
Best Practices
- Timing is everything. Tie your message as closely as you can to the trigger that activates the mailing.
- Take advantage of what you know. If your form captures the subscribers' contact information, include personalization into your email to start forming that bond with your audience.
- Keep your brand consistent with what your audience has previously experienced through your website or social media. Whether through your branding elements, or even the tone of your messaging, this instills a sense of familiarity.
- Build a sense of trust. In the short term after an initial email, keep your email topics close to what led them to engage in the first place. Give new subscribers an opportunity to review your preference center.
- Be patient, but persistent. Some triggered emails that request action don't always see the response you want right away. That's okay. In these cases, you should look to expand your outreach through automation.
- Make your intentions clear. Provide one strong call-to-action (CTA). Or, if no action is required, make your email summary clear and concise as possible.
- Test your campaigns. Over time, you may want to look into testing your emails to see how to boost engagement. This is particularly important to optimize emails if your email is requesting action from the subscriber (such as confirming their email address after joining your list).
Wrap up
Triggered messages can sometimes be an afterthought. They're almost an obligation that subscribers expect, but just having them built isn't quite enough. Setting up triggered messages is crucial for cultivating an engaged audience. Because these emails tend to have the highest performance out of any other form of email, getting these messages right will strengthen your presence with your subscribers.
