Trigger emails

One of my clients was asking for my advice about trigger e-mails.  If you haven’t worked with trigger e-mails then you may not be familiar with the ability to set up e-mails that are automatically “triggered” by an event.  There are many behaviors that can trigger an e-mail and below is a selection of the types of trigger campaigns you can develop:

1.  Welcome Campaigns

If a customer makes a purchase or registers on your web site, this is a wonderful opportunity to thank them as well as up-sell existing customers and convert prospects into customers.

2.  Birthday Programs

Why not surprise and delight your customers with a special birthday promotion.  You can send a promotion or special offer in the month of their birthday.  For one of my clients, this program consistently generates among the highest response rates.

3.  Specific Product Promotions

You can leverage past purchase behavior to let customers know about products that might be of particular interest to them.  Amazon is a great example of this.  Based on books I have previously purchased, I receive e-mails about books on topics of interest to me as well as e-mails about new books from authors from who I have bought in the past.

4.  Reactivation Campaigns

If it has been a while since a customer has bought from you, a reactivation e-mail may be in order.  The purpose of a reactivation campaign is to remind customers about your products and services and encourage them to become an active customer again.   This is your chance to win back a lost or inactive customer.

Trigger campaigns are one key element of your communication strategy.  They provide relevant content based on customer behavior and enable you to speak to the particular needs and interests of your customers.