Prioritizing Your Email Marketing Tasks

Email marketing is an integral part of marketing and converting people from “just browsing” to customers. However, deciding where to start when it comes to email marketing can be tricky, especially if you are just starting with your email marketing strategy. There are a few different flows and sends you will need to set up, and prioritizing them is a key part of it. 

Setting Up Your Welcome Flow

The welcome flow is a great place to start when it comes to email marketing. You can use your welcome flow emails to introduce yourself and your brand, and let your customers know what to expect from you. Your email marketing welcome flow can be used as a template for future email campaigns, so your branding stays consistent and your customer understands whom their emails are coming from, without having to look at the “From” section.

Your welcome email flows can have a vast number of emails in it, and expanding them is a good way to keep customers engaged and remind them of your brand. Welcome emails can be personalized, depending on how or when they signed up for emails, whether it was through the signup form on your website, or a “Notify me when this product restocks” form, you can make sure your audience is getting emails that they want to see. 

Abandoned Cart Emails

After you have your welcome flow set up, a cart abandonment flow is next in your email marketing strategy. This flow will remind your customers of what they were looking at and peak their interests. It’s estimated that around 75% of online shoppers abandon their online shopping carts. There could be many reasons behind this, such as shipping fees, final price, or the hassle of having to create an account.

However, about 10% of customers convert after receiving abandoned cart emails, making this a vital part of your email marketing strategy. The abandoned cart flow also allows you to test different types of offers for your customers to see which ones they react the best to. One email marketing example for an abandoned cart flow can include an A/B test with a percentage off discount vs. free shipping near the beginning of the flow, to see which one drives higher conversion. You can use the winner of this A/B test and expect a higher conversion rate with your abandoned cart emails. 

Browse Abandonment Flow

For your browse abandonment email marketing campaign, you can remind someone who was casually looking at your website that they should log back on and keep shopping! This will help drive more traffic to your site, which should in turn increase conversions.

You can include a discount in this flow like the abandoned cart flow, but closer to the end of the flow. You do not want to put the discount too close to the beginning of this flow, so you can see if your first few emails drive conversions before offering a discounted price or free shipping. 

Post Purchase Flow Emails

Post-purchase emails are a key part of any email marketing strategy, as they will let your customer know that just because they checked out does not mean you are done caring about them! You can give them different information, like articles on how to get the best use out of their new products, other products you recommend, and reminders that they should restock!

Another important email for your post purchase flow is the “Leave a Review” email, asking customers to give feedback and leave a review. Having a plethora of reviews will help others trust your site, and want to purchase your products. The post purchase flow is also the perfect time to push for a subscription option if you have one, so they do not have to rebuy single products every time. 

You can have different post purchase flows as well, such as one for the first-time buyer and one for the second-time buyer. Your email marketing flow for the second time buyer should push subscription more since it’s clear they like your product and purchased it again. 

Ad Hoc Sends

Once you have your main flows set up, you should start drafting ad hoc sends. These email marketing campaigns can be anything from a fun holiday that aligns with your brand. A great email marketing example would be doing a flash sale on the cold brew for National Cold Brew Day, or a sale on dog treats for National Puppy Day. Ad hoc sends are where you can really get creative! Flash sales for customers who have not purchased before could be what converts them to lifelong customers.

Another great ad hoc email marketing example is to send out informational campaigns. Informational campaigns can range from how best to use your product, which products work best together, how your product is superior to competitors, or informational blogs on your website to drive traffic. Planning out ad hoc sends a month in advance will give you the opportunity to plan around sales and holidays, and it will give you ample time to adjust if something important comes up. 

Aligning Your SMS Marketing

If you are also looking into SMS marketing, make sure your email marketing and SMS marketing are aligned. Sending different campaigns to both audiences works, but make sure your branding and messaging line-up, so customers who are subscribed to both do not feel like they are being sent messages from multiple people in multiple brands. 

While you’ll want to update your email flows from time to time to make sure your flows work with your evolving brand, once you have everything set up, it will be a simple update. 

Contact us if you have any questions when it comes to email and SMS marketing.