5 Email Flows to Boost Profitability in the New Year
If your brand doesn’t have email flows (also known as email automations) set up, you’re leaving EASY money on the table. Incredibly valuable for lead nurturing, email automations allow you to send time or action-triggered content to subscribers with relevant messaging. It’s a one-time setup for a lifetime of seizing revenue opportunities. Read on for 5 must-have email flows to set up for your brand, if you haven’t already.
EMAIL FLOW #1: WELCOME
A welcome sequence is a series of emails automatically sent to someone upon joining your email list. We recommend including three emails in this flow:
EMAIL #1: Start by welcoming them to your list. In this first email, many brands offer subscribers a 10-20% discount off their first purchase in an attempt to move them further down the conversion funnel. Adding a note near the newsletter opt-in on your website (or creating a pop-up!) that mentions this offer is a great way to incentivize users to subscribe.
EMAIL #2: To prevent inbox fatigue, the second email should be programmed to send about 3 days later and introduce the new subscribers to your brand a bit more. This could mean sharing more about your brand story, mission, values, philosophy, promise, team, and/or where else they can find you (ie retailers, social channels, etc.).
EMAIL #3: The third and final email of this series should be sent about 4 days after the second email. This email’s topic is dependant upon the goals of your brand. Some may choose to go the promotional route and highlight their best-sellers, while others may choose to focus more on relationship-building or providing free value (ie sharing tips from one of their blogs, expanding more upon what was shared in the previous email, etc).
EMAIL FLOW #2: ABANDONED CART
Did you know 69.57% of online shopping carts are abandoned? Imagine how much your revenue would increase if you re-targeted those customers instead of considering it a loss. Enter: abandoned cart emails!
Abandoned cart emails are sent to customers that began but did not complete the checkout process. Through a series of three emails, the goal is to ultimately re-engage the shopper.
EMAIL #1: The initial email should be sent about 30 minutes after the cart was abandoned. It should simply serve as a reminder of the items they left behind and make it easy for them to resume checkout. To boost order value, consider adding a “You May Also Like” section to this email with similar items they may feel inclined to purchase.
EMAIL #2: If two days have passed and the cart has still not been recovered, it’s important to be timely and strategic. Consider sending a second email containing a small discount to further incentivize a purchase. Pro tip: set an expiration date on the coupon code to encourage them to act fast!
EMAIL #3: If another two days passes without purchase, a third email should be sent as a final reminder of the item left in their cart, as well as a “last chance” to redeem a discount on their purchase. Consider leveraging social-proof in this email by sharing testimonials or reviews of your brand to showcase your high demand and quality.
EMAIL FLOW #3: POST-PURCHASE
Just like they sound, post-purchase automations are triggered after a customer has completed their purchase. We recommend including two emails in this flow: a thank you and product review email.
EMAIL #1 - THANK YOU: About 15 minutes after an order has been placed, have an email sent thanking the customer for their purchase. Consider providing a small discount for the customer to use towards their next purchase to encourage brand loyalty. Pro tip: set an expiration to create a sense of urgency.
EMAIL #2: PRODUCT REVIEW: Collecting product reviews is important for boosting reputation, increasing sales opportunities, understanding areas of improvement, and building brand recognition. Make it easy for customers to leave you an online review by requesting it in their inbox. For this email, take some to carefully consider the timing of its delivery. Will the customer see the results of your product right away or will it take a few months? Some brands may have this email sent out 2 weeks after an order was fulfilled, while others may wait 2 months.
EMAIL FLOW #4: BACK IN STOCK
When your products go out of stock, it’s best practice to create an optin form on your landing page for the customer to be notified once it’s back in stock. This is not only convenient for your customer but its also an easy way to boost your email list and maintain a relationship with a warm lead. Once the product is available again, this back-in-stock automation will be triggered to let the customer know.
EMAIL FLOW #5: SUNSET
Our Content Manager said it best in her Email Marketing Techniques to Boost Deliverability + Conversions blog post: When subscribers have not engaged with your emails for a long period of time, it may be time to remove them from your list to ensure your email health stays positive. But hold tight before removing them! There is one last flow you can set up to try and get subscribers to stay engaged with your content. This is known as a Sunset Flow.
A sunset flow is the last step in the customer journey before you (potentially) remove someone from your list. This flow is triggered by a segment of your least engaged subscribers (i.e. people who haven’t opened or clicked an email from you in a long time). We recommend including three emails in this flow. See below for an example of what the segment definition would look like.
Remember: the goal of this flow isn’t meant to drive revenue or site traffic. Its goal is to get your unengaged subscribers to open the email and make sure your deliverability stays strong overall. Our key tips for engaging subscribers is to:
Have a clear and eye-catching subject line.
Offer a discount. We recommend offering 10-15% off!
Make them feel like the email is personalized to them.
The number one way to make an email feel personal is to include the subscriber's first name in the email design or subject line. You can do this by using your email marketing platform templates for adding customized fields to text.
If they still don’t engage with your email, then you know it’s officially time to remove them from your list.
We hope you found this blog post helpful in learning more about email flows your brand should set up in the new year! Need help setting up these automations? We’d make a great team. 😉
For more email marketing tips, be sure to follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our digital marketing newsletter. Chat soon!
xx,
The Homies
