This holiday season will likely set a new record for online shopping, with e-commerce dominating retail due to the lingering pandemic. But for businesses that are looking to improve their average order value and customer retention, e-commerce trigger emails can make a huge difference.
Many e-commerce websites have a robust email automation set up to help drive conversions. These e-commerce trigger emails are no-brainers, used to keep customers engaged or bring them back to the online store.
However, there are a few that are rarely utilized, yet are extremely effective. You may think they are commonplace since you likely have received them as a consumer, but very few stores have actually set them up.
The New Account
We all are accustomed to receiving the confirmation email when setting up an account, especially on an e-commerce site. But what is even more important is the email AFTER the confirmation email: the account overview.
E-commerce websites are often multifaceted with many features. Yet, few users truly understand all they can do with an account. It is important for the store to communicate all that is available to users, starting with the account overview email.
The Abandoned Shopping Cart
It seems obvious, but most e-commerce sites do not have an abandoned shopping cart trigger email set up. According to Shopify, between 60 and 80 percent of shopping carts are abandoned before purchase. That is a huge number that your email can whittle down – bringing in more revenue with very little effort.
Amazon is one of the best at sending abandoned cart emails. Just put something in your cart and move on with your life. You will likely receive an email within 24 hours. Time is of the essence with abandoned cart emails. People have reasons for leaving your site, and it often relates to competitors’ products. Make sure your abandoned cart email fires within 48 hours or else it is likely too little, too late.
The Product/Website Review
While the abandoned cart email can directly impact your revenue, the product review email can directly impact your online reputation AND future cash flow. These emails can be tricky to set up, but most major e-commerce platforms have ways to build them out. As WooCommerce points out, reviews build trust and credibility… and your bottom line.
If you want to take this another step, you can encourage purchasers to leave a review on the entire company, not just a product. If you are in the early stages of building your e-commerce site, this may have a more immediate payoff, as your site will need to establish credibility before the masses willingly hand over their credit card information. Website reviews improve semantic search engine optimization and will keep it relevant into the future.
Another note on product reviews is the fact that they really only work if you are committed to displaying the review scores on product pages. This is a great tactic to improving your product visibility, but you need to ensure that you have enough reviews to show a legitimate score. Amazon has hundreds of thousands of reviews – so many that “leaving a review” has become a business in itself. But for your site, think strategically about the kind of review – product or site – that will help you most.
Other E-Commerce Trigger Emails to Consider
These are only a few of the e-commerce trigger emails that can help improve your store’s performance with minimal back-end setup. If you want to get even deeper into the e-commerce weeds, consider customer-centric emails down the line to build brand loyalty and elongate the customer lifecycle.
Consider the following customer trigger emails to show gratitude and establish loyalty:
- Emails to customers who have bought from your store 3 times
- Emails to customers who have left multiple product reviews on your site
- Customized unsubscribe emails that show the customer’s total number of purchases from your site
All of these emails require additional set up but will undoubtedly help with your brand equity, brand recall, and (the last one) could even get you back a few former customers.
Think of the e-commerce trigger email as a brand awareness tool that also can occasionally generate revenue. The more time and creativity you put into it, the greater your results will be.