Raise your hand if you have ignored at least one automated email campaign in the past hour. Your customers could do the same thing to your email campaign if you are not strategic.
As an email marketer, your number one goal must be to drive engagement and increase click-through rates, and that doesn’t happen by luck. You have to implement email marketing strategies to reel in customers and keep them interested.
This blog will guide you step by step through how to automate email campaigns and effective email campaign tips and examples that will help you reach customers at the right time and give you desired conversion rates.
Create personalized automated email campaigns with Retainful and maximize engagement rate
What is an email campaign?
An email campaign is an automated email series sent from brands or businesses to their customers and prospects with the aim of achieving a particular business goal.
The goal can be anything from keeping them engaged, encouraging purchases, or creating brand awareness. This involves strategically crafting and sending a sequence of emails to a targeted audience, aiming to drive desired actions like engagement and conversions.
Why are email campaigns important?
You could have a dozen other marketing strategies, but nothing is more direct and cost-effective than email campaigns. If that’s not reason enough for you, here’s a stat – for every dollar you spend on email marketing, you receive $36 dollars in return. Here are a few more reasons why you should implement email campaigns now.
Customer Retention: When you strategically send email content and offers that resonate with your audience, you don’t just engage them; you also retain them. No customer would hit unsubscribe on seeing an email that resonates. You can also easily build long-term customer relationships and brand loyalty.
Drives conversions: Also, when you deliver content that resonates, you prompt customers to take desired action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a service, or engaging with promotional offers. The personalized nature and strategic timing of emails contribute to higher conversion rates.
Brand Awareness: If you send consistent emails with your branding elements in them, you reinforce your brand. This helps the audience recognize your brand easily and build trust easily.
Data Insights: They provide valuable data on customer behavior, preferences, and interactions, enabling businesses to refine their strategies for better effectiveness.
Feedback and Surveys: Just request feedback or add survey forms to get insights into your customer satisfaction preferences and areas for improvement.
8 different types of email campaigns with examples
Your customers receive about 121 emails per day. Do you think they have the time to go through every one of them and respond? Of course not.
People ignore 40% of emails and often open only the emails they know that carry some kind of value that would benefit them. It needn’t always be a discount code; it could be something educational, a useful tip on how to use the product, or about an upcoming sale or event. You just have to automate using effective email campaign tips to get the most out of your email marketing campaigns.
Here are 7 email campaign examples to inspire the best email campaigns for your brand.
Welcome email campaigns
Welcome emails are basically sent to new customers for various reasons like
- Account confirmation
- Product story
- Free gift or offer
- Free trial
- Welcome discount code
Consider welcome emails as a way of polite introduction to your email subscribers. Customers surely expect to receive a welcome email as soon as they sign up for your brand. Make use of this chance to increase your conversion rate by creating the best welcome email campaign. You can also make it a series to build familiarity with your brand among new customers.
What can you include in your welcome email template?
- Warm Greeting and Introduction
- Expression of Gratitude
- Brief Company Overview
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Incentive or Welcome Offer
- Call-to-Action (CTA) for Further Engagement
- Social Media Links
- Contact Information
- Account Setup Instructions
- Subscription Preferences
- Encouragement to Explore Products
- Personalization Elements (e.g., Customer’s Name)
- Clear Unsubscribe Option
Surfstitch here has a lot of the necessary elements a welcome email should have. A warm welcome message at the top, the customer’s name to give a personalized experience, an about us section, and a discount code.
Takeaways
- The goal of the welcome email is to prompt the customer to explore the brand or to make them purchase. Surfstictch has added a discount code that makes it tempting to purchase immediately.
- The subtle personalization and the About Us section are not overwhelming.
Order follow-up email campaign
Let’s say your new customer has placed an order after receiving your welcome email. The next natural step is to send them an order follow-up email. This email campaign aims to purely confirm the order details and keep customers informed about the order status to relieve them of their anxiety.
So, what should you include in an order follow-up email?
- Order Confirmation Details
- Delivery Tracking Information
- Contact Information for Support
- Return/Refund Policy Reminder
- Encouragement for Future Purchases
- Personalization Elements (e.g., Customer’s Name)
Takeaways
- Huckberry has infused personalization in the form of the customer’s name.
- Has included the order number, date, shipping and billing address, and estimated delivery date.
- Also customer support email to assist with any queries the customer may have.
Related Reading: Use these order follow-up email templates to create your own.
Abandoned cart email campaign
Maybe your customer went to your online store to make use of that welcome discount and added a product to their cart but didn’t purchase it, i.e., they abandoned their shopping cart.
Well, in that case, you can send them an abandoned cart email series that will remind them and give them a little nudge to finish their purchase.
What should you include in your abandoned cart email to make them finish their purchase?
- Reminder of Abandoned Items
- Discount Offer/ Limited-Time Offer Reminder
- Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
- Product Images and Descriptions
- Customer Support Contact Information
- Additional Product Recommendations
- Return Policy Information
- Personalization Elements (e.g., Customer’s Name)
- Link to Complete the Purchase
Takeaways
- Winc has given an abandoned cart discount for first-time customers who obviously would feel a little skeptical about making the first purchase.
- The bright and encouraging CTA at the end of the template makes them take the desired action.
Send abandoned cart email series with easy automation workflow of Retainful and recover lost sales.
Thank You Email Campaign
So, your customer has finished purchasing from your online store. What is the next step in your email campaign strategy?
Send them a thank you email template to appreciate their business with you and show them that you care about them as more than just another transaction. This easily increases brand loyalty and customer engagement.
What can you add to make it an effective thank-you email campaign?
- Gratitude for the Purchase
- Order Confirmation Details
- Personalization Elements (e.g., Customer’s Name)
- Delivery Tracking Information (if applicable)
- Request for Feedback or Review
- Contact Information for Support
- Incentive for Future Purchases
- Social Media Sharing Options
- Loyalty Program Information
- Product recommendations
Takeaways
- There is no better way to show that you care about your customers than by giving them customer support details.
- Although there’s no personalization element or incentive for the next order but they have nailed the product recommendation section.
Win Back Email Campaign
Customers don’t think about your brand 24/7. They do get busy and forget about your brand. Win back email campaign targets those customers who have been inactive for a while and reengages them.
What elements should you be including in a win-back email campaign that is supposed to rekindle old interests?
- Engaging Subject Line
- Expressing Missed Connection
- Personalization Elements (e.g., Customer’s Name)
- Highlight of New Features or Products
- Special Offer/ Limited-Time Promotion Reminder
- Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
- Testimonials or Success Stories
- Contact Information for Support
- Feedback Request for Improvement
- Social Media Links for Further Engagement
Takeaways
- The big, bold font at the start of the template is succinct but conveys that the customer has been inactive for quite some time.
- The incentive is tempting and comes with a time constraint to give customers a sense of urgency to make them purchase immediately.
- The two CTAs at the end communicate clearly on how to use the gift card.
Related Reading: For more inspiration, check out our win-back email examples blog.
Product review request email
56% of customers don’t buy from an online store that doesn’t have a positive customer review (Spiceworks). Reviews build trust and increase conversions. All you have to do to get these benefits is to automate product review request emails, otherwise known as testimonial request emails.
What should you include in an email campaign for review requests?
- Polite Greeting
- Appreciation for Customer’s Business
- Mention of Customer’s Recent Purchase or Interaction
- Request for Feedback or Testimonial
- Specific Questions to Guide Testimonial
- Assurance of Privacy and Permission
- Incentive or Thank-You Offer (optional)
- Clear Instructions on How to Submit Testimonial
- Gratitude for Customer’s Time and Input
- Contact Information for Support or Questions
Takeaways
- Offers a reward in return for their review. This motivates customers to post a review. The reward can be a discount or some form of store credit.
- The clear instructions on different elements of the review.
Product-specific follow-up email campaign
Your customer buys one product from your store and then disappears. That doesn’t sound very profitable now, is it? You have to keep them interested in your brand with consistent product recommendations based on their purchase history. This drives engagement and increases brand awareness and conversion rate.
Let’s see what you should include in your product recommendation email to make the most out of it.
- Personalized Greeting
- Reference to Customer’s Purchase History or Preferences
- Showcase of Recommended Products and Benefits
- Exclusive Offers or Discounts (optional)
- Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
- Customer Reviews or Testimonials
- Limited-Time Promotion Reminder (if applicable)
- Contact Information for Assistance
- Social Media Sharing Options
Takeaways
- A strategic CTA followed by a tempting incentive.
- An array of product recommendations based on the customer’s purchase history.
Newsletter email campaign
The email newsletter campaign lets you get two birds with one stone – further email engagement and website traffic. But if you send too many newsletters or send them to customers who don’t want to receive them, it would do more than good. Use a sign-up form to confirm their interest, and always place an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the template to avoid coming across as intrusive.
What does a good email newsletter consist of to increase engagement?
- Compelling Subject Line
- Clear Call-to-Action
- Relevant Content
- Personalization
- Engaging Visuals
- Mobile Optimization
- Unsubscribe Option
- Social Media Links
- Contact Information
Takeaways
- A clear image at the top of the template.
- A headline that conveys the whole message.
- The newsletter copy that has links to all the recipes.
- Social media share buttons.
How to create an automated email campaign using Retainful?
Now that we have seen all the types of email campaigns you’d ever need to keep your customers engaged, it’s time you learn how easy it is to create successful email campaigns using Retainful.
Let’s dive into the step-by-step process.
Step 1: Log in to Retainful Dashboard.
Step 2: Go to Automation -> Create Workflow -> Select the type of email campaign you wish to automate.
Step 3: You can also create a workflow from scratch if you want to or choose one from the list of available workflows.
Step 4: Name the workflow and click continue.
Step 5: The workflow has a trigger, customer rule, entry rule, and wait condition.
Trigger rule: Lets you decide when a customer can enter the workflow.
For example, for an abandoned cart email workflow, you would want only the customers who have abandoned a product to enter the workflow.
Customer rule: This lets you set entry conditions based on customer properties like email, name, and country.
Entry rule: This lets you decide whether or not you want customers to enter the workflow repeatedly.
For example, a customer abandons their first product, enters the abandoned cart workflow, and receives your emails. Now, if they abandon another product, the question is: Should they re-enter the workflow? You have the flexibility to customize the entry rule according to your preferences.
Wait condition: Do you want the email to be sent immediately or sent after a specific amount of time? The default wait condition for abandoned cart emails is one hour. You can edit the wait condition as per your requirement.
Step 6: If you wish to send additional emails within the same workflow or reduce the number of emails outlined in the workflow, feel free to add or delete blocks as needed.
Step 7: If you want the same workflow to work for two different conditions, add a conditional split rule. Think of it as a simple if/else condition. If the customers match your condition, they enter the “yes” path of the workflow; otherwise, they enter the “no” path.
Example: If the order total is over $100, send them a 10% coupon; otherwise, send them a 5% coupon.
Alright, the technical part of the workflow is now set. Do you want to customize the email template to align with your brand?
Step 8: Click on the “receives an email” block in the workflow, followed by the wait condition.
You can edit the email content and template here based on the requirements of your brand and the type of email you are about to automate.
Step 9: If you wish to add a coupon block to the email, click on the store element and drag and drop the coupon code to your email template.
Launch your email campaign using Retainful’s easy-to-setup automation workflows to maximize email ROI.
Ready to automate email campaigns?
Before hitting send, just remember to send emails based on the customer’s recent activity in your store. It would save you a lot of time, and you won’t come across as annoying and get ignored.
The only way to maximize outcomes using email campaigns is by scheduling emails using email automation software. There are a lot of such tools that would help your online business, be it a small sprouting business or a huge enterprise. Also, never skip email list segmentation and personalization because relevant emails get the most attention and conversion.
Lastly, make sure to check your analytics to know how your email campaign is performing and optimize it using A/B testing to improve its performance.
Read next:
- 10 Steps To Build Your Email List 2023
- How to send WooCommerce post-purchase emails?
- WooCommerce Follow-Up Emails: Examples, Plugins & Templates
To create an email campaign, start by defining your objectives, segmenting your audience, crafting compelling content, designing engaging visuals, and utilizing an email marketing platform for scheduling and tracking.
The four types of email marketing are promotional emails, informational emails, transactional emails, and relational emails, each serving different purposes in communication and engagement.
You can automate email campaigns by using email marketing tools like Retainful that allow you to schedule and send messages based on triggers, such as user actions, specific dates, or predefined conditions.
An example of email automation is setting up a welcome series where new subscribers receive a sequence of pre-scheduled emails introducing them to your brand, products, or services.
An email campaign should contain a compelling subject line, a clear email copy, an attractive template, an action-prompting CTA, and engaging visuals.
The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of an email campaign typically includes metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and subscriber engagement, measuring the success and impact of the campaign.
