Structuring Email Campaigns to retain Customers

If you’re in marketing, at one point in your career you have either heard or learned for yourself that keeping a customer costs less than obtaining a new one. Retention marketing is important. To craft an effective retention strategy, you must first understand your customers and how they behave. Focus on how they interact with your products as they browse your store. They are essentially doing the work for you and segmenting themselves based on their actions. Recognize which of these behaviors is important.

Engage your Customers with Email – Aside from the fixed cost of whatever email service you’re using, emailing your customers is free and you’ve already got their addresses. These are the email types every marketer should weave into retention strategy.

The Welcome Email – After submitting their email addresses, most online leads expect to receive a welcome email. The goals of welcome email are – Introduce the user to the company, Reiterate the value of the product and establish a humanizing tone.

The Nurture Email - Unlike other email types, the goal of nurture emails is not explicitly to sell, but rather to build your brand among your email subscribers. When users need to purchase a product your company sells, your brand will be the first one they turn to if nurture emails have done their job. The goals of nurture email are – Educate the Customer, Get the customer hooked on your brand & make your business relatable.

The Promotional Email – These should be an integral part of any email strategy, as they are an effective way to increase conversion. Utilize a prominent CTA, Create Urgency & Include a reason for the offer.

The Cart Abandonment Email – It is a big issue in e-commerce; around 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This email type can recover a good portion of those. The goals of this email are – Utilize the first email as a remainder, Send a follow-up email with a discount & highlight the value of the product or your website. You can’t assume your customers will respond to a set strategy. Best practices can be followed initially, but testing your ideas is important.

When developing your retention strategy, it’s useful to keep an eye on the emails your competitors are sending. Identify your competition, become a lead for the competitor by engaging in behaviors of interest, set up a folder in your inbox to receive their emails. Typically, one month of collection will give you a clear sense of their retention strategy, though some long-tailed verticals may need more time. After collection, begin examining the strengths and weaknesses behind their retention strategy.

Other considerations for retention –

Checking email on mobile is norm. Prioritizing mobile is key to success in any email retention efforts. Timing should always be a consideration.