How can Email Automation Workflows be a Game-changer for your Ecommerce Website?

Email marketing is still the most preferred method of communication with your customers or potential customers. And if you are trying your fortune at all the possible marketing platforms but not leveraging the power of email marketing, then you are missing on something big! Email marketing is critical to your business today, tomorrow and may be forever. 

But with the evolution in technology and the aggressive pace at which the email marketing needs to be utilized, Email Automation Workflow comes to your rescue. It is a powerful way of enhancing the user experience by attending your leads in a decent way over regular emails. This leads to an increase in sales as well in maintaining customer loyalty. Running an E-commerce website is no game because it involves a lot of other things to be taken care of. Therefore, having some degree of automation is extremely crucial in the case of an E-commerce website. This idea gives birth to the need for Email Automation Workflow.

How can one do Email Automation?

There are marketing automation tools that allow you to use your data and schedule and optimize the automated process and then report about the results after the completion of the process. One of the primary targets of an ecommerce web store is to maximize the sales potential of their website by encouraging repeat purchases. This is also important to identify the lapsed customer and then email them with exciting offers so that they feel the urge to get back and buy. Had there been no automation, marketers had to do this all by themselves. So to save time you can use the following tools:

• HubSpot
• Ontraport
• SendinBlue
• Active Campaign
• Autopilot
• Marketo and many more

What are Workflows?

For the email automation to work flawlessly and fluently, there is a need for a clear process. For example, customer A does X action or does not do any action, triggers two different types of emails in support of a particular action. Workflow is a map of the types of mail that will be triggered upon various actions of a customer. 

There are a few elements that need to be taken care of while creating an automation workflow, those are:

• Triggers: This is the start of the process. For example, a lead visiting your site triggers the start of a process.
• Delays: In a workflow, one can’t simply jump to take actions right after client triggers in. For example, you let the lapsed customer take their time and then give them a reminder email after a delay.
• Conditions: these are a loop of IF and ELSE conditions that decide what kind of email can be sent to the customer basis their behavior while they were on the site. 
• Actions: Action is the outcome of triggers that goes through a series of conditions. For example, sending an email.

How is Marketing Automation useful?

• Saves Time: It saves the time of the marketer which otherwise would have gone wasted in creating and sending emails to every single potential customer. 
• Increases engagement: You are reaching out to your customers and making them feel special.
• Reduces human effort and chances of error: It calls for minimal effort because of the automation iterates and tests new things and generates relevant emails. This is done manually would take a considerate amount of time. 
• Faster improvisation: time-consuming tasks if done manually might lead to errors, so automating tasks reduces the risks manifold along with making the process a lot faster. 

Now that you are versed with Email Marketing Workflow Automation, take a look at the following types of email triggers:

A. Thank You Email:

One must never underestimate the power of “Thank You”. So, once you see you customer has made a conversion or has taken some action like filling the form or signing up, on your site make sure you send them this thank you email. People open them because they want confirmation. Include in your thank you mail, the following:

• Acknowledge their decision of making the purchase
• Guide them about what will happen next
• Make them feel special by welcoming them to your brand’s tribe.
• Sent them the incentives if possible or ask them to subscribe to your newsletter.

B. Notification Email:

If the customer does not get notified about the delivery of their purchase then there may arise a lot of trust issues at the back of your mind regarding the anxiety of not getting notified. So, ease your customers’ anxiety by scheduling a notification email in your workflow. These emails remind them about the delivery, shipment and confirmation of their order, thus pumping their excitement.

 Some E-commerce websites even let their customers choose a convenient delivery date through emails, just to make their users feel utmost comfortable.

C. Feedback Email:

This type of email is very important wherein you can even give your customer an easy way out to reply back and submit their feedback about the product they received.

Feedback emails, if done correctly, will offer you the most honest customer experience before they hit any other social media platform. Often users tend to jump to public pages if the product or service they get is not up to their expectations. But with this email, you can handle it on a personal level, without harming your public image. Schedule this Email right after the product is delivered.

D. Keep in touch Email:

The simplest way to gain the attraction of your customers is Email. If you offer loyalty points or special insider passes to your collection, then people naturally tend to feel special and this will definitely get you your customers’ loyalty. 

Also, if you provide them with the redeemable points, that can get them good discounts in future purchases, then they will definitely come back to use those points. Do not over spam with these types of emails, schedule such emails at a gap of months. 

E. Abandoned Cart Email:

Your customer was at the last stage of confirming the deal, but he/she did not complete the conversion process. Why? Maybe they got a better deal, may be they are thinking of getting a better price offer on the same products or maybe they got impatient with your checkout process. So this type of sale can never be reclaimed until and unless you reach out and convince them further.

Apparently, around 24% of customers leave their cart due to website crash or transaction timeout issues. An abandoned cart mail must have:

• Remind the customer that their cart is getting eyed upon by others.
• Offer them incentives to finalize the purchase

F. Loyal customer Email:

If your customers give you conversion, then it becomes very crucial to earn their loyalty. If you do not thank them with loyalty mail in your workflow, you are missing on something big time. Send them mails regarding exclusive deals and friendly messages so that they feel special.

F. Special Incentive Email:

Give them a special sneak peek to the new collection, VIP access to the sale, unique promo code. All these incentives help your customers stay with you.

And lastly, make it a rule to not Spam your loyalty workflow list because these people are gold to your business. So no blasting promotions, no useless and no pushy mails to irritate them. Phew!