Effective Automations: Choosing Between Single Email or Series

Email marketing has been cited so many times as the channel that delivers the highest ROI. It’s no longer arguable that email is still king among the various digital marketing channels. In fact, 60% of marketers agree that email marketing produces positive ROI.

One of the advantages of email marketing is how useful it is in generating awareness by keeping prospects and existing customers up-to-date with the latest products, services, promotions, and discounts.

Email marketing plays an especially useful role in remarketing. Studies show that 69.23% of online shoppers abandon their shopping cart midway into the purchase. Albeit alarmingly high, that number is easily explainable, and when looked into, equally resolvable.

Research further reveals that 58.6% of US online shoppers abandon their cart because they just weren’t ready to make the purchase yet and that they were merely browsing. That’s not exactly a bad thing. In fact, it presents an opening for a killer email marketing strategy to recapture the sale.

A Single Email can Reclaim Abandoned Carts

So, how exactly can email marketing help you coax customers to reclaim their shopping carts and finally make the purchase? For starters, there’s email marketing automation.

Email marketing automation allows you to create a single email and automatically send it to multiple leads based on predetermined triggers, such as an abandoned shopping cart. So, that’s basically hitting that 58.6% abandoned carts with one email.

But, there are times when a single email doesn’t suffice to coax the customer into making the purchase.

Marketing Automation and the Email Series

So, the next and more important question is, what strategy works best in a shopping cart abandonment situation? Is one batch of marketing email enough? Or should you consider sending a series of emails to reclaim abandoned carts instead?

To help you decide, here are a few insights for consideration:

  • Repetition as Reminder

There are several reasons why people don’t open their emails. Sometimes, they just can’t because they are up to their necks with work, and have forgotten to go back to your email.

Sending them a couple more emails will serve as a reminder. It will also get you one step closer to getting them on their way back to your site and their shopping cart.

  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind

When your prospects see you in their inbox all the time, your brand will never be out of mind. Sending a series of emails will ensure that your target customers will always see you everytime they open their emails.

So, when they need a product or service you also happen to be offering, your brand will be the first thing that comes to mind, and your website will be the first thing they visit. They don’t even have to go to search engines anymore, as you’re one click away. They can simply head to your website straight from the email.

  • Opportunity to Cross-Sell

You already have a hold of your prospects, so don’t let them go. Reel them back in with a series of emails and entice them with your latest products, services, deals, and promos they might be interested in.

Aside from sending a reminder to go back to their abandoned carts, a series of emails can also be medium on which you can introduce and cross-sell your other products and services. Maybe a discount coupon is just what they’ve been waiting for before they finally click that “BUY NOW” button.

  • Nurture the Relationship

An email series will also help you cultivate your relationship with your customer. As mentioned, you already have a connection. Don’t waste that opportunity and stay in touch with them to build upon that relationship. Sending a series of emails will help build trust and credibility towards your brand.

  • Intelligent Follow-Up

Sending one email to multiple recipients has more to it than meets the eye. Thanks to email marketing platforms, email automation allows you to customize your email. With a marketing automation software, you can set various triggers and personalize them accordingly via customer segmentation. This way, your email will still be personal and relevant to each recipient despite being sent in bulk.

  • Highly Cost-Effective

59% of B2B marketers agree that email is their most effective channel in terms of revenue generation. Moreover, email marketing automation can give you the capability of data collection and analysis.

An email series done through an automation platform will allow you to test, analyze, and refine your email marketing campaign.

If the insights above are still not convincing enough to convince you, here a few more points on why sending series emails are better.

  • More Orders Per Recipient

Sending a series of emails to online shoppers who abandoned their carts have been known to produce 37 times more orders per email recipient, compared to a regular bulk email. Single abandoned cart emails, on the other hand, have historically only reaped 30 times more orders. That’s a significant difference you can’t ignore.

  • Higher Revenue

Data further testifies to the effectiveness of series emails — an abandoned cart email only averages $544, while an abandoned cart email series has an average of $958 in revenue. That’s a whopping 75% more revenue per automation. That’s a lot of money made just from one email automation set-up, don’t you think?

Indeed, series emails have proven on several occasions, that it’s a more effective email marketing automation strategy. The numbers above are quite telling at how especially great a series email is at reeling back customers who have abandoned their online shopping carts.

Sending a series of emails is not only a good way to keep in touch with customers and build relationships. But, we have also found it to be an immensely cost-effective automation tactic.

Read more:

Automated Buyer Journeys You Can Implement for Your Customers Today

How to Choose an Effective Newsletter Design

ActiveTrail Automations in Practice (Part 3 of 4) Making Business Personal