Building effective email programs requires winning our customer’s love and loyalty
Another holiday goes by. Soon we’ll hear statistics (don’t we all dig numbers 🙂 ) on how revenues peaked for online retailers. We will hear how brands, big and small, used different channels to grab customer attention. Plus, the latest exciting campaign will be detailed, that captured the hearts of customers.
One of the most popular channels to win customers’ love is email, even in today’s age of Snapchat and Instagram.
Email is still one of the best marketing channels. According to an independent study, 80% of retail professionals indicated that emails were their number one choice for customer acquisition and retention.
While the holiday glow is still in the air, here’s our advice to win some serious love and brand loyalty from your customers through email. These different types of emails can capture your customer’s attention and build long-lasting relationships.
Product recommendation emails:
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Don’t we all face the same purchasing dilemma of what exactly to buy? It becomes difficult when you are flooded with so many options and products. That’s why brands should utilize the power of recommendations to help customers make decisions easier and faster.
The key to getting this right is adopting the right algorithms for recommending a product including location, similar products, purchasing history etc.
This requires focus and a willingness to see things from the standpoint of the customers and prospects. Oak Street Bootmakers sells handcrafted shoes and boots. They consistently send out creative recommendation emails that make relevant recommendations on various products based on items shoppers have abandoned in their carts, and is now back in stock. The ‘Don’t miss out again’ message creates a sense of urgency and makes the email more actionable.
Behavioral targeting:
Very few people realize that the main reason for failed marketing campaigns is not wrong products, poor marketing messages or copy writing, but targeting the wrong audience.
You can’t force an audience that isn’t interested in your products or services to love your brand. That’s why it’s important to make sure you reach the right people. It helps you get much more results at a far lesser cost and interact with the people who have a genuine interest in your brand. Behavioral targeting is a lot more achievable now, even with limited budgets. Data and tools are available to help you gain meaningful insights.
Over 90 % of messages from Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Uber, Netflix and Amazon use behavioral targeting. For example, shortly after the release of the new Punisher series (in late 2017), Netflix sent out an email recommending the new series to a viewer who had a history of watching (Marvel) superhero movies on their platform. This brand knows exactly how to hyper- target their customers. While it’s true that Netflix owns their platform and has tremendous insight into the viewing habits of its customers, you can still take away the idea that data is at the heart of it.
Nudge emails:
You spent time, effort and money getting customers to your website and browse products. What next? How do we turn these browsers and prospects to actual sales? Quite often, your prospects may have reservations about your product or need further convincing that the product they are researching is indeed the right fit for them.
People will fall in love with your product (and brand) if you make the whole experience of purchase a memorable one.
A gentle nudge, being helpful and easing their concerns, goes a long way in building long lasting customer relationships. Zapier does it best in their on-boarding email by helping customers visualize what life would be like when they integrate with Zapier along with useful links.
View full email here
Reminder emails:
Consistently delivering amazing customer service doesn’t happen by accident. It happens on purpose. It’s all about meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Give them what they want in an way that is easy for them and you’ve won their love.
We tend to forget things and that’s where reminder emails play a great role. Your customers expect to be have personalized, valuable information conveniently delivered to them at the right moment.
Personalized Emails:
What every tip above shows is that personalization is key. Brands need to speak to customers on a personal level to promote relationships.
You have to cut out the machines from the process (figuratively) and ensure the customers feel like they are talking to a person they can and would want to trust and not just some brand names.
According to Aberdeen, personalized emails improve click through rates by up to 14%. In fact, personalized call to actions are likely to get a lot more interaction than generic CTAs (42% more, according to Hubspot).
One company that does this particularly well is Easy Jet. They personalized customer experiences to tell unique stories for each and every customer. They have succeeded in creating a unique story telling personality that is different from their competitors.
View full email here
Welcome Emails:
Welcome emails add a touch of personality to the otherwise faceless brands we see on the internet.
You can use Welcome emails as the first thing a future customer sees after he/she signs up. They require a touch of personalization to make them spot on and impressionable. Impress a new customer with this, keeping in mind that you need to continue the experience.
Milanote’s welcome email wows customers with their personality and stands out for their creativity and simplicity.
In Conclusion:
The real secret to creating a brand customers love is how your brand connects with your customers as the relationship grows. And email is one of the surest ways to win their hearts.
How do you use emails to win over your customers love? Share success stories in the comments!
