Bulk to Behaviorally-Triggered Emails: Why Triggered Emails Are Critical

Are you sending out the same email to every one of your customers? Turns out that might not be the best idea.

Let’s talk about triggered emails and how tailoring your content to your audience could be the difference between clicking open and clicking trash.

In this guide, Joel Staniszewski, an Email Marketing Manager, will cover when to use behaviorally triggered emails instead of batch emails to drive increased engagement, and thus conversion, in your email program.

What We’ll Cover:

• What is a Bulk Email?
• 4 Types of Bulk Emails
• What is a Behaviorally Triggered Email?
• 11 Types of Behaviorally Triggered Emails
• Why Shifting from Bulk to Behaviorally-Triggered Emails Is Crucial
• FAQs: Behaviorally-Triggered Emails

Our Expert Insights on Behaviorally Triggered Emails

“Email marketing is still one of the best ways to reach your target audience. When you compare the investment of time and money to the return, it’s usually a no-brainer. 

One way to improve your ROI even more is to focus on behavioral email marketing, also known as triggered email.

As the Email Marketing Manager at Ignite Visibility, I work with brands every day, focusing on how to improve their content marketing strategies. One thing I always suggest is to invest in behavioral email marketing.

With this type of email marketing, you’re able to target the specific segments of your list to make sure that they are getting content that is relevant to them. It makes it feel more personalized than a typical large-batch email send.

Actionable Tip: If you haven’t already gone through your email list and segmented it, now is the time to do so. By breaking your list into smaller segments, such as first-time buyers or repeat customers, you’ll be able to send them emails that are tailored to where they are in their customer journey with your brand.”

What is a Bulk Email?

Bulk emailing describes a process in which a one-time, ad-hoc email is sent out, typically to a large segment or an entire subscriber list on a specific date. These emails often contain timely promotions or necessary announcements and are sent to an entire subscriber list.

Sometimes referred to as promotional or calendar sends, these emails are sent to a large swath of people with the same message, many times with no specific segmenting or tailoring featured in the content.

However, bulk emails have garnered some criticism over the years for their relatively low engagement rates. Since they aren’t providing applicable content,  subscribers are typically more inclined to unsubscribe or flag bulk emails as spam than they are with tailored, triggered emails.

4 Types of Bulk Emails

Despite its downsides, bulk emails are a fast and direct way to reach many recipients with your message at one time. Here are a few of the most popular types of emails that fall within this category:

1. Promotional Emails

Promotional emails are sent out when brands are announcing a new sale or deal. They aren’t tailored to one type of customer but instead are sent to an entire list.

2. Product Launch Emails

As the name implies, the purpose of a product launch email is to announce the launch of your company’s newest product, feature, update, or upcoming event. Since it’s always a good idea to build a buzz around your products before officially launching them, they often give readers a glimpse into the new product without providing all of the details.

3. Newsletter Emails

Newsletters are a great way to keep subscribers in the loop about what’s going on in your business.  Meant to be a one-stop-shop of information, they’re also a fantastic way to keep in touch with your audience. Most brands will include tips and tricks, best practices, big updates, or guides designed to help customers understand your product or service a little better.

4. Contest/Giveaway Emails

A foolproof way to get your email contacts interested in your brand is by advertising a fun contest or giveaway. You can highlight a specific product and reward the subscriber for their interaction—a win-win for all.

What is a Behaviorally-Triggered Email?

A triggered email is sent out based on a subscriber’s behavior.

For example, if a subscriber joins a list, the welcome email that is sent out is behaviorally triggered.

Not only do these emails target something specific about the recipient, but they are also fairly well-received. According to HubSpot, triggered emails tend to get up to 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs than general bulk sends.

Trigger emails are best used when they respond to one of the 3 types of behavioral triggers:

1. External: Something outside of themselves, such as a situation or event
2. Internal: Something within the consumer, like an emotion or feeling
3. Synthetic: An external trigger that is intentionally brought up

11 Types of Triggered Emails

Once you figure out which type of trigger your customers are more likely to respond to, you can figure out how to tailor your content.

Behavioral emails can be useful to your business for a multitude of reasons. For one, it helps you get a better idea of your customer’s preferences. But perhaps most importantly, it drives better results—higher email engagement, more website and social media activity, and more subscriptions.

If you’re ready to start delivering more personalized email campaigns, check out some of the examples below:

1. Welcome Emails

Did you know that roughly 75% of customers expect to receive a welcome email shortly after they sign up for a mailing list? A welcome email is the first interaction your brand has with a new subscriber after confirming their interest in you — and a Welcome Series is typically one of the highest automated revenue drivers in an email program.

 

2. Onboarding Emails

Onboarding emails are the next step in the customer journey. They’ve been welcomed into your brand, now it’s time to show them what value they’ll get from your product or service. This can be achieved by educating recipients on the key benefits they can expect to see, as well as guiding them through any next steps.

3. Cart Abandonment Emails

If you run an ecommerce site and aren’t sending out cart abandonment emails, you should start today! Sent after someone puts a product in their cart but leaves your site before checking out, cart abandonment emails are a staple in the ecommerce world and a top revenue generator.

Think of this email as a nudge to entice the person to come back and complete their purchase.

4. Browse Abandonment Emails

Browse abandonment emails are very similar to cart abandonment emails, only with these emails, the consumer only looked at your website., they didn’t put anything in their cart.

These emails allow you to retarget window shoppers, encourage them to go back to your site and recapture lost conversions.

5. Search Abandonment Emails

Let’s say someone was looking at a specific category on your site, but never actually viewed a product. Maybe they only made it as far as your homepage and left before making any additional searches. This is where search abandonment emails can come in handy.

6. Post-Purchase Emails

Now that they’ve made a purchase, your job is done, right? Nope! You want to make sure that your consumers always know how thankful you are for their support and loyalty. Sending out post-purchase emails is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your retention. After all, the sale only marks the beginning of the consumer relationship.

Showing appreciation for the customer who bought your product, guarantees a happy customer and can potentially increase brand loyalty and engagement.

7. Back In Stock Emails

Imagine that you had an item in your cart, but when you went to check out, it was gone. Bummer, right?

Consumers feel the same way! That’s why Back in Stock emails are a great way to re-target consumers for in-demand products and encourage them to try to make their purchases again.

8. Wish List Email

Many ecommerce sites allow shoppers to bookmark items that they like but aren’t ready to buy quite yet.

This is a common practice, especially for customers who are researching options from numerous websites. Price often plays a role when this happens. That’s why this remarketing campaign approach is genius. Wish list emails alert customers that their “favorited” items are still available or on sale.

9. Re-Engagement Email

If you find that your email list is chock-full of engaged subscribers, it’s time to send out a re-engagement sequence. A study by Marketing Land even revealed that 45% of customers who receive a re-engagement email will open your emails in the future.

10. Remarketing Email

A lot of time, people will come to your site or browse your social media pages just to see what you have to offer. Maybe they register for your email list or add a few things to their cart, but they don’t actually move down the customer journey to become a paying customer.

That’s where remarketing emails come into play. These emails are sent to remind the consumer of your brand and entice them to come back and finalize their purchase.

11. Milestone Email

Everyone knows someone who shared their Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year, right? That’s because people love to celebrate milestones!

Carry this energy into your behavioral email marketing. Send your consumers emails for big milestones such as birthdays, anniversaries, or other personal milestones. Add a little gift, such as a free product with a purchase or discount code, to make the milestone feel even more important. This will go a long way in building your brand loyalty.

The Shift from Bulk to Behaviorally-Triggered Emails

If you need some convincing to move from bulk to behaviorally-triggered emails, here’s a stat you can’t resist. Triggered emails tend to get up to 300% more click-throughs than bulk email sends.

When you look at it that way, there’s no wonder there’s a major shift taking place in favor of these triggered emails in the marketing world!

In addition to the higher open rates, behaviorally triggered emails also:

• Encourage engagement between consumer and brand
• Provide valuable insight into customers’ journeys
• Increase the ability to personalize emails
• Increase conversions and revenue

When consumers feel as though you are talking directly to them, the connection and loyalty between brand and consumer grow. When that connection is strong, they are more likely to spend money on your brand.

To get the most out of your triggered emails, follow these best practices:

• Personalize content where possible. Anything from including their first name in the subject line to mentioning them by name in the body of the email goes a long way.
• Be concise. Let your audience know the exact point of the email and how it affects their lives.
• Have a clear CTA. People are more likely to take action when the call to action tells them exactly what action to take.
• Perform tests. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your segments. Perform A/B testing within your segments to see what type of copy, graphics, or promotions resonates with your audience the most.

When it comes to email marketing, your consumers want to feel seen, heard and listened to. Triggered emails make this possible.

FAQs on Triggered Emails

1. What is behavioral email marketing?

Behavioral email marketing is the strategy of sending specific messages to specific members of your email list, depending on their behaviors. For example, sending a welcome email when they join your list or a thank you email when they make a purchase.

2. How can I create emails based on user behavior?

Creating triggered emails requires a CRM, or customer relationship manager, that allows you to create specific segments. These segments should follow your customer journey. For example, you’ll want to put someone who has never made a purchase in a different segment than someone who purchases from you monthly.

Once you understand your customers and can group them into these specialized buckets, then you can create tailored content that speaks to them directly.

3. What are the 3 types of behavioral triggers?

The three types of behavioral triggers are external, internal, or synthetic. All of these triggers will elicit a response. As a marketer, it is your job to figure out which one will make your audience perform the specific action you want them to.

4. Should I target every consumer with behavioral email marketing?

Not necessarily. Instead of targeting every single customer, focus on a select group that feels genuine. The last thing you want to do is make a customer feel like your targeting is violating their privacy. 

Meet Your Email Marketing Goals With Ignite Visibility

If you’ve learned anything from today’s post, it’s that email marketing, though profitable, can also be nuanced. Essentially, your customers aren’t one-dimensional, which means your email marketing tactics shouldn’t be either.

Whether you have an existing email list or need to build one from scratch, Ignite Visibility can help!

Hundreds of companies across the country depend on our email marketing experts to get their message out, increase their conversion rates, and boost their revenue.

Ignite Visibility can help you:

• Develop an email marketing strategy that works for your business and industry
• Reach new audiences and build your brand awareness
• Create cohesive messaging across all marketing channels
• And more!

Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level? Get started today with a free consultation with one of our digital marketing experts.