Engagement Trigger Mailings: How to Light a Spark

Photo by Emilio Küffer (Flickr)

Trigger letters can be compared with the reaction of an experienced seller in a store: a visitor came in, greeted, looked at the shelf with goods - offered help with a choice, bought something - gave a discount on the next purchase.

Today we will talk about which trigger mailings to send to engage the audience in the initial stages of the sales funnel, and how to return the interest of subscribers if it is lost. And also about what tactics will help a potential customer to make a buyer.

Dating stage

At the subscription stage, a welcome or welcome letter can determine the further development of the relationship.

According to Experian, welcome emails generate 4 times more openings and 5 times more clicks than regular mass mailings. And therefore it is so important in the first letter to win favor, offering a positive interaction with the brand. Let's see what, apart from the actual greeting, can be offered in the first letter.

1. Thanks for subscribing

Express gratitude for the subscription and tell the user what he will learn about from your email newsletters. Nike, in its welcome letter, talks about the opportunity to learn about special offers and new products, and also offers new subscribers to register on the site and get additional benefits.



2. Quick Guide to Using the Product

In the first stages of engagement, you can send a quick guide to using your product. This idea is ideally suited to technology companies that produce a product that you need to understand.

Here are some tips for writing a guide letter:

• Tell us in a few simple steps what you need to get started.
• Include photographs or screenshots in the letter so that the beginner can understand where to start.
• If specific terms are associated with your product, explain them in plain language.
• Add support contacts where the user can turn for help.

A welcome letter from Piktochart begins with the words “Dear user, creating a story using infographics is not at all difficult. Here are three steps to help you. ”



Please note that at the bottom of the letter there is also a Training Video section.

3. A letter with a proposal to join in social networks

Effective integration of email newsletters with social networks allows you to combine these two channels into one powerful tool to increase conversion, collection and nurturing of leads.

On social networks, you share announcements, organize contests, post videos - so let subscribers know about it. It should also be borne in mind that for some people, interaction in social networks can be more convenient or more familiar. Even if you unsubscribe from your newsletter, they will stay in touch on social networks.

Mudpie offers the first to know about news and discounts from Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.



4. Discounted

letter A welcome letter with a discount on the first order increases the chances of persuading a newbie to buy. You can also offer free shipping on your first order or gift.

Example from PetsPyjamas.



5. Request to fill in the settings room with information.

Thoroughly segmented address base, the more individual your approach in email newsletters.

Offer new subscribers an independent choice of newsletter content, as Ozon.ru does. Depending on the filling in of the settings data, each user will be sent a newsletter with individual content.

Stage of involvement

1. Birthday present

True Citrus, whose excellent mailings we never tire of setting as an example, sends you an email with the following subject: “Happy Birthday!” At the stage when you haven’t purchased anything yet. Let's celebrate! ”



But the fact is that today is not your birthday, and your hand reaches out to open the letter and see what’s the matter. The letter in large print says: “Oh, it's not your birthday? “Then tell us when he is so that we will send you a present.” And who refuses the gift?

This newsletter will not only melt the ice with the subscriber, but also help to collect more information for segmentation.

The letter contains one big call to action “Mark the date on the calendar”, which leads to the personalization of mailing lists.



In your personal account settings, the subscriber, in addition to the date of birth, is invited to fill out the following items:

• Name, surname;
• Postcode;
• Sex;
• Age;
• How did you find out about True Citrus products?
• What grocery store do you buy most often?
• Birthday;
• What do you want to receive in email newsletters?

It is suggested to note the following points:

- news,
- discounts,
- cocktail recipes for diabetics,
- cocktail recipes for vegetarians,
- cocktail recipes for those who are gluten intolerant,
- instant recipes.



2. Letter with viewed goods

As you receive the first newsletters, the user visits your site and starts browsing the products, and the automation system records the history of the pages viewed.
And here it is important not to miss the activity of the potential buyer, interest him and convince him of the deal. A letter with an offer of viewed products will do just fine with this task.

According to Experian, if you send such a letter again, the percentage of transactions on it doubles .

Here's how Bestwatch.ru does it.

Resuscitation Stage

It’s normal to periodically clean the database from inactive addresses - so you will spend your energy only on an interested audience. But if the subscriber does not show activity for a long time, this is not a reason to immediately write it off. Try to bring him to your senses first.

There are many reasons for switching to sleep mode: from irrelevant content to loss of interest in your brand. Reactivation campaign will help here.

The reactivation campaign performs several tasks at once:

- renew interest in the brand;
- find out the reasons for the loss of interest;
- select relevant content;
- unsubscribe.

What tactics to apply in a reactivation letter?

1. A selection of the best articles, webinars
Select the best materials recently that can wake you from sleep mode. This is a suitable option for online publications, blogs, information business.



2. Suggest changing the distribution interval.
It is important to provide freedom of choice: once a week / month, more often or less. After all, if you send letters too often, the subscriber may not have time to read them. And if it’s too rare, it may completely forget about you.

3. Offer to select the content of interest;

4. Discount
Try the hook words: "discount", "free", "coupon".

And only if all this did not work, feel free to delete the address from the database, or provide the opportunity to unsubscribe in the letter itself.

Notonthehighstreet in its reactivation letter offers a 10% discount on orders, select relevant content or unsubscribe. You will find



more examples of reactivation letters on our blog .

You can easily send all the trigger emails we talked about through SendPulse . In the meantime, you are creating your first newsletter, we are already preparing a continuation of the material for you. You will learn how to convince the user to return to the abandoned basket, and which auto-links to send after the purchase.