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Triggered Emails: How to Generate 4x Times More Revenue 

Editorial Team
April 3, 2023
Triggered Emails: How to Generate 4x Times More Revenue 

Are Triggered emails part of your digital marketing strategy?

Triggered emails are sent to users based on their interaction with your site. Since these emails are sent automatically based on user behaviour, you continue generating revenue even when you’re away.

According to Forrester Research, triggered emails generate up to 4x more revenue than regular emails.

So, if you are not utilizing triggered emails, then you are missing out on a big opportunity to boost your revenue.

In this blog, we will talk about what triggered emails are and the types of emails you can use to multiply revenue.

In addition, we will show you how easily you can set up triggered emails in WordPress and WooCommerce.

What is a Triggered Email?

A triggered email is an automated email sent to users based on their behavior with a website. Triggered emails are also known as behavioral emails.

Usually, such emails are sent based on predefined events or conditions an individual meets through certain behaviors or actions.

For example, a triggered email can be sent when a user places an order in your store. 

Another example would be an anniversary email sent to users on the first purchase anniversary. In this case, the emails are sent based on a predefined condition rather than a direct action.

A winning triggered emails depends on four things :

  • Timing 
  • Subject line 
  • Design
  • And copy

Have a look at this welcome email by Sephora. This beauty brand sends this email to users when they sign up to the site. 

Subject line: Welcome to Sephora!

saphora welcome emails

The subject line is to the point. Moreover, if you look at the design, it’s appealing and goes perfectly with a beauty brand. Furthermore, the copy is well-written and includes important information to engage the audience. We especially love the section “5 reasons why you will love Sephora.”

Why Are Triggered Emails Important?

Get a higher engagement rate

Triggered emails have a 70.5% higher open rate than routine email newsletters. So, if your aim is to improve user engagement, then you should opt for triggered emails.

Nurture leads into buyers

Nurturing leads to convert them into paying customers is one of the biggest challenges in marketing. But, triggered emails can help you with that as these emails have 152% higher click-through rate than regular marketing emails.

Build customer loyalty

Users tend to trust brands that communicate with them on a regular basis. Communicating with shoppers helps you gain their trust. So, it’s important to use triggered emails to build a strong loyal customer base.

Retain more customers

Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-95%. Using triggered emails such as win-back emails can get inactive customers to re-engage with your brand. Thus, retaining them for a longer period of time.

Increase Revenue

Triggered emails contribute over 30% of overall email marketing revenue.  Since these emails help users to engage more with your brand it gets you more sales. Therefore if you want to boost your store’s revenue, then you must leverage triggered emails.

Different types of Triggered Email 

Welcome email

A welcome email is sent to users after they register on your site. These emails often thank the user for joining and provide a brief rundown of what to expect after signing up.
Users nowadays expect to receive a welcome. Moreover, welcome emails have a 91.43% open rate. Therefore this is a good opportunity to lay the groundwork for a strong customer relationship

Have a look at the welcome email by Casper. 

This is a well designed welcome email as it greets the new users along with highlighting the features of the brand. Moreover, it also offers a discount on the bundle offer to encourage them to make another purchase.

🔔 You can also read you can custom design the WordPress new user registration email.

Cart abandonment emails 

69.80% of online shoppers abandon their cart and leave the shopping process in the middle. Using this abandonment event to send emails can get most of the abandoned users to complete the purchase.  So, we recommend you must leverage these types of emails. 

🔔 To learn more about how to get users to complete their abandoned orders, read our blog

🔔 You can also read our blog "How To Send WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Emails: The Complete Guide".

Have a look at the abandoned cart email by Rudy’s.

rudy's abandoned cart checkout

It’s a great example of a triggered email meant to get users to complete the order. It addresses that the cart item is still available and offers a discount to motivate the users to make a purchase. On top of that, it also creates urgency by mentioning that free shipping is about to expire.

Order confirmation email 

Order confirmation emails are sent to customers after they've placed an order. Such emails inform customers about the order confirmation and order details.

64% of customers find order confirmation emails to be extremely valuable. The reason is simple; it informs them about the product they are anticipating. It's a great opportunity to pitch customers more products so customers make another purchase.

Have a look at the order confirmation email by Kozel.

kozel order confirmation email

Purchase Anniversary Email

A purchase anniversary email usually congratulates the user on completing a certain time of purchasing a product. In most cases, you can offer a discount in the email for the next purchase.

Purchase anniversary emails can be sent three months, six months, or one year after customers have made the purchase. You can choose when to send it out based on your strategy. 

Have a look at the anniversary email of Paula’s choice.

anniversary email example

This beautifully designed email catches the user's attention by offering a 15% discount plus free shipping. This is an effective way to make your relationship with customers stronger and also seal another sale.

Re-engagement emails

Re-engagement emails or winback emails are also popular triggered marketing emails that are sent to users after a predefined period of inactivity from the user’s end.  These emails effectively give your lapsed customers a nudge and pull them in with an offer they can’t refuse.

Have a look at the winback email by The Bakerista.

bakerista-win-back

We like this email because it has many things going right. It sweetly describes how the brand still values the customers. Moreover, it is also something for both online and offline users. It offers online users a discount on their next purchase. On the other hand, the offer line users get something free as well. 

🔔 You can also read our blog What is an Email Drip Campaign and How to Create One in WordPress

How to Set up a Triggered Email in WordPress?

To set up triggered emails in WordPress you can use FunnelKit Automations. You can send emails based on user behavior with your WordPress website.

Some of the reasons to choose FunnelKit Automations include:

  • You can create any type of triggered email, such as welcome email, anniversary email, win back emails, etc.
  • FunnelKit automations offer many pre-built ready-to-use recipes.  You can easily use these to set up triggered email marketing campaigns within a short time. You can also create a triggered email campaign from scratch.
  • You can track active contacts for a campaign, total order, average order value, etc from a user-friendly dashboard.

Note:  Setting up any kind of email campaign using FunnelKit Automation is similar.

For example purposes, in this blog, we will show you how to set up purchase anniversary email campaigns. Anniversary emails get triggered based on a condition, such as after a year has passed since the first purchase.

Let’s start.

Step 1 : Install and activate FunnelKit Automations

First you need to install and activate FunnelKit Automations. FunnelKit is available in both the free and premium versions. Make sure to activate both the versions.

Step 2: Add new automation

The first step is to create a new automation. For that, navigate to FunnelKit Automations ⇒ Automations (Next Gen) and then click on Add New Automation.

click on automation

Click on the First Purchase Anniversary template 

click on first purchase anniversary emsil

To import the prebuilt template, click on the Import button.

click on import button

Then provide a name and click on Create.

provide a name and click on Create

Here is the automation workflow that will be imported. 

anniversary email automations

The automations will trigger exactly one year after a user makes their first purchase and sends an email to them.  That’s why the condition of the first order has been used and the delay of 12 months is provided. The workflow also creates a discount coupon code which is sent along with this email.

Step 3: Set the discount coupon

To set the discount amount one will receive using the coupon click on the Create Coupon action.

click to set the discount coupon

Now set the discount type and amount. Finally, click on Save changes to update the coupon settings. 

set the discount amount and type

Step 4: Customize the purchase anniversary email 

To customize the email, click on the Send Email action.

click on the send email action

Here you can alter the email subject, preview text and body according to your choice.

customize email subject preview and body WooCommerce triggered emails

To personalize your email, you can use FunnelKit’s merge tag that adds dynamic value to your email. For example, this prebuilt recipe uses {{contact_first_name}} merge tag to address the user by his name. This way, whoever receives this email will see their first name.

first name merge tag

To design the body of the email FunnelKit automations offer 3 options;

  • Rich Text
  • Raw Html
  • Visual Builder 

We recommend sticking to the rich text editor or the visual builder to design unless you are an HTML pro. Check out this post if you need help designing your email with the visual builder.

After making changes to the email, click on Save to update.

Step 5: Set the automation to active

The last step is to activate the automation. For that, turn on the activate toggle. 

activate the automations of WooCommerce triggered emails

And that’s it. Your triggered email automation is ready.

Best Practices for Setting Up Triggered Email Campaigns

Be clear on the action you want people to take

Setting up a  specific goal for each campaign will keep your content clear and concise. For example, do you want your subscribers to give you a review after purchase? Or make another purchase or register for a new event?

You can not have too many goals from one triggered email marketing campaign. Focus on one goal to get the best results.

Personalize your email campaigns 

According to Epsilon, 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a company that offers such customized experiences. So ensure the emails you send to customers are personalized.

Personalization can be done by incorporating personal information in the email. Another way can be sending emails based on customer purchase history.

Be concise

Whether you send text-based emails or include media in your emails, make sure your emails are concise and to the point. 

According to Campaign Monitor, an average person sends and receives 121 business emails per day. If you write too lengthy emails or emails that have too many things going on, then it can overwhelm the users and irritate them in many cases. Therefore, make sure your emails are simple and succinct.

Add one compelling CTA

Emails with a single CTA (call to action) get 371% more clicks than emails with multiple CTAs. So, avoid using multiple CTAs. You should add a single CTA in your emails that tell users to take the action that you want them to take. It could be to make them buy an item, auto-apply the discount coupon, subscribe to your mailing list, and more.

Offer value to customers 

Your emails should be worth the customer’s time, energy, and money. If customers find your brand’s emails don’t provide any value, they won’t read your future emails. Thus make sure each email you send to customers offers value to them.

You can offer value by suggesting relevant products based on their purchase history, educating them about our product so they can use it best, offering discounts on specific products, etc.  

Are You Ready to Leverage Triggered Emails?

Triggered emails keep customers engaged with your brands. It helps you to gain customer loyalty. Most importantly, leveraging trigger email campaigns can help you to multiply your revenue.

FunnelKit Automations makes it easy for you to achieve maximum results from triggered emails.

With this wonderful plugin, you can create practically any kind of triggered emails campaigns. Moreover, it also provides you with campaign data so you can optimize campaigns to maximize the output. Also, if you want you can send broadcast email as well.

Don’t lose out on opportunities to engage with your clients through triggered emails.

Start leveraging triggered emails today!

Author: Editorial Team
The Editorial Team at FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) is a passionate group of writers and copy editors. We create well-researched posts on topics such as WordPress automation, sales funnels, online course creation, and more. We aim to deliver content that is interesting and actionable.
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