Triggered Emails: What Are They and How Can They Help You Boost Sales?

Angie oversees Cazoomi's operations. She enjoys traveling, loves dogs, is a 1% Pledge supporter, and a start-up entrepreneur with investments in several APAC startups. 4 minute read

Triggered Emails: What Are They and How Can They Help You Boost Sales?

Digital marketing is an ever-evolving field. You’ve certainly heard this before: “latest innovation X disrupts previous marketing strategy Y”.

Sometimes, these statements are void of meaning. But sometimes they refer to actual earth-shattering, game-changing innovations.

This is what happened when triggered emails took center stage.

What Are Triggered Emails?

What Are Triggered Emails?

Triggered emails are automated emails tailored to reach the right person at the right time. These automated emails are as a result of behavioral marketing automation. A certain event will trigger a particular email sequence to be sent. For example, with no human intervention, your clients can receive an order confirmation email just as soon as their payment went through on your website.

Triggered emails are successful because of several factors. 

First, these emails are timely and highly relevant.

They are not mindlessly triggered. They are designed through a complex and customized process. These emails are a combination of customized templates and user data.

The event automates the email. These emails are sent directly as a result of API integration or through a backend system. Triggered emails are content-specific.

Since the emails are dependent on the data collected (demographics, preference data, behavioral and transactional data), the content in the email contains valuable information for the client.

Personalization is key here. In fact, you can’t speak of triggered emails without in-depth personalization.

How Triggered Emails Help You Boost Sales

How Triggered Emails Help You Boost Sales

Triggered emails can be used to welcome new users, promote new products, or inform users about a certain event.

According to a recent study, triggered emails can generate 24X more revenue per send, considering that each email costs at least $0.95. This return on investment is higher compared to batch-and-blast emails.

Automated emails also have twice the engagement rate — 18 to 24 percent. This makes them an effective tool to boost sales and conversions.

Triggered emails have a higher click rate compared to other non-automatic communication strategies. As a result, they have a higher chance to convert your users.

Research reveals that triggered emails have a 70 percent higher open rate compared to other marketing emails. As a result, triggered emails can increase revenue by 34 percent.

These emails are ideal for building a good relationship with customers. They are informative rather than promotional – we all know how much people love yet ANOTHER promotional email, right? As a result, clients are more satisfied when receiving automated emails as they give the illusion of a personal touch.

Triggered emails are different from your usual marketing emails. Whereas usual marketing emails seek to promote products, triggered emails inform the recipients about an event that will occur or has ended.

You can use triggered emails to upsell, too. But keep in mind that the ultimate purpose of this tactic is to inform, not promote.

The secret behind the success of triggered emails is that the users expect this email. When they press the “buy,” or “subscribe” button, users expect you to send emails to them.

A client who has placed an order on your eCommerce site or happens to be a new user would be surprised if they did not get a welcome email or a confirmation email in a few minutes. 

This email can boost your brand image and encourage users to engage with your firm. About 51 percent of companies are using the triggered email marketing approach to:

  • Engage their customers
  • Nurture leads
  • Increase customer retention rates
  • Build trust with their users
  • Reduce operational tasks resulting from repetitive emails

The automated emails can help you yield a 34 percent increase in your revenues. Does this sound like a good enough reason for you to incorporate automated emails into your marketing strategy?