Cart Insiders Podcast

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week I talked about personalizing your cart abandonment strategy based on data points like cart total and purchase history. 

Here are the main takeaways of the week. 

• Split messages based on cart total and/or their purchase history. This allows you to customize messages for those over and under your free shipping threshold — or AOV if there is no threshold — and communicate to each customer differently based on their shopping history. 
• Be sure to focus on addressing general obstacles to conversion, but also specific ones based on the cart or purchase history data.
• Adapt your discount strategy accordingly. Are they over or under a free shipping threshold? Are they a loyal customer? And how might these answers impact your discount strategy?  
• Based on the splits, determine if you should change how many messages you send to each group. Loyal customers may only need one email and SMS, while first-time shoppers may need all three to convert.

Optimizing your messages to increase cart recovery rate will help you achieve incremental growth with your email program — and ultimately make you more money.

I hope you were able to find something in this week’s tips that will help you increase your sales. 

I’d love to see your refreshed cart abandonment messages, so be sure to share them with me on Twitter or linkedin, or tell me your brand name and I’ll go abandon a cart myself. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday I talked about splitting your messages based on purchase history. Today, I want to discuss how this type of split can impact your send and discount strategy

Let’s look again at those brand-new customers. Because they’re new, and acquisition is so important, you may even want to alter your discount strategy. Remember, you’ve likely already spent money to acquire this customer. 

For this reason, you might choose to move the discount to the very first message to try to seal the deal right away. Make them work hard to say “no.”

Personally, I would still keep it later in the series and really look to optimize your messages for conversion, but this may entirely depend on the type of products you sell and how difficult it is to acquire new customers.

How many messages do they need? Well, I’d throw the kitchen sink at ‘em and send them all three, including an SMS if they opted into receiving texts.

For loyal customers, do they need three or four messages and deep discounts? Probably not. Loyal customers may only need one email and an SMS reminder. However, if you do offer discounts to everyone else, don’t take these customers for granted. 

Maybe offer them either a slightly deeper discount or one without a minimum spend — chances are they’ll probably spend well above it anyway. And if you do, you can recognize them in your message as a valued customer and let them know the no-minimum or slightly larger discount is your little way of saying thanks.

You can fill in the remaining customer tiers to match your business. First-time returning customers — maybe they get a discount in the first message but with a minimum spend, and receive two emails and one SMS.  

The trick is to send as many messages and smart incentives to people as is needed to recapture lost carts while keeping profits as high as possible. 

As you can see, the options are really limitless — especially if you choose to combine these splits with the cart total splits. Think about what makes the most sense for your business, and make it happen one split at a time.  

Again, if you want to start easy, create your splits and send the same message to each group. This will give you insight into how each performs and you can adjust your strategy from there. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about ways to adjust your send and discount strategy based on cart total.  Today, I want to discuss another way to split your messages — either in tandem with the previous split or all by itself. 

Another way to use splits is by looking at the abandoners’ previous purchase history. Knowing this can be a big clue as to 

(1) whether they’re inclined to purchase and (2) how you want to approach them.

After all, it WOULD make sense to treat a loyal customer differently than a brand new customer, right?

Let’s look at this.

Take those brand new customers. These are the ones you spend so much money trying to acquire through paid activities.  Well, when you finally get them to the point of placing items in their cart, you want to close the deal. Otherwise, those acquisition costs go buh-buy.

By using an automation split to isolate these shoppers, you can focus on all of the things we’ve already mentioned that would likely matter to them, like promoting value-adds and using a sense of urgency. However, knowing they are new to your brand, you may want to double down on using social proof in your messages, satisfaction guarantees, and WHY they should feel comfortable doing business with your brand. 

You may also want to bring a bit more attention to your customer service contact info — such as live chat — or reinforce the speed of shipping. 

For loyal customers, you may not need all of this reinforcement — after all, they most likely know this and that’s why they’re coming back. You can probably go a little bit lighter on the social proof — unless it’s maybe around some new products — and keep the focus on your customer service and other product value-adds. 

You can fill in the remaining customer tiers to match your business. Returning customers looking to make their second purchase with you? … remind them of your shipping and return policies while continuing to reinforce your social proof — but maybe along with some product recommendations.   

As you can see, the options are really limitless — especially if you choose to combine these splits with the cart total splits. Think about what makes the most sense for your business, and make it happen one split at a time.  

Again, if you want to start easy, create your splits and send the same message to each group. This will give you insight into how each performs and you can adjust your strategy from there. 

Join me tomorrow where I’ll build upon this and discuss how these splits may impact your send and discount strategy. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about message content when splitting your abandoned cart emails based on the shopper’s cart total. Today, I want to build upon that strategy and discuss how these splits can impact other elements of your series? 

On top of different message content based on cart total, think of the other aspects of your strategy that can be impacted, like discounts and the number of messages you send.

Let’s look at those shoppers under the $35 free shipping threshold. 

Knowing they have a low cart total, you may want to adapt your discount strategy, perhaps by including a minimum spend to qualify. This way, you can present the discount as 10% off AND free shipping on all orders above $50.

On top of the discount, knowing the cart total is so low, you may choose to send, say, only one email message and one SMS message. Or for those email-only customers, maybe two messages instead of three. 

After all, the chances of low cart total abandoners returning to complete their purchase are likely lower than those with higher totals.  

Of course, you may want to send them all three if you continue to retarget these same shoppers on search and social, as email is a much cheaper option.  But really, the option is all yours!

Now, let’s look at those over the threshold. For these shoppers, you can remove the minimum amount and just subtly remind them they also qualify for free shipping — keeping the message on-point to overcome their other purchase obstacles. 

Of course, you can try to entice these shoppers even further by offering a tiered discount. This could be 10% off 50, 15% off 75, and 20% off 100 — Pus free shipping :)     

When it comes to the number of messages you send in your series, the same principle applies to what I just spoke of. Because their carts are higher, you may choose to send three messages and two SMS to this group. 

But remember, you can use multiple splits, and because of this, you can opt to send a fourth message or additional SMS to the top tier of cart abandoners, knowing they may take a bit longer to complete their purchase.

You can see how one piece of data gives you the ability to customize your abandoned cart messages in a way that makes the most sense for your customers. 

So start splitting your messages, even if you send the same message to everyone. This way, you can see how the metrics between these two or more audiences convert before customizing your messages and splits further. 

Come back tomorrow because we are going to take splits to a whole new level. 

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week we continue our attention on abandoned cart messaging. Last week we talked about the basics, like message content and timing. This week I’ll discuss ways to further personalize these messages to not only improve the customer experience but increase the recovered revenue rate.  

Today, let’s discuss splitting your messages based on the cart total. Let’s say you're a brand that offers free shipping over $35. The messaging, and even incentive, you want to communicate to those under this threshold is likely different from those who abandoned a $200 cart. 

After all, the reason they abandoned is much likely different. 

Now, if you either don’t offer free shipping or always offer free shipping, consider using AOV as your threshold.   

For those under the threshold, I would prominently call out value-adds that likely matter to this shopper, like the fact they get free shipping if they reach the threshold. After all, most consumers today don’t want to pay for shipping, so our goal is to help them qualify for it. 

You can also add product recommendations — or even top-rated products — in your messages can help guide them toward increasing their cart total. Again, we are helping them reach a threshold. 

Now, for those over the threshold, you don’t need to prominently focus on free shipping — after all, that’s not why they abandoned their cart. 

Instead, you can focus your messages on overcoming potential obstacles to conversion for higher-priced carts, such as your return policies and satisfaction guarantees. Depending on your products, you may also want to add a layer of social proof to build confidence, such as those around product fit or quality.

And yes, you can split by more than one amount, creating an even better experience. For instance, you can create one path for those under the $35 threshold, 

another for those $35 to $74, 

and another for those $75 and above — again, adapting your messages to help guide the shopper toward a purchase.

One simple automation split based on a single data point and you can effectively create more personalized messaging and a better over customer experience. 

Join me tomorrow where I’ll build upon this and discuss how these splits may impact other elements of your abandoned cart series. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week I talked about the basics of creating a multi-channel abandoned cart series that recaptures lost sales. But this week is just the beginning. Next week, we’re going to get into the REAL fun stuff with abandoned cart messaging! 

But first, let’s do a quick recap of the week. 

• When creating your abandoned cart messages, there are three things I'd recommend including to engage the customer's intent: 

1. Actively promote your value-adds and competitive differentiators in your messages such as free shipping and return policies. 
2. Convey a sense of urgency in your messaging. Something like, "these items won't last long" can work great.
3. Use social proof to reinforce value, such as product ratings and customer testimonials. 

• When it comes to discounting, don't feel you have to discount. But if you do, save it for the final message in the series. Of course, be sure to use workflow splits to test incentives.
• Test the timing of your sends, but if you're looking for a place to start, I recommend sending your  cart abandonment messages at 1 hour, 24 hrs, and 48 hours after abandonment.
• Add all opt-in channels you collect permissions for in your automations, especially SMS. Remember, last year brands sent nearly 100% more automated SMS and 700% more automated push messages than the year before. 
• When sending abandoned SMS messages, consider using them as bookmarks, so sending along with message 1 and message 3. Send push messages with message 2 to start,  and adjust according to results

As you can see, we covered a lot this week, but gradually optimizing your messages will help you achieve incremental growth with your email program — and ultimately make you more money.

I hope you were able to find something in this week’s tips that will help you increase your sales. 

I’d love to see your cart abandonment messages, so be sure to share them with me on Twitter or linkedin, or tell me your brand name and I’ll go abandon a cart myself. And be sure to tune in next week where I’ll be diving further into cart abandonment and show you how to use data to personalize your series even further.

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday I talked about when to send your abandoned cart emails. Today, let’s talk about re-engaging customers via the right channels. 

One reason email is an extremely effective tool is that it is an opt-in channel. But so too are SMS and web push messages. Brands who are collecting these permissions should absolutely be using them in their abandoned cart automation. 

Last year SMS saw a nearly 260% lift in automated messages sent compared to the year before, while automated push messages increased 700%. Brands are recognizing the value in other opt-in channels.  

If you’re collecting these permissions, you should be using them to re-engage abandoned cart shoppers. Here are some things you may want to consider.

** SMS: Most text messages are read within 3 minutes. This means it’s a timely channel to communicate with consumers on. With the first abandoned cart message sent via email, you may want to also send an SMS at the same time. This gives consumers the choice of how they want to interact.

You may not need to send an SMS with every email. I would suggest starting by using them as bookends — one at the start and one at the end of the series, especially if you offer a discount. That last text message serves as a great reminder and nudge toward the cart. 

Now, this send strategy may change based on other personalization variables that I’ll talk about next week — but to get you started and capturing baselines, this is where I’d start. 

And while it seems like common sense, I’m going to say it — make sure the message links back to the cart to allow for easy checkout. 

I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about push messages today only because it is still a maturing channel, but as you heard me mention earlier, it is seeing massive growth and performance. 

Like SMS, it is a more instantaneous marketing channel. But if you are collecting Push Message opt-ins, I would absolutely use them with abandoned cart messaging. 

In fact, brands I have seen use them have found their highest metrics when used with cart abandonment. I would suggest using them around the second message. Let the email and/or SMS be the primary channel and use Push to complement the middle part. 

So there it is — be sure to use all opt-in channels in the same workflow and create a truly engaging series that recaptures those pesky abandoned carts. Send a text message with messages 1 and 3, and if you use push, send it around the second message. 

Watch your metrics, and adjust accordingly. 

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about whether or not to discount in your abandoned cart messages. Today, I want to discuss the timing of your message sends, AND, if you do offer discounts, when exactly you should offer them. 

Choosing the cadence of your abandoned cart emails is another decision that has no wrong answer. And here’s why.

If you are selling a $1,000 product, the decision cycle will likely be longer than when selling a $30 short. 

That being said, there is a standard send cadence I have found to be successful with many brands. Here is what I recommend, at least to start, is to …

Send message 1 one hour after abandonment. Remember, sending a message with a sense of urgency might be all that’s needed to persuade them to complete their order.

Send message 2 24 hours after abandonment. 

By this time, the customer has had time to price shop and consider their purchase. And they may be dying to make the purchase, but just need a nudge. 

Send message 3 48 hours after abandonment.

Here is where you pull out all of the stops. If you offer an incentive, do it now.  

While it is certainly acceptable to offer a discount in earlier messages, the intent is already high and their excitement level for the purchase may be too strong for them to wait to pull the trigger on the purchase. 

Remember, with all messages, be sure to convey  a sense of urgency, showcase value-adds such as free returns, and use social proof. 

Again, this timing recommendation is just a starting. I recommend using automation splits to test timing, incentives, and the number of messages. You know your brand and customer the best. 

Once you see how everything is performing, you can optimize your messages further. 

So there it is — 1 hour, 24 hrs,and 48 hrs after abandonment, with the incentive coming in the third message. 

Be sure to join me tomorrow where I’ll discuss making your workflows even more effective by adding additional opt-in channels and why it’s important to do so.

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about message context for abandoned cart emails. Today, I want to discuss the age-old question: should you discount? 

Well, the answer is, it depends. Let me explain. 

Can a discount help convince shoppers to complete their purchase? Yes! But that doesn't mean you should offer one. Each discount means that you generate less profit per order. 

When deciding whether, and when, to offer a discount, there are some things to consider:

First, will you be doing other forms of retargeting, such as paid social and search? 

If so, these come with a much higher cost than sending an email. If you can save money on these other forms of retargeting due to offering a discount via email, it might be worth it.

Second, do you offer a discount for signing up for your emails? 

If you’re willing to offer 10% when you aren’t sure if they are going to purchase but they have some level of intent, why not make that same offer when they’re showing high intent?

Now, if you decide to offer a discount, it doesn’t mean you need to offer it right away! There are smarter ways to incentivize your abandoned cart messages. 

Instead of offering a discount in your first message, you may want to wait until the second or third message — especially if you’ve optimized your messages to feed into their intent. 

OR

Instead of offering a blanket discount, consider using a minimum order amount to qualify for the savings. This can also help you increase your average order value. 

Now, there are some other strategies with discounts, but deciding on a simple form of discount like a percentage (%) off is a great place to start — but don’t be afraid to use workflow splits and test different incentives. — That’s why they’re there!

If you don’t offer discounts, it is especially important to focus on optimizing your messages to build consumer confidence and pique their interest.

When deciding on a discount, understand there is no right or wrong answer. Make a decision that is best for your brand. There are other ways to use more personalized discounts, and I’ll discuss this later in this series.

Now that you have your basic messaging and discount strategy planned, you need to send your messages. But when should you send them? I’ll discuss this tomorrow, so be sure to check back.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week is all about the one problem all ecommerce stores face — the abandoned shopping cart.

While there are some tactical things you can do to help lower the initial abandonment, the fact remains — people WILL abandon their carts.

Knowing this, recovering as many lost sales as possible is instrumental for growth.

Email marketing plays a pivotal role here — not only because it works but because it is less expensive than other paid retargeting channels — which means more money. 

Abandoned cart emails convert 483% better than scheduled promotional emails and nearly 4 out of every 10 shoppers who click on an abandoned cart email go on to complete their purchase. 

Whether you do or don’t already have them sending, I’m going to show you how to optimize them for maximum effectiveness. 

Just like with the welcome series, I want you to focus on Intent.

At this stage in the journey, the customer knows what they want but something is preventing them from making the purchase. It could be:

• Price. Maybe they’re doing price comparison on another site.
• They want to see if you offer them a discount after they abandon. 
  • We’re all guilty of this at some point.
• The cost or speed of shipping
• Maybe they’re unsure about your return policies.
• It could be a lack of trust. After all, maybe they have never done business with you 
• Or maybe they’re treating their cart as a wishlist and are saving the item for later.

No matter the reason, your job as a marketer is to overcome any possible objection they may have and lead them to purchase. Here’s how to do just that. 

FIRST, always promote your value-adds in your messages, such as return policies and free shipping thresholds. This can overcome some of those possible objections.

SECOND, consider using social proof.

Make the customer feel absolutely sure about their purchase by including user-generated content such as product star ratings and customer testimonials. 

If they have hesitations due to customer service or product quality, this can help overcome them.

THIRD, convey a sense of urgency: 

Remind customers that products may not last long. 

Verbiage like, “Get them before they’re gone,” or “It’s not too late” can have a big impact on conversion rate.  

By combining these elements with standard cart content like product name, image, and price, you’ll have messages that reinforce why people should shop, you’ll build consumer confidence, engage their purchase emotions, and feed into their intent.  

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

This week, I talked about creating a welcome series that ignores outdated best practices and instead focuses on a new subscriber’s purchase intent. Let’s do a quick recap of the week. 

• Create a check to ensure the welcome series is being sent to new subscribers who have not recently purchased. Avoid sending the series to those who opted-in during the checkout process. All purchasers should be directed toward a post-purchase series.
• Create a personalized welcome series based on click-activity within the welcome message. These messages can be tailored to the specific categories of products that the new subscriber is showing interest in. After all, you don’t need to be sending anniversary and earring messages to those shopping for engagement rings.  
• Add text messages to your welcome series for your SMS subscribers and include it in the same workflow as your email series. SMS is a must-have channel and will allow would-be shoppers to return to your store via their preferred channel.
• Create as many messages as is necessary to introduce your products and build consumer confidence — For most brands, this will be 3 or 4 messages.
• Finally, send the welcome message immediately and the remainder of your series on consecutive days. 

We covered a lot this week, but over time, combining this week’s tips with last week’s will have your welcome series generating increased revenues faster than you can say sally sells seashells by the seashore 5 times real fast. 

Or something like that 

I’d love to see your welcome series, so be sure to share them with me on Twitter or Linkedin — or just let me know your brand name and I’ll sign up for them myself — and yes, I will click on them :) 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I’ll see you next time. Until then, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

Yesterday I talked about the importance of adding SMS to your welcome series. Today, let’s discuss the number of messages in your series and the timing of those messages.

FIRST, let’s talk about the number of messages. Have as many as needed to build consumer confidence and help guide their shopping journey. By going back to value-adds, product introductions, intent-driven messaging, and maybe an offer reminder email, my guess is that most brands will end up with either three or four messages. Don’t communicate more than you really need to

SECOND, let’s talk about when to send those messages. 

While there is no hard and fast rule, I direct you back to the topic of intent. If the goal is to guide the customer to purchase, which is their implied intent, wouldn’t it make sense to do that without delay? Here is my advice:

Send message 1 immediately. This is especially important if you offer a discount for signing up. Then send each subsequent message one day apart

Once you start sending, you can monitor your email metrics and see if you need to build in a one-day buffer. Ultimately, looking at your unsubscribe rates will give you an educated answer. 

One word of note: 

While it might be reasonable to expect slightly higher unsubscribe rates for a welcome series, as customers may sign up just to receive a discount or are exploring your brand, a sharp and drastic increase will be your tell-tale sign that you may need to add an “off day” in-between messages. 

Personally, I don’t think you will. 

So there you have it. Create as many messages as is necessary to guide a consumer down their initial path to purchase — likely 3 or 4 — and send one message each day.

It REALLY IS that easy.

Join me tomorrow where we bring it all together and wrap up our welcome series.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

Yesterday we talked about building a targeted, click-based welcome series. Today, let’s discuss the importance of adding SMS to your series. 

Last week I discussed the importance of collecting mobile numbers on your pop-up. Now that you are collecting them, it’s time to put them to use. 

For new subscribers who have chosen to receive text messages from your brand, it’s important to introduce them to your texts just like you do with your emails. Now, you may not need an entire set of text messages like you do with emails, but communicating via SMS IS important.

A great way to start is to send a welcome text just like you do with the welcome email. If you offer an incentive for singing up, provide it in the text as well. This way, if the shopper wants to return to your store later they have access to the promo code and a link via whichever channel they prefer at that time. 

A simple text like, “Welcome to the XYZ community. Here’s 10% off your first order.” may be all that’s needed. If you want to add a visual to the message, otherwise known as MMS — and I would in this case — you can use the same or similar image as in your welcome email.     

The company Black Halo sends an SMS welcome message and generates an earning per message of over $7. It’s all about the right message at the right time via the right channel. 

You may not need to add a text message after each email in your welcome series, but a reminder text after the last message to non-purchasers may be a good way to recapture their interest. 

Now adding SMS to your automated welcome workflow — it’s super easy and takes only a minute or two. But the best part is that all channels are in the same workflow, which makes it even easier to manage. 

Who would have thought adding SMS to your welcome series could be so easy, yet so effective. And that’s good news because in today’s ecom landscape, SMS is a must. More on this later.

Be sure to join me tomorrow where I’ll discuss the number and timing of your welcome messages.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

Yesterday we talked about making sure new, non-purchase email subscribers were the ones receiving the welcome series. Today, let’s continue the personalization theme by going back to the topic of intent. 

Remember last week when I said those traditional manage preference forms in a welcome series were outdated? After all, no one wants to interrupt their shopping journey to fill out forms. Well, if they don’t tell you their preferences, how would you ever know? 

Well, the answer is as old as email marketing itself — the click!

Think about all the things a click can tell you about their interests and intent. Did they click on the “men’s” or “women’s” product link? Did they click on earrings or engagement rings — kind of a big difference. Or maybe they clicked on the “gifts for her” link? What matters here is that each click tells you something about the shopper’s intent.

This type of user behavior is the modern-day preference center. You can use THIS information to determine the next messages the subscriber will receive. 

For instance, if they clicked on men’s shoes in the welcome message, make messages 2 and 3 focus on top-rated or customer-favorite men’s shoes along with a helpful sizing guide, and complete with star ratings and testimonials. 

For those engagement ring shoppers, maybe a series about how to choose the right diamond clarity and cut — you know, things that might HELP a shopper :) 

Creating a welcome series based on click activity will provide them with a more relevant and guided customer journey. 

Write down your primary categories of interest — like those in your nav bar — or other important links currently provided in your welcome message and start listing the content needed to make more specific messaging for each click, like top-rated products from that category, customer testimonials, and related education content—if there is any.  

Start with one split at a time and continue building as you go.

Setting up this automation is as easy as creating a couple of very simple segments or a couple of workflow split rules inside of your automated workflow itself. This can take as little as five minutes in the right marketing platform — like Omnisend!

That’s it. A modern-day preference center and welcome series that is focused on the subscribers’ immediate interests!

Tomorrow, I’ll be discussing the importance of SMS inside of a welcome series, so be sure to check back. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

This week is the second of two all about creating a revenue-driving welcome series, and I am going to focus on deeper, yet easy to execute, personalization tactics.  Today’s Monday, so let’s start out super easy — although, we are going to get a little nuts this week. 

For today, let’s talk about making sure our welcome series is for new email subscribers who are indeed in a purchase-intent mindset.

To do this, we need to check to see if they are a new subscriber AND customer, or just a new subscriber. After all, how many times have YOU signed up for emails during the checkout process? If you’re like me, tons.  

This one is pretty simple but important nonetheless. After all, you don’t want to send someone a message all about reasons they should buy from you moments after they actually bought from you. Instead, these customers should feed into a post-purchase series — that’s a whole other topic :)  

There are several ways to check the new subscriber’s status based on the email provider you’re using — although Omnisend is the best one. It can be a simple segment check within the automated workflow, or workflow rule itself. No matter how you perform the check, just make sure you have one and that you’re sending the welcome series only to new, non-purchase subscribers. 

Tomorrow, we’ll look at how to use your initial welcome message to have subscribers self-segment so that you can deliver a more personalized welcome series. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

This week, I talked about creating a welcome series that ignores outdated best practices and instead focuses on a new subscriber’s purchase intent. Let’s do a quick recap of the week. 

• When it comes to your welcome series, ditch the traditional best practices of manage preference forms, your life story, and social media invites. Instead, focus on the intent of the new subscriber. In most cases, that intent is to shop. Use your series to influence their purchase.
• Reinforce your value-adds such as free shipping and returns, product quality, satisfaction guarantees, extended return policies, or any other competitive differentiator in each of your messages. This holds true for all messages, not just your welcome series.  
• Introducing top-rated or customer favorite products to your new email subscribers can not only build consumer confidence but also guide them along their purchase journey.   
• Use customer testimonials in your emails — and even in a stand-alone email. Based on the content of the email itself, the testimonials could be about specific products or about the company and value-adds, such as product quality or exceptional customer service.

By doing this, you could have a welcome series that looks like this:

• A welcome message that welcomes the customer, highlights value-adds and introduces the top categories and new arrivals.
• A second message showcasing top-rated categories or products, complete with star ratings — all while reinforcing value-adds.
• A third message using customer testimonials about products and why the company is great to continue building consumer confidence — and, oh yeah, subtly reinforces those value-adds.

As you can see, we covered a lot in one week, but this is just the beginning. Join me next week where we will continue our welcome series discussion. Hey, you didn’t think I could get through it all in one week, did you?

I’d love to see your welcome series, so be sure to share them with me on Twitter or Linkedin — or just let me know your brand name and I’ll sign up for them myself. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. See you next week. Until then, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

Yesterday I talked about showcasing top-rated products in your welcome messages. Today, let’s expand upon that and talk about ways to use UGC, like customer testimonials.

Shoppers look at product reviews when deciding on a purchase. This includes star ratings and the written reviews themselves. Within these reviews, written testimonials can be powerful persuasion points. Including some of these inside your welcome messages will build confidence with your customers. Combined with your value-adds and product highlights, you have a strong chance of driving an email click and conversion.   

When it comes to using testimonials in your emails, there are a few ways you can go about this.

FIRST, You can use product-specific testimonials. These may be best used when focusing on specific top-rated categories or products of interest. 

SECOND, you can use testimonials that aren’t product-specific. These can include things like customers talking about shipping speed, easy returns, product fit or quality, and exceptional customer service. 

Now, where do you use these testimonials in your messages? Well, for me, everywhere! 

For those company or value-add testimonials, you can use them as secondary or tertiary content, kind of like a banner in your emails below your hero image. Because they are designed to build consumer confidence, they would really fit well in each of your messages. 

For those product-specific ones, showcase them in messages where you are highlighting top-rated categories or products. If you have more image-based emails, feel free to include them right into the image themselves.   

You can even use them as the basis for their own message. Something like “what our customers have to say about us” or “why our customers think about our products.”

As you can see, what we are doing is building out messages with content we already have that instills consumer confidence and caters to shoppers’ intent. How you combine them and layer them doesn’t matter quite as much as the fact you are using them. 

Your goal for today is to isolate three customer testimonials based on products and three based on your company or value-adds.

Join me tomorrow where we bring it all together, and tune in next week as I will continue our welcome series conversation with topics like send cadence and ways to make your series even more personalized and effective. 

Trust me; you won’t want to miss it. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

Yesterday we talked about building out your first welcome message by focusing on your brand value-adds and customer intent. Today, it’s the first of two tips around using user-generated content, or UGC, in your welcome series emails.

When people first hear UGC they immediately think about social media. Not today. Instead, I want to focus on reviews of your top-rated products. You’ve likely been collecting product reviews from past customers — and these are a form of social proof. And because they are focused on top-rated products, we know people are saying great things!

In a welcome series, brands should be actively promoting these products to their new subscribers. Remember, they’re likely new to your brand. Help guide them toward your customers’ favorite products.

You can introduce these customer favorites in the welcome message itself, but they also serve as great stand-alone content for your second message. 

If you don’t know specific information about your new subscriber, introduce top products from multiple categories. This can wield a whole new level of data and personalization — more on that next week. 

So for your second message, include these top products — complete with star ratings in your messages to help influence purchases. After all, people are persuaded by others. 

— Just don’t forget to also reinforce your value-adds in these messages.  

Your homework today is to find 3 top-rated products from 4 of your primary categories. If you have fewer main categories, that’s OK — focus on those.   

There you have it, all the content you need to create a second, intent-focused welcome series message that helps guide your new subscriber along their purchase journey. 

Be sure to join me tomorrow, where I’ll discuss ways to use those customer testimonials to power your welcome series — and beyond.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome to another episode of Omnisend’s daily tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less we’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

Yesterday we talked about traditional welcome series best practices and how the lack of focus on customer intent may be limiting your sale potential. Today, we’re going to talk about optimizing your messages by catering to that intent!

To turn a new subscriber into a customer, you need to understand not only their intent but what matters to them at this stage. After all, they’re most likely new to your brand. 

In your welcome messaging, communicate reasons they should feel comfortable buying from you. These might include things like:

1. Friendly return policies
2. Satisfaction guarantees
3. Price and speed of shipping
4. Product quality or fit
5. And maybe even brand ethos — IF it is truly a differentiator 

These can be communicated in your email header, in the body of the email, 

in your hero image, in a recovery banner, or wherever. You get the idea.

It doesn’t matter where you put them, as long as they’re visible to the new subscriber.  

Take a moment when you’re finished with today’s tip and write down your brand’s value-adds and competitive differentiators.

Now that you know which value-adds to reinforce in your messaging, it’s time to build your messages.

• For message 1, it’s not an email introduction but also a step in their purchase journey. 
• Welcome the new subscriber. If you offer an incentive, provide it here. 
• Use nice imagery that reinforces your brand. 
• Highlight some of your products or categories. 
• And most importantly, remember that the goal is to generate a sale — be sure to include a call to action.

Promoting this value-add-driven content should be the guiding light for your welcome series. The trick is to not overthink your messages and help the subscribers make a purchase decision. 

By reframing your welcome series approach from “let me tell you about me” to “This is why it is a great decision to be our customer,” you can increase your welcome series revenue.

So your homework today is to write down your company value-adds and competitive differentiator and include them in your messages. Remember, these can be promoted in all your emails, not just your welcome series.

Tomorrow, I’ll be discussing how to build out the remainder of your welcome series with intent-driven content you probably already have lying around but just aren’t using to its potential. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and make you better marketers. 

This week is the first of two all about creating a revenue-driving welcome series. Today, let’s talk about outdated welcome series best practices and what you should REALLY be thinking about.

First, a quick welcome series refresher. A welcome series is an automated set of messages a company sends to brand new email subscribers. 

For example, Mary visits your website and is presented with a pop-up asking her to subscribe to receive emails. When Mary submits her email address, that triggers a series of automated messages to be sent to her. This is the welcome series.

These messages see a conversion rate nearly 2800% better than scheduled promotional emails and they’re responsible for 40% of automated email orders.

So maximizing your welcome series revenue is kind of a smart thing.

What holds many brands back from doing this is actually best practices!

With traditional best practices, these messages inform the subscriber about the brand, such as with a founder story, introduce the brand’s social networks, and ask them to manage their preferences. 

These “best practices” are outdated and limit your sales potential.

Now, why is that? Because they ignore the intent of the new subscriber.  

The most important question you need to ask yourself is, “what is the intention of the customer who just signed up?”  

Did they sign up for your emails in order to learn about the founder’s story, because they couldn’t find your social networks, or because they really really wanted to fill out a form about their interests? 

Of course not.

Their likely intention is to make a purchase — with you or with someone else.  

Understanding this purchase intent will help you create a welcome series that not only connects with your audience but guides them along their path to purchase.

So today, look at your welcome series messages and see if they cater to the INTENT of your new subscribers.

Tomorrow, we’ll start building out a welcome series focused on customer intent, so be sure to check back. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series, Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Until next time, happy marketing!