It takes a lot of money and resources to design an online marketing campaign that successfully generates traffic on your eCommerce site. A strong online campaign will, undoubtedly attract large crowds to its respective website, but statistics show that many of the visitors generally leave the site without making any purchases. According to recent survey and study reports, most visitors are genuinely interested in the products as they do spend time navigating through the sites, however, more times than not, they aren’t prepared to buy items on the spot. They often push the idea for ‘some other time’ in the future.

Is there a way to get these potential buyers to revisit your site and make faster sales?

The answer is YES! There are proven methods that can get those genuinely interested visitors to return to your site through automated email marketing. Let’s find out how to make the best out of your email remarketing campaigns.

Real-time Automated Email Marketing on a 1-1 basis

Many potential buyers reach for the ‘cart’ while they are just online window shopping. They check the overall cost including offers and discounts and then abandon the cart, hoping to return some other time. That moment is your opportunity to re-engage that shopper by setting an automated email marketing trigger – an email shot to the potential buyer within minutes after they abandon a filled cart. This email has to approach the visitors on a 1-1 basis (a personal touch) and needs to create more of an impact than the batch of advertising emails that they receive on a weekly to monthly basis.

The ‘trigger’ approach for email remarketing works well when used as a real-time interaction. It needs to come across as a follow-up carrying a personal touch.

Follow-ups can be highly effective when done in the following sequence:

1. Trigger the first email within minutes after a cart is abandoned, or when the visitors browse through a section of products and leave midway.
2. Trigger the next follow-up email within 23 hours from the time a visitor leaves the site.
3. Trigger a third reminder email within 6 days from the last visit.

The sequence and timings are based on various studies conducted on a large scale of consumers. Sticking to this schedule of automated email marketing reminders is very effective; however, you can also try alternate durations for reaching out to your potential buyers. Make sure the email provides a few details of the items in which the visitors were interested in.

Monitoring real-time activities

Conducting active follow-ups can boost sales, but the follow-ups must be aligned and synchronized with real-time activities. Few customers might return to the site before any automated email marketing reaches them. And chances are, they might even make purchases by the time your follow-up email makes it to their mailbox. In such situations, you might end up annoying a customer. Sometimes, your emails may carry promotional offers, which would not be available on the site, to lure visitors back. Imagine a customer coming across such offers after they have made a purchase. They’d feel cheated. They might even complain and ask for refunds. So, it is extremely important to set email triggers aligned with real-time monitoring of visitor activities.

If your monitoring system is unable to get data on a real-time basis, avoid setting up automated email marketing that’s very ‘personalized’. Instead, stick to the regular batch of general advertisement emails until you upgrade your monitoring systems.

Also, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the amount of follow-ups sent, avoid sending them in abundance. You might irritate visitors, making them click the unsubscribe option. This could lead to a huge loss of potential customers. The idea of email remarketing programs is to keep visitors interested and attracted. But if the program is not handled well, it can backfire and cause damage to your promotional campaigns.

Get the ‘personalized’ part right

There are many automated email marketing services that work too aggressively to promote the brand, products, and services. Online consumers often term these campaigns as creepy and annoying.

However, there are other remarketing campaigns that have boosted the brand’s business by attracting major traffic and increasing sales conversions. So what is done differently here?

The ‘Buy Right NOW’ attitude doesn’t work with the majority of consumers. Your follow-ups/reminders have to feel like gentle nudges, given in well-timed durations. This attitude develops the impression that your brand is interested in smart approaches rather than aggressive pushes. It’s all about ‘being friendly.’ In email remarketing, some companies include direct links to abandoned carts – an easy way to trace back the products in which a visitor was interested during the first visit. Important items of the abandoned cart are highlighted with bigger and attractive images, and the email also provides additional promotional offers. This appeals and encourages consumers to think more seriously about buying likable products.

Automated email marketing programs need to be designed in a way that is different from the batch carrying regular advertisements. Your audience for the email remarketing campaign is already interested in your line of products. So, your emails have to do the job of just adding spotlights on these desired products. Adding brief product details, descriptions, and a few testimonials from happy customers can do the trick. With more information in hand, visitors would give more thought to the items left in the cart and more likely than not, come back to the site.

Your focus should be on your approach and methods. The design of your remarketing emails, the timing you choose for sending them, and investing in real-time monitoring of visitors are components that make a real difference. If handled well, the email marketing program will not only boost your sales but also promote the brand quite efficiently.

If you think an automated email marketing service can help boost your sales, reach out to us and we’ll help you get started 🙂