Did you know that 25% of the people who never open your emails will be among the top 10% of your customers? – Email Experience Council
In a recent BtoB Magazine Online post Karen Bannan says, “transactional messages can help you reach out to new or current customers to help build brand awareness and even create new sales.” Her article “Tips for Transactional Email” contains a multitude of reminders of how impactful email can be for building customer relationships. It also highlights all the wonderful benefits of relevancy and timeliness when communicating with customers.
- But what if the customer’s email address isn’t accurate?
- What if, the client gives you an email address they never check? (We all know that many people have a “junk” email account that they don’t check all that often.)
- What if, your email gets caught in a spam filter and the customer never receives it?
With new advances in email and printing automation technology, there are ways to make sure your transactional marketing (transpromo) stays at the top of its game by using a multi-channel approach. Here are a couple of ideas to get you thinking:
- Based on the value of the customer, if the email hard bounces you send a direct mail piece to present the information and great offers they missed in the email. You also provide an easy way to collect the correct email address, usually via a landing page or Personalized URL. This landing page is also a great place to ask their preference for all types of transpromo communications.
- You can define engagement rules to know when you should communicate via a different channel. A couple of examples:
- If the email isn’t opened within seven days, a mail piece is triggered.
- If three transactional emails are not opened, a text message or direct mail piece is triggered.
It is important to remember that the goal of the utilizing alternate channels is not just to sell more, but to get the customer to engage with the channel that’s right for them. Email Experience Council research states that 85% of the people on your email list will stop reading your emails without unsubscribing after the third message your company sends to them. How are you going to re-engage them?
Derek Harding, CEO of Innovyx, Omnicom Group’s interactive arm states, “If someone has just made a purchase, you absolutely must try and keep that dialogue going.” The way I see it, that means utilizing every channel at your disposal to serve and engage your customer.
A special thanks for Karen Bannan for her thoughtful article on transactional email. You can read it here.
