As you’re gaining more and more customers for your ecommerce brand, don’t forget the person behind each sale.
Lifecycle emails meet customers’ needs throughout their journey with your brand.
“Eighty-one percent of SMBs still rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel and 80% for customer retention”.
(Shout out to Emarsys for the stat. 🙌🏾)
The emails can help increase engagement, sell more products (without discounts), engage new subscribers, and re-engage subscribers who cancel.
And, most importantly, build the essential know, like, and trust.
You can start with the five stages of the buyer’s journey.
You’ll find many variations of this journey. But they’re all based on the five stages of customer awareness Eugene Schwartz details in his copywriting classic “Breakthrough Advertising.”
I’m an alliteration fan, so I’ve adapted it into the 5 A’s.
- Awareness: Your target audience discovers your brand and what you offer.
- Attraction: Consumers want to learn more about your products or services.
- Acquisition: Shoppers decide it’s time to buy from your brand for the first time.
- Accommodation: You provide relevant, timely messaging for your customers.
- Advocacy: Customers become raving fans of your brand and tell everyone.
As you set goals for your flows and plan your email content, keep in mind what happens at each stage of the buyer’s journey.
And then, identify precisely what your customers need to hear from you.
(Talk to your customers, not AT them.)
But to send them relevant content . . .
You must KNOW your customers.
Get to know your customers by talking to them (yup, hop on a few calls). And send strategic surveys to specific segments of buyers.
Also, read your reviews and feedback (the good and the bad). Then, use those insights and first-party data to give customers the support they need from your brand.
Here are examples of the types of ideal content for each stage:
→ Awareness: Your audience becomes aware of your brand via ads, social media content, search engine results, or word of mouth.
→ Attraction: Your attraction stage audience looks for reviews, videos, social media posts, or user-generated content (UGC) to assure they’re making the right decision.
→ Acquisition: Your prospect is ready to buy. And they’re looking for UGC, videos, tutorials, or promotions, depending on your offer.
→ Accommodation: Your new customer needs nurturing content, product recommendations, and subscribe and save offers if it fits your business model.
→ Advocacy: Your customer is a repeat shopper. And now is the time for VIP offers, reward programs, special events, or sneak peeks at new items.
And remember, these are suggestions. The content your audience needs depends on your sales cycle, your industry, and your audience.
The bottom line is to — give subscribers relevant content to guide them to the next logical step in the buyer’s journey.
As a result, sending the right message at the right time is no longer a marketing buzzword. (It becomes your brand’s reality.)
And you’ll attract and retain shoppers eager to buy from you again and again.
Not sure which flows to set up?
Start with these crucial automations:
- Welcome
- Browse Abandonment
- Abandoned Cart
- Post-Purchase
- Repeat Customer
- VIP Customer
- Winback
And if you don’t have the team to do them all right now, start with the welcome, abandoned cart, and post-purchase flows. Then, add the rest later.
(The sooner, the better.)
Stick around. I’ll share more about these flows and other lifecycle emails. And show you how to optimize them to create an exceptional customer experience.