• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, August 16, 2016

According to a recent survey by IBM and eConsultancy, only 21% of consumers consider communications from the average retailer “usually relevant.” Another survey by the E-tailing Group revealed that about half of consumers purchase more from retailers that use their interests and purchase behavior to personalize their experience. Furthermore, 53% of consumers said they spend more with brands that make website product recommendations based on browsing or buying behaviors.

The study, based on 24 billion emails deployed in 2015 using the cross-channel marketing communication platform within Yes Lifecycle Marketing, and in-depth analysis of 12 types of triggered messages, provides insights into their performance, from open rates to conversions and revenue.

Developing relevant communications is crucial for the success of any marketing plan, says the report, and one of the most effective and low-cost ways to tackle this challenge and deliver timely and relevant communications is by implementing triggered messages

A quick look at the kind of messages that make up effective email marketing programs evaluates “business as usual” messages, and then “triggered messages…”

Business as Usual (BAU) Messages: These campaigns drive the main dialogue with your audience and are often promotional in nature, generating the bulk of email-driven revenue for many ecommerce brands. Their primary goal is to generate sales, promote discounts and exclusive offers, as well as highlight new products and services.

Typical Business as Usual Communications (BAU)

• Promotional
• Brand/Product News
• Newsletter
• Refer a friend

 BAU messages and triggered campaigns help build a balanced email marketing program and deliver a robust customer experience, says the report. Most marketers focus almost exclusively on base communications, especially promotional messages, because of their role as primary revenue-drivers. This often means that prioritizing and implementing triggered campaigns becomes a low priority which costs marketers major opportunities to drive engagement, loyalty, and consistent revenue.

Triggered Messages: these campaigns are automated to varying degrees depending on a brand’s level of technology adoption and integration. They are the most relevant and timely communications marketers can deliver to their subscribers because they are informed by specific consumer actions or data, and deployed within a set timeframe. Triggered messages are designed to elicit an immediate response. 

Triggered Communications

Lifecycle

   Welcome

   Onboarding

   Activation

   Milestones

   Survey/Polls

Remarketing

   Abandoned Cart

   Browse Abandon

Transactional

   Order Confirmation

   Shipping

   Confirmation

   Backorder

   Return/Refund

   Account Updates

Real-Time

   Weather Triggers

   Sports &

   Event Triggers

   Location Triggers

As email open and click rates decrease year-over-year, it becomes increasingly difficult for marketers to effectively engage consumers. Triggered emails take on this challenge head on because they:

• Are relevant (they respond to a specific action taken by the consumer)
• Are timely (they immediately follow that action)
• Demonstrate knowledge of and interest in consumers’ actions
• Invite interaction between the brand and the consumer

Triggered campaigns play an instrumental role in email marketing programs because their relevance tends to maintain the audience consistently engaged and opening all brand emails, including business-as-usual ones. The report shows the kind of performance triggered campaigns generate.

-       Proportion: While they are extremely important for developing effective marketing programs, triggered messages make up a very small portion of a brand’s email volume. In fact, only 2% of all emails sent in 2015 were triggered and yet, they generated 4% of all email opens and 9% of all unique clicks.

-       Engagement: What’s impressive about triggered campaigns, says the report, is the remarkable engagement they drive. On average, across all of 2015, triggered messages generated double the open rate of BAU campaigns, twice their click-to open rate, and more than 4 times their unique click rate.

-       Revenue: Engagement in the form of opens and clicks, while valuable, won’t achieve the year-end objectives marketers are striving to accomplish. While they comprise only 2% of all email volume, triggered messages generate 10% of email-driven revenue and 10% of email-driven orders.

Triggered campaigns use a variety of different data points to deploy a message. For example, welcome emails are informed by the date/time a subscriber first opted into a marketer’s mailing program; abandoned cart emails are sent if a consumer does not complete her purchase after she’s placed an item in her shopping cart; birthday emails use date of birth as the message trigger, and so on. Moreover, the same data point can often be used for a number of different triggered messages that help keep subscribers engaged. Triggered campaigns generally fall under the following broad categories:

• Lifecycle triggers: these messages speak to a customer’s current relationship with the brand and are tailored to the particular stage of her lifecycle – from a new subscriber, to regular opener, first-time purchaser, or a lapsed buyer. Lifecycle triggers include welcome, anniversary, activation, reactivation, birthday, loyalty campaigns, and more.
• Transactional triggers: the primary purpose of these emails is to notify consumers of movement on their accounts. Due to off-the-charts open rates, transactional triggers present a major opportunity for marketers to build brand loyalty. They include purchase/shipping confirmations, account notifications, returns, refunds, backorder notifications, and more.
• Remarketing triggers: These campaigns are designed to grow email revenue exponentially and are largely informed by consumers’ purchase and browse behavior. They include abandoned cart, browse abandon, cross-sell/product recommendation emails and more.
• Real-time triggers: these emails can either fall under another trigger category or stand on their own. They incorporate additional data points like location, weather, or events to make communications relevant. This trigger category is generally not as widely adopted as the other three.

Despite the versatility of triggered messages and their remarkable performance, many brands are using only the most basic triggers as part of their mailing programs. As email open and click rates decrease year-over-year, it becomes increasingly difficult for marketers to effectively engage consumers. Triggered emails take on this challenge because they:

• Are relevant (they respond to a specific action taken by the consumer)
• Are timely (they immediately follow that action)
• Demonstrate knowledge of and interest in consumers’ actions - invite interaction between the brand and the consumer

Triggered campaigns play an instrumental role in email marketing programs because their relevance tends to maintain the audience consistently engaged and opening all brand emails, including business-as-usual ones.

• Proportion: While they are extremely important for developing effective marketing programs, triggered messages make up a very small portion of a brand’s email volume. In fact, only 2% of all emails sent in 2015 were triggered and yet, they generated 4% of all email opens and 9% of all unique clicks.
• Engagement: What’s even more impressive about triggered campaigns is the remarkable engagement they drive. On average, across all of 2015, triggered messages generated double the open rate of BAU campaigns, twice their click-to open rate, and more than 4 times their unique click rate.
• Revenue: Engagement in the form of opens and clicks, while valuable, won’t achieve the year-end objectives marketers are striving to accomplish. Those require revenue. Triggered campaigns deliver yet again. While they comprise only 2% of all email volume, triggered messages generate 10% of email-driven revenue and 10% of email-driven orders. 

To review the complete report from YesMail, including type of campaigns and performance, please visit here for access.