Email programs that engage and deepen subscriber relationships do more than promote a product or service. These programs help subscribers navigate key “moments of truth.”
A moment of truth is a key point in the relationship of the subscriber with a company. If a client has a good experience during these moments, subscribers will be more likely to deepen their relationship with the company, driving a future purchase or upgrade. If not, the relationship is likely to suffer.
At each moment of truth, you as a marketer have the opportunity to anticipate your subscriber’s needs and provide critical information to help improve their experience. The key is knowing when moments of truth are likely to occur, and building an email program to support them.
Of course, specific moments of truth will vary by company and product/service class being supported. In general, moments of truth will include things like:
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Let’s take a look at how email could be helpful in each stage.
Evaluating the product
Your customer is evaluating a purchase decision. You can tell because he/she visits your website repeatedly for a product, product category, service, or service feature.
New-to-market customers may have a certain amount of angst about making a wrong choice. They may worry that once they’ve made the purchase, they won’t be able to use product or service or that it won’t really fit their purpose. The following types of information could be useful:
A more experienced consumer will have different needs. For “freemium” service offerings, they will need to understand whether the incremental functionality in the premium offering is really worth the additional fees. For many products, they will need to understand how this offering is better than the competition, what is new, or how this solves a specific problem. For these clients, the following set of messaging could be useful:
Onboarding and welcome
Customers who buy a physical product may be anxious about the status of their order, worried that they paid too much, or concerned that they bought the wrong product.
For these clients, you can provide:
Use and “go live”
Once clients have purchased a product or service, they’ll want to make sure they are able to use it. To make this easier, you can send the following kinds of messaging:
Replenish and renew
Expendable products need to be replenished, and clients need help remembering to re-order these products. Other physical goods may have a longer lifespan, but buyers will want a new version because it is out of style or something better is now available. Software licenses and subscriptions need to be renewed.
This “renewal” area is one where I see many marketing programs focus their efforts.
Example messaging could include:
This is just a partial listing. What are your favorite message types for your customers’ key moments of truth?