Win at Website Optimization: The Power of The Follow-Up Email
Mar 25th, 2009 by Rich Page
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So, you may have just got a sale or a lead from your website. Great job. So you simply move on to getting the next new set of visitors to your website in order to convert these too, right? Well, actually, there is a better thing to focus on to optimize your website further - one of the easiest ways to generate more sales or leads is to actually build up a relationship with the last person you just converted. The best way to builld this relationship is by maximizing the usage of the emails you are already sending out to your new customers. And surprisingly few web companies do a good job email follow-up - leaving you with lots of potential to beat your competitors!
So for this next in my series of ‘Win at Website Optimization’, I have created a list of great email tips that you should follow in order to increase the chances of someone ordering from or visiting your site again:
Basic Email Auto Follow-Up Tips:
- Immediately send a confirmation email informing them of their purchase or signup (this should be automated). This email should include any necessary support details (email and phone) and login information.
- In this first confirmation auto email, also include clear expectations of what the next steps are going to be in the ordering/shipping process. This helps reduce order anxiety.
- Always send another auto email as soon as the product has been shipped, or the service has commenced, and provide website links so they can check their order status at anytime.
- Just in case the visitor wasn’t quite sure about their purchase or what they just signed up for, always provide them with a get out of jail offer - the auto confirmation email should show the refund policy, and ideally offer at least a 24 hour refund guarantee.
- If the product or service they have purchased requires any vague understanding of how to use it, or how to get started, automatically send them another ‘here’s how to get started’ email.
- A month or so later, auto email the visitor a coupon for a discount off their next purchase or signup. This will increase the chances of them coming back and ordering again.
- Once every few months (not too often though, as it would annoy them), you should auto send an email that informs the user of any hot new products/ services, and latest site news. This helps engage the user further. Always provide clear unsubscription links too - otherwise you are technically spamming them.
It’s actually pretty easy to send these simple auto follow-up emails too - if you aren’t already using AWeber, a simple, but great email autoresponder tool, I suggest you sign up now and follow the tips above. But if you want to get a little more cutting edge, and you have a slightly bigger budget to develop or purchase a more advanced email auto follow-up tool, then try out some of these tips below:
Advanced Auto Email Follow-Up Tips
- If possible, depending on what they have just purchased or signed up for, automatically put them into a different email marketing segment, and send them targeted emails showing them other products/ services that relate better to what they just purchased or signed up for. This will increase the chances of the recipients engaging with your site again.
- Some email marketing tools enable you to send auto emails to visitors who abandon your checkout flow before purchasing. This way, you automatically ask them if there was anything you can do to help them complete their purchase, or offer a further incentive to buy. This has been proven to work very well for rescuing abandoned shopping carts.
- If possible, send an auto email if a user hasn’t logged into your site for over 2 or 3 months, reminding them they haven’t been back for a while. Include an update of what’s happened since then in this auto email too, and encourage them come back to your website.
So come on. Start putting your email marketing system to work. By using tips like these above, you will definitely help improve the success of your website! And if anyone else has any other great tips that work well for getting the most out of follow-up emails, please reply so we can discuss!
This is a good list Rich! The bottom-line is the anxiety that goes along with the purchase. As you mentioned, a clearly defined path of what is next is always helpful to the customer. Here are some tips/ideas that we have discovered that seem to decrease anxiety for our customers:
1. Make sure you clearly state whether or not you ship to APO/FPO addresses.
2. Include a tracking link so the customer can see exactly when their order will arrive.
3. Include the expected arrival date on the shipping confirmation email.
4. Give your customers the ability to write a review about the product they just ordered in the post-purchase emails. We do this 10 days out…
5. This is a hard one, but depending on your ERP system, give the customer the ability to bundle orders. This helps them save money on shipping.
Great site! I am loving it!! Will come back again - taking your feeds also, Thanks.