I’ve been sharing my personal Top 5 Lists featuring different essential email programs over the past several weeks. I’ve put the spotlight on welcome emails and holiday guides so far. Today, I’m wrapping up the Top 5 series with a focus on the best triggered email of 2018! Keep reading to find out how to win with these triggered email strategies.

What is triggered email?

A triggered email is any email campaign that is sent in response to a subscriber action, behavior, or event.

For instance:

“A subscriber just signed up online; send them the online signup welcome campaign.” – WEBSITE ACTIVITY BASED –

“Your customer’s birthday is today; send them a birthday campaign.” – DATE BASED –

“If your subscriber clicked on a featured product but didn’t purchase, send a follow up.” – EMAIL ACTIVITY BASED –

Triggered email campaigns are beautiful in their effectiveness. These automated emails enjoy 90% higher click through rates and 624% higher conversion rates for the same number of sends as compared to traditional broadcast emails.

All that to say, triggered email is the most timely and relevant messaging in an email marketer’s toolkit. Here are five brands that are knocking triggered email out of the park, along with recommendations you can use to replicate their success!

Erica’s Top 5 Triggered Email Campaigns of 2018

Stitch Fix Miss You

Why is this top 5 material?

Clean and simple design with a compelling “win-back” offer.

Why it delighted me:

I’m not sure how long it had been since I’d scheduled a “Fix” when they sent this to me, but I can tell you that Stitch Fix hooked me with the subject line “We’ve dropped your styling fee” as opposed to shouting “Where you been, E?” or “We noticed you haven’t shopped for a while…” By positioning the value they wanted to offer, I was way more likely to open the email.

What could make it even better?

I love the simplicity of this campaign strategy, but if I was going to do one thing more, I’d include a call to action to provide feedback. If I haven’t shopped for a while, WHY? Is it just the $20 styling fee, or did the stylist miss the mark last time? Am I on a tight budget? Maybe I won’t shop today, but by asking me WHY, Stitch Fix can send more targeted and relevant offers to me in the future while also increasing their knowledge about common “Fix Skip” reasons.

Make it work for you:

Do you track the last time a customer placed an order? A “Miss You” or “Win Back” campaign is a terrific way to remain top of mind and relevant to your customers. Design a purchase incentive to drive the kinds of repeat sales you want, OR implement a feedback mechanism to identify common reasons your customers aren’t shopping as regularly as you’d like.

Native Deodorant Order Confirmation

Why is this Top 5 material?

You know an email is good when your friend, who knows you nerd out about this stuff, forwards you HER order confirmation email.

Why it delighted me:

The “day in the office” storytelling is soooo good. “When we’re done exchanging high fives, we’ll send you tracking information…”

What could make it even better?

You can’t see it from the image I shared, but order details are also included (what was ordered, where it will ship, order total, etc.).  Including the projected arrival date would be a nice added touch.

Make it work for you:

Is your order confirmation triggered email all that it could be? Order confirmation emails are one of the most-opened and most-saved emails around. Take a look at yours from a customer perspective. See if there are ways to incorporate storytelling and your brand personality. This way, you can get the customer THAT MUCH MORE excited about their recent purchase.

Shades of Light “Abandoned Cart”

Why is this Top 5 material?

This is textbook execution of abandoned cart triggered email – positioning customer service contact info prominently and making it easy for me to access my cart again to check out.

Why it delighted me:

I know my inner consumer really wants a pricing incentive on these products, but I give kudos to Shades of Light for not leveraging a discount to get me to complete my purchase.

What could make it even better?

I’d bring the product imagery higher in the email content. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have remembered that I was on the “Shades of Light” website. I DID recognize these awesome mid-mod round light fixtures!

Make it work for you:

Position your customer service contact info prominently in a cart abandonment triggered email so that your customer has easy ways to get in touch with a human being if they left the cart because of tech issues. More important than that, make it simple and straightforward for your customer to re-access their cart and complete the order.

Carter’s Shipment Confirmation

Why is this Top 5 material?

The integrated live tracking graphic at the top is the BOMB. This triggered email leverages a shipping status plugin to update in real(ish) time. I can open the email and at a glance understand where my order is at! Very impressive.

Why it delighted me:

Apart from the already-mentioned shipping graphic, I love that they show images of the products I purchased and use a playful and excited tone of voice to reinforce my purchase decision. The closing line, “We hope your kiddos love it!” is icing on the cake.

What could make it even better?

I’d probably try and get some product imagery higher in the email. That could be accomplished by moving the “Rewarding Moments” content to the bottom or by using a more product-based hero image at the top. If I’m buying something from Carters, I probably want to see cute kids wearing Carters in the email.

Make it work for you:

Research dynamic integrated tools to make your shipment confirmation email simple to read and to minimize the number of clicks a customer needs to make in order to get the info they need. Many businesses aren’t taking full advantage of the functionality of their existing ecommerce solution automation tools. Don’t be one of those guys!

Chubbies birthday

Why is this Top 5 material?

You know the saying “A picture paints a thousand words?” I’m just going to let these pictures explain why this email was the most delightful email I received in 2018.

Make it work for you:

Not every email needs to have an ulterior motive. Chubbies goes above and beyond to create a birthday triggered email that it would take a machine not to laugh out loud over. They give me a birthday incentive, but it’s not the first thing they talk about, and it isn’t huge in the copy.

Chubbies would rather make me laugh on my birthday than take some of my money, and that is a good feeling.

Think of ways that you can create a moment of customer delight, sheerly for their benefit. The brands that do this, win.

Summin’ it up

You’ve seen a wide spectrum of triggered email campaigns in this round-up post. Where do you go from here?

Ask yourself “What data do I have?” Then ask the question, “What can I do with this data to drive towards the business goals, reinforce brand position, and create moments of delight for our customers?” This simple exercise, done at least annually, will yield exceptional results for your customer experience and therefore, the bottom line.

Have questions about triggered email? Ask in the comments below. Ready to implement these programs, but worried you could end up on an “Email Automation Gone Wrong” blog post? Download my Automation Gone Wrong Bundle (it’s FREE!) and you’ll be right as rain!