Never underestimate the power of email marketing. While it may not be as trendy as viral social media marketing, it’s an incredibly effective way to keep your audience engaged and informed.
Many brands focus their email marketing strategy on building trust and turning first-time leads into customers. However, it’s just as important to maintain your relationships with customers after they make a purchase. With post-purchase email campaigns, you capitalize on the excitement of your new customers to keep them coming back.
Creating a successful post-purchase email campaign requires a strategic approach. Here are our essential tips for building effective post-purchase email marketing campaigns, as well as incorporating strategic Bitly Links.
What is post-purchase engagement?
Post-purchase engagement is communication with a customer in the critical time right after they’ve made a purchase. For an e-commerce business, post-purchase engagement typically happens right after the customer places an order or after delivering the order, and it’s essential for long-term customer retention. About 90% of consumers say that their experience with a company is just as important as the products or services they’re receiving.
Right after a customer makes a purchase, your brand will be top of mind for them. This is a make-or-break moment that can help you turn a single purchase into a loyal following. It’s an opportunity to show you value your customers and create a positive experience for them.
There are several different types of post-purchase emails. Some post-purchase emails are purely utilitarian, such as order confirmation emails with essential shipping details. Others focus more on relationship building. You might send a review request email to collect feedback about the experience or even offer a special deal on future purchases.
How to create a post-purchase email marketing strategy
It’s important to start designing your post-purchase email campaigns well before a customer makes their first purchase. Here’s how to create a post-purchase email flow to maximize customer engagement and boost your brand reputation.
1. Define your post-purchase goals
First, decide what you’d like to accomplish with your post-purchase goals. This will vary depending on the products you sell and your individual customer lifecycles. You might want to encourage a future purchase, collect customer feedback, or enhance the overall customer experience.
You could also use gamification in loyalty programs to encourage engagement and continued purchases or encourage customers to follow you on social media. These goals will inform the types of emails you send as well as the language you use in each email.
When setting goals, try to be as specific as possible. Additionally, opt for goals where you can easily track your progress. You might set a goal to increase repeat purchase rates by 30% within six months of launching your post-purchase email strategy.
Trackable links make it easy to monitor your progress as you launch a post-purchase campaign. If your goal is to increase repeat purchases, you can include a short Bitly link in your emails to your e-commerce site. You can then monitor the traffic from each link to your website to track your progress.
2. Segment your customer base
Many consumers appreciate when brands take a personalized approach to their communications. In fact, companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue than average.
One way to do this is to break your email list into customer segments. For example, you can send different emails based on a customer’s purchase history, so long-term, loyal customers would receive a different follow-up email than new customers.
You can also segment your email list based on demographics, customer interests, and any other available information. For large, international e-commerce brands, segmenting based on location or even product type can help make the post-purchase experience feel a little more personal.
With Bitly Campaigns, you can track the performance of each segment with custom links. This will show you which email segments have the best open rates and are most likely to continue engaging with your brand. With this information, you can adjust your future marketing campaigns and further personalize your communications.
3. Craft your email content
The next step is to craft the body of your email, including your trackable links. When writing your post-purchase emails, your brand voice should be present throughout. You’ll also need an informative and attention-grabbing subject line. However, the exact structure of your email will vary depending on the function and goals of the message.
If you’re sending a shipping confirmation email, keep things simple and to the point. While this can be an opportunity to upsell or build customer loyalty, your customers might feel turned off by a message that’s too overtly salesy.
Other types of post-purchase emails, like feedback requests, can be more personal and focus on your gratitude for the customer. Cross-selling emails can also take a more personalized approach, focusing on the benefits of purchasing another product or service. When possible, cross-selling emails should focus on offerings that directly relate to the product the customer has already purchased.
4. Design engaging email layouts
Great copy is just one part of an effective post-purchase message. An aesthetically pleasing and engaging layout is equally important. Most importantly, your email design should be clean and easy to read while still reflecting your brand’s visual identity. If you’re not sure where to start, many email software programs have professional templates available.
Many of today’s consumers read emails on their phones rather than desktop computers. Sixty-one percent of people check their email primarily on mobile devices. Because of this, it’s essential for your emails to be mobile-friendly.
You can use tracking links to determine which touchpoints are generating the most engagement. Link trackers provide helpful insights about email engagement, which you can use to further customize future campaigns.
5. Automate and personalize email communications
Time is of the essence when sending a post-purchase email. With email automation tools, you can ensure that customers receive your message soon after their purchase and hold their attention. Email automation tools can also help you personalize your email messages by adding the customer’s name or even sharing custom product recommendations based on past purchases.
As your customer base grows, automation will be necessary to ensure that customers receive their post-purchase emails on time. Bitly’s trackable links and analytics tools can help you further refine your email schedule. With Bitly Analytics, you can see when users are tapping on your email links, helping you determine the best delivery dates and times for the future.
6. Test and optimize your emails
Ongoing optimization is necessary for developing email campaigns that truly resonate with your customers. A/B testing can help you identify which email components resonate with your audience most.
With A/B testing, you’ll test two different versions of the same email with a small subset of your audience. A/B testing typically focuses on one element of the email at a time, such as the subject line, color scheme, or call to action.
Key elements of successful post-purchase engagement email marketing campaigns
The best post-purchase emails are created with the customer’s perspective in mind. Here are four key elements of a successful post-purchase email marketing campaign.
Timeliness of communication
Today’s consumers are very busy, so you’ll have to move quickly to capture their attention. You should send post-purchase emails shortly after completing the transaction or right after delivering the product. This is particularly important when sending customer feedback emails so that the purchase experience is fresh in the customer’s mind.
Use trackable links to monitor engagement on various post-purchase emails for different scenarios, such as the days and times users are interacting with these links, helping you identify the most effective timing options.
Keep in mind that the right timing for these emails may vary depending on the exact type of post-purchase email you’re sending and the audience demographics. For example, order and delivery confirmation emails should go out as quickly as possible, but there’s room for flexibility with upsell emails and product recommendations.
Personalization and relevance
Each customer has their unique interests and purchasing behaviors. Personalizing post-purchase email sequences can strengthen customer relationships and make your emails more engaging.
There are many ways to personalize your emails. Simply adding the customer’s name—rather than a generic greeting—can go a long way. You can further personalize your emails with customer segmentation strategies.
Breaking customers into groups based on demographics, location, purchasing behaviors, and more can make your emails more relevant. Creating separate tracking links for each customer segment makes it easy to compare them and assess the behavior of each of your segments.
Clear and compelling content
Since many people skim their emails, you’ll only have a few seconds to make an impact with your content. The most effective content is clear and straightforward but uses dynamic hooks to keep your customers interested. Many content marketing tips and standards also apply to email marketing.
Start with the most important information. Customers may get frustrated if they have to search to find what they’re looking for. Additionally, keep your brand voice in mind while writing post-purchase marketing campaigns. If you’re known for a lighthearted or quirky brand voice, you can maintain that tone (even in more transactional emails).
Effective calls to action
Calls to action (CTAs) are another key component of any successful post-purchase email. A call to action encourages the recipient to do something specific, whether making another purchase, leaving a review, or joining your loyalty program. Calls to action are key for engagement, and they tell your customers what the natural next step is in the purchasing process.
A/B testing can help you find the most effective CTAs. Using two separate trackable links for each CTA option will help you immediately identify which ones are most effective. You can compare analytics for each link to identify which one generates the most engagement.
Integration with overall customer journey
Post-purchase emails are just one part of the broader customer journey. These emails should integrate seamlessly with other parts of your customer engagement and marketing strategies.
Many companies rely heavily on social media to keep repeat customers engaged and informed. Your emails should link to your social media pages and encourage customers to give you a follow. You can also integrate emails with post-purchase engagement in SMS marketing.
Links provide a seamless transition from emails to other touchpoints in the customer journey, and analytics give you more insight into the customer lifecycle and identify potential areas for improvement.
Improve your post-purchase email marketing strategy with Bitly
Post-purchase email marketing campaigns are an effective way to build long-term relationships with customers. By capitalizing on this important time in the customer journey, you can keep them coming back for future purchases.
Engaging post-purchase email marketing campaigns are key to increasing your customer lifetime value and building a loyal following. With Bitly, you can closely monitor email engagement levels and use this information to optimize future campaigns and improve your performance.
Get started with Bitly today to make your post-purchase email marketing strategy more effective.