As more and more companies develop email marketing programs and the consumer inbox becomes more cluttered, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that your company's email stands out in the crowd.
While there are a number of complex/sophisticated strategies that can be employed to achieve the level of relevance necessary to maximize the probability of an email getting opened, it can be argued that the most important focuses on behavioral triggers.
The decision to include triggers in your contact strategy should be an easy one:
- They’re relevant
- They’re automated (set it and forget it!)
- They’re effective – relevant to time and consumers’ frame of mind
- They’re not complicated
- They get results
For many companies, it's not a matter of IF, but more a question of HOW. The top 3 reasons for not launching triggered messages are consistently the same:
- I can't get management support
- I don't have the resources
- I don't know what what program to start with
Though legitimate concerns, these roadblocks are not so insurmountable as they seem.
Getting Management Support
As is the case with most business decisions, management will likely need data to support/justify creating a new program. Information on triggered message performance is not hard to come by. Your ESP should have a wealth of information including the standard email metrics and ROI measures. Explain the importance of relevance and event-based messaging as a tool for increasing the ROI of your programs. Make sure they understand that the recommended process will require an investment of time and resources, but deliver substantial ROI. Performance metrics, along with the relatively low-cost assessment, should enable you to get the buy-in you need.
Securing the Resources
Though different triggers require varying levels of time/effort, getting a trigger built can be easier than you think. Launching a simple trigger generally requires minimal resources:
Database Programmer (7-10 hours)
HTML Developer(3 hours)
Marketing Coordinator (2 hours)
Many, if not all of these functions are available within most organizations.
Choosing the Right Program
With so many triggers to choose from, where do you start? That is a very good question, the answer to which varies based on a number of things including the availability of resources, level of data at your disposal, and budget. As a general rule of thumb, the more complex the requirements, the greater the level of effort required. That being said, triggers don't have to be complex to be effective. The chart below reflects a number of the most common triggers and the associated LOE/Performance Multiplier.
While some of the triggered programs on this chart require a greater initial investment (i.e. abandoned shopping cart which could require integration with a Web Analytics solution), there are many which require a much lower level of effort relative to the business impact (Birthday, Welcome Message, Post Purchase). These are low-hanging fruit and an excellent starting point for your forray into the world of triggered messaging.
While many organizations have already incorporated event-based triggers in their email marketing strategy, there are still quite a few that have not. The reasons provided for not doing so are the same time and time again. Through careful planning, establishing management support, securing modest resources and choosing the program that works best out of the gate, any organization can enjoy the returns that can only triggers can deliver.
Ben Gerstner, e-Dialog
