Subscribe via RSS FeedPost-Purchase Trigger Email Examples
Yesterday we posted a Q&A session with Sally Lowery of Bronto Software on trigger email campaigns. Today we have 2 real-world examples from Amazon. These emails followed up the purchase of a camcorder:
- Amazon doesn’t wait for you to come back to the site to push recommendations at you. 10 days post-purchase,
- Notice the low price point relative to the camcorder (about 10% of purchase price)
- Notice the 2 star customer rating - not too persuasive, eh?
- It would be more persuasive to auto-recommend the highest rated relevant accessory, with a snippet from and direct link to the most helpful positive review
- The link to “improve your recommendations” is a good idea, especially if it was just a gift. Adjusting preferences now means more relevant suggestions next time you log into Amazon.com
- 15 days post-purchase, Amazon sends another plea to buy more
- Gone are the star ratings
- Amazon’s pushing categories, not specific products - there are 3 product links without descriptions, and links to category
- Mix of price points, software can be 3x the price of the purchased product
- Includes service plans
- Includes opt-out: “We hope you found this message to be useful. However, if you’d rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from Amazon.com, please opt-out here.”
Now, I understand these are automated recommendations and crafting 1-to-1 cross-sell emails is not efficient. But this email could be a lot more persuasive if it explained more about how these would enhance the ownership experience of the purchased product - and from a fellow customer’s mouth, not the retailer. For the tripod featured in both emails, there’s a video review that 46/47 people found helpful.
Wouldn’t that make for a killer trigger email?
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Linda!
Looks like Amazon is doing many things “right” when it comes to triggered messages. However, check out what @justinpremick (http://twitter.com/justinpremick) from AWeber just tweeted - http://twitter.com/justinpremick/statuses/844231858. I hope that Amazon can figure out how to design for images off as well as they do with images on.
*I’ve said it before: Sometimes the big guys don’t fully understand email marketing…
(2 more comments after this one and I’ll pass BetterRetail for 3rd place in “Top Commenters.” Sweet).
dj at bronto
I would be so scared if that video showed up in my inbox. lol
I think it depends on the category that you order from and how often you order though. I bought a comforter on Amazon a little while ago and they have done a fantastic job of sending me follow up emails. Then again I bought one transformer as a gift and you would think after not buying any additional toys they would have changed their strategy.
This is wonderful. I bought a book and the followed up emails made me to buy couple more books.
At first I thought “great, yet another function my website can’t do.” This may come as a surprise but I don’t have the R&D budget of Amazon. Upon further reflection, I thought this type of triggered email can be done manually instead of automatically. It may not look as good but it will certainly be much more personal. If someone orders a pendant we can recommend earrings or a neck ring, etc.
@Trezora
Absolutely. If you can manage the volume there is no downside to manual emails. If you are going to do such a thing, I suggest creating a few templated responses with appropriate offers to speed things up.
Jason,
Great suggestion. Based on our existing shopping cart, I may even be able to get that coded up for, hopefully, not too much $$.
Sorry I’m jumping in so late here, I was on holiday with a slooooooooow internet connection…thanks Jason for staying on top of things!
@DJ ah! that’s awesome, I hope someone also blogged that. (can we?)
And thanks for your comments, keep it up.
@Vanessa, yeah you’re right about the potential scariness of the email video - so “always be testing!”
http://www.futurenowinc.com/abtwebinar.htm (thought I’d throw Grok some comment link love there for their webinar series on a/b testing w/ Google Website Optimizer)
@Trezora, there may be 3rd party services that can help you do it if and when you’re ready to take that step beyond manual follow-ups. What the pricing is on that, I’m not sure. Manual campaigns are great for testing the waters anyway, that way you learn what works and doesn’t before you invest in more sophisticated tools.