Triggered email campaigns can help you to reach potential customers at opportune times with relevant content. Furthermore, after the initial set up, triggered emails can save marketers a ton of time and work while maintaining high standards of customer attentiveness.
Yet due to their automated nature, many marketers shy away from the idea of personalizing triggered email visual content beyond basic audience segmentation. However, adding personalized visual content to even the most specific triggered email campaigns can greatly impact their effectiveness. And, if done correctly, implementing this personalized content only requires legwork in the initial set up of the campaign.
User-generated content (UGC) can add that personal touch to triggered email campaigns — allowing email subscribers to see and interact with authentic photos and videos of your brand and its products. A study by Pixlee has shown that displaying user-generated content on marketing channels can increase online conversions 2-4x. The power of user-generated content can also be brought to different triggered email campaigns.
In this post, we’re going to explore three types of triggered emails that can be enhanced with user-generated content to increase click-through and conversions.
Abandoned cart emails
Marketers project almost visceral reactions when talking about shopping cart abandonment. They are aware that it’s a big problem yet at the same time a lucrative opportunity. Approximately $4 trillion worth of merchandise will be abandoned in online shopping carts this year and about 63% of that revenue is potentially recoverable.
Displaying product-specific customer photos and videos in abandoned cart emails can help to contextualize products for shoppers who are still in the early stages of the purchase funnel. It also adds a layer of social proof and peer validation to help shoppers, who may not be able to touch and feel a product as they would in a store, to make a purchase with confidence.
Browse recovery emails
While product page browsers may not have as high of intent to purchase as those who leave items in abandoned online carts, these browsers have still indicated some interest. Consider this: If you only send emails to subscribers who have abandoned items in cart, you’re ignoring 75% of shoppers who could be re-engaged to re-visit your website.
One way to display user-generated content in browse recovery emails is to highlight similar products to re-engage these browsers. It can help the browser to discover relevant products offered by your brand that he or she might be interested in.
Lifecycle emails
Finally, lifecycle email campaigns (such as Welcome emails, Order Confirmation emails, or Shipping Confirmation emails) can play important roles in your customer loyalty and retention.
While the primary message of these emails is transactional, displaying user-generated content to upsell and cross-sell can help to personalize these email campaigns. Furthermore, incorporating real customer photos and videos into lifecycle emails can also help you to highlight your greater brand story through email touchpoints.
Conclusion
Triggered emails are a powerful way to personalize brand messaging and to recover revenue. To improve your triggered email campaign engagement and increase click-through rate, consider your visual content. Does it contextualize your products in an authentic way? Does it help your subscriber to discover similar or complementary products? If the answer is no, consider using real customer photos and videos to enhance your email engagement and encourage website revisits.