How email marketing connects with your customers - and keeps them coming back

The death of email marketing Was greatly exaggerated

Despite predictions of email marketing's demise in 2010, it remains a powerful tool in 2024, allowing businesses to build effective automated email campaigns that keep your customers engaged and drive business growth.

There are two main types of marketing emails: automated and one-off campaigns. Today, we'll focus on automated emails—the ones that run in the background once you've set them up and built your customer database.

Every business has three distinct audiences: new customers, frequent customers, and lost customers. To maximize revenue, you need to: drive new sales, increase visit frequency, recapture lost customers, and increase per-visit spending. Four key automated campaigns can help you achieve these goals:

Welcome Emails

Make a strong first impression with an irresistible offer—something completely free, not just a small discount. While some businesses hesitate to give away products or services, remember that acquiring customer contact information is far more valuable than the initial promotional cost. Your staff's pitch matters too. Compare "Want to join our email list for 10% off?" versus "Would you like a free consultation on your next visit? Great! What's your email?"

Reward Emails

These target your loyal customers through birthday promotions, loyalty points, and milestone rewards. This approach keeps your business top-of-mind and turns customer interaction into an engaging experience.

Lost Customer Emails

The pandemic showed us how quickly customer habits can change. Many businesses have thousands of former customers who simply forgot about them due to altered routines or circumstances. Automated re-engagement campaigns can help recapture these valuable relationships.

Sales Emails

Once you've invested in building your database, use it strategically. These direct-action emails should clearly communicate your value proposition and call customers to action.

Real Results

A recent six-month case study showed impressive results across these campaigns:

• Welcome campaigns achieved 20% redemption rates

• Lost customer campaigns successfully re-engaged 476 former customers

• Strategic sales campaigns drove significant incremental revenue by encouraging higher spending

Key success factors include:

• Monitoring open rates and redemption rates

• Understanding that engagement typically decreases over time

• Continuously optimizing campaigns based on performance data

• Targeting the right audience for each campaign type

Email marketing remains a crucial tool for business growth, capable of engaging new customers, rewarding loyalty, recapturing lost business, and driving incremental sales—all through automated systems that work while you focus on running your business.

Need to kickstart your digital marketing? Let Green Collar Communications help. Drop us a line!