Here Are 5 Major Email Automation Triggers You Should Be Using

major email automation triggers using API

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Want to learn how to use email automation triggers to your advantage? You should. The best email marketing software can be a powerful tool for your business if you know how to choose it and implement it right.

The idea behind a triggered email campaign is simple: instead of manually sending out emails to people, you set up templates where specific actions trigger personalized messages being sent out automatically.

It’s essential to stay in contact with your customers and automate certain things on your website. This is why email triggers are so important in order to create an email workflow that can automate certain things when they happen.

The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out what email triggers are used most and how you can use them to benefit your business. With the right triggers, it will be easier for people to purchase items on your website because they’ll know exactly what buttons to push and what they’re getting into once they make a purchase.

The best free email automation tools have made it possible to send the correct email to the intended subscriber at the proper time in the entire customer journey. However, you must put the right triggers in place to achieve your email automation process.

What Are Trigger Emails?

There’s a lot of talk about trigger emails in the email marketing community, as a lot of marketers tell us that they can help increase our conversions. Trigger emails are widely used for sales pages, opt-in offers, webinar registration, and other similar web forms.

But what exactly are trigger emails?

Trigger emails refer to an email sequence sent by marketers automatically to the customers depending on a previously taken action or user behavior. These personalized trigger campaigns can be any event, such as signing up for an email newsletter after clicking on a website.

Trigger emails can be useful for getting people to return to your website and convert into leads or customers. If you’re running a SaaS business, then it’s likely that you have a product that requires a demo or trial before purchase.

Triggered email marketing can help you qualify leads by asking them if they’re interested in a demo or if they’re ready to buy now. This helps you focus on building relationships with the right people — those who are interested in your product and ready to purchase.

How Do Trigger Emails Work?

The recipients of trigger emails are those interested in the content. Triggered email campaigns provide tailored messages to customers who carry out a specific activity in your business.

These emails reduce the chances of spamming your clients, as subscribers can’t receive an email unless they take intentional action.

Below are just a few examples of primary email automation triggers that marketers use in their email marketing campaigns:

1. Welcome Emails

These are triggered messages sent automatically to new subscribers after they opt-in to your email subscription, introducing them to your brand. It’s essential to note that an automated welcome email has a significantly higher open rate than a typical one.

An automated welcome email gives you a good kick-off with new customers. It makes the customer feel welcomed and valued.

These automated emails also invite new customers to engage further with your business. Therefore, include a clear call to action (CTA) directing your new customer to relevant and resourceful content for exploration purposes. Make sure to write a creative email ending that communicates your expectations to the recipient. Open-ended questions work well here.

To make your welcome emails more effective, design them to be more personalized. With an email automation tool, setting up a welcome email workflow (or other automation flows) and creating branded email design is relatively easy.

Below are some of the benefits of doing a proper introduction to new subscribers:

  • Increased rate of engagement. An impressive welcome email creates room for higher engagement rates in the future.
  • Well-built customer relationships. Appreciating your new customers for their sign-up makes them feel valued. That’ll warm them to your product and build trust.
  • Increased customer retention and sales. Highlighting your product or services boosts consumer engagement and increases the conversion rate.

2. Product Review Emails

Most customers’ decisions to purchase your product or service will depend on the reviews of those who’ve used them before. Therefore, product reviews contribute significantly to your business’s success, and you should give them the attention they require.

You can send product review emails to your customers after their purchase. However, give them enough time to use the product to provide informed feedback.

Product review email automation will ease your feedback collection while the information gathered will help you improve your business. You can achieve this by creating a post-purchase feed workflow.

So, use the workflow trigger: when a customer joins a group. When buyers come into the group, they cause a trigger in the workflow prompting a delay step. That gives the customers enough time to receive and use the product before a review request pops up.

3. Transactional Event-Triggered Emails

These are automated transactional emails between you and your customers. The transactional email triggers include an individual’s action, visit, or behavior.

Also, these emails are part of an automated workflow. They’re highly tailored and relevant depending on the subscriber’s engagement with the product. Thus, the emails have a higher engagement rate than regular marketing emails.

Although purchases are the number one trigger, other factors can trigger an automated transactional email. These include feedback requests, registration confirmation, and cart abandonment.

After the completion of any of the above steps, the customer receives an automated email confirming the transaction through email verification.

Ulta Beauty thank you email purchase
Image source: Ulta Beauty

In the example above, Ultra Beauty sends their clients post-purchase emails to thank them with the actual receipt attachment in PDF form.

Ulta Beauty thank you email triggers

To access the information not included in the email body, they have several different CTAs.

4. Nurturing Emails

A lead nurturing email is an automated, tailored email that marketers use to take the recipient through the customer journey to influence their buying behavior.

Different stages of the customer’s journey require different content to help them get what they want at each stage.

These emails increase customer engagement rates. When an existing customer gives feedback or asks questions, they help you better understand their needs.

Also, by frequently sending these emails, you can identify the areas (subject lines or timing, for example) that need improvement in your email automation.

Moreover, the best email marketing software can get these emails up and running. With pre-built email automation campaigns, you don’t have to start from scratch.

5. Abandoned Cart Emails

Abandoned cart triggers occur after customers add items to their cart but don’t convert.

According to SaleCycle.com, the open rate of these emails is more than 40%. That means it’s a good way of calling back your customers.

For the B2C transactions, you can consider including discounts in your abandoned cart emails to increase conversion rates.

The B2B transaction has a freemium software business that informs customers they won’t benefit from their premiums until they purchase an item.

How Can Triggers Improve Email Marketing Campaigns?

Email marketing tools are a powerful way to reach your target audience, but staying on top of evolving email marketing technology can be tricky.

One way to stay on top of these changes is by using triggers. Triggers help you personalize email messages and make them more relevant to existing customers. They also allow you to send targeted offers at the right time.

Not all marketing automation tools are made equal. That’s why choosing the best email marketing automation software is crucial to improve your marketing campaigns.

Here’s how triggers can improve your email marketing campaigns and overall marketing strategy.

  • Triggers can be used to send personalized emails based on a customer’s behavior or preferences. For example, if a client has purchased something from your store or made an inquiry about a product, you can use triggers to send them an offer related to their purchase or inquiry. You could even create specific offers for different products or services they’ve previously purchased.
  • Triggers can trigger automated responses based on what happens in real time (e.g., when someone visits a website or clicks on an ad). For example, if someone searches for a particular product online, you could use triggers to send them an email about that product as soon as they search for it so that they don’t forget about it later on when they’re ready to make a purchase decision.

Using APIs for Triggered Emails

An API allows you to control almost all platform features by sending HTTPS requests to an endpoint. Note that unsecured HTTP requests are not supported and will typically fail.

Additionally, all requests must be authenticated with your access token, which can be found after logging in to your account, going to Settings, and visiting API Access Tokens. If you’re using Sender, you’re best off using the sample code provided in their API documentation.

If you haven’t sent any HTTPS requests to APIs, Postman is likely the best software. With its intuitive and well-designed GUI, you can quickly figure out how to send requests to any API endpoint.

While the advanced versions of Postman are paid for simple HTTPS requests to Sender’s endpoint, the free version will do just fine. They provide all of the core features with up to three user seats.

Email Triggers FAQs

What are email automation triggers?

Trigger emails are automated messages sent by email marketing tools after a certain event has happened. For example, if a user signs up for your mailing list, you might want to send them an email thanking them for joining. Or if they visit your website, you might want to follow up with them and offer a free trial.

A trigger email can be set up in a variety of ways, but the most common way is to integrate with your email marketing software. These services will let you set up rules based on events like a user signing up for your newsletter or buying from your store.

When a trigger occurs, the email marketing service will automatically send an email based on the rules you’ve set up.

What is triggered automation?

Triggered automation is a type of automation that starts when something happens. For example, you can build an automated workflow that runs when someone posts on your Facebook Page.

You can also create an automated workflow that will start when someone clicks on an ad in your campaign or even when someone interacts with your website.

Why use an email automation trigger?

Sometimes, getting your blog posts in front of the right people is tough. That’s where email automation comes in. With this strategy, you can automate your content, send it to a list of subscribers, and make sure they see what you publish.

You can use email automation to:

  • Send a follow-up email that goes out after someone reads your blog post (or doesn’t). Use these to encourage customers or readers to comment or share your content with their networks.
  • Send emails when someone subscribes to your blog so they know what they’re getting into right away.
  • Send emails when someone unsubscribes from your blog — don’t let them slip away!

Using Email Automation Triggers To Improve Customer Engagement And Increase Your Sales

With well-calculated campaigns, email automation triggers have a remarkable impact on sales in email marketing.

Triggered emails run automatically and eventually produce more revenue for your business. To break even in your sales and serve your customers better, you must design your emails correctly.

What email triggers do you use the most? Let me know in the comment section.

Vaslou is a passionate digital creator and blogger who loves to explore unique paths to generate online income. He’s also a musician, always looking for exciting paths to articulate his inventive spirit in the musical realm. When he’s not at work on his online endeavors, Vasco loves to delve into spiritual realms to become a better version of himself.

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