How To Create High-Converting E-Mail Flows

A guide to building effective e-commerce e-mail flows

What‘s An E-mail Flow?

An e-mail flow is a pre-constructed, typically automated, sequence of e-mails that are launched by predetermined triggers.  These triggers could be actions like; signups, purchases, or downloads.

With e-mail flows, the goal will be to enhance a customers’ experience, improve their retention, and prolong their engagement with your brand, as opposed to simply marketing new products in a one-off newsletter to your mailing list.

Depending on the type and objective, an email flows length will vary. Some, like order follow-ups, can perform better with a shorter sequence of events, whereas engagement flows can be stretched out over a number of weeks, even months.

So what do you put in these e-mails?

But what are you going to fill all these emails up with?

That will depend on the type of flow you are constructing. But at the same time, all your e-mails should include the following;

Merged Tags: Personalize the content, subject lines & preview text of your email. Include your customers' names in organic ways and address them as if you crafted & sent this email specially for them.

Content

A Call-to-Action (CTA)

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Constructing Your E-Commerce E-Mail Flows

Abandoned Cart Flows

Recommended length: 3 to 7 E-mails.

People abandon or don’t complete their purchases all the time for any number of reasons, but it rarely means that they don’t want the product. Things like; interruptions, price objections, confusion or even a lack of trust are what will most likely cause your customer to abandon their purchase.

To combat this, we build a sequence of emails that will address exactly those concerns and objections. An abandoned cart e-mail flow.

A well-built abandoned cart flow should be structured in a way that addresses the most common reasons for abandonment first, followed by further nudges and offers that entice the customer to complete their purchase

E-MAIL #1

When: 6 to 12 hours after abandonment

The first e-mail of the flow should address the most common and easiest to fix the reason for abandonment, interruption. This e-mail can serve as a simple reminder to the customer that they were about to purchase a product and it's still there waiting for them to finish.

Because this email will serve as a simple reminder, there doesn't need to be any special offer included in this.

E-MAIL #2

When: 24 to 36 hours after abandonment

The second email will act as an additional reminder that also carries a sense of urgency. In this e-mail, you can include a simple reminder like in email #1 1, along with content that encourages the customer to complete their purchase promptly.

You may still want to avoid offering a value-based discount for order completion in this email to avoid devaluing your product.

A sense of urgency can be telling the customer that you can only reserve their items for so long, and if they don't want to lose them they should act fast.

E-MAIL #3

When: 48 to 72 hours after abandonment

If email #1 & 2 fails to result in a conversion, email #3 will address another one of the most common concerns, a price objection.

Whether the price objection is for shipping or the product itself doesn’t really matter. What matters here is grabbing the attention with a value-based offer that encourages them to complete their purchase promptly to receive a monetary discount.

A prompt like: “Complete Your Order Now & Get 10% OFF” can work like magic.

E-MAIL #4

When: 5–7 days after abandonment

E-MAIL #5

When: 2 weeks after abandonment

Order Follow-Up Flows

Recommended length: 1 to 3

E-MAIL #1

When: Immediately after purchase

A customer becomes increasingly more likely to buy from you again as their amount of purchases with you increases. This first followup email will be designed to enhance the overall experience of the customers' order and show them that you’re already confident they will return. And as a small thank you, you would love to give them a small discount or reward on their next purchase.

E-MAIL #2

When: On the day of the expected delivery

Let the customer know you’ve been thinking about them and share the excitement of the package arriving with them! Make it a celebratory experience that gets them keen to open up their order like a kid on Christmas morning.

E-MAIL #3

When: 5–7 days after delivery

Now that the customer has had time with the product, it’s the perfect time to request a review for your product.

Engagement Flows

Recommended length: 5 to ∞

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