Product Specific Follow Up Emails
In this article, we will see how to create an email automation workflow for product specific follow ups.
What are Product-specific Follow-Up Emails?
When a customer purchases a specific product (Let’s say Product A), you can send an automated email thanking the customer for the purchase and include a product recommendation (Product B) to upsell. These emails can help you upsell products and increase the Lifetime Value (LTV) of customers in your store. Also, you can combine a discount coupon in the email.
For example, if a customer has purchased a belt, you can send him/her an automated follow-up email recommending shoes that may be a great match for the belt.
Why is PS Follow Up Emails important?
In fact, customer retention is way easier and more cost-effective than customer acquisition. Product-specific follow-up emails are one of the best ways to increase customer retention rates in eCommerce stores. Product recommendations in emails are known to increase their click-through rate by 300% or more and are a reliable way to drive repeat purchases and boost your Lifetime Value (LTV) of customers.
Best Practices
When focusing on sending specific follow-up Emails, some best practices can be followed for better and expected results.
Some of them are listed below:
Ensure that it grabs the attention of the customers in their cluttered inboxes. When the subject line seems attractive, your customers will definitely go through the entire content of the Email. Some of the catchy subject lines include:
Thanks for purchasing! Here's something you'd like
Laura, this would suit your recent purchase
Laura, we have a hand-picked product suggestion
You purchased xxxx, then you'd definitely love this!
Since the email is going to serve as a product recommendation email, make sure to include the product image/name/price and the reason why they should consider purchasing it.
Here is an example,
And, the content of the email should be perfectly tailored with the intent to drive the customer back to the store and make them purchase the recommended item. Also, it’s great to start the email with a thank you message for the recent purchase.
Discounts are a simple and powerful way to entice your customers to do repeat purchases. Instead of offering something nebulous (like “great deals,” “latest styles,” or “monthly giveaway”), give them a tangible coupon they can use right now.
For example, Here is a 10% OFF on your next order.
Having a clear CTA is very important, especially when you are sending product recommendation emails. The CTA button should invite the customer to check out the recommended item and purchase it using the discount code.
Creating a Product Specific Follow Up Email Workflow
You can follow the below instructions to create a Product Review Request Email Workflow for your store in Retainful.
Login to your Retainful dashboard
Go to ‘Automation’ -> Create Workflow -> Choose ‘Product Specific Follow-up Emails’.
Give a ‘Name’ to your workflow and click ‘Continue’ to proceed.
You can find the ‘Trigger’ at the top of the workflow. The trigger lets you determine when a customer can enter into the workflow. By default, the trigger is set to allow all your customers to enter the workflow as soon as they place a successful order. Since we are going to set up this workflow for a particular product, we have used the ‘Product Name’ trigger rule and added a product name. So, the workflow will trigger only if the particular product is purchased.
NOTE: If you set up the Trigger rule like ‘Product Name is Shirt’, customers who purchase the product ‘Shirt’ along with other items will also enter the workflow.
For example, Customer A purchases the product ‘Shirt’ only, Customer B purchases the product ‘Shirt’ along with a ‘Pant’... Both are eligible to enter the workflow.
The ‘Wait’ block allows you to set up a time delay before the customer moves forward in the workflow. Here, we are going to let the customer wait for 1 day to receive the email.
You can edit and customize the time delay if you want.
Email Settings
Now, we are at the ‘Email’ block of the workflow. You can click on the ‘Email’ block to customize the email subject line, preview text, and email content.
On the right side, you can edit the subject line and preview the text of the email. To edit the email content, you need to click on the ‘Edit Email Content’ button.
After clicking on the ‘Edit Email Content’ button, you will be taken to the visual drag-and-drop email editor. There you can customize the entire email as per your preference.
If you would like to change the email template, you can click on the ‘Change template’ button on the left top and select a template of your choice.
{{billing_address.first_name}} - The First name of the customer
{{billing_address.last_name}} - The last name of the customer.
{{customer_name}} - The full name of the customer (the first and the last name)
Also, add the product name and price as well.
To learn more about email settings and components in the email editor, click here.
Once you have completed editing the email template, you can test the email.
With an email customized, go to the top of the email editor and click the ‘Send Test Email’ button to make sure all of the content is displayed as expected in your inbox.
Click the "Save" button once you have added the desired content and changed the logo in the email template.
Now, click on the ‘Close’ to go back to the previous page.
Your Product Specific Follow up Email Workflow is ready now.
Going Live
If you are ready to set the Product Specific Follow-up Email Workflow Live, you can click on the ‘Start Workflow’ button at the top right.
Your Product Specific Follow up Email Workflow is set ‘Live’ now.
How to Test Your Product Specific Follow up Email Workflow
You can follow the below instructions to test your Product Specific Follow up Email Workflow.
Make sure you have set live the Product Specific Follow up Email Workflow at your Retainful dashboard -> Automation (The status of the workflow should be ‘Live’)
You can test your Product Specific Follow up Email workflow by placing a successful order in your store. You can consider choosing a low-value product in your store for placing this order.
Open your storefront (your online storefront) in a Private / Incognito window (so that you can test like a customer)
Add the product to the cart (The product you have mentioned in the trigger rule)
Place a successful order
You should receive the follow up email after 1 day.
However, if you would like to test the workflow within a short time span and see if the email comes through correctly, you can try this alternative approach.
Step 1: Go to your Retainful dashboard -> Automation -> Edit your 'Product Specific Follow up Email workflow'
Step 2: Click on the 'Wait' block, set the time delay for 1 minute, and Save.
Step 3: Click on 'Start Workflow' to set it live or 'Save & Publish' the changes.
Step 4: Visit your store in an incognito / private window and place an order.
You should receive the follow up email after 1 minute.
For example: If you have placed the order at 10:00 AM, you should receive the follow up email at 10:01 AM.
NOTE: Make sure to reset the 'Wait' block time delay to 1 day after testing the workflow. So, you can assure that the follow up email will be sent out automatically after 1 day since a customer placed an order.
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