According to a survey in June, marketers are looking to “pull the trigger” on automated campaigns. The survey reports that 59% of senior marketers say they expect the number of automated campaigns to increase over the next 12 months, and 83% expect the use of marketing automation to improve the efficiency of their marketing processes, according to a report by Forrester Research and Silverpop.
And triggered email messages continue to gain favor with consumers, generating higher performance. Those generated from Welcome, Thank You, or Abandoned Shopping Cart rose 10.3% to 2.6% of total email volume in Q3 2012 compared with the year-ago quarter, according to a study released Dec. 17.
The “Q3 2012 Email Trends and Benchmarks” found that non-bounce rates from triggered emails remained consistent at 1.4%, lower than the business-as-usual industry (BAU)metrics. Triggered open rates performed at 75.1% higher than BAU in Q312.
These and similar trigger data provide important lessons. Chief among them: Triggered email doesn’t work because it is email. It works because it is triggered — it offers really, really good timing based on something the consumer does. That kind of relevance works for print, too.
Targeting is proving to be an effective and essential characteristic of any direct mail or online marketing campaign. You can drive more activity through your doors if you base your engagement off activity by your customers. And don’t just limit it to physical activity (e.g., an in-store visit where a customer leaves contact information) or an online store checkout. You can measure and gauge customers’ social media activity for an added dynamic in forming your campaign strategy.
