Archive for the ‘Integration’ Category
Encourage your potential customers to complete their purchase with an ‘abandoned basket’ email
No company will have a 100% conversion rate on their website; it is inevitable people will abandon their basket before completing their purchase for one reason or another.
You can improve that rate, though, by sending an abandoned basket email. It can help encourage some of these potential customers who have added something to their basket on your website and abandoned the purchase process, to return and complete their transaction.
Below I have included answers to a few of the most common questions we get when it comes to abandoned basket emails.
How long after the potential customer abandons their basket should I send the abandoned basket email?
This is something that needs to be tested, as the length of time will vary depending on if it is a high involvement purchase or a low. You don’t want to send the email immediately after they have abandoned their basket, you don’t want to give the impression of stalking! Plus if the recipient got distracted while adding items to their basket it is possible they are still busy. Or if they simply needed a little time to think about the purchase before placing their order, this wouldn’t have given them enough time. Equally you don’t want to wait too long after the recipient has abandoned as they may have bought the product elsewhere in that time. I would recommend anywhere between 3 and 24 hours.
What should be included within the abandoned basket email?
- Avoid cluttering the email; including other messages could confuse the recipient.
- Pull the products the recipient has in their basket into the email creative, reminding them of what they wanted to purchase.
- Place a strong/clear call to action within the email, e.g. ‘return to your basket here’, or ‘have you not found what you are looking for’.
- Reinforce your brand values: why would they buy the product from you?
- Offer the recipient help and assistance in order to complete their transaction, include a phone number they can call in case they are having problems purchasing online.
Should I include an incentive?
Many people ask whether they should use incentives within their abandoned basket emails. To answer this, you need to consider why people would have abandoned the basket. Did they get distracted by something else? Were they not 100% sure about the purchase (do I really need this?!)? Was it a cost issue on price or delivery?
If they simply got distracted you don’t want to offer the recipient a discount, when they may have purchased anyway, with just a reminder. You also don’t want to teach your regular customer that abandoning their basket will result in a discount, encouraging them to do this every time before they make a purchase. Therefore if you are going to offer a discount, first do some testing to ensure that offering a discount is actually increasing the number of conversions enough to justify the discount. Also offer it irregularly, so customers don’t come to expect it. Maybe create a series of two abandoned basket emails, with the first one reminding the recipient that they have things within their basket and then send the second if the recipient has opened the email and not completed the purchase containing the added incentive.
How do I automate this process?
Adestra’s Conversion Capture feature allows for real time emails to be automatically sent to those recipients who have abandoned their basket on your website. For further information click here or contact your account manager.
The Email Marketing Intelligence Forum
Yesterday we hosted our Email Marketing Intelligence Forum at the Leicester Square Penthouse. With a birds eye view of London we spent the afternoon discussing intelligent ways to use email marketing to drive results. There was lots to be learnt and here is what the Adestra table leaders took away from each discussion topic.
Conversion intelligence:
Using behaviour and customer journeys to drive revenue
So what did we learn about Conversion intelligence from our round table participants? That ‘conversion’ means very different things to different businesses! However, we can conclude that there is real need to make these conversions more frequent and more easily quantifiable. How do we do this? By using more targeted messaging and by using the reporting within MessageFocus to put together follow up and reminder campaigns. Adestra’s Conversion Capture was also at the forefront of the conversation and was unveiled as a great way of encouraging conversion when a basket or form has been abandoned by a contact. Automating messages to encourage people to go back to the submission is not only a great way of pushing them to conversion but also a great way to promote your brand.
Mobile intelligence:
Creating a mobile environment to engage the on-demand audience
The main theme that emerged from the mobile intelligence table was that having a mobile strategy is becoming inevitable and crucial, rather than a nice extra. Nearly all attendees had seen a marked increase in mobile opens this year and were either addressing this or beginning to. Approaches ranged from simplifying templates to make the most of smaller screen space, to implementing fully responsive media query templates. The main issues being faced were resources, knowledge gaps and maintaining advertising space in campaigns.
Engagement intelligence:
Getting smart with the data you have to drive results
Adding preference centres to your sign up process remains a highly effective way of collecting vital data. To avoid drop out keep the forms as short & simple as possible. We recommend using branching & check boxes. These are faster to complete & will provide the focused answers you require. Avoid free text boxes which will mess up your segmentation further down the line. Our Centaur case study for the National Home Improvement Show is a great example of how to use sign-up data to generate dynamic content. Preference centres can also be effective when linked to your unsubscribe process to combat the problem of blanket unsubscribes.
Data collection forms linked to Facebook pages & app downloads are a great way to organically grow your database. When someone takes the trouble to visit your Facebook page they’re obviously engaged & feeling pretty positive about your brand. This is a great time to request their email address. Link a pop-up to the page & turn those “likes” into actual customers/subscribers.
Parry’s introduction looked at how assumptions can damage results. It’s surprising how few marketers employ a testing strategy to inform their campaigns. We are still frequently asked what’s the best time to send my email? The answer is, whatever time your test indicates. Subject lines, send times & content can all be tested either in simple A/B split or multi-variant form. The results will provide you with hard facts & remove guess work.
Automation intelligence:
Reducing manual intervention to save you time and resource
The subject area of automation revealed that people generally fell into one of 3 pots, they currently aren’t doing any automation but would like to, they currently did a little but would like to do more, or they did a lot but would like to do more.
Two of the most popular topics relating to automation which came up throughout the day was welcome programmes – rather than just sending the one thank you for signing up email, convert it into a series, to help build a relationship with the recipient while they are warm. The second one was related to content automation, rather than having to duplicate content which is already on your website, use an XML feed to pull content from your website and populate an email.
Presentation: Marketing Week Live
Hazel Merlino
The highlight of the day was Hazel Merlino, Marketing Manager of Marketing Week Live who presented to us on marketing to marketers and marketing Europe ’s premier marketing event. As the shows official email partner, Adestra help Marketing Week Live develop strategies that will change perception, generate lasting relationships and achieve greater ROI from email for the show.
All round it was an excellent day enjoyed by all. Here is what two delegates had to say:
“Great event, I learn something new at each of these events!”
Future Publishing
“Great afternoon, I will take away a lot from the session and hope to use the knowledge from the Adestra team and other attendees in my own campaigns.”
Informa Exhibitions
If you would like to find out more about Adestra and our best practice events and service to our clients contact us.
Introducing the Specialist Media Online Event
When: 6th-16 November 2012
Where: At your desk
From the 6-16th November 2012 Adestra will take part in the Specialist Media Show’s first ever online event. This ever popular live exhibition and conference is going online to give more people the opportunity to access the high quality presentations, content and information they promote.
Why should you attend the online event?
The show is the place for specialist media businesses and niche publishers to start conversations with other media owners and expert suppliers that could change your business (view the attendee list).The two day live workshop presentation series on the 6-7th November is the ideal opportunity to learn, engage and network from the comfort of your own desk. You’ll also receive exclusive access to industry reports and resources on stand.
Adestra’s presence at the show:
As the official email partner for the specialist media show we will have:
1. An Adestra Email Workshop: Has mobile email made us more responsive as an audience?
2. Adestra email marketing experts on stand to talk to you
3. Exclusive resources including our subject line report based on 1 billion emails and the latest PPA email benchmarking survey.
1. Adestra Workshop: Has mobile email made us more responsive as an audience?
Date: Wed 7th November
Time: 11:15am GMT
The mobile channel has produced a culture of information on-demand. Publishers have responded to this by creating apps, QR codes and mobile friendly websites to make sure that their audience can gain access to subscriptions and content anytime anywhere. The question is though has this necessarily made us more responsive as an audience? In truth it seems the opposite. We view an email as it arrives on our smart phone, think about it for a second and then move onto the next one. The challenge with mobile it seems is thinking about how and when audiences act on this channel.
What you will learn:
1. How publishers should push content to this audience
2. When to push content to this audience and how to follow up
The workshop will be led by Marketing Executive, Serena Elston:
2. Adestra email marketing experts on stand to talk to you:
Andrew Abram:
When: 6th November
As an integration specialist Andrew is instrumental in the set up and integration of our email platform with clients systems to connect technologies and drive email marketing forward. Andrew will be on stand to talk to you about taking the next step with your email marketing.
Stewart O’brien:
When: 6th – 7th November
Stewart will be on stand to scope your email marketing needs and find out how we can help you.
3. Exclusive resources:
Exclusive access to webinars, case studies and:
Adestra Subject Line Report:
For the first time ever, Adestra have undertaken extensive research to provide industry-specific (including publishing) advice on what works… and just as importantly, what doesn’t based on 1 billion emails.
UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey:
What challenges do publishers face with their email marketing? How is email affected by the rise of new channels such as social media and mobile? Find out in the Adestra and PPA UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey.
Encourage your potential customers to complete their purchase with an ‘abandoned basket’ email
No company will have a 100% conversion rate on their website; it is inevitable people will abandon their basket before completing their purchase for one reason or another.
You can improve that rate, though, by sending an abandoned basket email. It can help encourage some of these potential customers who have added something to their basket on your website and abandoned the purchase process, to return and complete their transaction.
Below I have included answers to a few of the most common questions we get when it comes to abandoned basket emails.
How long after the potential customer abandons their basket should I send the abandoned basket email?
This is something that needs to be tested, as the length of time will vary depending on if it is a high involvement purchase or a low. You don’t want to send the email immediately after they have abandoned their basket, you don’t want to give the impression of stalking! Plus if the recipient got distracted while adding items to their basket it is possible they are still busy. Or if they simply needed a little time to think about the purchase before placing their order, this wouldn’t have given them enough time. Equally you don’t want to wait too long after the recipient has abandoned as they may have bought the product elsewhere in that time. I would recommend anywhere between 3 and 24 hours.
What should be included within the abandoned basket email?
- Avoid cluttering the email; including other messages could confuse the recipient.
- Pull the products the recipient has in their basket into the email creative, reminding them of what they wanted to purchase.
- Place a strong/clear call to action within the email, e.g. ‘return to your basket here’, or ‘have you not found what you are looking for’.
- Reinforce your brand values: why would they buy the product from you?
- Offer the recipient help and assistance in order to complete their transaction, include a phone number they can call in case they are having problems purchasing online.
Should I include an incentive?
Many people ask whether they should use incentives within their abandoned basket emails. To answer this, you need to consider why people would have abandoned the basket. Did they get distracted by something else? Were they not 100% sure about the purchase (do I really need this?!)? Was it a cost issue on price or delivery?
If they simply got distracted you don’t want to offer the recipient a discount, when they may have purchased anyway, with just a reminder. You also don’t want to teach your regular customer that abandoning their basket will result in a discount, encouraging them to do this every time before they make a purchase. Therefore if you are going to offer a discount, first do some testing to ensure that offering a discount is actually increasing the number of conversions enough to justify the discount. Also offer it irregularly, so customers don’t come to expect it. Maybe create a series of two abandoned basket emails, with the first one reminding the recipient that they have things within their basket and then send the second if the recipient has opened the email and not completed the purchase containing the added incentive.
How do I automate this process?
Adestra’s Conversion Capture feature allows for real time emails to be automatically sent to those recipients who have abandoned their basket on your website. For further information click here or contact your account manager.
The Email Marketing Intelligence Forum
Yesterday we hosted our Email Marketing Intelligence Forum at the Leicester Square Penthouse. With a birds eye view of London we spent the afternoon discussing intelligent ways to use email marketing to drive results. There was lots to be learnt and here is what the Adestra table leaders took away from each discussion topic.
Conversion intelligence:
Using behaviour and customer journeys to drive revenue
So what did we learn about Conversion intelligence from our round table participants? That ‘conversion’ means very different things to different businesses! However, we can conclude that there is real need to make these conversions more frequent and more easily quantifiable. How do we do this? By using more targeted messaging and by using the reporting within MessageFocus to put together follow up and reminder campaigns. Adestra’s Conversion Capture was also at the forefront of the conversation and was unveiled as a great way of encouraging conversion when a basket or form has been abandoned by a contact. Automating messages to encourage people to go back to the submission is not only a great way of pushing them to conversion but also a great way to promote your brand.
Mobile intelligence:
Creating a mobile environment to engage the on-demand audience
The main theme that emerged from the mobile intelligence table was that having a mobile strategy is becoming inevitable and crucial, rather than a nice extra. Nearly all attendees had seen a marked increase in mobile opens this year and were either addressing this or beginning to. Approaches ranged from simplifying templates to make the most of smaller screen space, to implementing fully responsive media query templates. The main issues being faced were resources, knowledge gaps and maintaining advertising space in campaigns.
Engagement intelligence:
Getting smart with the data you have to drive results
Adding preference centres to your sign up process remains a highly effective way of collecting vital data. To avoid drop out keep the forms as short & simple as possible. We recommend using branching & check boxes. These are faster to complete & will provide the focused answers you require. Avoid free text boxes which will mess up your segmentation further down the line. Our Centaur case study for the National Home Improvement Show is a great example of how to use sign-up data to generate dynamic content. Preference centres can also be effective when linked to your unsubscribe process to combat the problem of blanket unsubscribes.
Data collection forms linked to Facebook pages & app downloads are a great way to organically grow your database. When someone takes the trouble to visit your Facebook page they’re obviously engaged & feeling pretty positive about your brand. This is a great time to request their email address. Link a pop-up to the page & turn those “likes” into actual customers/subscribers.
Parry’s introduction looked at how assumptions can damage results. It’s surprising how few marketers employ a testing strategy to inform their campaigns. We are still frequently asked what’s the best time to send my email? The answer is, whatever time your test indicates. Subject lines, send times & content can all be tested either in simple A/B split or multi-variant form. The results will provide you with hard facts & remove guess work.
Automation intelligence:
Reducing manual intervention to save you time and resource
The subject area of automation revealed that people generally fell into one of 3 pots, they currently aren’t doing any automation but would like to, they currently did a little but would like to do more, or they did a lot but would like to do more.
Two of the most popular topics relating to automation which came up throughout the day was welcome programmes – rather than just sending the one thank you for signing up email, convert it into a series, to help build a relationship with the recipient while they are warm. The second one was related to content automation, rather than having to duplicate content which is already on your website, use an XML feed to pull content from your website and populate an email.
Presentation: Marketing Week Live
Hazel Merlino
All round it was an excellent day enjoyed by all. Here is what two delegates had to say:
“Great event, I learn something new at each of these events!”
Future Publishing
“Great afternoon, I will take away a lot from the session and hope to use the knowledge from the Adestra team and other attendees in my own campaigns.”
Informa Exhibitions
If you would like to find out more about Adestra and our best practice events and service to our clients contact us.
Introducing the Specialist Media Online Event
When: 6th-16 November 2012
Where: At your desk
From the 6-16th November 2012 Adestra will take part in the Specialist Media Show’s first ever online event. This ever popular live exhibition and conference is going online to give more people the opportunity to access the high quality presentations, content and information they promote.
Why should you attend the online event?
The show is the place for specialist media businesses and niche publishers to start conversations with other media owners and expert suppliers that could change your business (view the attendee list).The two day live workshop presentation series on the 6-7th November is the ideal opportunity to learn, engage and network from the comfort of your own desk. You’ll also receive exclusive access to industry reports and resources on stand.
Adestra’s presence at the show:
As the official email partner for the specialist media show we will have:
1. An Adestra Email Workshop: Has mobile email made us more responsive as an audience?
2. Adestra email marketing experts on stand to talk to you
3. Exclusive resources including our subject line report based on 1 billion emails and the latest PPA email benchmarking survey.
1. Adestra Workshop: Has mobile email made us more responsive as an audience?
Date: Wed 7th November
Time: 11:15am GMT
The mobile channel has produced a culture of information on-demand. Publishers have responded to this by creating apps, QR codes and mobile friendly websites to make sure that their audience can gain access to subscriptions and content anytime anywhere. The question is though has this necessarily made us more responsive as an audience? In truth it seems the opposite. We view an email as it arrives on our smart phone, think about it for a second and then move onto the next one. The challenge with mobile it seems is thinking about how and when audiences act on this channel.
What you will learn:
1. How publishers should push content to this audience
2. When to push content to this audience and how to follow up
The workshop will be led by Marketing Executive, Serena Elston:
2. Adestra email marketing experts on stand to talk to you:
Andrew Abram:
When: 6th November
As an integration specialist Andrew is instrumental in the set up and integration of our email platform with clients systems to connect technologies and drive email marketing forward. Andrew will be on stand to talk to you about taking the next step with your email marketing.
Stewart O’brien:
When: 6th – 7th November
Stewart will be on stand to scope your email marketing needs and find out how we can help you.
3. Exclusive resources:
Exclusive access to webinars, case studies and:
Adestra Subject Line Report:
For the first time ever, Adestra have undertaken extensive research to provide industry-specific (including publishing) advice on what works… and just as importantly, what doesn’t based on 1 billion emails.
UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey:
What challenges do publishers face with their email marketing? How is email affected by the rise of new channels such as social media and mobile? Find out in the Adestra and PPA UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey.