Guide to Email Deliverability

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Lifecycle Marketing with Email

With Lifecycle Marketing, your messaging is always focused on one particular segment of your customer base. Email is one of the best tools when it comes to sending relevant, personalized messaging to your customers. If you are a seasoned email marketing professional, you are likely familiar with many of these types of campaigns, but it is worthwhile thinking about other forms of marketing and how you can target it to customers based on where they are in their lifecycle with your business.

First, let’s take a look at the stages of the customer journey and how email addresses each of them.

Emailing based on the Customer Journey

Think about what the customer is seeking or experiencing during each stage

Stage 1: Awareness

Email Tools: Email Capture, Welcome Campaign Message 1

How does a customer learn about your business? The most common ways are an online search using a search engine like Google or perhaps they see your ad on Instagram. This person is either actively searching for a solution or they are scrolling and find your product or service interesting.

In some cases, they will make a purchase on their first visit to your site, but that is often not the case. This is where lifecycle marketing via email comes in handy. If you can collect their email address you can continue to communicate with them with no additional costs in terms of ad spend and you can control when the message is sent.

The easiest way to get them to subscribe to your emails is to ask them to sign up! You can offer them some form of incentive, whether that be a promotional discount or a piece of free content. The offer will largely depend on whether you run a B2C or B2B business.

Email Marketing Tools for the Awareness Stage

• Landing Pages: Create dedicated landing pages with clear, compelling copy and attractive visuals to encourage visitors to sign up for your email list. The sign-up form should be prominent, easy to understand, and easy to complete.

• Pop-ups and Slide-ins: Use pop-up forms or slide-ins to capture the attention of your visitors. Be careful not to overuse them, as they can potentially annoy visitors if not implemented well. Tools like Sumo, Hello Bar, or OptinMonster can help in creating these.

• Content Upgrades: Provide additional, highly relevant content (like an eBook, white paper, or checklist) as a bonus for signing up to your email list. Tools like Leadpages can help create these incentives.

• Exit Intent Pop-ups: These pop-ups are shown when a user is about to leave the website. Tools like Exit Mist or OptinMonster can help you set up these.

• Inline Forms: These are forms that can be embedded within your blog posts or on specific pages. Tools like MailChimp or ConvertKit can help you create these.

• Chatbots: AI-driven chatbots can engage users and persuade them to sign up. Tools like MobileMonkey or Drift can help you create these.

• Social Proof: Tools like Proof or Fomo can display recent sign-ups, purchases, or actions from other users, creating a sense of trust and validation.

The goal is to create a “conversion” which in this case is to get the person to opt into learning more about your business and offerings via your email campaigns. Be transparent about what subscribers should expect from your emails in terms of content and frequency.

Stage 2: Interest

Email Tools: Welcome Campaign Message 2, Browse Campaign

Once the customer has signed up for your email list, it’s time to put your best foot forward! You should immediately confirm that their signup was successful and give them a quick intro to your business and/or brand and deliver whatever you promised during the Awareness stage. If you offered a promo code, include it in this confirmation email. If you offered a free book, include the link to download or attach it within the confirmation email.

Include a CTA to get the customer back shopping on your site. If you have the capability, include a link to the items they previously browsed on our site so they can pick up where they left off and also highlight your best-selling products.

Best Practices for Newsletter Confirmation Email

• Clear Subject Line: The subject line of the email should be clear and precise. Use phrases like "Please Confirm Your Subscription" if you require a double opt-in (the gold standard for high engagement) or "Thank You, You Have Successfully Subscribed" to clarify the email's purpose.

• Warm, Friendly Tone: While you will want to maintain your brand’s voice, it is never a bad idea to communicate via a friendly, approachable tone to make your brand more relatable.

• Provide Assistance: Enhance the customer experience by including links to items they previously viewed on your site and consider including links to your best-selling products.

• Express Gratitude: Thank your subscribers for choosing to engage with your content. This can help you build a positive relationship with them.

• Clear Instructions: Make sure to provide clear, concise instructions on how to confirm the subscription, to utilize the coupon code, or to download the free digital guide or ebook. If they have to click a link, tell them explicitly. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to follow through.

• Benefits of Subscribing: Briefly remind them why they signed up in the first place – what benefits will they get from being a subscriber? Highlight those benefits to motivate them to confirm the subscription.

• Include Contact Info: Provide information about how they can reach out if they encounter any issues or have questions. This could be a customer service email or phone number.

• Privacy Assurance: Let them know that their information is secure and will not be shared with third parties. This gives new subscribers peace of mind.

• Link to Your Privacy Policy: To back up your privacy assurance, include a link to your detailed privacy policy. This helps to build trust with your new subscribers. Termly is a good site for crafting privacy policies.

• Responsive Design: Your confirmation email should be easily viewable and usable on any device, including smartphones and tablets. Make sure to test your emails on different screen sizes and devices.

• Speedy Delivery: Send the confirmation email as soon as possible. Ideally, it should be sent immediately after they submit their email. This helps to keep your brand fresh in their mind and increases the likelihood that they'll confirm their subscription.

• Re-sending Option: Provide an option for users to have the confirmation email resent if they didn't receive it, or if it went to their spam folder. This ensures that they have every opportunity to confirm their subscription.

The confirmation email is one of the first interactions a subscriber will have with your brand, so make it count. Be sure it's on-brand, friendly, clear, and respectful to start the relationship off on the right foot.

Stage 3: Evaluation

Email Tools: Welcome Campaign Message 3, Cart Recovery Campaign

If a customer is looking for a solution to a problem they are facing, they are probably considering multiple businesses or products. This is where the second email in a Welcome Series campaign really shines. At this stage you want your business or brand to stand out. Customers buy for a wide variety of reasons, but if you can draw them in by telling the story behind your business and provide social proof to validate your brand that will likely help you stand apart.

Keys to a Successful Value Proposition

There are a variety of factors that a customer will weigh when determining the value of your product or service. Here are some of the key characteristics to keep in mind in during this stage of the customer journey:

• Price: Cost can be the primary driver if the customer views all options as being relatively equal. So if you compete on price you want to highlight that your product or service offers the best value for their money.

• Quality: High-quality products or services often attract customers who value durability, performance, or other markers of quality over price considerations.

• Customer Service: If a company provides excellent customer service, it's likely to win the loyalty of its customers. This can include post-purchase support, easy return policies, and prompt, helpful responses to inquiries. Highlighting any accolades you have received can play a big role in having the customer select your business.

• Brand Reputation: The reputation of a company also plays a major role in the decision-making process. This can be based on personal experience or the experiences of others, online reviews, or the general public opinion about the company. Including testimonials is a great way to differentiate your product or service. Social Media presence is a good way to convey the popularity and appeal of the brand via social proof.

• Product/Service Features: Customers often compare features between different offerings. If one product or service has a unique feature or meets a specific need better than its competitors, it may be chosen over the others.

• Convenience: The ease of buying from a company can significantly influence a customer's decision. This can include factors like the simplicity of the company's website, speed of delivery, and the availability of products or services.

• Company Values: More and more consumers care about the values of the companies they support. If a company is known for being environmentally friendly, socially responsible, or supportive of certain causes, it can attract customers who align with these values.

• Trust: Customers need to trust that a company will deliver on its promises, whether that involves the quality of its products or services, its delivery times, or its handling of personal data. Trust is often built up over time through consistent positive experiences, but it can also be influenced by factors like endorsements from trusted figures or certifications from reputable bodies.

• Marketing and Advertising: The way a company presents itself and its products or services through marketing and advertising can also influence a customer's decision to buy. This can be particularly impactful when customers are not deeply familiar with the product or service category and thus rely more on perceived value.

You should always benchmark your performance when sending follow up emails. A/B testing your value propositions from your emails is the key to determining which factors are most likely to influence their purchasing decisions.

Stage 4: Purchase

Email Tools: Post-Purchse Campaign Message 1, Rewards Campaign

Once the customer has decided to buy from you, the next step is to make them feel confident about their purchase. Consumers can sometimes have a sense of buyer’s remorse, so your follow up communications with them can help reinforce their decision was a wise choice.

Best Practices for Building Customer Trust

• Clear and Transparent Communication: Describe the product or service in detail, focusing on how it addresses the customer's specific needs or problems. Be transparent about all costs, policies, and what the customer can expect after purchasing.

• Offer a Money-Back Guarantee or Warranty: This reduces the risk associated with the purchase and demonstrates that you believe in the quality of your offering.

• Provide Testimonials and Reviews: Sharing positive experiences of other customers can be very persuasive. These could be written testimonials, video reviews, case studies, or star ratings.

• Utilize Social Proof: In addition to testimonials, other forms of social proof like showcasing your large customer base, endorsements from influencers or experts in the field, and positive media coverage can also build confidence.

• Offer Excellent Customer Support: Be available to answer any questions or concerns. Show that you'll be there to assist them even after they've made the purchase.

• Provide Detailed FAQs and Product Information: Anticipate questions and concerns customers might have, and address them proactively.

• Allow Product Trials or Demos: If possible, allow customers to try the product or service before they buy it. This can greatly increase their confidence in the purchase.

• Educate Customers: Providing valuable and relevant content about your product/service, how to use it, and its benefits can help customers make informed decisions.

• Build a strong brand: Your brand’s reputation can instill trust and confidence in your customers. Having a clear mission, consistent messaging and an ethical approach to business can greatly enhance a customer's trust.

That first purchase is the start of the relationship, and instilling confidence is about creating a positive overall experience, from their first interaction with your brand through to post-purchase support. The goal is not only to convince them to buy once, but to turn them into repeat customers who advocate for your brand.

Stage 5: Post-Purchase

Email Tools: Post-Purchase Campaign Message 2, Cross-sell Campaign, Review Campaign, Social Share Campaign

The primary goal in this stage is to make sure your customer gets the most out of their purchase so they feel great about the decision to buy and feel confident they are getting the most value possible out of the product or service. This is the time to convey tips but to also be available to onboard and provide guidance to address the customer’s reason for purchasing your product or service.

How to Gain Customer Loyalty

• Excellent Customer Service: This is fundamental. Customers appreciate when their needs and concerns are prioritized. Always ensure your customer service is friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient.

• Quality Products or Services: Customers are more likely to be loyal if they are satisfied with what they are buying. Make sure your product or service meets or exceeds customer expectations.

• Reward Programs: Loyalty programs, rewards, and incentives can encourage customers to keep coming back. This can take many forms, like points programs, VIP status, exclusive sales or discounts, and more.

• Transparent Communication: Keep customers informed about any changes to your services, pricing, or policies. Honest communication builds trust, and trust is a cornerstone of customer loyalty.

• Personalization: Tailoring customer experiences to individual needs and preferences shows that you value them as individuals, not just as sales numbers. This can be done through personalized emails, product recommendations, or customized user experiences on your website.

• Ask for Feedback: Regularly ask your customers for feedback to understand what they like or don't like about your business. This shows you value their opinion and allows you to make improvements where needed. Request they share on Social and tag your business and use your hashtag.

• After-Sales Support: Offering support even after a purchase is made can greatly enhance a customer's perception of your business. This can include follow-up emails, customer satisfaction surveys, or providing resources that help customers make the most of their purchase.

• Stand for Something: Customers are increasingly loyal to brands that share their values. Whether that's through sustainable practices, charitable giving, or taking a stand on social issues, showing that you're about more than just profits can build a deep, emotional kind of loyalty.

• Consistency: Ensure consistency in your product, service, and interaction with customers. Consistency builds credibility and trust with your customers, making them more likely to stay loyal.

• Exceed Expectations: Always aim to go above and beyond what your customers expect from your business. This could mean delivering orders before the promised date, or throwing in an unexpected freebie or discount.

While your primary goal is to retain customers, you also want to turn them into advocates for your business. When customers feel truly valued and appreciated, they're not just more likely to stay loyal themselves—they're also more likely to recommend your business to others.

Stage 6: Re-Evaluation

Email Tools: NPS Campaign, Rewards Campaign

One of the best ways to gauge the likelihood of a first time customer becoming a recurring customer is through a Net Promoter Score. An NPS helps you understand how the customer feels about your business and the product or service they purchased. If the customer gives you a good NPS, you can feel confident about a repeat purchase. If the score is low, now is the time to try to make it right. A low score is usually a sign that the customer is not happy and not likely to buy from you again so it’s worthwhile to understand what went wrong and try to address that in the Purchase and Post-Purchase phases.

Maximizing Your Net Promoter Score

• Customer First: Always prioritize your customers. Understand their needs, desires, and concerns. Encourage feedback and open communication. Use the feedback received to improve your products or services and customer experience.

• Quality Products/Services: The quality of your products or services is paramount. Ensure that you are delivering the best possible product/service to your customers. This means taking the time to refine your offerings, addressing any potential issues, and constantly looking for ways to improve.

• Excellent Customer Service: High-quality customer service can significantly impact your NPS. This includes quick and effective responses to queries, friendly and knowledgeable staff, and policies that are designed with customer satisfaction in mind.

• Follow-up: After a customer interacts with your business, follow up with them to see if they're satisfied. This can be as simple as a quick email or phone call. This not only makes the customer feel valued, but it also provides you with the opportunity to rectify any potential issues that may have arisen during the interaction.

• Close the Loop: When customers provide feedback, they want to know that it's being heard and taken into consideration. Communicate any changes that are made based on customer feedback. Let them know that their opinion matters and that it can effect change.

• Consistency: Customers value consistency in service delivery. Strive to provide a consistently excellent customer experience. This applies to all aspects of the business - from the initial sales process to after-sales support.

• Train Your Team: Every member of your team should understand the importance of NPS and how they can contribute to it. Invest in training to ensure your team has the necessary skills to deliver an exceptional customer experience.

• Use NPS Data Wisely: Collecting NPS data is just the first step. Use the insights gained from this data to drive continuous improvement across your business.

• Personalize the Experience: Personalized experiences can go a long way in improving customer satisfaction. This can range from simply addressing the customer by their name in communications to tailoring the services or products to their specific needs or preferences.

• Transparent and Honest Communication: Always be transparent and honest with your customers. If there are issues, let them know what's happening and what steps you are taking to resolve them. This can help maintain trust even when things go wrong.

The Net Promoter Score is a great tool for measuring the level of satisfaction and loyalty of your customers, so be sure to set a benchmark and focus on optimizing your NPS score over time.

Stage 7: Repurchase

Email Tools: Reorder / Renewal Campaign

It’s no secret that having a successful and sustainable business relies upon having repeat customers. A healthy amount of retention is the key to growing and sustaining your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). If you have been successful with your Lifecycle Marketing through the Purchase, Post-Purchase, and Re-Evaluation stages, you should have no problem garnering repeat purchases.

Maintaining High Reorders / Renewals

• High-Quality Products or Services: This is the core of any business. Offering a product or service that exceeds customer expectations will naturally result in more frequent purchases and a longer relationship.

• Excellent Customer Service: Quick, efficient, and friendly customer service can greatly influence a customer's loyalty to a business. If a customer has a positive experience with a company's customer service, they're more likely to remain a customer.

• Loyalty and Reward Programs: These programs incentivize customers to make repeat purchases. By offering customers rewards or exclusive benefits, businesses can increase both the frequency of purchases and the longevity of the customer relationship.

• Personalization: Personalizing the customer experience can significantly increase CLV. This can be achieved through personalized marketing, product recommendations, and customer service. A personalized experience can make customers feel valued, increasing their loyalty.

• Understanding Customer Needs and Expectations: Use market research and customer feedback to continually adjust your product or service to better fit the needs and expectations of your customers.

• Customer Retention Programs: Invest in strategies that aim to retain customers, such as excellent after-sales service, customer onboarding, and regular check-ins.

• Upselling and Cross-selling: Once customers have shown loyalty by making repeated purchases, opportunities for upselling or cross-selling can be introduced. This can be a great strategy to increase the amount a customer spends during their relationship with the company.

• Regular Communication: Keeping in touch with customers through regular, relevant, and engaging communication helps keep your business top-of-mind. This could be through newsletters, social media, or personalized emails.

• Quality over Quantity: Focus on attracting high-value customers who are likely to have a high CLV, rather than a large number of low-value customers.

• Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Regularly engage with customers to gauge their satisfaction and seek their input on how to improve. This can also help to identify at-risk customers before they churn.

Businesses use CLV to drive profitability and formulate strategies for customer retention, marketing, sales, and customer support. It's generally more cost-effective to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones.

Other Lifecycle Email Campaigns

Winback Campaign

The campaigns outlined to this point fit in nicely with the stages of the Customer Journey. There are email campaigns that fit as part of the lifecycle approach to marketing, but fall outside of the 7 stages listed above. For instance, if a customer does not reorder or renew, there is the opportunity to send them a Lapsed Purchaser or Winback campaign. Here are a few key considerations when implementing this type of campaign.

Optimizing a Winback Campaign

• Segment Your Audience: First, segment your lapsed customers based on their behavior, purchase history, or reason for churn. This will help you tailor your approach to each group more effectively. For example, customers who stopped purchasing because of price might be swayed by a discount, while those who had a poor customer service experience might need an apology and assurance of improved service.

• Personalize Your Communication: Ensure that your emails, messages, and offers are personalized to the individual customer. Use data about their past interactions, purchases, and behavior to show that you understand their needs and preferences.

• Offer Incentives: Offering a tangible incentive such as a discount, free trial, or special offer can be an effective way to entice customers back. However, this should be used carefully, as excessive discounting can devalue your product or service.

• Address the Reason for Churn: If you know why a customer has churned, address it directly in your winback campaign. This might involve admitting a mistake, explaining how you've improved, or offering a solution to their problem.

• Highlight Product or Service Improvements: If your product or service has improved since the customer last used it, make sure they know about these enhancements. This can be particularly effective if the improvements directly address issues that led to churn.

• Multi-Channel Approach: Use multiple communication channels to reach your lapsed customers. Email is often the primary channel for winback campaigns, but you should also consider social media, direct mail, phone calls, or retargeting ads.

• Test and Optimize: Use A/B testing to see what type of messaging and offers work best with your audience. Continuously refine and optimize your strategy based on these insights.

• Focus on Customer Experience: Once customers return, ensure they have a positive experience with your brand. This involves not only delivering a great product or service but also providing excellent customer service and building a positive relationship.

Timing is important, as you want to reach out sooner rather than later, but be mindful not to be too aggressive, which could lead to alienation. A balance between persistence and respect for the customer's decision to leave should be maintained. A/B test to find the sweet spot for your outreach and to know when is the appropriate time to give up if you cannot regain a lost customer.

Last Chance Campaign

To be frank, this type of campaign typically does not generate much in the way of conversions, but it does give you a last chance to see if the customer is still interested in your product or service. It can work best as a way to confirm the customer is no longer actively shopping. This may be due to them purchasing from another vendor or they have eliminated your product or service from consideration. This is to be expected and with the right approach you can use this campaign to optimize your product and marketing strategy.

Key Elements to a Last Chance Campaign

• Limited Time Offer: Given the customer has visited your site recently and signed up for email, a limited time offer may help them decide to buy. There can be downsides to relying too heavily on promotional offers as they erode profit margins, so be sure to track these customers who convert from the promotional offer to see if the CLV makes it worthwhile to offer this discount in the future.

• Survey: A survey can provide important information about the customer experience on your site. Questions can focus on pricing, product range, ease of use, or any other relevant factors, and you can use this data to improve your product and/or marketing based on feedback received.

• Customer Service: Sometimes customers just want to talk to someone via chat or phone call, so providing them an option to talk directly may ease any hurdles that have prevented the customer from converting.

• Social Media: Even if the customer has bought from another vendor, you can encourage them to follow you on Social Media, which gives you a non-intrusive way to build a relationship with them

• Lead Magnets: Offer the customer something of value for no cost. Psychologically, when people are given something with perceived value for free, it makes them more likely to do business with you. This can be something along the lines of an ebook or other digital item that can be easily shared.

So long as you approach this campaign with humility and seek to understand why the customer has not made a purchase, you may be able to gain valuable information to help you continue to refine your product line and marketing, which in turn may result in improved conversion rates in the future.

Back to School Email Marketing

When it comes to email marketing, you need to understand when consumers are preparing to make purchases. By understanding those time periods and events, you will be able to get your messaging in front of shoppers when they are already inclined to spend money. The fact they have signed up for your email campaigns puts you in a great position to have them consider buying from you.

While consumers are currently enjoying travel and trips to the beach or the local pool, next month they will turn their attention to gearing up for the upcoming school year. School supplies have changed quite a bit from back when we were kids, although new clothing, binders, pens and pencils are still necessary. When shopping for my kids I noticed that Trapper Keepers are still a thing! Kids these days need headphones, tablets or laptops, and of course a new backpack to hold all of their books and supplies.

Families are expected to spend an average of $850 on school supplies, so this is a great opportunity to highlight your products that appeal to back to school shoppers.

In this guide, I will go over the timing for Back to School campaigns, the messaging, and opportunities to leverage automated campaigns to help you optimize your conversions as we get ready for summer to turn into autumn.

Timing for Back to School Campaigns

School starts at different times based on the school district, while colleges tend to begin a week or two later, closer to Labor Day. So it is a good idea to check the calendar for your local school district to identify the actual start date for your local elementary, middle and high schools.

Generally speaking, primary schools tend to start somewhere between mid and late August, while universities start sometime around the first week of September. So it’s a good idea to plan your campaigns on or around August 1st. Most families do not plan Back to School shopping very far in advance so 2-4 weeks before the school start date tends to work out nicely.

So in the case of a monthly email campaign, you would send out your email right around the first of August. This would give your subscribers the biggest window to visit your site while your inventory levels are high and shop your promotion.

For a Bi-Weekly campaign that would include two messages, your first message will announce your Back to School promotion and then the follow up email would remind people that your promotion is about to end. I like to send the reminder email 48 hours before the promotion ends; this creates a sense of urgency and prompts those who were meaning to shop your site to stop what they are doing and take a look at your promotion.

In the case of a weekly campaign, you can use your first message to promote your sale and then use the next two messages in the series to promote specific categories or bestsellers. Trending products are always popular as everyone wants to know what is currently popular. Finally, with your fourth and final message you would send out a “last chance” message to remind your subscribers that the promotion is about to end.

Back to School Messaging

As kids get ready to head back to school, they want products that are cool and also show off their personality and interests. Whether it’s a Stranger Things backpack, a Ryan’s World lunch tote, or an Odd Squad shirt, kids want items that show the world what they are all about. While you may not carry items that feature intellectual property, you can keep this principle in mind as you craft your messaging.

Colors or colorways are a simple way to allow kids to select an item that they feel tells the world who they are. Backpacks come in a wide variety of designs, allowing kids to find the pack that best suits their needs and signals what they are into: sling style packs for bikers, hiking style kits for outdoor types, laptop bags for hardcore gamers, and packs made from recycled materials for environmentalists are just a few examples of how you can market your products to appeal to specific customers.

For the young environmentalist, there are stores and brands that will offer used clothing at a discount or will give you credit for turning in clothing that you or your family no longer uses. The appeal here is not so much a particular design or brand but more the impact your shopping has on the earth. Think through what it is that your customers find most interesting or unique about your brand and values and do your best to convey this through your messaging.

Leveraging Automated Campaigns

One of the biggest assets you have when it comes to optimizing the conversion rates for your Back to School messaging is the use of automated campaigns. As you send out your emails, you should have Abandoned Cart and Browse Recovery automations live on your site. So as subscribers respond to your campaign and visit your site, they will be eligible to receive these automatons which gives you another chance to get someone to convert if they did not do so the first time they visited your site.