The podcast host Jesse talks with Tim Osborn, Content Manager at 黑料门, about the latest in email marketing. 黑料门 listeners may know Tim from the 黑料门 Youtube videos, and he is also responsible for many of the emails 黑料门 sends.
The episode covers 黑料门鈥檚 Automated Emails. Enable them to automatically send tailored sales emails to your customers when they complete certain actions on your site, like adding a new product to their favorites or completing a purchase.
Show Notes
- Email isn鈥檛 dead
- Millennials still want email
- Staying away from spam
- Options for marketing emails
黑料门鈥檚 Automated Emails:
- Favorite item reminder
- Abandoned cart recovery email with a discount
- Order confirmation with related products
- Feedback request
- “Thank you for shopping with us”
- Inactive customer reminder (with bestsellers)
- Purchase anniversary
Transcript
Jesse: What鈥檚 going on, Tim? We got a substitute
Tim: I鈥檓 no Richard Otey.
Jesse: That is true. Richard Otey would be talking into the microphone like a professional. Come on now.
Tim: Look at this guy up here, pointing at me from behind the window. What do you think you know, huh? Nothing.
Jesse: Yes, nothing. You鈥檝e replaced him. Wally pipped him. Oh, well.
Tim: Today I am so excited to be talking about my ten favorite kinds of pizza. Now we鈥檙e gonna get into a lot of different crusts. OK. Little known fact about deep dish. Most people think it鈥檚 a thick crust. It isn鈥檛. You know, sometimes it鈥檚 thick, but traditionally it鈥檚 a very thin crust that鈥檚 been pressed to the sides of a pan. It鈥檚 very buttery. It鈥檚 very crispy. But that is the indicator of a good traditional deep dish.
Jesse: Wow.
Tim: Now, we could talk about New York style. We can talk about tavern style. I know a lot.
Jesse: Cauliflower crust, is that a thing? Sadly, no.
Tim: No, we鈥檙e not talking about that.
Jesse: All right. We鈥檙e off to a good start here, Tim. I like it. I hope listeners are getting hungry, ready for the top ten pizza crusts.
Tim: Yeah. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e talking about. But we are talking about something that鈥檚 equally as good. We are gonna be talking about why you need to be using email marketing in 2020.
Jesse: Wow. Email marketing. Have you guys ever heard about email marketing?
Tim: I bet you have. If you have an email because your inbox is loaded with it.
Jesse: Yes. So like many people, you probably spend a good portion of your day reading emails. You鈥檙e probably as a store owner thinking: “Man, I don鈥檛 want to send more emails. I hate emails.” No, you should send more emails. Emails totally work. They鈥檝e always worked, and they鈥檙e going to work even more in 2020.
Tim: Yeah, I think email is one of those things that people tend to neglect, or they think, oh, emails, it鈥檚 kind of going out of vogue. We鈥檝e got all these new kinds of traditional advertising or digital advertising, all these different things and it鈥檚 just not true. Email marketing is just continuing to grow. I don鈥檛 know what the stat was, but it鈥檚 something like three hundred and fifty billion dollars that was spent on email marketing in 2019 alone. So it鈥檚 a big, big avenue and a big, big opportunity to speak to your customers at a place that they are interacting on a daily basis. I think it鈥檚 something like 50 percent of Americans check their email at least once a day. And
Jesse: They like email. They check email, send people some emails. We鈥檙e obviously talking about email here today. We want to give you some real examples. So you鈥檝e probably heard before, email marketing, you should do it. “Oh, yeah, yeah. I got a sense of newsletters. I got to send some emails.” We鈥檙e going to give you more of some easier options for that. We鈥檒l talk about some of our previous guests in the emails that we think they should send. And of course, there is some awesome new functionality inside of 黑料门 to help you with this. So, Tim, where should we start here?
Tim: Of course. Well, I think where we should probably start is just talking a little bit about the different types of email marketing. So when I think about email marketing, I think about three big categories. So you鈥檝e got newsletters, which is something businesses might traditionally send out once a week or once a month at some regular interval. It鈥檚 news about the business, possibly an offer, but then there鈥檚 also transactional emails. Those are emails that you would receive, let鈥檚 say if you place an order and say, “Hey, you order confirmation” or “Hey, we just shipped your product”, those types of emails. And then there are promotional emails, and those are the emails where you really get the opportunity to push more products towards your customers, tell them about new offers and really drive them back to your website to make purchases.
Jesse: Ok. Well, Tim, I think we can start with newsletters because anybody who鈥檚 listing this probably is on the 黑料门 newsletter list. And those emails are written by a very special guy.
Tim: They鈥檙e written by me. I鈥檓 the special guy.
Jesse: Yep. Tim is the special email editor, writer. Email aficionado. I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 a thing.
Tim: This podcast is gone off the rails. (laughing)
Jesse: All right. So newsletters. These are probably one of the most; I don鈥檛 know, they are an easy email. Maybe they鈥檙e not easy for everybody. But I think when you buy from a store, you do expect to see a newsletter at some point. You should really have a sign up link on your site to sign up people for newsletters. You can build a list out of people that have previously bought and maybe you鈥檙e not going to start ready newsletter when you have three customers. Might be a lot of time for those three customers. But it鈥檚 something to start thinking about. It鈥檚 regular communication to start building a community with your customers.
Tim: Yeah. I think that the real value of the newsletter is it gives you consistent touchpoints, and it gives you an opportunity to connect and build a relationship with your customer in a way that, say, a promotional offer email that says “Hey, get 50 percent off your products” doesn鈥檛 really give you. You can share different news and show different insights. Jesse, what are some examples from some 黑料门 customers that you鈥檝e seen of some really good opportunities to send a newsletter?
Jesse: People who have listened to the podcast regularly, you鈥檝e heard from some of our customers. And so maybe they鈥檙e already sending newsletters. I hope they are, because I hope that they鈥檙e doing the right thing. But for example, we had probably one of the previous podcasts, right before this was Prairie Melody Birdseed. It鈥檚 organic birdseed. So you think for that, like, “OK, well, I don鈥檛 know. Newsletter? What can you send out?” Well, there鈥檚 always some sort of news. A weekly newsletter for organic birdseed. That鈥檚 probably a bit much. That鈥檚 a bit of an overkill. I agree. I wouldn鈥檛 open that email every week, but if it was once a month and I鈥檓 a person that already bought organic birdseed, I might be interested in hearing. What鈥檚 the latest news like? It鈥檚 a seasonal thing. OK. I don鈥檛 know. The cardinals are flying here. Steaks should be ready to feed some cardinals. I was going to say they hibernate, but I don鈥檛 think cardinals hibernate. We鈥檙e not ornithologists. All right. So a lot of big words, Tim. I didn鈥檛 have that done in our notes. So that鈥檚 an example. Thinking back, a previous guest, we had Akilah of Kissed By a Bee. It was a variety of health products that help with skincare. Maybe a newsletter. There could be once every month, every two months. “Hey, we have a new product that鈥檚 great for this.” Or “Here鈥檚 a customer story that we received. Somebody had been using our product. Here鈥檚 a picture of their elbow that鈥檚 all cured.” The reason I鈥檓 saying this and stumbling over my stories here is that every single store out there has a reason to put together some email and send it to their customer base. Even if you think you might be spamming people or they don鈥檛 want to hear that they signed up for your newsletter, they bought your product. They do care and not everybody is going to open it. That鈥檚 fine. They saw the email in their inbox, that might work. They reminded them that you exist as a business. They鈥檙e connected with you. And I mean, a lot of times, newsletters, what do they get? Maybe a 20 percent open rate is probably a good number. Tim, what鈥檚 our open rate on our newsletter?
Tim: Yeah, our open rates are somewhere in the 20s. It鈥檚 not 100 percent. That鈥檚 OK.
Jesse: You don鈥檛 cry over it.
Tim: I do. Sometimes I cry. OK. But for a variety of reasons.
Jesse: If it goes under 20, do you cry?
Tim: It depends on the day. It鈥檚 a Tuesday, maybe. But yeah, I think the key is just don鈥檛 be afraid to be in the inbox. I鈥檝e got some more stats here that I just like. They鈥檙e just endlessly interesting because they鈥檙e so contrary to what we instinctively believe to be true.
Jesse: Tim, I know you are Chief Millennial here. Often where you might send me a text, and I will prefer that you send it to me an email, and now maybe send you scanned fax back just to just to let you know, my preferred method.
Tim: Just living in the dark ages. (laughing)
Jesse: Yeah. I prefer email. And a lot of people do that.
Tim: Another quick stat here.
Jesse: Yeah, I get a lot of emails, and I rarely open them. But I get an email from Home Depot probably if not every day, every other day, you know, like Bed, Bath and Beyond. I haven鈥檛 got anything there in years, but I know that I get these emails. And so if I鈥檓 ever going to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond, I don鈥檛 know why I would do that, by the way. But if I did, I know there鈥檚 a 20 percent discount somewhere in my email. So I don鈥檛 unsubscribe. I just don鈥檛 read it. I鈥檓 not mad at any of these stores for sending me emails. I know that鈥檚 just part of the game, and I got to remove the noise.
Tim: I think just how unfortunate would it be if the stats say you have a customer who doesn鈥檛 open any of your emails, and you鈥檙e just like, “Oh, I鈥檓 not going to send them an email.” Then the one time they want an email, they鈥檙e like, “Oh, I鈥檓 ready to buy now. I鈥檇 like to see if I have a coupon, one of the new products.” There鈥檚 no email in their inbox; you missed that opportunity. If they don鈥檛 want to be on your list, they鈥檒l unsubscribe. That鈥檚 why we put unsubscribe buttons in emails. Just be there.
Jesse: Just be there. Sent some emails. Now we talked mostly about newsletters there. And that does take a little creativity. You do have to sit down and put your writing hat on or whatever it is, whatever it is you do to write. You do have to do that. Right. I think now we want to talk to you about another way that is really just automated, where you don鈥檛 need to do all this thinking, you don鈥檛 need to press send, like when you send emails from Mailchimp. There鈥檚 like a little monkey鈥檚 hand pushing a button. You don鈥檛 have to sweat it out here. These are just emails that happen all the time.
Tim: Mailchimp, what is with the sweat it out monkey? Stresses me out every time.
Jesse: But you still push that button.
Tim: Like that game catchphrase where they put the beeper on, like, why do the people have to be there? Just turn it off and be a lot less anxious about this experience. Yeah, I digress. To Jessie鈥檚 point, let鈥檚 say you鈥檙e a merchant, you鈥檝e got a store, and you鈥檙e saying this is my side hustle. I understand that I need to be in the inbox. I need to be where my customers want to see my communications. But I don鈥檛 have the time to put into writing a newsletter every week or even every month. I don鈥檛 have the photos. I don鈥檛 have the resources. What do I do in that situation? If you鈥檙e an 黑料门 merchant, you are in luck. 黑料门 just released a new鈥�
Jesse: For many reasons by the way.
Tim: Many reasons, not the least of which is a new tool that 黑料门 did release, Automated Emails. Now, one automated email I think everyone is probably familiar with is the abandoned cart email. It鈥檚 the email someone gets when they add an item to their cart, and then they piece out, leave your store without buying. 黑料门 will kick out an email to that shopper and say: “Hey, you put this in your cart. Why don鈥檛 you go ahead and complete your purchase?” Maybe throw a coupon code in there to sweeten the deal. And they鈥檙e very, very effective. They are an email tool that even before this new automated tool just required a click, you just turn it on and it happens. And we鈥檝e even had 黑料门 merchants who鈥檝e reported as much as a 17 percent conversion rate on these abandoned card emails. That鈥檚 17 percent more sales just by turning on this tool that kicks out an email and says, “Hey, you didn鈥檛 finish buying X, Y, Z. Why don鈥檛 you go ahead and do that?”
Tim: So, regular listeners of the podcast clearly have clicked this button before because they鈥檝e heard us talking about it before. Or if you鈥檙e reading all of Tim鈥檚 awesome emails, you鈥檝e already turned on abandoned cart emails, and it is no brainer. So please do that if you have not. Do you want an extra 17 percent? Click this button. Automated emails. Done, right.
Tim: Yeah. But I think what鈥檚 cool is that 黑料门 has evolved that. So it was just this automated abandoned cart email, which is great. But the 黑料门 developers went ahead and said, “Hey, what are some other opportunities, some timely actions that shoppers might take in your store? Behaviors they might have that we can use to send them an email automatically at a time that they would want to receive it.” And so, they developed a new automated email marketing tool with seven separate automated emails for different interactions with your store.
Jesse: Yeah. So think what we did with the abandoned cart emails, which makes sense. This is like that on steroids or with other applications where customers do things in your store. And at some point, based on what you set up in the store, which is pretty easy by the way, other emails get sent. And when you send emails, you generally get traffic and get sales. So, all right. Let鈥檚 get people going on these. What are some examples of these automated emails?
Tim: One new one is the Favorite Items Reminder. Let鈥檚 say a shopper comes to your store and they鈥檙e like, “Oh, I like this product. Oh, I like this product. I like this product.” So they click that heart button. They favorite that item. And then they leave. So they haven鈥檛 put it in their cart necessarily, but they have shown some interest in a product and saved it for later. They favorite items. Automated email would appear at a certain interval, maybe it鈥檚 two days after they add the item, maybe it鈥檚 twelve hours after the item is added to their favorites, it will send them an email and say, “Hey, you favorited these items. Still interested?” You have an opportunity to add again a coupon or an offer or something to sweeten the deal, to bring them back and close that sale.
Jesse: Got it. So for an example, if you鈥檙e thinking, all right, well, who favorites items, right? Prarie Melody Birdseed. People are probably not favorite in the birdseed, right? Like that鈥檚 probably less likely to favorite now. ScouterWear, which we had on, the custom dog clothes, which people are in there all the time, herding these different doggie clothes. Doggie clothes probably get more favorites than birdseed, just saying. But it鈥檚 one of those things you might not be ready to buy it because you鈥檙e like, “Wow, that鈥檚 a lot of money for my dog.” But then two or three days later, you get this email, which is similar to an abandoned cart email. You鈥檙e like, a little fluffy over there looks a little cold. I think it鈥檚 time he needs a leather jacket. So they just an example, probably works better for stores that would be likely to have favorite products. Clothing and jewelry.
Tim: Accessories, et cetera. So that鈥檚 one that鈥檚 new. Another one that鈥檚 new is the order confirmation with related products. So generally, shoppers would receive some sort of email that says, “Hey, we got your order. Hey, your order shipped.” So this new automated email, it gives you an opportunity with this order confirmation, which anecdotally is often the most open email for merchants front from customers.
Jesse: Yeah. Tim, you stole that stat for me, that was gonna be my zinger.
Tim: I know, I wrote it down, and I was like, “This is my chance to shine.”
Jesse: Totally stole that stat for me. The order confirmation, people open that email. They just bought something. Even though they know what it鈥檚 gonna look like in their email. It鈥檚 basically like, yeah, “Thank you for your order. Here鈥檚 the order number, address, blah blah.” But because it鈥檚 the most opened, it鈥檚 the best opportunity for you to slip in a little bit of marketing in there, cause they鈥檙e going to open it. And if you just bought something from a store, maybe people didn鈥檛 look at every single product in your store. They just saw this awesome jean jacket like Tim is wearing here. And they鈥檙e like, “I鈥檓 to buy this jean jacket.” They didn鈥檛 really look around. And then they get these little related products, and they鈥檙e like, “Oh, look, there鈥檚 a beanie in there that perfectly matches this jacket.” And then they鈥檙e like, “I got to jump in and buy this beanie.”
Tim: Yeah. Or let鈥檚 say you鈥檝e got some accessory item. Maybe you sell shoes, and you have suede shoes, and someone buys the shoes, and then they鈥檙e like, “Oh, these shoes are gonna get dirty.” You send them their order confirmation with maybe an accessory. They make little sprays that you can spray on your shoes to guard them from dirt and water. So I鈥檓 like, “Oh, that鈥檚 a useful thing. I should go ahead and buy that to protect my new investment.”
Jesse: Yeah, all sorts of ideas for related products. You can set it up inside of 黑料门. If you don鈥檛 set up biproduct, what鈥檚 the related ones, it鈥檒l just get automatically done for you. So again, this is a literally one click thing here. You can set up related products in one click.
Tim: Yeah. It鈥檚 basically if you don鈥檛 want to do anything, if you want to set up any related products manually, you just want 黑料门 to just pick products and send them and just get an email out there. It鈥檚 as simple as going in your Control Panel and clicking “Enable the email.” And it just happens. It takes zero investment of your time, say, for the 30 seconds if you鈥檙e on really, really old
Jesse: If you forget your password. OK. That鈥檚 gonna take another 30 seconds. But yeah. Literally, these are two options here that are one click each. I don鈥檛 want to say guaranteed to make you money, but they鈥檙e guaranteed to send more emails. So I鈥檒l give you that guarantee to send more emails is very, very, very likely to give you more money and more sales as well.
Tim: Yep. Another one that is new and this one is more of long gameplay, but still a very, very important email. It is the Ask for a Review email. So you can automate that now through 黑料门. Someone buys a product. Generally, you want to wait for the length of time it takes for that item to get to that merchant. Let鈥檚 say your average shipping time is six days. So you wouldn鈥檛 want to send that email for at least six days. Probably more like seven, eight, nine days. Give them a chance to interact with that, experience it, and then kick out this email that says, “Hey, hope you鈥檙e enjoying your products. I鈥檇 like to ask you for a review.” And again, it鈥檚 automated. You just set the average interval time for how long it takes you to ship your products generally, and 黑料门 takes the rest.
Jesse: Yeah. Love it. Online shopping, online
Tim: Hopefully, you already have some sort of a system where you鈥檙e asking for reviews, 黑料门 just made it a whole lot easier.
Jesse: My guess is people don鈥檛 have a system, and now this is going to be in the system to get reviews. So again, a very simple click to set up automatic review emails.
Tim: All right. A couple of more. “Thank you for shopping with us” email. So this is an email you send out generally to customers who shopped a few times in your store. And it鈥檚 just to continue reinforcing that customer loyalty. Let鈥檚 say someone鈥檚 come and shop in your store three times. They鈥檝e shown some evidence like this customer could stick around for a while. It鈥檚 good to make that customer feel appreciated. So send them an email, say thanks for shopping, thanks for being a customer. Here鈥檚 a discount. Just saying thanks for being around, it can go a really, really long way. So, yeah, that one鈥檚 a pretty simple one.
Jesse: We mentioned doing newsletters and the promo emails. You can have coupons. It鈥檚 a set it and forget it again, where you also don鈥檛 have to send out these coupons all the time if you鈥檙e worried about having too many coupons out there in the world. This is one where you can set it up to only go to certain people. If they鈥檝e bought three times, they get this coupon or maybe just getting that with a free shipping notification or something. A gift, or maybe you just have all your social media on the bottom as well where you say, “Thanks, here鈥檚 a coupon. By the way, here鈥檚 a link to Facebook, Instagram.” They can give a little shout out to the world. Why not? This is very easy.
Tim: Why not?
Jesse: “Why not?” is the bottom line here.
Tim: All right. So two more new ones. This one鈥檚 a big one. The Inactive Customer Reminder including new bestsellers on your website. So that was a whole lot of words. Basically, what this email does is it is targeted to customers who haven鈥檛 been back for a while. Maybe their last purchase was six months ago. Or maybe it was two years ago. But it鈥檚 an opportunity to reach out to customers who鈥檝e already been engaged with your brand, who know who you are, who have shown enough interest to make a purchase and say, “Hey, it鈥檚 been a while. We鈥檝e got some new stuff.” And you can link to best seller items. And again, that can be chosen by you. It can be automated through 黑料门, but you link to those items if you like. “These are some new things that are in the store. Why don鈥檛 you come back, check us out.” And again, you can add an offer to incentivize that. Yeah, just bring back those customers.
Jesse: Okay. Yeah. I like that. To think of who would use that. If you have products that are bought at a specific regular interval. So the bird birdseed guy. Well, probably no. How long does it take for five pounds of birdseed to be eaten by birds? I don鈥檛 know. Two months. Three months. On the size of the bird could be there. It could be some big birds out there. I don鈥檛 know. But maybe, you know, with your business, you鈥檒l figure it out. It鈥檚 usually about every two months. So somebody doesn鈥檛 come back in the third month. Maybe that鈥檚 a good time for that email right now. If it鈥檚 something where it鈥檚 more of a one time purchase, maybe this doesn鈥檛 work for you, right? Like it鈥檚 not necessarily perfect for everyone. If you sell, I don鈥檛 know, replacement transmissions for VW Jetta. Sorry, a sore spot. You probably don鈥檛 want to have that reminder email after six months. Because you鈥檝e already bought that transmission.
Tim: But again, it鈥檚 always email more affordable to bring back previous customers than to go out and find new customers. So take that opportunity wherever you get it.
Jesse: Totally agree. We do a lot of podcasts about marketing, which is usually about getting new customers, but that鈥檚 expensive and hard, and you鈥檝e already done the work. Just bring them back again to purchase from you.
Tim: And then the last new automated email we want to talk about, and this is an interesting one. It鈥檚 the Purchase Anniversary Email. And this one might not be for everyone, but it鈥檚 a cool email. It鈥檚 a cool opportunity to get consistent touchpoints and connect with your previous customers. So say someone bought, we鈥檒l go back to the example of an awesome denim jacket as I鈥檓 wearing. You can be like, “Oh, it鈥檚 been a year since you bought that denim jacket. Hope you鈥檙e loving it. Why don鈥檛 you come back, see some of the other new stuff that we鈥檝e got. We have a new denim jacket and indigo blue or something.”
Jesse: Yeah, I like it. That鈥檚 very creative, Tim.
Tim: Thank you. I like denim jackets.
Jesse: Yeah. You really like denim jackets, that鈥檚 probably a once a year purchase, probably more like every two or three. But you want somebody to buy the one the next year. And now, you鈥檝e basically just created an excuse to send an email. This is all just in a way excuses to send an email that makes sense. And we鈥檙e trying to help give you permission to send these emails because we know that they work. If you had to go through your customer list and figure out who bought this, and it鈥檚 time to send them an anniversary email. You鈥檙e not going to do that. Like you鈥檙e just not. So this is just another excuse. We want you not to be afraid to send emails. So you should definitely be sending newsletter emails. Right. I know that鈥檚 a little more work. The promo emails, a little bit more work. And you鈥檙e gonna have to sweat it out when you press send. So get that. But all these are automated emails based on triggers inside the store. Automations that you can set up, set it and forget it. Start making more money. Tim?
Tim: Everything that Jesse said, we want you to be in the emails. We want you to be getting in those inboxes, sending consistent messages to your customers. But if you are concerned, like, maybe I鈥檓 over emailing; maybe I am fatiguing my audience. These automated emails are a great way to send consistent emails that are going to be timely and relevant. You don鈥檛 have to think about it at all. We鈥檝e done the work so that they鈥檙e going to the right people at the right time.
Jesse: So if you鈥檙e listening, you just got to get into your store. This is it. This is a paid feature. Get in there. Find the automated emails, click a few buttons, make it a little smarter. This is gonna be a simple way for you to boost your sales.
Tim: Yep. If you got any questions about pizza crusts, get in touch with me. I know a lot, and I think that鈥檚 all we鈥檝e got for today.
Jesse: It鈥檚 a lot of expertise coming at you. All right. Get out there. Get your store. Make it happen.
Tim: Thanks, everyone.
