Action emails bring customers to your online shop

Action emails in your online shop can both give customers better service and help you sell more. I am talking about emails that follow up on something a customer has done, so you do not have to sit and write a new email every time a customer buys a product.

The video is from April 2009 and is my introduction to the chapter on action emails in E-pusher. The examples and figures below are from that time.

Action emails in your online shop start with an action

A newsletter and an action email look similar on the surface. Both are emails, and both can aim to sell goods. But the way they are sent is different.

You sit down and write a newsletter. Then you send it out when you have something to say. An action email, on the other hand, is sent in response to an action. For example, a customer buying something from you.

I came up with the term action emails because I needed a word for it when I started. An invoice is actually an action email in that sense: The customer goes through your system and clicks buy, which triggers an invoice being sent to the customer. But customers should get much more than that.

Ask whether the television has arrived

Let’s say a customer buys a television in your shop. You can think far ahead and send an email after three years: Your television is now three years old. Is it time for a new one? That is an example of long-term follow-up.

But also think about what could happen after a month, or even after a week. You can ask: Did the television arrive on the agreed day? Are you happy with it? Have you unpacked it and got it working?

At the same time, you can tell customers that you are ready to help if they have questions or problems. Whether you help ten hours a day or around the clock obviously depends on the service you offer. The point is that customers get a follow-up and know where to find help.

Try imagining the customer’s reaction: They’re actually emailing to ask whether my television arrived. How cool is that? It is service people can get excited about, and you can set the follow-up to run automatically.

Good service can also lead to an extra purchase

In the same email, you can ask whether customers got all the cables they needed. You can point out that you have a wide selection of cables or ask whether they need a matching video recorder. Those are the specific examples I use in the video.

After six months, you can follow up again: How is the television doing? Are you still happy with it? Is everything working as it should?

You can also offer something extra. In the video, for example, I mention a ten per cent discount and a Blu-ray or DVD recorder. It is a way of combining follow-up on a customer’s purchase with an offer on something that might fit what the customer already has.

You need to get customers to agree to receiving those kinds of emails. I say that in the video too. My thinking is that good follow-up and service give customers a reason to want to receive them.

Seven emails changed my E-pusher sales

I used action emails myself in connection with E-pusher. When I started, people got E-pusher light for free, and there was an advertisement in the book. They also received a single email.

Later, I began sending seven emails with good offers relating to E-pusher. Seven emails may sound like a lot, but people could unsubscribe. When I made that change, I quadrupled my E-pusher revenue.

That is my own result, as I describe it in 2009. Think about what better follow-up could mean for your sales. You set the emails up once, and then they follow up with customers based on their actions.

I am excited about action emails because they can do both things: sell goods and provide good service. The video ends with an aeroplane making so much noise that I have to stop before people can no longer hear what I am saying. But I manage to get the message in: Go out and do it!