The Impact of Triggers on Popular Marketing Campaigns

As we discussed in our email deep dive blog, email communications that are triggered are, on average, 497% more effective than non-triggered communications. That makes a great case for the use of triggers in general, but let’s get more granular to make sure you’re seeing the best results from scaling triggers within your email program. Here are two email campaign types that see a ton of value from triggers.

These triggered messages are sent as part of a welcome series to educate and inform a customer/potential customer of “next steps” or to provide the incentive to become a revenue-generating customer. These messages are triggered upon initial sign up or initial purchase. Common onboarding triggers include Welcome Series and New Customer Promotions.

Customers that are new to a brand are eager to get their first promo code or learn more about the company, and the rates of interaction with messages tend to be higher. When marketers leveraged triggered emails, onboarding campaigns had an 826% higher click rate than batch-and-blast emails. Additionally, marketers using email triggers also saw a 775% higher conversion rate than batch-and-blast emails.

Lifecycle triggered emails are sent based on the stage within the customer lifecycle, churn risk, or even VIP/loyalty status. Common Lifecycle triggers can include Purchase Confirmation, Customer Survey, Product Review, Replenishment, At-Risk/Churn, and VIP Status.

Unsurprisingly, these emails based on important stages in the customer journey, and loyalty status changes perform really well. When marketers leveraged triggered emails, lifecycle campaigns had a 738% higher click rate than batch-and-blast email campaigns. Additionally, marketers using email triggers also saw a 291% higher conversion rate than batch-and-blast email campaigns.

In addition to email, push notifications also benefit from triggers. Our research found that triggered mobile push notifications result in a 279% higher click rate and a 2,700% higher conversion rate, on average. These results overtake email-triggers in effectiveness by a long shot — these bite-sized communications perfect to be sent within triggered workflows to nudge customers farther down their journey.

Push lifecycle campaigns are very similar to their email counterparts — simply campaigns designed to echo the natural journey of customers with your brand. When marketers leveraged triggered push notifications, lifecycle campaigns had a 1231% higher click rate than batch-and-blast push campaigns and achieved a 10,060% higher conversion rate than batch-and-blast push.

These campaigns are comprised of behavior-triggered messages, often referred to as retargeting messages, sent based on an incomplete, retailer-defined goal. These triggers are based on individuals “abandoning” a cart, browsing session, etc. and often include a time delay. Common remarketing triggers include: Abandoned Cart, Abandoned Category, Abandoned Search, Abandoned Product, and much more, all customizable to your business needs.

Remarketing push notifications are especially useful to retail brands with popular mobile apps, and these campaigns see great engagement and conversion rates. When marketers leveraged triggered push notifications, remarketing campaigns had a 238% higher click rate than batch-and-blast push. Additionally, marketers using push notification triggers also saw a 3200% higher conversion rate than batch-and-blast push.

If you’d like to see how triggers can impact the campaigns essential to your business, download the full 2020 Trigger-Based Marketing Benchmark Report for more data on campaign performance and advice to scaling triggers.