How long should I wait before triggering an email to my website visitors?

Try this on for size: Email Stats Center found that when compared to basic, general email marketing messages that are sent to customers or prospects, triggered emails have a 152% higher click-through rate. What this means is that if we want to effectively engage with our audiences, we have to communicate with them at the most opportune time – right when they are thinking about us and our product. And are consequently moving down the pipeline.

But what is the perfect time to communicate with our audiences? How can we ensure that we are delivering our messages when they make the most impact on our prospects’ and customers’ purchase decision?

Let’s examine trigger emails as they are tied to buyer website activity to see if these emails should be sent immediately or sometime later in the future.

Trigger emails and Website visitors

By following up on website activities (when a prospect is navigating through website pages and links), if we automatically send them follow-up information, we are inadvertently helping them make a purchase decision. Emails can take the form of ‘Welcome’ messages or transactional emails, friendly abandoned shopping cart messages and other reminders and further product details. The trick is to strike when the iron is hot so that the conversation continues while the customer has your brand and product top-of-mind.

Staying top-of-mind means that we want our prospects and customers to think about us when they are in the decision-making process. Once they are on our website they are thinking about our brand. Perhaps they are comparing us to other providers, perhaps they have their eyes set on our offer, whatever it is that is going on in their thinking process we are in that moment on their mind.

Sending a triggered email while a prospect is on a page on our website works to keep the conversation going. The more we communicate the more we are answering questions and targeting the needs and wants of our buyers. It’s about momentum. And when we have that momentum, it’s important not to wait, and send a trigger email right after a touch-point has been made.

The important thing is to plan triggered follow-up emails carefully. Messages should be crafted to elicit a response. When a prospect or a customer is navigating through your website, you have to track their digital footprints. Which page did they see first? What page did they move on to second? Have they filled out a form to a newsletter subscription or a whitepaper download? The most effective emails are delivered immediately and correspond to the needs of the buyer. Trigger emails should be employed intuitively. The more you understand the needs of the buyer, the more you can target them with effective messages.

How effective are your trigger emails? Are you sending your messages immediately after a website visit or are you working on delivering communication sometime later in the future? By delivering an automatic response that correlates to the needs of the buyer, you can really work to push prospects and customers down the funnel.

To find out more about how you can identify and nurture your website visitors to be sales-ready, visit CommuniGator’s blog here.

CommuniGator is Iconic Digital’s chosen email partner – we use their platform to deliver email campaigns for our clients, with tracking, results and more. Take a look at their whitepaper on building an overperforming sales team.