A new study by Epsilon found that autoresponders — or email messages triggered by consumer action — got higher open rates than “business as usual” emails.
The autoresponders (aka triggered emails) included welcome and thank-you messages, save attempts for cart abandons, and order confirmation, and got an overall open rate of 27.4%. Epsilon’s study analyzed data from 7.3 billion emails sent in Q4 of 2012, across multiple industries and approximately 170 of Epsilon’s clients.
While the research is not specific to content sites, it is noteworthy that the financial services and banking industry had the highest autoresponder open rate at 39.3%. The research also further emphasizes data we recently published in our Retention Handbook, namely that you will get more eyeballs on your first welcome email than any subsequent email.
Every subscription site should be using autoresponders/triggered emails to help onboard new subscribers, as these efforts significantly improve retention and renewal rates. In addition, automatic save attempts for cart abandons can help acquire new prospects, while order confirmations — especially if they include user names and passwords — can help increase immediate engagement.
For some creative ideas on how to construct such autoresponder messages, peruse the Marketing Samples library on Subscription Site Insider.
