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Date Fields To Automate Email Campaigns, Part 2

 In Email Marketing, OpenMoves Email System

Timely emails that help remind customers about their account status or celebrate a yearly event are practical, relevant and perform very well. In a recent study, triggered email campaigns received as much as a 30% higher open and click thru rate and three times the conversion rate over standard broadcast emails.

In Part 1 of Date Fields that Automate Email Campaigns, we took a look at the nuts and bolts that support an effective automated trigger campaign. Here, in Part 2, we will:

  • Learn how to make a trigger campaign
  • Schedule an automated campaign with a Triggered Send

Triggered Campaigns

You edit a triggered campaign in much the same fashion as a standard email.

  1. Create a new campaign by navigating from Campaigns > My Campaigns. Click the green ADD NEW icon.
  2. Click the Campaign Settings gear icon at the top right of Step 1 Create.
  3. campaign-settings-gear-icon

  4. Change the campaign from Standard to Triggered by clicking the Triggered option.

Change the campaign from Standard to Triggered by clicking the Triggered option
change-to-trigger

Complete your subject line, friendly from name, select from address and assign your campaign a forwarding address, just as you would a standard campaign. Create your design with the drag and drop editor, input your text message and test. Save your work.

You’ll notice now that your campaign has moved from the My Campaigns > Unsent tab to the Triggered Campaigns > Campaign Content tab.

You should also notice that the number of steps to complete your triggered campaign are reduced to 3.

  1. Create
  2. Content
  3. Test

reduced-to-three

This is because a triggered campaign cannot be sent on its own. In this case, the triggered campaign is managed through a Triggered Send.

Triggered Sends

triggered-send

Because date-driven triggered emails are sent automatically based upon a date field (birthday, anniversary, renewal, reminder, etc.), the Triggered Send controls when your email is sent.

Create a Triggered Send by navigating from Campaigns > Triggered Campaigns > Triggered Sends tab.

Click the green ADD NEW button to create a Triggered Send.

triggered-send-options

Testing

It is always a best practice to test your campaign and a triggered campaign is no different. You can seed your list with a few of your own email addresses with data that will be certain to fire off. Once you have received the campaign(s) in a timely manner, you are all set to go!

Summary

Data-driven triggered emails have been shown to increase:

  • Unique open rates
  • Click-through rates
  • ROI per email delivered and
  • Conversion rates

Tapping into your customer data is a powerful marketing tool, helping to create more personalized campaigns with some very excellent results. Sending a special series of messages to your subscribers is only limited by your imagination.

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