Email Marketing: Looking Beyond the Initial Conversion

Email marketing has become a powerful tool in driving conversions and shaping consumer purchasing behavior.

Think about how many times you received an email with a promotion that enticed you to visit the website and you completed a transaction. Even if you weren’t previously thinking about the brand or had any intention of making a purchase, that message had the ability to elicit a response.

Of course, there are extraneous buyer behavior factors involved, had you not received that email in the first place, how likely would you have been to even make a purchase?

Email marketing has the ability to trigger a response, but that is not to say that every email campaign you send will lead to a direct sale. Companies have to see the bigger picture – email marketing has the ability to influence and shape even future purchasing behavior.

Use Email Marketing to Shape Consumer Purchasing Behavior

To influence consumer purchasing behavior with email marketing, companies should take four proactive measures: Increase Brand Awareness, Be Timely, Personalize Content, and Send Follow-Up Messages. These strategies will enable email marketers to create relationships with their audiences that develop beyond the initial touchpoint – the inbox.

1. Increase Brand Awareness: Companies should send consistent, branded messages to consumers. By repeatedly and strategically leveraging your brand and message in front of consumers, over time you will create brand recognition. Ultimately, this recognition is what will set you apart from your competitors and it is the recall of your brand that will influence consumer purchasing behavior.
2. Be Timely: Begin thinking of timely and relevant issues and how you could incorporate them into your messaging in real-time. For example, if your company specializes in umbrellas and you know that the predicted forecast is a monsoon, you have the opportunity to get in front of consumers with an effective message. This timeliness and relevance have the potential to elicit a response and drive conversions.
3. Personalize Content: Addressing emails by first names is an inviting feature that can make consumers feel connected to your brand. In terms of the bigger picture, the focus is on building loyalty and trust– feelings that can influence consumers during future purchases.
4. Send Follow-Up Messages: Keep track of consumers who open and click your emails and follow up with another email campaign specific to them. If they showed interest initially, it is worth the time to foster a relationship and follow up with an additional email. This follow-up has the potential to elicit either a response either now or in the future.

See the Results

Thus, use these four strategies to build relationships between buyers and your brand. Increasing brand recognition, being timely, personalizing content, and sending follow-up messages are four email marketing strategies that have the power to impact consumer purchasing behavior. Implement these tactics and use them to your advantage! Measure the success of your email marketing campaigns by comparing prior and post-campaign metrics.

What other strategies can companies use to influence consumer purchasing behavior? Connect with us on social media – we would love to hear your thoughts!