Every company dreams of winning new customers every day and retaining them for the long term. A precise understanding of the customer journey of your own customers is crucial for successful customer relationships. The customer journey should be mapped out with all touchpoints in the marketing strategy. Newsletters and one-off email campaigns have long since found a place in the marketing strategy of many companies.
But have you also made optimal use of emails throughout your entire customer journey?
Strategic email marketing can turn prospects into loyal customers. From acquisition marketing to customer relationship marketing, emails are the ideal tool for increasing leads, conversions, and revenue. We reveal how you can accompany your customers with the ideal email touchpoints.
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The importance of email marketing
Email marketing can be classified as a digital and direct online marketing tool that can help acquire new customers or strengthen customer loyalty. Through direct contact with (potential) customers in their email inbox, email marketing offers high added value for your marketing strategy.
Thanks to the many possible uses of emails and newsletters, you can address potential customers as part of your brand awareness and lead generation campaign. You can also retain long-standing and loyal customers with regular messages. Emails are therefore the ideal method for accompanying potential customers and customers throughout the entire customer journey.
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What is a customer journey?
Customer journey marketing describes the path taken by customers until they decide to make a purchase. This involves going through various phases and touchpoints until a prospective customer is acquired as a new customer and ultimately as a loyal customer. As a rule, consumers do not decide to purchase a product or service immediately. It is only after several points of contact with the brand that the desired action, conversion, and long-term customer loyalty are achieved. The sum of these touchpoints is referred to as the customer journey.
The customer journey can be divided into five phases:
- Awareness of the product is raised (inspiration)
- Consideration / Customer considers purchasing the product (desire)
- Conversion / Product is purchased (implementation)
- Service/product/service is delivered (use)
- Loyalty / Long-term customer loyalty is built up (reminder)
The individual phases of the customer journey should be transferred to the company's processes through customer journey mapping. By considering and mapping all important aspects of the customer journey (touchpoints, channels, content, etc.), customer satisfaction can be increased.
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Email marketing along the customer journey
Phase 1: Awareness
The awareness phase focuses on the needs of potential customers. Customers either recognize their needs themselves or become aware of them through targeted marketing campaigns. Once customers have recognized their problem and desire to solve it, the customer journey begins with the information sources they are familiar with, such as search engines. The focus is therefore not on a specific brand or product, but on the individual solution to the problem. Strategic advertising campaigns can be used to actively awaken the needs of potential customers. In both cases, it is important to have a precise understanding of the target group, their problems, and their needs, and to be present on the relevant channels.
Sending emails via external databases is an ideal way to increase awareness. That's why acquisition email marketing is such an effective marketing tool in the awareness phase. By using professional providers and qualified email address lists, advertising messages can be sent to a large but highly segmented target group. If you know the problems of your target group, you should highlight them in your campaign and offer suitable solutions. By combining relevant and solution-oriented content, clearly defined target groups, and effective email delivery technologies, nothing stands in the way of a successful email campaign. Emails offer you the ideal opportunity to present and describe your products/solutions in detail during the awareness phase. After all, you can share more information here than in a (small) display banner, for example. Acquired and qualified leads can now be deliberately guided into the next phase of the customer journey.
Tips for your email campaign:
- Use creative subject lines and personalized, relevant content to pique your recipients' curiosity.
- When working with external databases, you should ensure that you use GDPR-compliant data sets.
- Possible email touchpoints: Product and company information, event invitations, e-books, white papers
Phase 2: Consideration
In the second phase of the customer journey, the potential customer has recognized their need. While they are actively searching for information, companies should establish numerous touchpoints. This allows them to offer suitable solutions that convince the customer of the product/service.
With personalized emails, you can present your own products and services as the ideal solution for customers in this phase. It is important to address individual problems and deepen interest with the right offers. With professional email templates, personalized communication, and tailored content, you can gain the trust of new customers and get them excited about your business idea.
Email retargeting is the perfect marketing method for this phase. It allows you to send unconverted visitors to your website an email with a tailored offer for the products/services they previously viewed, encouraging them to make a purchase. Automated emails are an extremely effective way to bring customers back to this phase of their journey.
Tips for your email campaign:
- Stating low stock levels or limited offers conveys a sense of urgency. Positive customer reviews create trust. Both convince visitors and can speed up the path to conversion.
- Possible email touchpoints: welcome offers, shopping cart reminders, discounts
Phase 3: Conversion
The customer has successfully completed the first two phases of the customer journey. Now, in the conversion phase, which describes the purchase of a product, for example, you should ensure that the potential customer actually carries out their planned behavior. At the moment of purchase, a smooth process should be ensured in order to minimize uncertainty or buyer's remorse. An uncomplicated purchase process is crucial for the success of the purchase.
Clear and helpful communication throughout the entire purchasing process increases customer satisfaction. Various digital touchpoints should be used for this purpose. Emails in particular are considered a relevant point of contact. You can greatly enhance the customer experience with digital order confirmations, shipping confirmations, invoices, thank-you emails, contact options, etc. User behavior should be analyzed throughout the entire customer journey, but especially during the conversion phase.
Monitor open, click, and conversion rates and optimize your email strategy to increase results and ultimately your conversion rate. Non-converted leads should be taken into account in your customer journey and re-engaged. Here, too, retargeting emails or refined email offers are a good way to create special touchpoints and convert leads.
Tips for your email campaign:
- Email automation ensures that customers receive all important purchase information without delay. This not only saves you time, but also guarantees a positive customer experience.
- Use onboarding emails and ensure that your customers receive all the information and assistance they need.
- Consider non-converted leads and reintroduce them into the life cycle through special touchpoints.
- Possible email touchpoints: transactional emails, tutorials, help, customer service representatives, etc.
Phase 4: Service
The customer relationship does not end with conversion. Once leads have been converted into customers, it is up to you to build a loyal customer relationship. Touchpoints such as delivery, packaging, or customer service help to ensure that expectations are met and, in the best case, even exceeded. An intelligent after-sales strategy turns satisfied customers into not only repeat customers, but also loyal customers. In the fourth phase, providers therefore score points with excellent service.
The use of emails is also essential for the fourth phase of the customer journey. Through useful and relevant email campaigns, you can build on and strengthen existing customer loyalty. Emails are an ideal way to get to know your customers even better, gather feedback, and further optimize your products and processes based on the customer experience.
Tips for your email campaign:
- By skillfully using personalized emails, you can recommend additional products and take advantage of opportunities for additional sales (up-selling, down-selling, cross-selling).
- Potential email touchpoints: product reviews, exclusive offers/promotions, birthday emails, helpful articles, and videos
Phase 5: Loyalty
Satisfied customers lead to repeat purchases and good reviews. Good reviews and recommendations bring in new customers. That's why investing in existing customers is also an investment in acquiring new customers. The fifth phase of the customer journey should not be underestimated. Here, you should continue to increase customer loyalty to avoid losing existing customers.
Emails and newsletters allow you to stay in constant contact with your customers. Exclusive deals, business updates, and loyalty rewards offer an ideal opportunity to generate repeat purchases and additional sales. Through the clever use of re-engagement campaigns based on email series, you can also win back lost customers. This can be an extremely effective way to increase profitability. For example, recipients who have not shown any activity for 6 months can be offered a special coupon. This reactivates inactive customer relationships and increases sales.
Tips for your email campaign:
- Use information already gathered about customers for personalized campaigns and ensure proper data maintenance.
- Use special offers and loyalty rewards to show your customers how important they are to your business.
- Possible email touchpoints: newsletters, loyalty rewards, etc. – Here too, the same rule applies: personalize!
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Conclusion
Using emails throughout the customer journey is an incredibly effective way to win and retain customers.
Acquisition email marketing can be used particularly effectively in the awareness and consideration phases. External databases make it possible to reach potential and qualified leads with unique campaigns. Prospective customers should be addressed with personalized emails that respond to the individual needs of the customer segment.
The advantages of email marketing can also be leveraged for the remaining phases of the customer journey. Targeted emails can increase the conversion rate. In addition, newsletters and other types of emails offer a perfect way to stay in constant contact with customers. This can strengthen customer loyalty. Even unconverted leads can easily be re-engaged in the email lifecycle and won as new customers through appropriate email sequences.
