How many times have you sent an email and never heard back from a customer or prospect? Probably a lot.
This is happening because you might not know when to send automated email follow ups at the best time.
Don’t worry. We figured it out for you.
And what it really comes down to is cadence and repetition.
But first, a quick explainer about why we’re qualified to talk about such things.
Remarkety is an eCommerce email marketing platform that helps online retailers design and send email campaigns.
These campaigns are designed to improve customer retention and sales.
Not using us already? Start a free 30-day trial here.
Since that’s out of the way, let’s get to it.
When Should You Send Automated Email Follow Ups?
If you read the article we published about the best days and times to email customers, you know that Wednesday, right before lunch time, is the best day to email your customers.
However, that article didn’t dive into the specifics of email timing.
We’re talking about the timing of trigger emails that automatically follow up on orders, welcome new users and recover abandoned carts.
That’s why we measured the effectiveness of follow up times based on their conversion rates. We call this the purchase rate.
Now, for the fine print.
We looked at the purchase rate of three different types of email campaigns.
- New User Registration
- Abandoned Cart
- Order Follow Ups
In total, we analyzed over a million emails sent by over 4,000 online retailers.
When to Send New User Registration Emails
After someone signs up for a newsletter or creates an account on a website – the new user registration email is designed to turn this user into a loyal customer.
Registration follow ups are the first opportunity to connect with customers.
As you can see, the best time to send a new registration follow up email or welcome email is two days after the customer has signed up.
Purchase rate on an email two days after registering is over 6%.
This is 18% better than the subsequent follow ups.
Don’t forget to keep following up.
We found that follow ups nearly a month later, between 22 and 28 days, have a 5% purchase rate.
This isn’t to say that one email after two days and another email at 28 days will do the trick to drive an irder.
It’s entirely possible that there were repeated followups, between two days and 28 days, but on the 28th day, customers are more likely to place an order.
This campaign can be more effective if it’s delivering incentives like coupons.
If your store doesn’t use coupons, leverage product recommendations, announce the newest line of products or share the story of your company.
Look at what Tradlands does with their new user registration email.
The email leverages the brand story and a coupon.
Ultimately, the goal is driving an order and this is where the coupon comes in.
If the customer resonates with the brand, even better.
When to Send Abandoned Cart Emails
No cart should be left behind, but most shoppers do.
The actual number is 68.53% of shoppers abandon their cart according to this study by Baymard Institute.
An abandoned cart email campaign should have one focus.
Get the customer to finish check out.
To ensure this email prevents lost sales from happening, we crunched some numbers and found how soon to email a customer after they abandon their cart.
We determined this by looking at the best purchase rates on millions of abandoned cart emails.
See the graph below for how soon you should be emailing customers about the products left in their cart.
The winners are obvious.
Sending an abandoned cart email should be done at one, two or six hours after the customer has left an item in their shopping cart.
But there are other opportunities in the data.
Even at 32 hours after abandoning their cart, customers are placing orders on the products they’ve left behind.
How to design an abandoned cart email
When it comes to abandoned cart design, make sure the call-to-action is clear and for extra measure, add a coupon. 
Including an image of the product left behind and/or product recommendations are strong visuals that can generate a click.
While HipVan doesn’t include a coupon, the email makes it very obvious what a customer should do – complete their purchase.
Generally speaking, a coupon in darn near any email will increase conversions, but it isn’t a necessity.
For alternatives to coupons, read this article we wrote a little while back, how to grow sales without coupons.
When to Send Order Follow Ups
After a customer places an order, you have a great opportunity to up-sell, get product feedback or reward them.
Not only do you know what the customer likes based on that previous order, but you know they are willing to shell out dough for your products.
Make the most of this knowledge and couple it with an order follow up email sent at the best time to drive more orders.
Clearly the best time to send an order follow up email is one day after an order.
The one day follow up is 115% more effective in converting customers than the next best time.
You might be thinking, who buys something the day after placing an order on the same website?
It’s not just an order follow up email.
An order follow up email can be sent based on a variety of statuses – whether an order has been shipped, received, completed, etc.
This explains why an order follow up after one day can be successful.
This also explains why an order follow up email can still see massive success weeks after an order has been placed.
This email campaign is great for rewarding/thanking loyal customers, suggesting other products a customer might like or asking for a product review.
How to design an order follow up email
First, let’s assess what you’re getting after.
Is it an additional order or is it product feedback?
Baby First thanks their customers and even offers a reward.
Don’t forget to think about following up on the follow ups.
Hedge your bet by sending a follow up email for your follow up email.
People sometimes completely miss emails in their inbox, so following up makes a lot of sense. Proof here.
If you’re sending an email one day after an order, and another after eight days, make sure they are unique.
Sending the same email more than once might peeve the customers that open both.
Grand Finale
If you didn’t read anything above and just skipped down to the bottom, why did you do that?
We’re not ones to judge, so here’s what you missed.
Best Time to Send an Order Follow Up Email
One Day After Order is Placed
Best Time to Send Abandoned Cart Email
One, Three or Six Hours After Cart is Abandoned
Best Time to Send New User Registration Email
Two Days After Registering
One last thing to keep in mind is while this data highlights the best intervals, whether by days or hours, to follow up with customers by email, it isn’t written in stone.
What works for one store might not work for your store.
We always recommend testing the timing of intervals of your emails. For example, a one hour abandoned cart email might not perform as well for you as a two hour abandoned cart.
Ultimately, creating a series of follow up emails, whether it’s for abandoned carts, new user registrations or order follow ups are going to do stellar work growing your sales.
We promise. :)
Here are some case studies and success stories about how follow up emails worked for our customers.
And that really covers it! If you have a question or are interested in Remarkety, drop us an email.
Take Your Emails From 0-to-100
– How to avoid email spam filters and folders
– eCommerce Email Marketing Best Practices
– 8 reasons why customers never open your emails
