Single Email or Automated Series – Which is Most Effective?

Marketing automation tools can be incredibly valuable for e-commerce businesses. Nearly 16 times more orders per recipient than regular bulk email. Marketing automation gives you the ability to create a single email—or an email series—that sends automatically based on predetermined triggers.

Let’s Explore the Numbers

Most people don’t read every email in their inbox, so if your goal is to sell more stuff, the data shows that opting for an automation series can help increase impressions and result in more sales. Abandoned cart series automation produces almost 37 times more orders per recipient than a regular bulk email, while the abandoned cart single email automation results in around 30 times more orders per recipient. On average, an abandoned cart series produces an order for every 43 recipients, as compared to a single abandoned cart email, which yields an order for every 54 recipients. That’s a 24% increase in orders per recipient. Let’s compare the average revenue per automation for the abandoned cart series and the abandoned cart email.

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Keeping in mind that sales figures can be skewed by stores with more expensive products, a single abandoned cart email averages $544 in revenue, while the average abandoned cart series generates $958—that’s over 75% more revenue per automation. This is money you make without doing anything more than simply setting up the automation.

A similar pattern holds true for first purchase automation. A first purchase email series results in twice as many orders per recipient compared to single-email first purchase automation. The average revenue reflects a comparably dramatic increase: single-email first purchase automation results in $149, while a first purchase series averages $480 per automation.

There Are Exceptions to the Rule

The numbers above show that creating a series of abandoned cart or first purchase emails resulted in more sales than their single-email counterparts. However, there are a few interesting outliers.

For example, let’s take a look at welcome automations. Although they outperform the average bulk email, comparing a single welcome email to a welcome series tells a less definitive story than the e-commerce automation previously discussed.

Average orders per recipient are almost identical for welcome automation. Some studies have shown that the welcome email actually performed about 3.8% better. When comparing the average revenue generated per automation, however, a welcome series saw a 51% advantage over the welcome email.

Welcome automation can serve a number of different purposes, from simply greeting new contacts to showing off your latest products. Since its applications vary so widely, it’s important to take another look at the data.

If we focus only on welcome automation that includes a product block or a product recommendation, the results are similar. Average orders per recipient are slightly higher in single welcome emails. A welcome series yields about 41% more revenue on average.

It’s an interesting nuance, but don’t let these findings keep you from using a welcome series to help generate orders for your store.

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Make Sure to Test, Monitor & Refine What Works for You

As with any insights drawn from a diverse user base, it’s important to remember that these findings aren’t necessarily indicative of the results you’ll see with your own account.

It’s also worth noting that each automation series in these studies contained an average of 3 emails, a number that has proven successful for many e-commerce businesses.

Keep in mind, you don’t want to start adding a ton of emails to your automation series, but you don’t necessarily have to limit yourself, either. Every business is different, so we encourage you to experiment and find what works for your specific products and services.

Consider testing a single email against a full series for each automation, then monitor your reports to learn which automation resonates with your customers and works best for your business.

If you are unsure about how or where to start, feel free to contact us and we’d be happy to get you started!

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