Retention Email marketing is important. If you haven’t sat down to consider how to keep your customers happy and coming back for more, there’s no time like the present. And if you have, but you’re out of inspiration or lack strategic direction.

Here are some important ways to retain customers faster:

Segmentation is king

To craft an effective retention Email Marketing strategy, you must first understand your customers and how they behave. Forget for a moment their age and all the other demographic data you’ve stockpiled.

Instead, focus on how they interact with your products as they browse your store. They are essentially doing the work for you and segmenting themselves based on their actions. Recognize which of these behaviors is important and merits its own retention tactics.

Engage your customers with email

Aside from the fixed cost of whatever email Marketing service you’re using, emailing your customers is free, and you’ve already got their addresses, so put them to use. These are the email types (and corresponding best practices) you should weave into your retention strategy.

The welcome email

After submitting their email addresses, most online leads expect to receive a welcome email. In general, the goals of the welcome email are to:

• Introduce the user to the company
• Reiterate the value of the product/service
• Establish a humanizing tone.

Note that it’s important to acknowledge that this is a welcome email within the subject line. This can be done simply by incorporating “Welcome” or “Hi” within the subject line. Examples include “Welcome to The Family” or “Hello From Company XYZ.”

The nurture email

Unlike other email types, the goal of nurture emails is not explicitly to sell, but rather to build your brand among your email subscribers. When users need to purchase a product your company sells, your brand will be the first one they turn to if nurture emails have done their job.

The promotional email

These should be an integral part of any email strategy, as they are an effective way to increase conversion.

Utilize a prominent CTA

Design the email so that the promotional offer is prominently displayed and stands out from any other text in the email. Position the promotional text so that it aligns with the CTA (call-to-action) button.

Create urgency

Create a sense of urgency around the promotional offer. Provide a countdown or mention that this offer is available for a limited time. Note: Overusing urgency will dilute its effectiveness.

Include a reason for the offer

Providing a reason for the offer, regardless of the reason, has been shown to improve conversion rates. Reasons can include celebrating a milestone or simply thanking your email subscribers for being part of your community.

Keep tabs on the competition

When developing your retention strategy, it’s useful to keep an eye on the emails your competitors are sending. I recommend that you:

• Identify your competition.
• Become a lead for the competitor by engaging in behaviors of interest (e.g., order complete and cart abandonment)
• Set up a folder in your inbox to receive their emails
• Wait.

Typically, one month of the collection will give you a clear sense of their retention strategy, though some long-tailed verticals may need more time.

After you’ve collected your competition’s emails, begin examining the strengths and weaknesses behind their retention strategy.