3 Price Decrease Email Best Practices from Blue Nile Diamonds
Because product catalogs are complex and always changing, eCommerce brands usually drop prices on old merchandise when new merchandise is added to the site. Price Decrease triggered emails are sent to shoppers who have previously completed abandonment actions for full-price products that are now discounted, and therefore are great if your objective is to move discounted merchandise and expedite the process by giving shoppers who are already interested a heads up about the sale. These emails essentially re-enter those shoppers into the sales funnel and give them a great incentive to purchase. If you’re considering running a Price Decrease triggered email campaign, here are a few best practices to keep in mind.
1. Target only those who are already interested in the product
No marketer wants to condition their customers to only purchase when products are discounted. Blue Nile sends Price Decrease emails to customers who have abandoned a certain product type and the price has decreased by a certain percentage. By targeting this triggered email specifically to individuals who already viewed an item but did not purchase after a certain number of days, Blue Nile limits the Price Decrease triggered email audience size to those it is only relevant to. Blue Nile and other Bluecore customers drive sales through this type of precision targeting without the negative effects of batch and blast sends. Meaning, they can segment their subscriber list and target only those customers who are not likely to convert unless a promotional offer or Price Decrease incentive is in place. Bluecore customers are seeing an average of $3.80 in revenue per Price Decrease triggered email.
2. Send immediately after the price changes
In order for Price Decrease triggered emails to be effective, customers should be able to act on the notification and purchase the product at the discounted price. To do this successfully, Price Decrease triggered emails should be sent immediately after the price actually changes in your catalog. This gives your target customers prioritized access and will give them a sense of exclusivity. (It also doesn’t hurt to tell them they’re the first to know).
By detecting price changes in product catalogs immediately, marketers are able to promptly inform key customers that the price of a product has changed, resulting in an average open rate of 40.46%.
3. A/B test how you show the decrease to the customer
The content of a Price Decrease email will directly impact how effective it is at driving sales. Subject lines that reference the price changes draw customers into your email, but once they have opened, it’s important to literally show the item and/or the price change.
That said, there’s more than one way to showcase a price change to a customer. A/B test showing the price change as a dollar amount versus a percentage change. Depending on the decrease and your industry, one may be more impactful than the other.
