A few years ago I made a system that allowed the Shopowner to create Email templates (which I call slugs) – these slugs are then used to create a completely hands off system of emailing your customers, these emails are not sent immediately, but are sent on a schedule (eg “happy birthday” email would go 21 days prior to the customers birthday) and so on.
Slugs look something like this;
Hello {{FNAME}}, we noticed that you signed up on our site on {{DATE}} but haven’t yet gone on to buy anything. If you found our site confusing, just give us a call or email and we’ll be happy to help.
Winback Slug, saved and re-used if customers sign up but don’t check out.
{{FNAME}} and {{DATE}} are what I call “merge tags” and these are transposed to the customers details prior to the system sending an automated email, eg
Hello Mickey, we noticed that you signed up on out site on 29th June but haven’t yet gone on to buy anything. If you found our site confusing, just give us a call or email and we’ll be happy to help.
Winback Email created from Slug & tags, ready to send to customer.
So far I have created a number of Slug modules;
- Winback
This attempts to get the customer back to your site if they don’t purchase for a year. After the email is sent the system sets up another email for a years time. If they buy prior to the email being sent, the email is deleted from the queue and reset for a year down the line. - Birthday greetings
This sends a happy birthday message 21 days prior to the customers birthday – obviously you would have to have the DOB customer_data module turned on. Once sent, another email is set up for the next birthday. - No Checkout
Emails the customer after 5 days of creating an account but not buying anything. If they return and buy prior to the email being sent, the email is deleted. - Request Review
This email is sent about 60 days down the line asking the customer to give you some word of mouth action.
So, here is the flow of a new customer;
A new customer “Donald Duck” creates an account (today, 29 June 2022) and
gives his birthday as 25th December 1980. He does not yet checkout.
Emails added to Queue
Birthday Greetings: send at 4 December 2022 (21 days before birthday)
No Checkout: send at 4 July 2022 (5 days after account creation)
Winback: send at 28 June 2023 (1 year after account creation)
In a couple of days (1 July 2022), he returns to your shop and buys a Shiny Red Apple.
Emails deleted from Queue
No Checkout: he has now checked out.
Winback: he has returned prior to the outgoing Winback date.
New Emails added to Queue
Request Review: send at 1 Sept 2022 (2 months after purchase)
Winback: send at 1 July 2023 (1 year after checkout)
A few weeks later (25 July 2022), he comes back again and buys another product.
Emails deleted from Queue
Winback: he has returned prior to the outgoing Winback date.
New Emails added to Queue
Request Review: send at 25 September 2022 (2 months after purchase)
Winback: send at 25 July 2023 (1 year after checkout)
So, Donalds Queue (after buying twice) now looks like this:
Request Review: send at 1 September 2022
Request Review: send at 25 September 2022
Birthday Greetings: send at 4 December 2022
Winback: send at 25 July 2023
An interesting system that is completely hands off, once you have spent some time in Admin making your Email templates (slugs). It is completely free of core code changes!
I am currently updating the much older code so that it will work in the latest Phoenix. This system is a game changer for keeping your customers invested in your site.