Maximising ROI from Instant Audiences

Like any other marketing product, the return-on-investment you can achieve through Instant Audiences is dependent on how you configure and utilise it.

1. Configure all recommended email marketing flows

By configuring flows in your Email Service Provider, you can automatically market to shoppers identified by Instant Audiences, driving revenue to your business.

Instant Audiences performs best when a shopper has displayed high intent to purchase, but is unlikely to have been identified by your ecommerce platform or ESP.

Therefore, the most important flow to configure is the Add to Cart Abandonment flow, which markets to shoppers who have added a product to cart on your website, but not completed checkout. 

The second most important flow is typically the Cart Viewed/Checkout Started Abandonment flow. This flow markets to shoppers identified by Instant Audiences who have visited your cart or checkout pages but have not placed an order.

While these are the two flows absolutely required in order to achieve results from Instant Audiences, there are two additional flows recommended for optimal performance.

First is the Product Viewed flow, which markets to shoppers who have added a product to cart on your website, but not completed checkout.

And finally, we have the Collection Viewed flow, which markets to shoppers who have browsed collection pages on your website.

2. Dispatch emails at an effective time

Your Email Service Provider allows you to choose when to dispatch emails triggered by  data provided by Instant Audiences.

If you dispatch emails too early, you may market to a shopper who is already about to complete a half-finished purchase on your website. If you dispatch emails too late, you have a much lower chance of retaining abandoned shoppers.

We've found the sweet spot for email dispatch to be between 45 and 60 minutes after each flow is triggered. Note that emails should also be dispatched 15 minutes after any generic equivalent flows.

If you are sending your emails too late, you will not achieve optimal results from Instant Audiences.

3. Include offers in your emails

Shoppers are most likely to return to your website to complete an abandoned purchase if you offer them some kind of deal. 

Many of our customers include product or shipping discount codes in their emails. Others offer free gifts with purchase.

Your Email Service Provider makes it easy to experiment with these offers, so you can test how much they improve your revenue, and whether this improvement is sufficient, given your margins, brand value, and other factors.

4. Send attractive emails

Shoppers are more likely to open an email if it has an effective subject line. Shoppers are more likely to accept an offer in an email if the email is well-designed.

Best practices for email content and design include:

• Use concise and attractive subject lines. 
  Shoppers receive many emails per day. You need to grab their attention. Your Email Service Provider allows you to A/B test subject lines. Sometimes the best effective subject lines can be surprising, so test various options. If you're offering shoppers a discount in your email, include this in your subject line.
• Send beautiful but simple emails.
  Attractive emails convert better. You can over do it, though. It's important to strike a balance between aesthetics and usability, just like with the design of your website. 
• Feature clear calls-to-action.
  Your emails should include a prominent call-to-action button or link that makes it obvious and easy for a shopper to accept an offer or pick up where they left off in their shopping cart.