Just do it

Some marketers may view abandoned-shopping-cart e-mails as too complicated because they require integration with Web analytics software, says Silverpop's Voigt. But even without implementing abandoned cart messages, you can still target tire kickers by sending messages to people who clicked on an offer in the e-mail but did not buy, he says.

“If they clicked on an offer in the e-mail, the knowledge of that action stays with the ESP (e-mail service provider), so segmenting and following up on that is relatively easy to do,” he says. “They've already signified intent. A slight regurgitation of the original message may be enough to close the deal.”

Another type of e-mail that is arguably behaviorally triggered and inarguably underused by most marketers is transactional messaging, such as account statements, shipping notices, order confirmations. Transactional e-mails are expected by recipients, generally welcome and, as a result, generate high open and click rates. They offer a significant opportunity for incremental revenue.

But there are rules on their use as marketing vehicles. To be considered transactional messages by authorities, their primary purpose must be noncommercial. If their core purpose is found to be commercial, the Can-Spam Act kicks in and they must include an opt-out mechanism and the sender's physical postal address.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, “The primary purpose of the message will be deemed to be commercial if either a recipient reasonably interpreting the subject line of the e-mail would likely conclude that the message contains commercial content, or the e-mail's ‘transactional or relationship’ content does not appear in whole or substantial part at the beginning of the body of the message, [or] a recipient reasonably interpreting the body of the message would likely conclude that the primary purpose of the message is commercial.”

The FTC continues: “Factors relevant to this interpretation include the placement of commercial content in whole or in substantial part at the beginning of the body of the message; the proportion of the message dedicated to commercial content; and how color, graphics, type size, and style are used to highlight commercial content.”

Moreover, there can be internal impediments for marketers who want to leverage their transactional e-mails to sell. The function is often owned by IT, which frequently fails to understand why marketing even exists.

But here is another area where the behaviorally based messaging does not have to be complicated. “An e-mail can go out as a receipt at purchase,” says Silverpop's Voigt. “It has to be transactional in nature, it can't be a thinly veiled commercial message, but the bottom of the message could offer other things the customer may be interested in.”