Case Study: Trigger-Based Emails Help 
Onlineshoes.com Grow its Revenues

"We were looking for timely emails to be sent to customers who were actively either browsing the site or putting something in their carts," says Emilee Brunton, email marketing manager of Onlineshoes.com. "We wanted to make sure we were targeting customers with the right message at the right time after they were obviously interested
in the site."

Subscribers Worth Their Weight in Gold
Since Onlineshoes.com's cart and browse abandonment trigger emails are only sent to opted-in consumers, email subscribers are particularly valuable to the retailer. To help it collect more subscribers, the company has added sign-up fields on its homepage; a pop-up box that appears when subscribers attempt to opt out that says, "Are you sure?," with a value proposition of what being an email subscriber gets them; pre-checked the email sign-up box on the cart page for first-time buyers (they can uncheck the box); and used Facebook to recruit new subscribers with special offers in exchange for 
email addresses.

Onlineshoes.com plans to test variations of its abandonment program to optimize its potential. The current wait time of three days will be 
tested to see if that's the optimal time before an email is sent. Offers customized to recipients of triggered cart- and browse-abandonment emails — e.g., get 10 percent off X, which you left in your shopping cart — will also be tested for their effect on conversion rates.

"We're looking to develop trigger campaigns that are relevant and personalized," says Brunton. "This is just the beginning of where we want to be going with the program."