Updated August 7, 2026.
You have probably come across the idea of trigger emails, or trigger campaigns. This is a particularly effective tool that has earned a prominent place in modern online marketing.
This article covers how to use these trigger campaigns, usually by email, what they are for, and how to use them correctly.
Above all, trigger campaigns are needed for working with customers, specifically:
- attracting new customers,
- retaining the existing customer base,
- and increasing conversion.
Most people who shop at large online stores have encountered trigger campaigns. Let us look at them more closely.
Definition and Comparison of Email Campaigns
A trigger campaign is an automated email or email sequence launched after a specific event or when a defined condition is met. For example, someone registers, abandons a cart, makes a purchase, or has not visited the site for a long time.
| Campaign type | What starts it | Main purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk | A marketer’s decision and schedule | Tell the whole list or a segment about a promotion, news, or new content | Weekly digest, sale |
| Transactional | A user action or a change in transaction status | Confirm the action and send service information | Receipt, order status, password reset |
| Trigger | User behavior, a date, or a combination of conditions | Nudge the person toward the next target action at the right time | Welcome sequence, abandoned cart, reactivation |
The line between transactional and trigger emails is not always clear. A receipt after payment is a transactional email. A post-purchase email with suitable additional products is already a trigger email. Look first at the message’s main purpose.
How Do Trigger Campaigns Differ from Ordinary Ones?
The feature that distinguishes trigger campaigns from ordinary email campaigns is that they are not intended for bulk sending. They are a response to a particular person’s actions, built around a specific event or action performed by a site visitor.
What types of trigger campaigns exist? How should they be used to build a relationship with customers?
How a Trigger Email Sequence Works
No magic: a trigger sequence works like an ordinary if-then rule:
Event → condition and delay → email or email sequence → target action.
A user put a product in the cart but did not finish the order. The system waits and checks the condition: still have not finished, you little pest? Then it sends a reminder. If the person placed the order, the sequence stops immediately. If not, the next email can address a specific objection: explain delivery terms, remind them about the product, or offer help.
A good sequence suggests the next step and does not pester the user once the target action has been completed.
Different Types of Trigger Campaigns
Welcome Emails (Customer Contact)
These emails arrive immediately after a person’s first contact with the company, for example after registering on the site. This kind of email must be sent to the customer without delay. Along with standard information about the company, it can contain lures that encourage a new customer to continue the relationship. The bait can be bonuses, promotions, gifts, or messages inviting the customer to keep up with every promotion, discount, and so on. Remember that campaigns work better when they address the customer personally and, above all, offer bonuses that match their interests.
Post-Purchase Emails (“Didn’t You Forget to Buy … Too?”)
After a customer makes a purchase or their order is fulfilled, it is very useful to send an email encouraging them to stay with your company and buy again. At this stage, it is important to offer the so-called post-sale upsell, or cross-sell: a related product that complements the recent purchase. The mechanics of such a campaign are not complicated. After the purchase, a standard email is sent with the order details, number, delivery date, contact information, amount due, and a block of products usually bought with the order. Then another two or three emails are sent every two or three weeks with suitable related products. Do not overload the customer with lots of products; two or three options are enough. The scarcity principle can be useful: for example, phone cases are limited, do not miss out, only two remain in stock, and so on.
Emails After an Incomplete Order
It is very important to connect with customers who put a product in the cart but did not buy it. This is also called an abandoned cart. The main task is not merely to remind the customer about the company, but also to make sure they complete the transaction. How should incomplete orders be handled?
Three hours after the product is added to the cart, the customer receives the first email saying that they added a product, it has been reserved specially for them, and it is waiting.
If there is no response, send another email in the same spirit the next day, but add bonuses that encourage a positive decision. For example, order the product now and receive an extra product for free, a discount, or free delivery. The main thing is to emphasize that the offer is time-limited, trap the buyer, and force them to complete the transaction.
Offer the customer a subscription to your company’s email list so they know about every promotion, offer, and new product. If they did not buy now, they may buy next time. The main thing is to give convincing reasons why buying from your company is beneficial and emphasize the value of your product.
Emails Responding to Behavior on the Site
You can also improve conversion by using information about customer behavior on the site. If they looked at a product in the catalog and used sorting by certain categories, remember that fact and send them an email with new products or bonuses connected with that category.
Which actions should trigger an email?
- The visitor used site search.
- They browsed the catalog.
- They read reviews of a particular product.
- They viewed a product but did not add it to the cart.
Your email should be very thoughtful and informative, with personalized offers. If a user searched for a product, read its reviews, yet left without buying, you should dispel their doubts about it and give them as much information about your offer as possible.
Win-Back Emails
If a user has not bought anything from you for a long time, do not forget about them. Remind them about your company with trigger win-back emails saying, for example, come back, we have a good offer for you.
Which reasons should you use to bring someone back to your company?
- A cumulative customer bonus program.
- New favorable service terms.
- Gifts for customers.
New promotions and discounts that can interest users.
You will need to find out why the customer stopped working with you and learn their needs. Based on these factors, write the email properly to bring the customer back.
Holiday Emails
If your customer’s birthday is approaching, you should definitely offer them a discounted or even free product as a gift. New Year or Christmas is coming: prepare a selection of products that could serve as gifts for the customer’s friends or relatives. No suitable holiday on the calendar? No problem! You can invent a holiday occasion yourself and hold a sale for a particular kind of product.
Thank-You Emails
Do not underestimate the all-embracing sense of appreciation created by gratitude. Always tell your customers “Thank you,” “We thank you,” and “We appreciate you,” and they will value it. Remember to thank people after they register on your site and after a purchase. Send thank-you emails, and remember to offer new products your customers may like in them.
Trigger Email Matrix
| Email type | Trigger | When to send | Goal | Main metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Registration or confirmed subscription | Immediately after the event or within a few minutes | Bring the user to the first useful action | Share of activated users |
| Post-purchase | Purchase or completed order | After order confirmation or delivery, or according to the product-use cycle | Get a repeat purchase or upsell | Revenue per recipient |
| Incomplete order | Cart or checkout without payment | After a delay matched to the usual purchase cycle; stop the sequence after an order | Bring the user back and complete the purchase | Share of recovered orders |
| Responding to site behavior | Product view, search, repeat visits, or another interest signal | While the interest is still current, but only after a sufficiently strong signal | Return the person to a suitable product or offer | Target-action conversion |
| Reactivation, or win-back | The user has not visited or bought for longer than a defined period | After an inactivity threshold calculated from the real purchase cycle | Bring the customer back or learn why they left | Share of reactivated users |
| Holiday | Birthday, anniversary, or suitable holiday | Early enough for the offer to be used | Get a sale tied to the event | Revenue per recipient |
| Thank-you | Purchase, registration, review, or completed support request | Immediately after the event | Reinforce the positive experience and offer the next appropriate step | Conversion to the next action |
How to Measure Trigger Email Effectiveness
The fact that an email was sent says nothing about effectiveness. I would look at the entire funnel:
- Delivery: what share of emails actually reached recipients.
- Clicks: how many unique recipients followed a link.
- Conversion: what share of recipients completed the target action: placed an order, registered, or returned to the site.
- Revenue per recipient: how much money the sequence earned per delivered email. This metric is especially useful for comparing different scenarios.
- Unsubscribes: whether the campaign became too frequent or irrelevant.
- Spam complaints: an important constraint. An increase in complaints cannot be justified even by good sales.
Open rate is a supporting metric. Email clients can load images automatically and count an open without any actual reading. Opens therefore help evaluate the subject line and sender name, but clicks, conversion, and revenue are better measures of a sequence’s result.
Welcome, reactivation, and post-sale sequences should not be compared directly: they have different audiences and goals. Each is better compared with its own history or a control group.
Bottom Line
This leads us to conclude that it is hard to overstate the value of trigger emails. Used skillfully, the tool can significantly increase conversions and even create a loyal customer base. Making repeat sales to each loyal customer is much easier.
Ordinary campaigns do not produce the same results, let alone trivial spam.
Do you already use trigger emails in your business?