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Automation

Behavioral Email

Automated emails triggered by specific subscriber actions or behaviors on your website or app.

Definition

Behavioral emails are automated messages triggered by specific subscriber actions, inactions, or patterns. Unlike scheduled campaigns, these emails respond to real-time behavior such as browsing products, abandoning carts, completing purchases, or becoming inactive. They arrive when the action is fresh, making them highly relevant and effective.

Why It Matters

Behavioral emails generate significantly higher engagement than batch campaigns because they are timely and relevant. Cart abandonment emails can recover 5-15% of lost sales. Browse abandonment emails remind interested shoppers. Behavioral triggers ensure you reach people when they are most likely to convert.

How It Works

Tracking scripts on your website or app capture subscriber behavior and send events to your email platform. These events trigger corresponding email workflows. For example, a 'product_viewed' event for a subscriber who does not purchase within an hour triggers a browse abandonment email with that product.

Example

Common behavioral email triggers:

1. Cart abandonment: Subscriber adds items to cart but leaves → Send cart reminder email after 1 hour, then follow-up after 24 hours

2. Browse abandonment: Subscriber views products but does not add to cart → Send product recommendations after 4 hours

3. Purchase completion: Subscriber completes a purchase → Send confirmation, then cross-sell email after 7 days

4. Inactivity: Subscriber has not opened emails in 30 days → Send re-engagement campaign

Best Practices

  • 1Set appropriate delays before sending (too fast feels creepy)
  • 2Personalize with the specific products or content they viewed
  • 3Limit frequency to avoid overwhelming subscribers
  • 4Include clear value proposition and call-to-action
  • 5Test different timing and content variations

Behavioral Automation

Trigger personalized emails based on subscriber behavior with Sequenzy's event-based automation system.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on the behavior. Cart abandonment: 1-3 hours. Browse abandonment: 4-24 hours. Post-purchase: immediately for confirmation, days/weeks for cross-sells. Test timing with your audience.

Transactional emails confirm actions (order receipts, shipping notifications). Behavioral emails are marketing messages triggered by behavior patterns. Cart abandonment is behavioral (marketing), order confirmation is transactional (expected service message).