In this blog I will be reviewing and analysing the chain of triggered emails that arise from a purchase on Amazon’s online store.

A recent tech purchase I have made resulted in three follow up emails. The first, an auto confirmation email, thanking me for my purchase and giving me information such as a rough delivery date. A second email was received a day later to tell me that the item had been dispatched and was currently in transit, confirming the exact delivery date of my item, allowing me to ensure I was at home, had it been too big to post through the door. A third email, sent a few days after delivery, focused on gaining a review of the product from me to put on their website.

Mohammadi et al (2013) commented on this in their journal ‘Email Marketing As A Popular Type Of Small Business Advertisement: A Short Review’. Their research focused on the concept of building customer loyalty and recovering lost customers through follow up emails. For example, if someone visiting a website added an item to their cart and then left for whatever reason, a gentle reminder sent in an email that they had an unfinished cart may prompt them to return and complete their purchase. Mohammadi et al commented on how this should not be done in a sales pitch format, instead using a customer service approach. The benefit this brings is that customers do not feel pressured into making the purchase, potentially creating a better relationship between company and customer.

The Amazon email chain that I received was set out in a very relaxed, customer service orientated way. None of the three emails pressed me to make a further purchase, however all linked back to their website several times in each email, including advertisements to new or hot products on their website. The landing pages for these links were clear and concise, with further links to many personalised and generic site pages.

Through the sheer size of online sales, and the size of their customer base, Amazon have acquired huge experience in email marketing and it is expected that they would be leaders in this field. As a result, by and large they followed Mohammadi et al review to email marketing.

If you would like the journal published by Mohammadi et al, you can find it here: http://ajbasweb.com/old/ajbas/2013/March/786-790.pdf