Image
Top
Navigation
September 30, 2013

Customer.io – Sophisticated Emailing for Apps

ss-customer.io
Targeted emails that are triggered by the action (or inaction) a customer takes inside a company’s mobile app have extraordinarily high conversion rates. The challenge, however, can be accessing the type of information necessary to send segmented marketing messages. Customer.io provides people with the tools they need to send targeted newsletters and transactional emails, without having to bug their developers for the right information.

To start using Customer.io to send targeted emails, you’ll need to sign up for a free account and send Customer.io your data. Customer.io recommends that people use Segment.io and Analytics.js to integrate their data. At that point, you’ll be able to segment customers into groups based on three types of data: page views, events, and user attributes. This segmented customer information is useful when you start building your first automated campaign. Select the group you want to target — for example, you may want to send an automated email to any customers who abandon their shopping carts in your mobile app — and write the associated copy that will ultimately be sent out.

Test out the campaign based on the conditions you’ve applied, and then switch the sending mode to make the whole thing automatic. Customer.io will show you opens, clicks, and conversions based on the marketing messages you’ve sent out. The platform also stands apart from competitors by allowing users to create and send newsletters, transactional emails, and behavioral emails all in one place.

Practical Uses:

  • Send a coupon to people who abandon their online shopping carts
  • Create a special monthly newsletter for your biggest customers
  • Find out how different customer segments respond to similar messages
  • Look up a customer to see all the transactional emails he or she has received

Insider Tips:

  • Import email templates you’ve already created
  • Users can add CSS files to their email layouts
  • Customer.io works well with platforms like KISSmetrics, Mixpanel, and Google Analytics
  • Customer.io handles global unsubscribe requests

What we liked:

  • Customer.io is a great tool for people who want to learn more about email conversions
  • Companies don’t have to nag their developers for the data they need to send segmented emails
  • Special offers are automatically triggered by certain in-app behaviors
  • Past events can be taken into account when creating event segments

What we didn’t like:

  • The company’s A/B testing feature is still under development

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2012
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: New York, New York
  • Founded by: Colin Nederkoorn and John Allison
  • Web site: http://customer.io

Costs:

  • Monthly plans range from free to $700 per month

Submit a Comment