Email marketing automation is no stranger to a marketer. In fact, it’s one of the most valuable marketing tools you can use to promote your business. With it, you can send personalized marketing emails, segment based on the consumer journey, and even send exclusive invites.
In general, email marketing helps generate conversions and ROI for your business. Now, working on email campaigns doesn’t have to be time-consuming. This is where email marketing automation comes in. It will save you a lot of time AND drive business success. As you focus on building your brand, it’s important to learn about how email marketing automation can grow your business.
What is email marketing automation?
According to HubSpot, 72% of the most successful companies utilize marketing automation. This means, efficiently utilizing email marketing automation will help you grow your business. So, what is email marketing automation?
Email marketing automation is the workflow of emails sent automatically to a subscriber. These emails are further segmented and sent to subscribers depending on where they are in their customer journey and are often customized to their interests. The simplest example includes the famous “shopping cart abandonment email”. This is when the potential customer gets an email reminding them of the products they left behind in their cart enticing them to go back and make the purchase. These emails often come with a discount code to further pique their interest and nudge them to complete their purchase.
Automated email marketing often gets confused with drip campaigns. A drip campaign in contrast is a mass email sent out to every customer in the database regardless of where they are in their journey. These emails are not personalized and are not tailored to the customer’s interests. However, they are predetermined and sent out automatically according to the email workflow. An example would be a company-wide sale or new product alert.
Why is marketing automation important?
Email marketing automation helps save you time, allows for scalability of outreach, and generates revenue. 49% of companies said the main advantage of marketing automation is that it saves time on repetitive tasks and enables personalized communications. While these are simple reasons, here are some top key reasons why marketing automation is important.
Scalable marketing communication
As your business grows, your customer base and subscriber list will grow. You will need to send marketing communication and find ways to keep your customers engaged with your business. Email marketing automation is the best way for you to reach all your customers in an efficient and effective manner.
Allows for personalized customer experiences
A very valuable part of email marketing automation is that you can personalize your messaging based on the customer journey. Experian states that “personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates than other emails.” Therefore, depending on where each customer is on their journey (shopping cart, milestone birthday, browsing items more than once) they can get a tailored email that matches their interests. Customers then feel a little special with these custom emails over reading a generic email blast.
Improves customer retention
Marketing automation can help your team analyze and improve its marketing strategy. They will be able to assess all the leads coming in, how many customers purchased products and services, and at what point potential customers left the website. This information is useful to improve strategies that can convert potential customers the next time they get an email. Emails serve as a reminder for customers to take advantage of the sales or promotions offered.
Easily calculate results
With the right automation tool for your business, you will be able to easily track and measure customer data. With all this important information available to you, you can work on strategies to further improve your marketing strategy and communications.
Work in synergy with other marketing channels
This is probably the most genius and helpful aspect of marketing automation. Integrating your communications with other marketing apps will help you send out automated notifications and messages to your customers. It also captures data from your customers no matter what platform they are using. Imagine all the time and effort you’ll save just by synching all your apps and accounts!
Saves a lot of time
Speaking of time, automating your emails will save you A LOT of time. You will need to spend some time setting up the emails and writing and implementing content. However, once it’s all set up, you can let it run on its own! This is where automation steps in and does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Just be sure to check in once a month to ensure everything is working correctly.
Generate ROI
This is what you’re here for and what you want your business to do – generate revenue. According to litmus, “on average, email drives an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, higher than any other channel.” This is a very lucrative marketing opportunity to take advantage of, and again, one that is simple to set up and continues to be successful.
How does marketing automation work
Leave the manual labor behind and watch email marketing automation do its magic. If you’re trying to get behind the scenes, here’s how it works.
- It starts with a simple setup where you collect customer data. For example, gathering subscribers through invites, sales, website visits, social media, and any other outlet where you collect customer information.
- Your customers are in the database and you send automated emails with the automation tool of your choice. This tool will start to gather information and prepare a customized profile for each customer.
- The automation tool you use will have the data necessary to help you segment your emails. Tailored emails are sent to each customer in their journey.
- The goal is for customers getting these emails to visit your profile, go back to their cart or get enticed by discounts and make a purchase.
- Sales = Success!
When to use email marketing automation
If you’re looking to create a positive customer journey, there is a right way to use email marketing automation.
Promotions and sales
You want your customers to know about your sales and promotions. Automation is the easiest and most efficient way to make sure all your customers get to know the information they need to shop! While it’s hard to make these emails personal, you can carefully curate them in the customer journey to make them feel like they’re part of an exclusive promotion.
Abandoned carts
One of the most popular and useful email automation is the abandoned cart. Your potential customer was SO CLOSE to making a purchase and you, unfortunately, lost the sale at the last minute. No sweat! You can still keep the customer engaged by sending them a reminder that they have products left in their cart! While they might have not been ready to buy the first time, your reminder could serve as a nudge to complete the purchase.
Engaging subscribers
It’s easy to forget about a brand, especially when one isn’t a loyal customer as yet. Use email automation as a strategy to keep your subscribers engaged. It also helps to remind them why they were interested in your brand in the first place. The key here is to build a relationship and you can only do this by offering something of value. Newsletters with valuable information – sales, discounts, events, etc. – will capture their attention and lure them to become customers.
Welcoming new subscribers
Think about it, you’re not going to be available every minute someone signs up to receive marketing emails. You definitely want to automate this one. Welcome emails are a great way to invite your audience into your community and let them know what value you will provide them. This helps set up expectations for future email communication.
Automated customer complaint replies
When a customer complains, you want to address it right away. Therefore, setting up an automated response can help reassure the customer that their issue is being taken seriously and will be responded to in a timely manner. Their concern will be validated and you will be able to personally follow up with them after reviewing the issue.
Milestone dates
There’s no better personalization than wishing someone on their birthday or anniversary! You can ask for this information when customers subscribe and have this data stored for when it’s needed.
It’s important to remember that automation can only take you so far when it comes to personalization. Remember that follow-ups and certain forms of communication may need to be more personalized and tailored to the customer.
How to develop an email marketing automation workflow
To start planning out your email marketing automation campaign, you need to map out an efficient workflow. Here are some steps to follow when working on setting up your email marketing automation.
1) Choose the RIGHT tool
In order for you to have a successful and efficient automation workflow, you need to choose the right tool to get organized and start capturing data.
Here are some key features to look out for:
Mobile Optimization
More than 81% of individuals check email on their phones. According to Adobe, you’ll want to have your emails optimized and easy to use on a mobile device.
Automation capabilities
You will want to choose software that has customizable triggers where you are able to tailor your emails accordingly.
Email templates
There is a lot of software out there that has easy-to-use email templates that are customizable. Start here to save time and the ability to have great designs for your email.
eCommerce integration
You definitely want to be able to send transaction-specific emails to help your customer complete their purchases in an efficient manner. It’s important to find software that integrates with the E-commerce platform you use (Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.)
Key Performance Indicators
Measuring performance and results in real-time is crucial. So, your email marketing software should have the tools in place for you to measure and analyze your data.
List segmentation
The more dynamic segmentation your software offers, the better for you to personalize your customer’s journey.
2) Segment your subscriber list
Using your segmentation tool, organize your customers according to their interests, purchase behaviors, and interactions. For example, customers who have not made a purchase yet will get a different personalized email compared to returning customers.
3) Tailor your customer journey sequence
This is where you can get creative! Each customer will have to follow criteria to have their own customer journey. While each customer can have a unique journey, an example sequence could include:
- Welcome email
- Forgotten product reminder
- Custom discount on the specific product
- Discount on next purchase
Every customer journey looks different. One might need more promotions, one might have a birthday, or one might need to be reminded of the brand entirely. You can set up your triggers and personalize content accordingly.
4) Track data and results
The only way you can improve and see what’s working is by looking at your campaign results and analyzing them. Look at which emails performed better, had the most conversation rate, and highest number of clicks. With this feedback, you can perform more A/B testing, focus on designs and CTA’s they like, and continue to improve your strategy.
Email marketing automation can save you a lot of time, improve scale and generate sales and revenue – if done correctly.
A few more key points to keep in mind:
- Always include a CTA (call to action) in your emails.
- Ensure you follow anti-spam laws
- Emails should be optimized for mobile
Every business can benefit from email marketing automation. If you haven’t already, find out the right tool for you and get started. You’ll see how quickly and efficiently your business will grow.
