Want to save time and increase revenue? Of course you do! Email automation might be the answer. Email automation is simply using an email marketing tool that will automatically send out emails to your customers when certain parameters are met. This will save your marketing team time, help your business cultivate a relationship with your customers and ultimately sell more products.
Incorporating email automation is an important element of email marketing best practices. Be sure to check out Email Marketing Part 1: Best Practices and Tips to Elevate Performance for more insights.
Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of email automation and how to get started incorporating this tool into your email marketing strategy!
Benefits of email automation
Increased efficiency – One of the most prominent benefits of email automation is that it saves loads of time by relying on a workflow to determine when some of your email marketing should be sent. This makes your email marketing more efficient, freeing up your team to dive more deeply into the metrics as well as create exceptional content to connect with your customers.
Improved engagement – Being able to connect with a customer right away can improve engagement with the company. Sending an automated welcome email at the time of sign-up, for example, has been shown to have higher engagement74% of people who received a welcome email opened it, and these emails get four times more reads and five times more clicks than other marketing emails.
Enhanced customer experience – Another enticing benefit of email automation is that it allows for more personalization, enriching the customer experience. Personalization is highly desirable with 90% of consumers finding it very or somewhat appealing.
Optimal time – The right timing can be everything, and being able to automate when an email is sent can catch a consumer at the exact right moment. Especially for abandoned cart emails, sending an email at the right moment can increase revenue.
Examples of when to use email automation
Abandoned cart – Did your customer put an item in their cart and then not finish the purchase? Send them a personalized and timely email highlighting the product(s) and encouraging them to finish the purchase.
Welcome – Once your consumer has signed up for your email list, instantly send them a welcome email to build the relationship. As noted above, these emails perform well and tell your customer about your request to be on your email list.
Birthday – Send a special greeting or offer for your customer’s birthday. They’ll love that you remembered their special day, and it might prompt a birthday treat purchase or continued engagement.
How to get started with email automation
Pick the right tool – There are many email and customer relationship management (CRM) tools that allow for email automation. Be sure to select the right email marketing platform that best fits your brand’s needs.
Determine goals – What do you want out of your email campaign? You might want to build your email list, increase sales and grow revenue, educate your customers, build a strong customer relationship or other KPI.
Segment your email list – We talked about segmentation as a best practice in Email Marketing Part 1, and it’s a smart approach with email automation as well. Be sure you avoid spamming your customers with tons of automated emails. Break up your audience into groups and then only send emails that would appeal to or be relevant to each group.
Set up a workflow – Setting up your workflow simply means deciding what actions or parameters will prompt an automatic email send. Welcome, abandoned cart, birthday, monthly eNewsletter, the next email in a drip campaign or other criteria can be programmed and scheduled.
A/B test – Another best practice from Part 1 on the email automation list! Testing different messages is a good way to see what type of content speaks to your audience. It can also help you see how to segment your recipients based on interest and opens.
Monitor analytics – Get actionable insights by monitoring analytics. If you put in the effort to segment your audience, craft valuable content, A/B test, develop workflows and more, you’ll want to check the data to maximize performance.
An automatic win
Using email automation to support your email marketing strategy is a win-win. Not only does it save you time and can boost revenue, but it provides an overall better experience for your customers. Once you get a workflow in place, you can monitor performance and adjust as needed.
Be sure to check out Email Marketing Part 1 for best practices and next level tips.
Email marketing can be an exceptional way to connect with your audience. Contact the team at Beyond Fifteen to learn how we can help you maximize email marketing campaign performance.
