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Email marketing automation is one of the top marketing buzzwords of the year.
You’ll find that email marketers everywhere are abandoning mass-emails for a more personalized, strategic approach.
In this article, we look at how you master and benefit from automating your email marketing.
First, we’ll tell why you’ll benefit from it, and then we’ll give you some advanced tips for using automated email workflows.
Let’s get started with your automated email marketing information.
Why Automated Email?
According to Email Monday, marketing automation is growing at an unbelievable rate. They go on to say that, “Best-in-Class companies are 67{57b8cc37fd24bce1cf64c8b05d9407ce9171516056c1f5e762677747187a0de4} more likely to use a marketing automation platform.”
If top companies the world over are leveraging automation, there must be something fantastic about it, right?
The answer is yes. Automated emails allow you to reach directly into your customers’ inboxes with a personalized message tailored to their needs.
For example, if a customer downloaded one of your eBooks, you can then send them targeted emails on topics similar to your eBook. You’ve shown them you care, and with automated email, you can continue to nurture them.
Your business also benefits in many ways from automating email marketing. Let’s look at a few of the ways.
Lead Nurturing
First, with automated emails, you have the ability to nurture your leads from their first point of contact all the way to the ultimate sale or desired action.
The whole point of email marketing is to gently guide your subscribers through your sales funnel without them even realizing it. For example:
- You welcome them in the first email, with no sales pressure.
- In the second email, you give them a tip that pertains to what you already know about their needs and desires, with no sales pressure.
- In the third email, you give them another resource, perhaps in the form of a video. Again, so sales pressure.
- In the fourth email, now that they have come to appreciate you, trust you and value your advice, you can offer them something. They are more likely to bite because now that they trust you, they’re willing to pay for what you’re offering.
With automation, you can tailor funnels for particular customers. For example, you might send subscribers you met in your brick-and-mortar store down a different funnel than you’d send a first-time email subscriber on your website.
Smarter Emails
Next, you benefit because you can send smarter emails. You are no longer throwing emails out and hoping you catch someone.
You are building personal, valuable relationships with customers so you can send the right message at just the right time.
Save Time
Lastly, one of the biggest bonuses of automated email marketing is that you save precious time.
Email Monday again tells us that nearly 75{57b8cc37fd24bce1cf64c8b05d9407ce9171516056c1f5e762677747187a0de4} of marketers say saving time is the biggest benefit to automating emails.
You can take a few hours to create several automated series of emails, and then set it and let them run on their own.
You don’t have to set subscribers up or decide what to send them. You create the emails, set the triggers, and your system does the heavy lifting for you.
This then frees you up to focus on additional ways to reach your customers with a personalized message.
How to Master Automation
Now let’s look at how to master automation by looking at the different types of workflows you can create.
1. Welcome Workflow
When someone signs up for your email list, you want to send them through a welcome workflow of automated emails.
Your first email might welcome them, the second and third ones might direct them to some interesting content, the fourth email might introduce them to your social media platforms, and the final one would prompt them to take an action.
2. Educational Series or On-boarding Workflow
Let’s say a subscriber downloads an eBook, whitepaper or free buying guide. You would then send them through an automated workflow tailored to their interests.
For example, if they downloaded a hot tub buying guide from you, you’d send them through a hot tub topic workflow whereas if someone downloaded a swimming pool buying guide from you, you’d send through a pool topic workflow.
The bonus for the customer is that they continue to receive information that interests them. The bonus for you is you can keep nurturing them for the final sale.
3. Abandoned Shopping Cart Workflow
Ecommerce shopping carts are abandoned at huge rates. But, the good news is you have an avenue for getting them back.
These automated emails are re-engagement emails. If someone fills a cart on your website, you can then send them a special offer to entice them to return.
Discounts and free shipping offers work well.
One study even says that initial emails sent three hours after a consumer abandons a cart, average a 40{57b8cc37fd24bce1cf64c8b05d9407ce9171516056c1f5e762677747187a0de4} open rate and a 20{57b8cc37fd24bce1cf64c8b05d9407ce9171516056c1f5e762677747187a0de4} click-through rate. Those are great statistics!
4. Review Product After Purchase Workflow
Another valuable automated email is the one that you send after someone makes a purchase.
Your business thrives when you have multiple online reviews as these matter to buyers.
Once your customer makes a purchase from you, send them a survey or a request to leave a review on your website or Google. Then, reward them with a coupon for their trouble.
5. Miscellaneous Workflows
Finally, you can also set automation up for service reminders, birthdays and holidays.
Use additional workflows to reach specific customers at specific times.
Final Thoughts
A California-based study found that more than 215 billion emails are sent each day. That amounts to an average of 126 emails received per person every day.
That’s a huge number of emails landing in inboxes all over the world, and it’s up to you to figure out how to stand out in an imposing crowd.
The best way to do that is to concentrate on providing the highest quality personalized content to your subscribers at just the right time.
You already know your subscribers want to hear from you. After all, they did give you their email address. Now it’s up to you to leverage automated email marketing to gently nurture them through your sales funnel with valuable content.
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Image: Matteo Paganelli