Email automation can be an excellent time saver for busy marketers. It makes it possible for you to send personalized messages to your customers without having to hit “send” every time.
But email automation is much more than just a tool to boost efficiency – it can also help you create meaningful interactions with your audience that drive tangible business results.
Read on as we break down the basics of email marketing automation and guide you through the setup process. We’ll also share some expert tips to help you get the most out of your automated email campaigns.
What Is Email Marketing Automation?
Email automation is a powerful tool that enables businesses to automate the process of sending personalized, targeted emails to prospects and customers at specific times or based on certain triggers, such as user behavior or demographic data.
Marketing automation software allows you to send emails at predefined intervals or based on specific subscribers’ actions. This type of email marketing can be extremely effective. By delivering personalized content, you can build stronger relationships with potential customers and nurture new leads through the sales funnel.
This not only saves time and effort on your end, it also enhances customer engagement and conversion rates by delivering timely, relevant content to your audience to keep them engaged with your brand.
Benefits of Email Automation
Setting up an automated email series can be a game-changer for your business. Here’s why:
It’s Time-Saving
Instead of manually sending out individual emails, you set up your automation workflows once, and they run automatically. This frees up your time to focus on other important tasks, allowing you to spend less time on tedious tasks while achieving greater results.
It’s Easy to Personalize
You can send personalized messages at scale. And we’re not just talking about addressing customers by their names. You can set up triggered workflows that recommend products based on past purchases, provide content aligned with audience interests, and highlight special offers on subscribers’ birthdays.
This level of personalization makes your emails more relevant and engaging, often leading to higher open and click-through rates. According to a study by Epsilon, triggered emails generate 76% higher open rates than standard promotional emails.
Looking for more ways to add a personal touch to your customers’ experiences? Check out our guide on personalization strategies used by Amazon.
It’s Scalable
Managing a growing email list manually can be overwhelming. With automation, you can handle a large number of subscribers without extra effort. You set up triggers and workflows to ensure you’re sending the right messages to the right people at the right time.
It’s Cost-Effective
Once you’ve set up your workflows, the ongoing cost of running them is relatively low compared to the potential returns. According to Marketo, 76% of marketers who implement marketing automation achieve a positive ROI within a year, and 44% see a positive return within 6 months.
Email automation is a smart investment for businesses looking to maximize their marketing budget. If you’re looking for more budget-friendly ways to promote your business, read our guide on cost-effective marketing tactics.
How to Set Up Email Automation
Setting up an email automation campaign might seem a bit complex at first. But it’s pretty straightforward if you break down the process into manageable steps, and will soon become a key aspect of your marketing strategy. Here’s a guide to help you get started:
Choose the Right Email Automation Tool
The first thing you need to do is to choose an email automation tool. Popular marketing automation tools include:
- Mailchimp
- Klaviyo
- Hubspot
- ActiveCampaign
- GetResponse
Start by identifying what you need. What features are essential for you?
Most of these platforms offer a drag-and-drop email builder, pre-built templates, and segmentation options. If you need more advanced features like A/B testing, advanced analytics, and integrations with other tools, make sure the platform can accommodate your needs.
You’ll find that many email automation tools offer free trials or freemium plans. This is a great way to test out different platforms and see which one is easiest to use and provides the features you need.
Define Your Goals
Next, you need to think about what you want to achieve with your campaign.
If your goal is to boost sales, your first email automation might focus on promoting products or nurturing leads. You could set up a series of marketing emails that provide valuable information about a common pain point and guide prospects through the sales funnel.
Make sure goals are specific and measurable. This will help you stay focused and track your progress. For example, you set a goal to increase the number of marketing qualified leads (MQLs) by 25% within six months.
Segment Your Audience
Segmentation is how you create more personalized email content. By dividing your customer base into smaller, targeted groups, you can ensure every email you send is relevant to your email subscribers.
You can segment your list based on demographics, behavioral data, and the stage in the customer journey. Most email marketing platforms also allow you to set up segments that update automatically based on subscriber behavior. A recent survey found that 78% of marketers say list segmentation is the marketing automation feature they can’t live without.
If someone opens an email and clicks on a link promoting a specific service or product, they will be added to a segment tailored to their interests. This dynamic segmentation ensures that your subscribers always receive content relevant to their current needs.
Create Your Email Workflows
Once you’ve defined your audience segments, it’s time to create your workflows. These are sequences of emails that are automatically sent based on specific triggers and are a key part of any email marketing strategy.
Identify Triggers
Triggers are the actions or conditions that start a workflow. You’ll need to identify the triggers that are relevant to your goals and set them up in your email automation tool.
For example, when somebody first subscribes to your list by providing their email address, that could trigger a welcome series of emails. If a subscriber hasn’t opened or clicked any emails for a certain period, that could trigger a re-engagement series.
Plan the Email Sequence
Next, plan the email sequence for each workflow. Decide how many emails you want to send and the timing between each one.
Here’s an example of a welcome email series:
- Email 1: Welcome and introduction to your brand (sent immediately after subscription)
- Email 2: Highlight key products or services (sent 2 days later)
- Email 3: Share customer testimonials or success stories (sent 5 days later)
This series of emails introduces subscribers to your brand and nudges them toward your bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) marketing assets.
Craft Engaging Content
Once you’ve plotted out your sequence, it’s time to create the content for each email in your workflow. Make sure you offer value in every message you plan to send.
This could be expert tips, how-tos, or other educational content. If you’re creating a sequence aimed at the BOFU, you could include exclusive offers or social proof like customer success stories or case studies.
Every email should have a clear call to action (CTA). It should describe the action you want subscribers to take after reading your email. You can make your CTA more compelling by using action-oriented language like “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” or “Sign Up Today.”
Design Your Emails
Most email marketing tools provide pre-designed templates that you can customize. Choose a template that matches your overall branding and customize the colors and fonts to fit your existing brand identity.
High-quality images can be an effective way to support your message and make your email visually appealing. However, plain text-based emails can be even more effective, as they often feel more personal and less like a marketing pitch.
In fact, according to digital marketer agency founder Neil Patel, less is sometimes more:
Test Your Emails
Before your email sequences go live, you need to test them. This step helps you catch any errors and ensures your emails provide a great user experience.
Send your test emails to yourself and a few team members. You’ll be able to see how your emails look in a real inbox and get some feedback.
Make sure the design looks professional, and all your email content is easy to read. Also, double-check that your links and CTA buttons are working as intended.
Launch and Monitor
Once you’re confident everything is set up correctly, launch your campaign. Depending on your email automation tool, this might involve activating your workflows or scheduling your emails to be sent.
After your campaign is live, start monitoring key performance metrics. Look for patterns and trends in your metrics. This will show you what’s working and what needs to improve.
For example, if you notice high open rates but low click-through rates, your content might not be engaging enough. If your emails have low open rates, you might need to improve your subject lines.
Need some help working out which metrics to track? Read our guide on the most important marketing KPIs for expert tips on how to measure your email marketing performance.
Email Marketing Automation Tips
Here are some tips to help you make the most of your email marketing automation campaigns:
Use Dynamic Content Blocks
Dynamic content blocks allow you to customize different parts of your email for different audience segments. For example, you can have one section of the email showing different products to different segments based on their interests.
This approach allows you to provide personalized content without creating multiple versions of the same email. It can also be an effective way to drive conversions.
Optimize for Mobile
A large portion of your audience will likely open your emails on their phones or tablets. According to a study by Litmus, 41.6% of all emails are opened on mobile devices.
Optimizing your emails for mobile is essential.
The best way to do this is to use responsive email templates. These templates automatically adjust the layout of your email to fit the screen size of any device.
Luckily, most email marketing automation tools offer a variety of responsive templates, so you can easily create mobile-friendly emails without needing to know any code.
A/B Test Your Emails
A/B testing can provide valuable insights to help you optimize your email campaigns. This involves creating two versions of an email and sending them to different segments of your audience to see which one performs better.
Most email automation tools offer A/B testing features, allowing you to test different subject lines, CTA, send times, and other elements to see what resonates best with your audience.
Make sure you don’t test too many variables at once. It’s best to focus on one variable per test so you can easily determine which change caused the difference in performance.
Keep Your List Clean
Inactive subscribers can drag down your engagement metrics and affect your sender reputation. Email providers use sender reputation scores to determine whether an email should be sent to the spam folder.
Regularly review your email list and identify subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked your emails in a long time, typically six months to a year. Send them a few re-engagement emails asking if they still want to hear from you. If they don’t respond, consider removing them from your list.
Automated Email Campaigns FAQs
What Is an Automated Email Campaign?
An automated email campaign is a series of emails sent out automatically based on specific triggers or schedules. These campaigns can help streamline communication, improve customer engagement, and increase conversion rates.
How Do I Create an Automated Email Campaign?
To create an automated email campaign, you need to select automation software, set enrollment criteria, and design your assets. Once your campaign goes live, you’ll need to monitor your performance and optimize your strategy to improve your results.
What Is the Difference Between an Email Campaign and Automation?
Email campaigns involve one-off messages like newsletters. Email automation involves the automatic sending of emails based on predefined triggers or user behavior. You can use automation tools to enhance your email marketing campaigns.
Is a CRM the Same as Email Marketing?
No, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is not the same as email marketing. A CRM helps businesses manage customer interactions by storing information like contact details, purchase history, and communication logs. While a CRM can include email marketing features, it’s designed to help with overall customer relationship management.
Takeaways
Automated email campaigns are a powerful marketing tool. They save you time and allow you to connect with your audience in a personalized and meaningful way.
However, your business needs a strong online and offline presence to achieve optimal results. That’s where Oppizi can help. Oppizi can bridge the gap between your digital marketing efforts and physical outreach. Our targeted flyer distribution can help you reach your audience and attract more customers online and offline.
By integrating Oppizi’s services with your automated email campaigns, you can create a cohesive and comprehensive marketing strategy that maximizes your reach and impact.
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