With over 5.6 billion active email accounts, it’s no wonder that email automation is a powerful tool. It can help you stay connected with your customers and ultimately drive sales. Email automation helps deliver the right message at the right time, without you having to lift a finger. This means that you won’t be losing valuable time and your customers will stay informed and satisfied with your business.
We’ve laid out everything you need to know about using email automation from the best ways to use it to the best tools available for it. Continue reading to learn how to leverage your marketing strategies and boost sales.
What is email marketing automation?
Email marketing automation is an email, or series of emails, that are automatically sent to customers based on specific triggers or user interactions.
For example, if a customer was shopping online and filled up their cart but didn’t checkout, an automated email can be sent to the customer, reminding them that they have items in their cart.
The most important aspect of automated emails is that they should be far from spam to be effective. It has to offer those that signed up high-quality and personalised content.
Why is automation in email marketing important?
Email is one of the most effective marketing strategies there is. It can generate $42 for every $1 spent , which is a 4200% Return on Investment (ROI).
Another advantage it has is the ability to reach thousands of users or customers in one go. For example, if you were to send out an advert for Black Friday specials to all your subscribers, it would most likely be impossible to write out and send individual emails to each one.
Using automated emails can help you send messages on a large scale, while also being tailor-made to the audience’s specific needs. This can be done through segmentation. Audiences can be split depending on their interests and behaviours so they receive personalised content.
Providing the right information to the right audience can help nurture leads. Nearly 22% of all email campaigns are opened within the first hour that they’re sent. This means that automated emails can be an effective marketing tool that guides users through the sales pipeline and converts them. It encourages them to engage with your content, products or resources because they are educational and specific to the user’s needs.
When to use email marketing automation
Automated emails can be customised to suit your audience’s varying needs, from the copy that’s in the email to the time that the email should be sent. With that being said, there are a few instances that businesses should take advantage of to get the best out of email marketing automation. These include:
- Welcome emails
More than 80% of people will open a welcome email. They set the expectations of what subscribers will receive from you in the future. Once they know what value your emails will provide them with, they’re more likely to open and interact with them.
- Newsletters
Newsletters are an effective way to keep customers engaged and informed. They can include different content such as company news, upcoming events and product promotions. They can maximize credibility as you share information and knowledge and build relationships with your subscribers.
- Abandoned carts
A well-timed email can go a long way in encouraging a customer to complete their purchase. Sometimes online shoppers are just not ready to commit to a purchase so they abandon their carts. Prompting them to return to it can increase your chance of a recovered sale by almost 30%.
- Promos
These are best used to encourage subscribers to engage with your business. They usually offer some kind of a discount or deal on a product, and are targeted at those that would most likely be interested in the promotion. Sending automated promotional emails is an efficient way to get your brand recognised.
- Replies to inquiries or complaints
It’s most likely that your business won’t be able to respond immediately when contacted, but it’s important to still let your customers know that they have been heard.
You can set up auto-replies that let the sender know their message was received and when they can expect a reply. This can be accompanied with resources that offer help or relevant information.
What are the best email automation tools?
There are many email marketing automation tools available, but it’s key to find the one that best fits your business’s needs and helps you cater for your audience. Here are our top picks:
- Drip
Drip offers a variety of cool features and benefits. One of these is the ability to segment audiences. As mentioned earlier, this is a great way to personalise content. For example, you can apply filters to your subscriber list. Then, only if a certain group matches the given criteria, they will receive the email.
This makes it an excellent tool for managing abandoned carts, registration and birthday or anniversary emails.
- Sendinblue
Sendinblue offers convenience with its visual email editor. This makes it easy to connect your workflow of conditions or triggers into a chain of endless possibilities. It also offers audience segmentation, transactional emails like receipts and order confirmations and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which stores contact information and handles any follow-up actions.
Sendinblue is a great tool for newsletters and promotional emails thanks to its seamless drag-and-drop email editor. It gives a professional result with minimal effort.
- ActiveCampaign
Another powerful software, ActiveCampaign gives you insights into how your audience is interacting and responding to your marketing strategies. It has features such as the Automation Map, which allows you to see the impact of each trigger in your funnel, so you know what’s working and what’s not.
You can also track where your customers are coming from, whether it’s social media promotion or another marketing channel. This way, you know what they’re interested in and can customise their email campaigns to encourage them further through the funnel.
The takeaway
Email marketing automation is a highly valuable tool that every business should be using to leverage themselves. It’s proven to be cost and time effective, while still allowing you to cater for your customers’ needs.
Here at Lilo, we offer first-class email marketing services that will help power your business and take it further.
