The utilization of electronic mail, or as it is better known as “email”, has been an important tool in the industry of digital marketing for decades. Reaching out to both leads and customers is a vital way to keep people engaged in content about a business’ promos, updates, products, and services. The evolution of the way a company sends out its content has been a game-changer in email marketing.
What is Email Automation?
The mechanized way of distributing emails containing targeted messages that are tailored from the responses of leads and customers of a company’s main website or digital application.
Those specific responses can range from signing up for email newsletters, having a product in a cart while shopping online but not yet going through with purchasing the said product, and merely just exploring the content of related subjects through popular search engine sites like Google.
Other factors influence the distribution of emails like time schedules and productivity rates of catering to leads.
How Does Email Automation Work?
The email automation process happens in stages. The first stage is when a lead goes to a website, explores the landing page, and interacts with content by downloading advice pamphlets, signing up for newsletters by email, and filling out an information gathering pop-up for updates.
Then that lead becomes a part of the email traffic directory. In stage 3, leads are labeled into categories based on demographic information like where they live, their hobbies, and how they interact with content.
In the next stage, marketing teams will often cultivate a campaign based around the email that they distribute to potential and current customers.
That is the way email automation comes into play where they base their tactics around when they will send out the emails, what the content within the emails will be, and choosing what the call-to-actions will be depending on what stage a person is in the buying process.
The final stage is where the emails are finally distributed according to how the marketing team tailored them to be.
Why Does My Business Need Email Automation?
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To groom your leads:
According to Campaign Monitor and based on a culmination of studies, “50% of leads generated by organizations are qualified but not ready to purchase.” That is why motivating leads into becoming customers through email automation around incentives of using a product or service is an important part of the process.
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To distribute customized, business-to-customer correspondence:
Make specific subject lines in email campaigns that speak to the consumer based on past interactions with content with the use of HTML meta tags.
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Connect with your target audience:
Email directly connects a business to both potential and current customers based on the information that they willingly gave to data gathering tools like pop-ups and sign-up pages.
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Email gets seen and your business gets more exposure:
Even if an email does not get read by the audience that it is intended for, it will be seen due to the title in the subject line. The subject line alone lets people know who the sender is, and the main idea of the content is inside of the email.
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Simple to organize and distribute specific messages:
Tailor your email to target specific demographics of your audience based on where they live, how old they are, their hobbies, etc.
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To help your business stay relevant:
Being consistent in interacting and keeping in contact with customers helps a business to stay on the minds of their target audience and helps to cultivate a long-term relationship.
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It does not put a dent in your pocket:
Compared to conducting annoyingly random sales calls and creating every single email reaching out to your target audience from scratch, utilizing automated emails helps businesses to save time and money.
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Connect with your target audience through their phone:
These days most people check their emails through their smartphones. Having access to a device that is always with its users at nearly all hours of the day (and night) gives businesses the ability to convert leads into customers at a much faster rate.
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Attract visitors to your website’s main page:
Consistent distribution of email to your target audience cultivates a relationship of loyalty and familiarity which motivates them to visit a business website to explore content. This leads to them learning more about products, services, promos, campaigns, etc.
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Create & Wait (Sort of):
Once an email automation strategy is made reach out to fresh leads and watch the process unfold. However, a business still must try out the effectiveness of their strategy through conducting A/B tests.
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Monitor and Analyze Results:
Utilize KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to monitor distribution, access, interaction, and lead-to-customer percentages.
Types of Automated Email Responses You Can Send
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Appreciation emails
A simple “thank you” is always in order when a business is always requesting leads and customers to interact with their content, buy their products and services, give feedback, etc. It is especially effective to send one immediately after a person carries through with the buying process.
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Greetings emails
When new visitors are interacting with your content it is polite to send them a “welcome” message to make their experience a positive one and motivating them to come back again and again.
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“Introducing the team” emails
To deepen the relationship that you have with your audience, introduce them to the people behind the scenes that create the content, and operate the business. This helps to humanize your organization.
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“Get the app to keep in the know” emails
As stated earlier, people are almost always on their smartphones. Help those people stay connected and engaged in your business by creating a mobile app that carries content and product at the touch of a button. If you do not have enough resources to make an app, a business can make their website more mobile-friendly.
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The package is on its way emails
Assure your customers that the product that they have just ordered is on its way, through emails updating them frequently about the location status. This is a must-have feature for businesses that conduct services online.
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“Give us your feedback” emails
Ask your customers their opinion about the quality of a product and service through surveys. This helps businesses find out directly from customers what works, lets them know about flaws in the buying process, and how they can improve.
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“How would you grade us” emails
All businesses want to know if they have met their customers’ standards, needs, and wants, right? Keeping in contact with customers even after a completed order helps to show them that input is important.
This also helps to gauge whether a person likes what they have bought after some time of using the product or service.
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“These are our highest-graded products” emails
Whether a business is trying to convince a new lead to buy their product or wants a customer to try out their other products, showing high-graded products allows for businesses to find out what they are interested in buying now and in the future.
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Suggestion emails
When you buy a pair of name-brand slacks, you might then see a suggestion offered to buy a belt from the same brand. Enhancing the experience of the products and services is a business’ main goal in trying to please their customers.
Having a related product that boosts the effectiveness of a product that you have just purchased is the icing on the cake.
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Blog notification emails
Businesses with content-heavy websites will, more often than not, have a blog. Blogs allow for new visitors to learn more about a product, having their inquiries resolved, and talk about related subjects that deal with using the product in relatable situations.
Through sign-up options, long-time visitors get to have first dibs in accessing blog content. This leads to longer interactions on your website.
( Also Read: Top 10 Free Marketing Automation Tools )
What are the Benefits of Email Automation?
- Reduces time
- Assists in successful grooming efforts of your leads
- Increases sales
- Customize your audiences’ interaction with your brand
- Helps marketers to create a thorough email automation campaign
- Utilizes the full strength of your marketing department
- Enhance customer preservation percentages
Challenges in Email Automation
- Raising interaction rates of the content
- Gaining new customers
- Enhancing email customization
- Raising brand recognition
- Having a better customer database
Email-Automation Best Practices
- Send an appreciation or greetings emails
- Send time and demographic strategic emails
- Organize customer database according to where they live, their hobbies, their actions, etc.
- The better the quality of the customer database, the better the email automation strategy
- Getting a sale is not the main goal, informing your customers is
- Allow for people to disengage with content with ease
- Commit to testing email automation strategies frequently
Tips on Making Email Automation More Effective
- Monitor feedback to gather more data
- Provide promo sales in a smart way i.e. holidays
- Make mechanized lead grooming strategies
- Copywrite excellent subject headlines
- Analyze results
- Utilize clickable call-to-action tools
Final Thoughts
Email automation functions as a tool to reach out to both leads and customers with tailored and mechanized strategies in order to convert leads to customers, retain those customers, and satisfy their wants and needs.
Through practices and tips, businesses can establish behaviors of their own utilizing email automation that best distributes their content to a wider audience. A big part of marketing is all about creating content.
Whether it is through creating social media posts, building websites, or creating/distributing emails, content is the foundation of customer outreach.
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Aileen Padua is an aspiring social media coordinator. She is currently majoring in Advertising at Fresno State University. With her understanding of the power of social media, Aileen is passionate about preserving and enhancing the image of one’s reputation in the public eye.
