As a business owner, you probably already know that email is a critical marketing tool for your business. It lets you send personalized and targeted information and deals directly to your audience. But did you know there’s a way to get even more targeted? A way to make contact with a prospect or customer every time they take (or don’t take) an action on your website? That’s what email automation is all about.
What is Email Automation?
An automated email is any email message that’s sent automatically from your email service provider when a person takes, or fails to take, an action on your website. These messages are powerful because they happen in real time. Your prospect can get an email right after they abandon their shopping cart on your website or sign up for email updates. These emails are very relevant to your audience because they’re based on an action they just took. And they can help increase conversion rates, customer retention, and loyalty.
Why Should You Use Email Automation?
Email automation combines the relevancy and power of a 1-to-1 communication with the ease of completely automatic sending. If you had to send these emails manually to every customer, it would be incredibly impractical. But with the increasing sophistication of email service providers, it couldn’t be simpler.
And it’s not just the email providers who are becoming more sophisticated. Your customers are too. They’re getting used to receiving these timely and custom emails. Traditional marketing emails like newsletters and promotional offers are great. But they aren’t as targeted or timely as automated emails. Automated emails help fill that gap in your email marketing strategy.
Email automation can help you through the whole process of gaining and keeping a customer, from the first website visit to continuing loyalty. It allows you to help your customers through your onboarding process, nurture them to a decision, navigate the payment process, and continue as a long-time customer.
The Types of Automated Emails
With email automation, you can set up an email trigger for almost any kind of action a customer or prospect might take. But let’s take a look at a few of the most common kinds of automated emails to get started.
Welcome Email
This is the most basic automated email – it goes out whenever a new user joins your email list. It should welcome them to your email community and remind them of the benefits of being a subscriber. It can have one simple call-to-action if it fits.
Nurture Email
Most people who visit your website for the first time are not ready to make a purchase right away. Sometimes they want more time or information to make a decision. Or they want to do some more research. Or they just get distracted.
But that doesn’t mean you should just give up. This is the perfect time to send them a series of nurture emails. These automated emails should walk them through information about your product in a friendly, non-pushy way. It gives them the information they need over a series of weeks to make a decision. And these can also be drip campaigns, which slow include a sales push over a series of emails while building the relationship.
Personalized Offer
Depending on what information you collect about your customers, you might know things like their birthdays. This can be a great chance to send out a personalized email wishing them a happy day and giving them a discount or special offer. These kinds of emails can strengthen relationships with your existing customers and help gain their loyalty.
Tips for Your Automated Emails
Email automation is a useful and flexible tool. And a successful email automation system will look different for every business. But there are a few tips that can help your email automation get results.
Find the Pain Points
You might notice something that’s lowering your conversion rates – maybe customers are abandoning their shopping carts often on your site or leaving once they get to your landing pages. See if setting up an automated email will help bring them back. Or it could be that they need more information. If prospects browse a certain product often without making a purchase, perhaps set up an automated email to go to them with links to blog posts with more information about the product.
Make Your Calls-to-Action Clear
All your emails should have a clear purpose for the people reading them. If you are sending shopping emails to new prospects who just signed up for your email list, be sure the button to start shopping stands out. If you’re sending an email asking new subscribers to also follow your social media accounts, make that link unmissable.
Integrate Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Your email automation should be just a part of your overall digital marketing strategy. It should align with your business goals. Are you trying to build brand awareness, increase conversions, or nurture long-term customer loyalty? You should decide before you start building an automated email campaign.
Put All the Pieces Together
Delivering an automated email is easy. Delivering a successful digital marketing strategy is harder. As a business owner, you’re busy – you don’t have the time to become a digital marketing guru. That’s exactly why ContentFirst.Marketing is here to help you. You do what you do best – running a successful business. And we’ll take care of your whole digital marketing strategy, from email marketing services to setting strategic goals and measuring your results. Schedule your free business review today and learn how we can work together to get the digital marketing results you need.
