If you haven’t already hopped on the email marketing bandwagon, it’s time to do it. Email is an essential tool for small businesses looking to attract new customers and retain existing ones. It can be highly effective and cost-efficient, but it does require time and energy to create and send compelling emails that resonate with your audience.
This is where automation comes in. By automating your marketing campaigns, you can streamline the process without sacrificing the impact of your messages. Email marketing automation is a powerful tool for creating personalized campaigns, tracking your results, and optimizing your content for maximum engagement. And when combined with the power of texting, you’re looking at a game changer.
That’s why it’s crucial to learn more about email marketing automation, how to get the most out of your campaigns, and what you need to do to combine the power of email marketing with text marketing.
What is Email Marketing Automation?
Email marketing automation is the process of sending targeted and personalized emails automatically based on a specific trigger or action taken by a potential or current customer. For example, when someone subscribes to your email list, you can set up an email sequence, sending specific emails sent at different intervals with relevant information and promotions. Automation can also be triggered when a customer makes a purchase, abandons their cart, or clicks on a specific link in your email.
By using email marketing automation, businesses can save time and effort since the emails are pre-designed and scheduled to be sent out automatically. This approach also helps to improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and increase customer engagement by providing them with relevant and timely information.
How Do Automated Email Campaigns Work?
Email automation sends specific messages to recipients after they’ve taken a particular action, called a trigger. Say, for instance, a shopper puts an item in their cart but doesn’t check out. This event then triggers an automated reminder email to be sent to their inbox. Your business can design both the trigger events and the corresponding automated emails based on your specific goals. Follow the steps below to create your own email automations.
Build Your List and Segment Subscribers
Place signup forms on your website to build your list, then use demographic, behavioral, or psychographic data to segment your list into targeted audiences.
Select Automation Triggers
Choose the conditions or events that you want to trigger automated outreach. You can use specific engagement activities, like subscribing to your newsletter, or placing an order.
Create Personalized Email Campaigns
Tailoring your campaigns (while using best practices) to individual recipients based on their preferences and needs helps increase open and conversion rates as well as overall customers engagement.
Take Advantage of Email Analytics
Evaluate automated email campaign performance by comparing subject lines, CTAs, and open, click-through, and conversion rates. Which are performing best? Are there A/B tests you can run? Analyzing your email data allows you to refine your strategy as you go.
Benefits and Challenges of Email Automation
With email automation workflows, you can save time and resources while still providing your customers with a personalized experience. However, there are also some challenges involved, which need to be addressed in order to make the most of this technology. Let’s go over some of the pros and cons.
Benefits of Email Automation
1. Email automation saves you time.
Email automation saves both time and resources for your business. With email automation, you can create templates that can be used multiple times, allowing you to focus on other business tasks. Furthermore, email automation allows you to schedule your emails in advance, which means you can target your audience at a time that is best for them without having to constantly monitor your email campaigns.
2. Email automation allows you to reach more customers.
Automated emails are triggered by specific events, such as a customer’s birthday or a recent purchase without any effort by your team. Automation allows you to reach more with messages tailored to their interests and needs.
3. Email automation personalizes the customer experience.
Email automation makes it easy to personalize your marketing emails and messages to tailor them to your customers. You can use customer data to create relevant, customized content that appeals to your audience. This can foster deeper relationships with your customers and increase brand loyalty.
4. Email automation complements other marketing strategies.
Email automation can be easily integrated with other marketing strategies, such as social media and your website. With cohesive messaging and consistent branding, you can build a strong and effective presence online.
Challenges of Email Automation
1. Email automation requires a lot of planning.
While email automation can be a time-saver, it requires careful planning in order to be effective. You need to develop a strategy for your campaigns, including your email content, target audience, and schedule.
2. Email automation increases the risk of having emails that are not as polished.
An unpolished email can be detrimental to your email marketing campaign. With automation, there’s a risk that you’ll send out emails that are not well-designed or don’t look good on certain devices. This could lead to lower open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately, lower engagement.
3. Users can get tired of too many emails.
Sending too many emails can lead to your customers becoming bored and unsubscribing. This can be avoided by segmenting your customer lists and sending targeted messages that are tailored to their interests and needs. You should also have a clear opt-in and opt-out process to ensure that your customers have the option to unsubscribe at any time.
So, why does all of this matter? Knowledge is power. By understanding all of the potential benefits and challenges of email automation, you’ll increase your chances of succeeding if you decide to try this tactic.
How to Automate Emails in 6 Steps
Time to get into the nitty-gritty stuff. Understanding the ins and outs of email automation is a great start, but the next step is to execute. Here’s how to do it.
1. Choose an email automation software.
Email automation software is a tool that allows you to automate your email marketing efforts—automation isn’t something you want to do on your own. There are tons of options, so selecting the right email automation software can be daunting. To choose the right one, it is important to consider factors like the size of your business, your marketing goals, your budget, and the types of emails that need to be automated. Some popular email automation software options include Mailchimp, HubSpot, and ConvertKit.
2. Segment your customers.
Segmenting your customer base from one, generic mass into smaller groups that share specific behaviors or characteristics allows you to create personalized and targeted email marketing campaigns, which in turn are more likely to resonate with recipients and increase the chance of conversion.
To segment your customers effectively, start by analyzing your email lists and finding patterns that differentiate your customers from each other. You can segment them based on demographics like age, gender, location, or behavior like purchase history, website visits, or email engagement. Once you have identified your customer segments, you can then create targeted messages that will resonate with each group.
3. Set your campaign’s goals.
Having clear objectives will enable you to measure your campaign’s success and make any necessary modifications. To set effective goals for your email campaign, start by identifying your target audience and defining what you want them to do as a result of receiving your email. Does your business want to increase website traffic, generate more leads, or drive more conversions and sales?
You’ll want to make SMART goals, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, instead of setting a goal to “increase sales,” specify a percentage increase and a timeline for achieving it.
4. Design your assets and craft your copy.
The average number of emails in an inbox is 200, so the competition is rough. You want your email to stand out, and that’s going to require more than the bare minimum.
First, craft an attention-grabbing subject line. This is your chance to make a first impression, so make it count. Once you’ve hooked your reader with an attention-grabbing subject line, it’s time to engage them with compelling copy. Keep it casual with a conversational tone and focus on making it easy to read. Adding bullet points or bolding key information makes your emails more scannable.
Then, use high-quality visuals that are relevant to your content, and ensure that they are optimized for email delivery. And finally, don’t forget about your call-to-action (CTA). This is your chance to guide your reader to take action, whether it’s to sign up for an event, make a purchase, or sign up for your newsletter.
5. Run tests and figure out what’s working.
Email marketing performance hinges on a lot of factors. Test your campaign’s assets, delivery timing, and segmentation factors. Find out which approach works best for your audience and refine it accordingly.
One effective way to test your email marketing efforts is through A/B testing. This involves sending out two slightly different versions of an email to a portion of your email list and comparing their open and click-through rates. With this information, you can make data-driven decisions on what works best for your audience and adjust your future emails accordingly.
6. Monitor your email campaign’s progress.
Keeping a close eye on the metrics and making tweaks based on the data can help in maximizing the returns and making the campaign more successful. One crucial step in monitoring an email campaign’s progress is tracking the open rate. It is the percentage of emails that are opened by the receivers. If the open rate is low, then there may be issues with the subject line, the sender name, or other elements of the email.
Another critical metric to monitor is the click-through rate, which measures how many people clicked on a link within the email. A low click-through rate indicates that the email’s content is not relevant or engaging enough. These metrics, along with others like bounce rate, conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate, provide valuable insights into the campaign’s performance.
5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Email Automation
Okay, time for some pro tips. Whether you’re completely new to the game or you’re a seasoned email marketer, here are some tips and best practices to keep in mind.
1. Track responses and determine what’s working.
Without tracking, you’re essentially shooting in the dark, hoping something sticks. By tracking your responses, you can identify which subject lines, images, and messages are driving engagement and interest. From there, you can optimize your messaging and content to improve your email open rates, CTRs, and conversion rates.
Tracking your responses also helps you segment your audience more effectively. When you know what types of emails work for which consumers, you can tailor your messaging to individual groups in your subscriber list. By doing so, you’ll be more likely to retain customers and drive conversions, rather than losing them to the competition.
2. Think strategically about your customers.
To think strategically about your customers in regard to email marketing, you should start by collecting data on your customers’ behavior and preferences. This information could be anything from their purchase history to their website activity to their email engagement rates. By gathering this data and analyzing it, you can gain insights into what motivates your customers to take action, what types of content they prefer, and what offers are most likely to convert.
Once you have this data, you can use it to segment your email list and target specific groups of customers with tailored messages. For example, you might segment your list by purchase history and send a promotional offer to customers who haven’t engaged with your business in a while. Or, you might segment your list by location and send a targeted email promoting an event in their area.
3. Give drip campaigns a try.
Drip campaigns are automated campaigns that send messages to subscribers based on a schedule. Unlike one-time email campaigns, drip campaigns are designed to nurture leads over time. This allows businesses to build relationships with their subscribers and increase engagement without overwhelming them. Drip campaigns can be used to nurture leads, promote special offers, and even encourage customers to make a purchase.
4. Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly.
Statistics show that over 61% of all emails are opened on mobile devices, which is why it’s crucial to ensure that your emails are mobile-friendly. This means using mobile-responsive designs that adapt to different devices and optimizing your email content for mobile screens. By making your emails mobile-friendly, you’ll maximize your chances of reaching your target audience, regardless of where they are or what device they’re using.
5. Combine the power of email and text.
Email marketing’s key benefit is allowing businesses to send personalized and targeted messages to their subscribers. That being said, text marketing offers some distinct advantages over email marketing. Text messages have a higher open rate (98%) and a faster response time. They also have a higher engagement rate; customers are more likely to take action (such as redeeming a coupon, making a purchase, or attending an event) after receiving a text.
To combine the power of email and text marketing, you should aim for a balanced and integrated approach. Start by building a targeted email list and sending regular emails that provide value, such as discounts, updates, and tips. Alongside this, a text messaging program can be created that strategically targets customers with timely and valuable offers. Remember: Timing, content, and frequency are crucial in creating an effective email and text marketing strategy.
→ Ready to witness the power of text marketing first-hand? Start a free trial of Podium today.
3 Email Automation Examples
Email automation makes it easier to stay connected with your leads and customers along the entire sales funnel. Here are a few automations you can use:
1. Welcome Series
New subscribers are often just learning about your products or services. Use this series to introduce your business, provide guides or tips, or make recommendations.
2. Nurture series
Help guide your prospects through the sales funnel more effectively by offering tailored content based on their preferences, needs, and where they are in the customer’s journey.
3. Cart Reminders
Shoppers add things to their carts and forget to check-out all the time. Sending them a gentle nudge through email encourages them to come back and finish their transaction.
Send a well-timed reminder email when a customer puts items in their cart but doesn’t check out. This email marketing automation solution encourages them to finalize their purchase, helping raise conversions.
Automate Your Marketing Efforts with Podium
In conclusion, email marketing automation is an incredibly powerful tool for small businesses, allowing them to efficiently communicate with their customers on a regular basis.
However, it’s important to note that automation opportunities are not limited to email marketing alone. Text marketing can also be automated—that’s where Podium comes in. With Podium, you can easily automate your text marketing campaigns, send personalized messages, and track customer engagement.
It’s never been more important to stand out and connect with customers in a personalized way. By incorporating email and text marketing automation solutions into your business strategy, you can do just that. You’ll improve communication, increase customer engagement, and ultimately grow your business.
So why wait? Start exploring the possibilities of Podium’s automation solutions today and see the impact it can have on your business.
Get a demo of Podium today.
