In recent years, the term “automation” has become part of the digital world. Whether it’s welcoming a new customer to a mailing list, recommending similar products to a customer shopping on an e-commerce site, or reminding them not to forget to validate a forgotten final cart, automation is a great way to eliminate repetitive tasks.
When you automate part of your work, you have more time to dedicate to other tasks that concern your business, and that inevitably require manual action.
Let’s find out together what email automation is, how it works, and the benefits of automation for your business. We will also give you some tips to get the most out of email automation, and finally, we will see together which tools are the most suitable to launch an automation strategy.
What is email automation?
Some tasks can be repetitive and very time-consuming, such as sending emails that deal with the same subject, building customer loyalty, sending targeted promotions, etc. Thanks to automation tools, you can easily and quickly reach the right people with the right message at the right time.
Email automation allows marketers to prepare and schedule personalized messages or send them when a user performs a specific action on a website.
By linking the database on your website with an email automation tool, you can precisely target people with personalized emails based on their behavior, preferences, and where they are in the conversion funnel.
Automation is actually an effective way to maintain a relationship with your current customers, attract new customers, and also to re-send old customers.
By sending timely messages, you increase your chances of getting more visits to your site and generating more revenue for your business.
How does it work in practice?
Here is an example to help you understand how email automation works:
- A person visits a website and downloads a white book, fills in a form, etc. This person is automatically added to the email marketing database.
- This person is automatically added to the email marketing database.
- This person will be placed in an audience segment based on their location, interests, behavior, etc.
- The marketing team creates a strategic email campaign based on the maturity of the visitor. It will define which triggers are most likely to make that person open the email and be interested in the content.
- From there, the person receives emails based on the actions the marketing team wants to generate from that person.
Do you want to implement a powerful
email automation strategy and reach your business goals?
What are the benefits of email automation?
There are definitely benefits to adopting an email automation strategy. Here are the main ones:
1. Message personalization
When they receive an email, most customers and prospects like to receive a personalized message. This way, they are likely to act on the recommendations, offers, or any other message in the email sent to them.
With email automation, you can help improve the effectiveness of your marketing and ultimately achieve your business goals.
2. Automation improves work organization
One of the great advantages of automation is certainly the time saved and the improved productivity of employees. This means that employees can dedicate themselves to other tasks that add more value and help to drive the business forward.
3. Retain existing customers
As we know, retaining a customer with perfectly tailored propositions is easier than converting a new one. Your customers will like to receive regular messages that target their needs. Since you already know them, you know exactly what to offer them. By sending them a personalized, albeit automated, email in which you offer them a discount on a new product or service that they are likely to like as they already bought something comparable, you increase your chances of getting them to take the desired action.
4. Your automation tool adapts to the size of your database
Let’s say your customer database doubles in size in a very short time. It would be difficult for your teams to manage this flow of information and to handle each request professionally.
With an automation tool, you can configure your platform to send a personalized email every time a new contact registers on your list, for example. With email automation, you can send an email with the right message based on the behavior and actions taken by that new contact.
5. Track the actions of your mailing list to gather information
The value of using automation goes far beyond saving time. Every time you send an automated email, you can get important information about each customer. For example, you can find out if the person:
- Opens the e-mail
- Clicks to go to your site
- Browses your site once they are on it
- Takes up an offer
- Buys a suggested product
Our recommendations for getting the most out of email automation
1. Send a confirmation or welcome email
When someone signs up for your newsletter or fills out a contact form, don’t forget to send a confirmation or welcome email to strengthen the relationship with that person.
2. Adapt the sending of e-mails according to time zones and data analysis
Analyze the time zone the person is in to increase your chances of them opening your email. Email automation tools usually give recommendations on the best day and time to send.
3. Segment contacts
In order to maximize the chances that your email will be opened, we recommend that you segment your contacts based on various attributes such as their behavior, location, interests, purchase history, etc.
By knowing your audience more specifically, you can send personalized and specific emails that respond to an exact request.
4. Stay connected with your audience
To make sure you are addressing an audience that is likely to be interested in your offer, check that they are open to receiving your emails. For people who haven’t opened your emails for a while, you can send them a message like: “We’ve noticed that you haven’t opened our emails for a while. If you would like to continue receiving our newsletter, click here.”
5. Build trust with your audience
Make sure your emails add value to the recipients. For example, offering free advice or information can be a very interesting approach rather than trying to sell something at all costs.
6. Make it easy to unsubscribe
It may happen that people no longer wish to receive your emails. This should be respected. Therefore, give your recipients the possibility to easily unsubscribe at any time.
7. Before sending the final automated email, carry out a test
Doing a small test of sending the email internally before rolling it out on a large scale can save you from unfortunate situations. By testing, you can easily identify if there are broken links, images that don’t display, typography problems, email loading time, spelling mistakes, etc. You can also ensure that your email does not end up in spam.
The most popular types of automated emails
Let’s take a look at some examples of automated emails you can set up:
1. The welcome email
When they sign up for your newsletter or visit your e-commerce site, visitors are already showing an interest in your product or service. To encourage them to stay connected, offer them an immediate discount on their first purchase for example.
→ E-commerce: why do you need Marketing Automation?
2. Transactional email
This type of email informs users about the progress of their purchase and the delivery date, but not only! The transactional email also informs about the password recovery process or gives the possibility to modify an order for example.
3. Lead nurturing campaigns
If a visitor has shown interest in your products or services, you can continue to communicate with them to build a relationship of trust by encouraging them to subscribe to your mailing list.
Set up lead nurturing campaigns to convert them into customers. Start your email automation campaign with general emails that present the benefits of your products or services for example. The goal here is not to sell but rather to inform about what you have to offer, educate and keep your prospects informed.
Read also :
→ 11 precious tips for a successful email marketing campaign
4. Newsletters
Sending a newsletter on a regular basis in an automated way allows you to inform your audience about a new product or to highlight content that you have created: an article, a video, a case study, etc.
5. Wishing a happy birthday
If you know the date of the birthday, send an email to people on their birthday with an offer in your email.
6. Inform about all the news about you
Automated email allows you to keep your subscribers up to date on current events, new product launches, new product features, new services, upcoming events, etc.
It’s a great way to keep your audience informed about your product, educate them and remind them that you exist!
7. Conduct polls and surveys
Automated emails are also a great way to send surveys and polls to your customers. You can ask your customers to rate your products or services. This will give you valuable information about what they like and what you can improve.
8. Build customer loyalty
If someone has not completed their purchase, you can send an automated reminder email to encourage them to complete their purchase.
If you notice that a person is looking at one of your products or services but is not taking the next step, you can also ask them if they have any questions or if they need help.
What are the best CRM tools to run a marketing automation campaign?
There are many systems available to establish a CRM strategy, most of which can be easily integrated into your existing tools and software.
SALESmanago: it is particularly well suited to e-commerce. It allows you to manage your customer data and build profiles and offers personalized and automated digital experiences while setting up complex emailing scenarios. Machine learning and artificial intelligence will deliver predictive and personalized offers at the right time and across all your communication channels. These advanced features convinced us to partner with SALESmanago
ActiveCampaign: it offers ease of use with drag-and-drop functionality allowing you to create automated workflows in minutes. It’s perfect for small and medium-sized businesses, with a good price/features ratio.
HubSpot: This is one of the most widely used CRMs in the world, offering a free version and a wide range of features. It is particularly well-suited to mid-sized and large companies or start-ups.
Intercom: its behavioral targeting helps companies to better understand their customers, in order to improve their communication to acquire, engage, or retain prospects.
MailChimp: it enables companies to create personalized and automated workflows, to automatically send emails or messages triggered by the user’s action.
Salesforce: this is a very complete combination for sales teams and leaders of SMEs, and is also suitable for start-ups and large groups.
Sendinblue: its emailing software’s automation module offers quality performance for a modest price. It is ideal for beginners or if you need an emailing solution.
Read also :
→ CRM and marketing automation: a winning duo!
In conclusion
In this article, we have provided you with a guide on how to make the best use of email automation. This approach to business offers a wealth of possibilities for any business wishing to increase its results. By implementing an automation strategy, you can save valuable time, focus on other tasks, and make better use of your internal resources. As we have seen, there are several tools on the market. Get in touch with our pool of automation experts at Eminence to discuss your needs. They will be able to advise you on the most suitable tool and help you set up an email automation strategy so that you can achieve your goals in just a few clicks.