Email Marketing Automation Can Grow Your Business. Yes, Really.

You may think email marketing is old news, but it’s still around and not going anywhere. Because this tried and tested (and budget-friendly!) marketing tool just works — all through the funnel. And thanks to email marketing automation, it can work even better.

With email marketing automation, you can stay in touch with customers without having to send each message manually or follow up individually. And with tools like Retainly, you can create targeted campaigns, segment your audience, adjust templates, and save tons of time as a result.

We know you have lots of questions and little time, so let us quickly run you through the basics: why automation in email marketing is important, how to use it for maximum efficiency, and what benefits it brings to businesses — including yours.

Now, from the top. 

Email marketing automation is critical. Here’s why…

Email marketing automation is one of the most effective ways to increase your digital marketing ROI and maximize customer engagement. Basically, it involves using software that automatically sends emails on your behalf based on specific customer triggers or behaviors. For example, if customers add items to their cart but don’t complete the checkout process, they receive an email encouraging them to finish the purchase. 

Sounds easy, right? Glad we agree on that. But here comes the tricky part. Your efforts won’t be as effective without an email marketing automation strategy.

Just like with everything you do as a marketing professional, designing a carefully considered strategy is more beneficial than jumping head-first and going with the flow.

So before reaping the benefits of marketing automation (and there are lots of them we’ll discuss later), you’ll need to define triggers and create rules that determine who receives emails, when they receive them, how often, and more. 

And don’t forget that crafting compelling copy that resonates with your customers is also an important part of email marketing. Because people don’t ignore all emails — just the excruciatingly boring ones. And spam.

Now that you have your strategy and copy in place, it’s time to look into the best practices of effective email marketing automation. 

How to use email marketing automation effectively

Automated email marketing is great for reaching more potential customers and increasing your bottom line. But, like with any powerful tool, you must use it wisely. Knowing when to use automated emails and when to get personal makes the difference between the success and failure of your marketing efforts.

When to use email marketing automation

Here are some use cases when email automation brings the best results: 

Nurture campaigns 

Email marketing automation tools are great for building relationships with your audience over an extended period (aka “nurturing”). And on top of that, companies that automate lead nurturing with timely emails increase their revenue by 10%. Nurturing involves sending out targeted content that educates and informs potential leads about your products or services. The best part is that each email brings your prospects closer to a purchase decision — without any annoying direct sales messages.

Welcome series

Your welcome email is the perfect opportunity to make a good first impression on new customers and subscribers. 

You can use the information you have about the person to add some personalization and build trust with them right away. (Just don’t get too personal, otherwise, all you’ll build is suspicion.) You can also include helpful resources like tutorials or FAQs to provide more value as the people get accustomed to working with you.

Re-engagement emails

It doesn’t matter if someone signed up yesterday or a year ago; sometimes, people need reminders from brands before taking action. 

Re-engagement campaigns are just what you need to remind people why they signed up in the first place. A well-crafted reminder message could do wonders – especially one that includes exclusive discounts or promos.

Abandoned carts & follow-up messages

Do your shoppers forget items during checkout? If so, send cart abandonment emails within minutes after visitors leave the website without purchasing what’s in the cart. This really works: 45% of customers open cart abandonment emails, 21% follow the link, and half of those who do, purchase the items from the cart. 

When to not use automated emails

Sometimes using an automated system backfires against what was initially intended. 

For example, blasting out generic offers will likely make recipients feel spammed. Personalization plays a critical part in successful customer outreach, but it’s limited to the segmentation capabilities of your email marketing automation software. 

For the same reason, automated emails are not suitable for customer support. Customers want to be heard and dealt with directly and individually if they have a complaint or inquiry. Automated emails create confusion as customers can’t get their questions answered in real time. 

So let us sum up: automated emails are best for welcome series, onboarding flows, or triggered campaigns that don’t require a direct response from customers. On the other hand, manual outreach is the way to go when it comes to customer support and further personalization.

Benefits of email marketing automation

When done right, email automation is great for building relationships, driving sales, and encouraging customer loyalty. 

Here’s why you should incorporate email marketing automation into your marketing strategy:    

Time savings 

Automated emails allow marketers to set up an entire campaign from start to finish in a matter of minutes. Conversely, manual campaigns require hours or even days of work. This means more time saved for other tasks like researching new opportunities and engaging potential customers on social media platforms. Additionally, automated messages don’t need constant monitoring – once they’re set up properly, all you have to do is keep an eye on them.

Improved targeting & relevance 

Email marketing automation takes the guesswork out of crafting a personalized message for each and every customer. Instead, you can easily segment your contact lists according to customer preferences and send targeted offers directly to prospects. This way, you ensure that customers stay engaged with relevant content throughout their journey, driving more sales down the road.

Efficient workflows

Automation helps streamline the process of creating, scheduling, and sending emails. This is especially useful for large-scale campaigns where manual efforts would prove too cumbersome and time-consuming. On top of that, automation tools help identify which messages are performing better than others. As a result, marketers can adjust their strategy without starting from scratch each time a campaign needs refreshing or fine-tuning. 

Better connectivity

Email marketing automation software lets you integrate third-party services and directly connect your customer database or CRM without hassle. You can orchestrate a marketing campaign across various channels, including email, SMS, push notifications, and webhooks.

We know you’re already convinced, but if you need another bulletproof reason to go for email marketing automation, we have it right up our sleeve.

Why you should invest in email marketing automation

As the global user base continues to grow and will reach 4.6 billion users by 2025, the potential for businesses using automated emails increases exponentially. Advancing technology opens up new possibilities for automated email campaigns, offering even more tools for creating highly personalized content. Like analytics.

Analytics is one of the most sought-after features in email marketing automation platforms. It provides vital insights into your campaign performance based on open rates, click-through rates (CTR), customer segmentation, and A/B testing. With analytics, you gain visibility into what kinds of content resonate with subscribers and refine your strategy accordingly.

Plus, investment into companies like Return Path and Email Copilot that offer email campaign tracking and measurement proves that analytics is in high demand in email marketing automation. 

It’s only a matter of time before artificial intelligence pushes email automation to a new level of identifying customer interests, preferences, and buying behavior.

And with email marketing automation tools, you will be in the front seat.

Using email marketing automation to grow your business

If you want to make the most out of email automation, take your time to discover how it works and what features are available in different email marketing automation platforms.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you need from an email automation platform. The first step is deciding how to fit email marketing automation into your overall strategy. Do you just need a simple welcome series, or do you have more complex needs? Knowing this will help you narrow down the best-suited platforms for your business case. 

Next, take advantage of free trials to test various platforms before paying in full. This way, you can compare options side by side and ensure each one offers the necessary features at reasonable prices. 

If you’re looking into email marketing automation and engagement tools right now, why not take Retainly for a spin? You’ll get:

Retainly offers a free trial, so you can try out and enjoy all its features without making a commitment.
Book a demo to learn more about all the amazing capabilities of our email marketing automation software.