Email marketing is a way to build trust with prospects, strengthen relationships with existing customers, and encourage brand loyalty.
Other than text messaging, email is the most productive way of bringing professional relationships to a personal level. This trend is only expected to grow in popularity with young people, as 73% of millennials claim to prefer to communicate with businesses via email.
Customized, one-off emails can be really effective, but they can also be super time-consuming. Automated email marketing does the same thing in less time, and for less money, without sacrificing quality.
In the text below, we will break down automated email marketing technology, and show you how it can benefit your business.
Table of Contents
Automated vs. Traditional Email Marketing
Traditional email marketing employs email blasts, the strategy of sending a single email campaign to a large distribution list, simultaneously. One example is a series of Black Friday/Cyber Monday emails, sent to your entire list of subscribers.
There would usually be no need to send each email directly to each person, as an ESP (email service provider) such as Klaviyo or MailChimp can help you send numerous emails all at once. As mentioned previously, each subscriber would get the same email, at the same time, unless you schedule emails to be sent at different times.
You might want to schedule sends, and separate subscribers into different segments, blasting the first set of emails to the most traditionally engaged group, then gradually moving on to colder prospects. You could also segment your lists by the products they buy or even something like location.
Without automation, you would have to set up each campaign and segment your subscribers manually. With automated email marketing, on the other hand, an SaaS solution sends automated email flows to recipients, triggered by their own actions or characteristics.
The actions that could trigger an automated email include subscribing to an email list or abandoning a shopping cart. Instead of blasting recipients’ inboxes with bulk emails, automation provides value to every email recipient with higher personalization. Subscribers would only get an email that is relevant to them, at the time when they need to see it.
One added advantage of automated email marketing is the existence of SaaS solutions tailored to the specific needs of different industries. These software solutions are built by the most brilliant minds in their respective industries.
In the case of the insurance industry, for example, eye-opening insurance email marketing insights reveal a 134.08% increase in open rates by an insurance SaaS solution, compared to a more versatile, standard ESP, such as Mailchimp.
Types of Automated Emails
Insurance, retail, education, or the banking industry all offer a wide array of automated email solutions. Even though all these industries differ, most email campaigns use a somewhat similar email flow, with appropriate tweaks.
A lead subscribes to your list, gets a thank you email, receives transactional emails, and is then nurtured into long-term brand loyalty, in an attempt to maximize their customer lifetime value. You can find an example of your typical automated email flow below.
Welcome email. The first direct contact with recipients, your new subscribers receive this email immediately after sending you their email address. It usually includes a list of benefits they will enjoy while interacting with your business.
Thank-you email. These are sent every time a subscriber completes a goal action – anything from making a purchase, registering for a webinar, or attending an event. The idea behind this email is to show appreciation.
Order confirmation email. Making online purchases still makes some customers nervous, and receiving a confirmation email helps alleviate this stress. Information such as shipping details and a receipt is usually included.
Abandoned cart email. An abandoned cart email is sent as a follow-up to customers who changed their minds regarding a purchase. You can remind them to complete their purchase, even offer discounts and gifts to further entice their conversion.
Feedback request email. The best way to find out how your audiences feel about the quality of your service is to ask them. Both positive and negative feedback received in this form can help you grow and change.
Other types of automated emails include product review emails, product recommendation emails, blog updates, event reminders, reactivation emails, follow-up emails, birthday emails, and so many more.
Automated Email Marketing Tools
There are so many amazing email marketing tools on the market, and many offer automation. We recommend checking out the following three tools to get you started.
Hubspot: Offers two types of automation, one for one-on-one sales interactions, and the other for one-to-many marketing emails. You can use it to send up to three emails, and people usually opt for a welcome email, and two lead nurturing emails. You can use a free version, or a Pro Package, which offers more variety.
Klaviyo: Offers the option of customizing your own personalized email campaigns, and sending them to subscriber segments. It allows companies to pre-build their campaigns, and potentially use them in the long run. It also generates weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly metrics reports, as a testament to each campaign’s success.
Pathwayport: An industry-specific solution, Pathway has been tailored to suit insurance agencies. Its robust automated insurance communication platform was developed by leading experts in the industry. It utilizes triggered email campaigns to automate repetitive tasks such as sending policy renewal reminders, late payment reminders, delivering electronic policy documents, and making coverage recommendations.
Mailchimp: This is another great option for email marketing. If you’re starting off on a small scale, this tool has a free option where you can add up to 2,000 emails in a list. At that point, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid account, but if you’ve build your list beyond 2,000 subscribers, you’re likely pulling in enough profit to cover the cost. Mailchimp has tons of great features, and I love the contact forms Mailchimp offers to help you build your lists and collect leads.
The Benefits of Automated Email Marketing
Small businesses and enterprises alike use automation to replace repetitive, time-consuming tasks with expert-developed SaaS solutions. In the case of industry-specific automation especially, automation helps leverage the unique requests, as well as opportunities available in the respective line of business.
Contrary to popular belief, automation does not make email campaigns less relatable and more dry and uniform. Quite on the contrary, not having to worry about routine administrative tasks allows businesses to focus on what matters most.
The exquisite, on-brand copywriting, eye-catching, modern campaign design, and much more help take your emailsd to the next level. As a result, automation boosts creativity and audience engagement.
It uses timely engagement to boost conversion rates and reduce response times. Eventually, automated email marketing strengthens client-business relationships, by creating a sense of trust, intimacy, and consistency with your brand. And it achieves all this without the need for human input, or rather, without running the risk of your digital marketing plan falling victim to human error.
Conclusion
Automated email marketing helps businesses of all sizes save time and money, facilitating mundane, administrative tasks. It allows you to focus on more important tasks at hand while solidifying your relationships with leads, clients, and prospects. Its timeliness and consistency boost conversions, and help build long-lasting, trust-based relationships with customers.
Enjoyed reading the blog? Sign up for our monthly newsletter to receive marketing news and advice.
Related posts:
