Most brands get email marketing wrong. Instead of creating templates that promote your product after banal small-talk, you must ensure that each piece of communication is tailored to fit the needs and, more importantly, interests of the consumer reading it. This way, you create what feels like a two-way conversation, rather than offering a monologue that’s dismissed as spam. The trick to doing so lies in email automation – a process that chronicles different communications that are triggered by different consumer actions. With email automation playing a significant role in converting potential customers to active ones, it is absolutely essential to revamp your marketing efforts to accommodate this.
It doesn’t have to be complicated
Let’s say you’re running an e-commerce website and you notice that most customers add products to their cart, but do not buy them. Sending emails that offer a 5% discount (with an expiry date set a few days later) can help convert those hesitant customers into active purchasers. If the email only converts a percentage of total customers that added items to their cart, you can send a reminder email right before the offer expires to create a sense of urgency and facilitate that sale.
Additionally, in such scenarios, asking customers to input a certain code during check-out can help you determine the conversion rate of the email, letting you gain deeper insights into the ROI you’re receiving on your marketing efforts. Automation tools also offer data regarding the open rate, click-through rates, and final purchases, which can help you tweak elements of the email to enhance your results.
Understand your automation goals first
As is the case with most marketing efforts, you must begin by determining the goals you want to achieve with automation. This is because automated emails function on the basis of different action triggers, with follow-up communication sent at different cadences to achieve the desired results. Your automation goals can range from onboarding your customers (triggers can include customers visiting your website, making purchases, or signing up for emails), engagement (with triggers being instances where your customers try your product) or retention (with the triggers ranging from customers making their first purchase, making multiple purchases, to simply browsing new products). If you’ve noticed a trend of repeat-customers disengaging from your brand, re-engagement can prove to be a beneficial automation goal, with actions like customers not visiting your site in over a set number of days being a trigger to initiate communication that brings them back.
Don’t overdo it
While customers welcome discounts or vital information that enhances the way they use your product or service, they certainly do not want a barrage of emails from a brand, no matter how loyal they may be to you. Pace your emails to avoid annoying your customers, and always make it easy for them to opt-out of receiving communication from you.
Platforms you can research
Based on the needs of your brand (and your budget) any of the following email automation platforms are worth exploring:
- MailChimp
- Drip
- Marketo
- Customer.io
- Clevertap
- Appier
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