The ever-present buzz about marketing automation is insatiable. Marketers recognize the humongous saving potential and boosting of revenue streams which is inherent to automation of various marketing functions. And email automation, being a prominent subset of marketing automation contributes heavily to it. It’s not only a time saving option for today’s marketers, it is undoubtedly the smartest way to reach the customers and prospects with dynamic, personalized content at the right time.
I recently presented a webinar to discuss more about what is Email Automation and how to make emails intelligent. Here is the link to access the recording of the webinar. And this blog is the summary of the webinar that I presented.
Several apparent benefits of email automation establish the importance of this marketing tool in the times to come. In addition to save a lot of time, Email automation helps marketers –
• To keep in touch with prospects who are not yet ready to purchase
• Re-engage dormant or inactive leads
• Share dynamic content such as white papers, e-books, blogs or articles related to the industry and helpful hits or tips with customers
Email automation programs can be broadly categorized into two functional classes –
Trigger based emails: Statistics have revealed that event triggered marketing saves 80% of direct mail budget. Automated emails sent to customers preceding an event or following an action such as clicking a link are primarily called trigger based emails. In addition, certain emails which are set on schedule and sent at a pre-ordained time of the repeat purchase cycle are also considered as trigger emails.
Event based trigger email automation requires integration with SMS marketing as well. While a more detailed information can be sent via email, prior to or post an event, a reminder SMS can be sent in coordination with the automated email. Similarly, click based email automation triggers emails when a customer clicks on links shared in an email or an SMS, thereby provide permission for email marketing efforts. Furthermore, time based triggers can help automate email campaigns for existing customers to greet them on their birthdays, anniversaries or other such special occasion.
Follow up emails: Emails sent right after a customer activity or absence of customer activity are called follow up mails. These could be welcome emails, emails inquiring about reasons for cart abandonment, expiry reminders and even ‘miss you’ emails for cold-leads.
Welcome mails can be sent out to new customers, as soon as they register to a site or make their first purchase.
Cart abandonment mails can be sent to both registered and guest users to enquire about the reason for abandoning the cart and encouraging them to return to complete their shopping process by giving additional discounts.
Studies suggest that a personalized subject line can increase email engagement by 22% by increasing click-through ratio. This simple statistic emphasizes the importance of a dynamic and relevant content which can only be achieved by email automation. Follow-up mails can also be sent by companies upon membership expiry or immediately before it. ‘Miss you’ mails can also help nurturing leads which have been cold for a while and thereby generate better business from them; at times as much as 20% better.
Despite all its benefits and potential of realizing business goals, email automation must be adopted keeping the following things in mind –
• Email automation must be aligned with key business drivers and only those email or SMS marketing initiatives must be adopted that can be streamlined with the brand image.
• The LOE or Level Of Efforts that goes into email automation must be inversely proportional to the ROI or Return On Investment expected. Dynamic content templates, for instance, can be much more productive when email automation is pursued with a limited budget.
• Email automation must be started with the simplest of programs (crawl) and then progress to more complex programs (walk and run) which can eventually turn profitable.
Juvlon’s email automation services are built on a robust platform which integrates your CRM with its APIs. Click based, time-based and event-based triggers can be installed into your email automation program which is seamlessly integrated with SMS marketing campaigns. Juvlon also offers follow-up email automation solutions which can be linked with various stages of customer activity on your website. The customized email marketing programs offered by Juvlon takes into consideration your business objectives and the Level of Efforts which you want to invest in an email automation campaign. Juvlon, therefore, offers the most cost-effective and time-saving email automation solutions to every single customer.