An email marketing platform is a service-based software used by marketers to grow their brand or business through email marketing. The functions of this software will vary from one platform brand to another.
One platform has a variety of email templates you can use to connect to your customers. Another function is to analyze your keywords to avoid your emails being sent to the spam box by the email service.
As a follow-up to making connections to your customers, there is another software in email marketing that helps generate more clicks and opens – that’s email marketing automation.
What is Email Marketing Automation?
Email marketing automation is a system where your marketing platform sends an email based on how your users react to your sent emails. The automation system works by setting specific conditions that only your subscribers can trigger.
For example, if a subscriber didn’t open your email, they can receive a follow-up email reminding them of what they missed because you have set your marketing platform to do so when an email is left unengaged.
In a nutshell, email automation goes like this: An email sent to the recipient. If the recipient engages, link them to the website. If not, remind them of what they missed by sending a follow-up email. The “If” and “If-not” parts are just an example of what you call “automation rules,” which are an essential part of email marketing automation.
How to Boost Sales With Email Automation
1. Set Up a Drip Campaign
A drip campaign is similar to A/B testing. But instead of comparing two versions of web pages to see which performs better, it filters out your potential leads from unengaged prospects through an automated elimination-style system.
Let’s say you’re marketing a product through email. Does the user open or not? If they open, set the automation tool to link to an ebook of the item. If not, set the tool to lead them to a simplified explanation, such as an infographic or a video presentation.
The idea is to follow up an alternative after another until the potential lead is funneled into being a customer. This will help your marketing automation software decide what type of promotion to put in the email first of which user when you start the next campaign.
However, don’t be alarmed if the lead cannot be converted. They are automated to be removed from the prospect to be targeted for re-engagement campaigns later.
2. Automate Team Collaborations in Real-Time
Every department has different information on every user, yet the information one department can be useful to a different department for their analytics. For example, the accounting department may have data on the maximum expense a customer spends on one transaction.
The accounting department doesn’t know that information can be used by the marketing department to understand which price range of products a specific customer can afford.
By collaborating teams in real-time using a marketing automation tool, the marketing department would find it easy to decide on whether a product is the best to introduce to a user or not.
3. Study and Hack Top Performers in Your Market
Because big brands are very successful in their marketing campaigns, it’s highly recommended to know what settings they put in their automation tools. As a start, you need to know what email engagement strategies they use for you to apply in your automation tool.
4. Use Dynamic Content to Increase Customer Engagement
Let your automation tool analyze which categories of products or topics they usually engage in or open. Then set the tool to send them new related content you make or are marketing. You can do this by using a specific keyword and categorizing all your products and content.
For example, if the user engages in products like mobile gamepads, make and market content with tags, categories, and product descriptions such as “electronics,” “gaming,” “mobile,” “grip,” “cooling fan,” “gamepads,” and “power bank.” Then set your automation tool to send that user with the products that have these keywords.
5. Use an Email Sequence to Reach Prospects Who Fill Out a Lead Form
Marketing automation tools have a function on which they send a welcoming email to a user who just subscribed to your mailing list. This is very useful because first impressions are everything in business. When a customer feels welcome, the more they are encouraged to engage with your services and products. And when the welcoming message is done right, it can promote brand loyalty or customer retention.
Final Thoughts
Email automation is about knowing what your user’s preferences are and using that information to send relevant content at the right time. You also need to copy the strategies big brands use to increase your engagement and sales.
