Your company probably sends out a monthly newsletter, or reaches out to your audience once in a while. But did you know that Email Marketing Automation might be the key that will help you grow your business? In this article we will look into strategies that can help you optimize your email marketing strategy by utilizing tools and software that will help you set up your email automation. Let’s look into it!
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Email automation strategies: understanding user intent
What is email automation? And what are the options to automate your email marketing? Email automation is a process in which companies can send out their newsletters and emails to their followers and users more effectively. The automation of this process can help simplify repetitive tasks and free up time for other important to-do’s.
On top of this, email automation can enable your business to create an email funnel in which a set of emails that your subscriber will receive is based on their preferences and actions. Automating this process will save your company a lot of time and money as well as endless Excel spreadsheets (which we all know we have too many of anyways). On top of this, analyzing the results of your email automations will also help you to create an understanding of your target audience. Let’s look into five strategies that will help you set up your email automation process.
1. Collect email addresses
There are multiple ways for you to collect the email addresses of your users, buyers, or followers. You can either ask them to fill in their email address when they visit your website, or you can link them to a fill-in page through your socials. Either way, you should always keep the sign up process incredibly easy and straightforward. On top of that, mention how often the new subscriber will receive emails, to manage the right expectations and create the best outcome with your new potential client or customer. Additionally, make sure to store your followers data correctly, we wrote an article about this, which you can find here.
2. Come up with ideas for emails
As you acquire new subscribers to your email list, you can simultaneously figure out what kind of emails you would like to send out. Test different formats and perform A/B split tests to assess different versions of these formats. By testing it out and analyzing the responses (see point 4) you will start to understand what your audience is interested in. Needless to say, this is an ongoing process and can certainly be repeated onwards.
3. Create an email funnel
An email funnel can bring a lot of value, especially when automated. Why? This is because you will take your subscriber through a journey that you have created for him/her. This journey can have multiple different desired outcomes. Maybe you want your followers to buy your product or service. Maybe you want to create more brand awareness or maybe you want the subscriber to engage in a certain action.
Your funnel will take the customer on a journey from A to Z without being too pushy or too overwhelming because you don’t have to place all your information in just one email. You will have multiple emails to get your message across. You can also build up your story, question, or call to action without coming across as too sales-y. An email funnel is a perfect way to build up a desired feeling, action, or a combination of the two.
The funnel can have multiple outcomes, depending on the preferences and choices of the reader. You can start with one email and with a question or a call to action in which the reader can choose a certain option. Let’s say that you have given the reader two options. From this point you send the reader the following emails depending on the option or preference that they have stated to you. In this way you are not only providing them with a lot of information, you are simultaneously catering to their needs. A win-win if you ask us.
4. Analyze the results
Automated emails are perfect for a thorough analysis. This is because the same email (or email funnel) is sent to many different people. The data that you have gathered will show you insights on open rates, click through rates, bounce rates and more. These rates will show you which emails performed well and which ones didn’t. Analyzing these results you will enable to continuously optimize your email (funnels) and therefore gain better results in the long run. Do you want to read more about big data analysis, then take a look at our article.
5. Understand user intent
After analysing your automated emails, it is now time to understand the intention of your subscriber. What is the reason why they follow you? What kind of content are they interested in? What keeps them entertained, and what do they share? These questions can all be answered by the data you have gathered after sending out a sequence of emails. Understanding the intention of your users will enable you to create content that is valuable to them which will, in return, make them more likely to buy or believe in your brand.
Email marketing, tools, and advanced software for the automation
There are many different marketing tools and online software programs out there that can help you set up your email marketing automation. Below, we discuss 3 different options to help you kickstart your automation process. In doubt, or if you have any questions, we are more than happy to brainstorm and help out! You can find our contact details at the end of this article.
1. Active Campaign
With their tagline: ‘don’t just email, drive growth with customer experience automation’ the company Active Campaign sets the tone. With a focus on personalised emails and simple automated workflows, Active Campaign is a brilliant software tool that helps with automating your email marketing strategy. Customer data is organized on the platform and it enables you to follow up and manage the pipelines easily. But it doesn’t stop there; Active Campaign enables email segmentation, setting up automation goals, and provides training where needed.
2. Drip
Drip works with two systems within email automations: rules and workflows. When email readers choose a certain option, an automated action follows. A system that’s easy to implement and creates straightforward action.
Workflows, on the other hand, are ‘rules on steroids’. Workflows create a set of more complex actions. For example, workflows can identify lost sales opportunities, lead magnet prospects, and send reminders for abandoned shopping carts. Even though Drip enables you to implement complex strategies, both beginning and advanced email marketers find this program easy-to-use and to navigate.
3. Sendinblue
The technology behind Sendinblue is all about connectedness. Sendinblue enables you to create automation emails, just like any other platform. However, what makes them special is that you can let one contact from one email sequence be sent over to another one, based on certain triggers or ques. On top of that, Sendinblue already created tons of pre-made workflows that you can choose from. Why reinvent the wheel, when it has already been invented?
Do you want to know more about email marketing?
Do you want to learn more about email marketing automation processes or get a better understanding on what this can mean for your business? Reach out and get in touch today and book a call with us. We’ll be happy to assist you in further growing your business.
