10% more sales with less ongoing work and enhanced customer engagement. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. B2B marketers who implement email marketing automation into the email marketing strategy increase their sales by an average of 10% (study).
Email automation can enable you to send the right content at the right time to the right person. With that type of relevance, your email campaigns can enjoy:
- Better response rates.
- Develop deeper relationships with your customers.
- Increase revenue.
So, how can you best utilize automation to enhance your email marketing programs? Here are trending and frequently used automation programs:
Welcome Emails
We’ve talked at great length about the importance of welcome emails (we even have an infographic and a lookbook on the subject). These automated programs are incredibly effective for reaching new subscribers, making them feel welcomed to your brand, and driving great engagement and revenue.
Triggered Emails
Just like the name implies, these emails are triggered based on actions (or lack thereof). For example, a cart abandonment program can be triggered to bring back lost customers. (See our infographic on the topic). Other triggered email campaigns include post-purchase emails, browse abandonment programs, winback programs (lack of purchases over time), and many others.
Feedback Requests
Reviews can be a crucial component to building up your brand’s credibility. Facilitating the process of review collection can be automated as part of your overall email marketing program. Asking for feedback can heighten customer engagement to a great level while giving you a platform to know more about your customers’ preferences.
Special Occasion Emails
Birthday and anniversary wishes combined with special offers can make your brand a top favorite. People love to be remembered on special occasions, and utilizing your data to send these nice reminders can make your customers’ days.
Nurture Drip (Lifecycle) Campaign Emails
Every sales cycle is different. Utilizing a nurture drip or lifecycle campaign can slowly nurture your leads and prospects and ultimately help convert them into (hopefully) happy customers. These programs can help keep your brand top of mind.
What Matters in Making Automation Work:
Have you wondered how these amazing automations work? Here’s what matters to every great automation program:
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Data Matters (for Segmentation)
Any data point you collect can be used in some way for segmentation of your list. Each of the programs above will rely in some way on data points you collect, whether it’s signup date, purchase date, birthday, anniversary date, etc. Make sure your data collection is clean and optimized for solid segmentation to create great automated email programs.
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Whitelisting Matters (for Deliverability)
Make sure to ask the subscriber to whitelist your email. Positive whitelisting is a major factor in building your sender reputation and getting your emails into the inbox. After all, if it doesn’t get to your subscriber’s mailbox, it doesn’t matter how good your content is.
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Timing Matters
Sending the email at the best time can really help you increase the open and click rates. Find what works for your subscribers and customers and work hard to send emails at the right time.
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Testing Matters
Always test your emails before sending them. This can save your time and keep you safe from embarrassment. Make sure to test the entire automation process so you know your emails are going out as intended.
Takeaways:
- B2B marketers who implement marketing automation in their email campaigns increase their sales by an average of 10%.
- Automation can help send the right content at the right time to the right person.
- It has better responsiveness.
- It’s an easy nurturing method that can better response rates.
