What Is Email Marketing Automation And Should You Use It?

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Did you know that there are 3.9 BILLION active email users! (Radicati)

Email remains one of the effective ways for businesses to connect with their various customers. Sending emails could be free (depends on the email marketing tool you use) and it gives you the opportunity to get in front of your target customer at the right time!

However, in this article I won’t be talking much about email, I will be diving deep into email marketing automation. Imagine having full control of deciding when you want to send an email, the recipients, the content of the email you wish to send and the list goes on. In a nutshell that is all that email marketing automation entails.

If you operate a small business, you might not have the luxury of time and resources to keep close tabs on your scattered customers. By adopting the use of email marketing automation, you know the specific time to send an email, what to send, and whom to send.

Now let’s dive straight into the email marketing world!

What is email marketing automation?

Email marketing automation has provided several business owners with that breakthrough they have always been clamoring for. This marketing strategy provides you with a way to create timely, significant, and personalized emails for individuals on your email list. Email automation comes packed with benefits with the end goal in mind of propeling the end user to take action.

For instance, with email marketing automation integrated into your communication strategy, you can usher new visitors to your website with a “welcome email.” You can also send the same email to your next email subscriber and your 20,000th!! You save time,energy and money using email automation because it comes with less hassle and procedure; all you have to do is set up the emails, and the automation keeps on sending the emails to the specified contacts.

But isn’t email automation robotic?

Being an individual who owns a small business, you already have a crammed schedule. As your business blossoms and the flood gates of leads opens, it becomes more difficult for you and your partners to follow up on your numerous leads. With email marketing automation, you can cater to your current customers. If correctly integrated, email automation can provide your customers and leads with highly personalized and timely experiences that would transform prospects into customers. This makes email automation one of the best ways to gain the loyalty of new customers.

According to a recent report by Rabb, about 60% of businesses with revenues of more than $500 million have already adopted marketing automation, but only about 3% of small businesses with revenue below $5 million have invested in it.

Now, here is where automation comes in handy. Automation is that effective tool that helps you make several personalized and automated follow-up emails that are sent to individuals on an email list. You select how you want the emails to be sent, the number of intervals between each email, and the content of the email. Once you have played your part and done the necessary setups, the emails are sent automatically to the targeted contacts.

The only downside that comes with the use of email marketing automation is that you need to plan ahead and make sure that all necessary information is ready. This requires little work. A small price to pay for the number of benefits that come accompanied with it.

Benefits of email automation

Helps personalize your customer’s experience

Based on my research, the following results were brought up:

About 90% of customers enjoy being provided with personalized content.
About 91% of customers are very probable to associate themselves with businesses that provide individual recommendations and offers.
Based on an experiment conducted recently, it was discovered that when shoppers discovered that an advertisement was done based on their activity on the site, their click-through rate rose by 11%. The revenue generated from the product increased by 38 % as well.
In the year 2019, it was noted that about 72 % of customers replied marketing messages that were aimed at their interests.
The prominent type of personalized experience that major marketers of nowadays adopt are emails.

With email automation, you can also make several automated emails to enhance the relationship you have with your numerous customers and your business as well.

Provides a helping hand for your marketing team

Email automation has brought ease to several businesses; it is also modifying the way many businesses operate. Based on a survey carried out in the year 2017 on information workers, respondents opined that it could enhance the efficiency of employees:

According to 69% of the respondents, email automation can help lessen wasted time.
59 % stated that by automating some repetitive tasks of their job, they would be able to save 6 hours a week.
72 % also stated that the saved time could be used to concentrate on a more higher-value task.

Helps enhance your customer retention rate

Selling to an existing customer is easier, and it costs less compared to converting a new customer. With the aid of email automation, you can follow up with all customers be it new or existing; that way, they won’t have to search for other alternatives. Setup your messages in a way that provides your customers with frequent updates from you. An email such as “Hi, it’s been long we heard from you. Please, visit us!’ will likely be ignored. Now, compare that message to this:

“Dear Parker, it’s been a while since we heard from you, and we wanted to be sure that you’re aware of our latest offer. The sound system you’ve been buying parts, for now, has a new model, and it is 20% off. Come and check it out.”

That message certainly feels a need and has the potential to make a customer return.

Provides you with a scalable marketing strategy

When you decide to send out a series of emails manually, the capacity of your staff won’t make it possible for you to reach all your targets. Would staying on schedule be possible if your customer base increased?

With automation, email marketing becomes easy. After playing your part, you do not need the help of a staff member to send the messages because it is an automated process. Thanks to email automation, customers can automatically integrate into your system immediately; they carry out any action monitored by you. Based on their behavior, the system knows the exact message to send to each individual without any brainstorming session from you.

Is Email Automation Really Worth It?

Email automation comes with several benefits. An established business can use email marketing automation to grow further and increase their fan base, while small businesses can also use email marketing automation to improve their business and fan base as well. If you wish to take your business to the next level, integrate email automation marketing into your communication strategy, and you will be thrilled by the results.