Email automation is a powerful tool that can help you save time and improve your email marketing results. By automating your email campaigns, you can send targeted messages to your subscribers at the right time, without having to manually send each email.
To plan an email automation, you need to first define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your automation? Are you trying to nurture new leads, convert existing subscribers into customers, or re-engage inactive subscribers? Once you know your goals, you can start to think about the different types of email automations that you can use.
Some common types of email automations include:
- Welcome series: A welcome series is a sequence of emails that are automatically sent to new subscribers after they sign up for your email list. Welcome series emails are a great way to introduce yourself to your new subscribers and provide them with valuable information about your products or services.
- Abandoned cart emails: Abandoned cart emails are sent to subscribers who have added items to their shopping cart but have not yet completed their purchase. These emails can help to remind subscribers about the items in their cart and encourage them to complete their purchase.
- Browse abandonment emails: Browse abandonment emails are sent to subscribers who have visited your website but have not taken any further action, such as signing up for your email list or making a purchase. These emails can help to re-engage subscribers and bring them back to your website.
- Nurturing emails: Nurturing emails are sent to subscribers who have signed up for your email list but have not yet taken any desired action, such as making a purchase or downloading a whitepaper. These emails can help to educate and inform subscribers about your products or services, and eventually move them down the sales funnel.
- Win-back emails: Win-back emails are sent to subscribers who have been inactive for a certain period of time. These emails can help to re-engage subscribers and encourage them to start interacting with your brand again.
Once you have chosen the types of email automations that you want to use, you need to start planning your workflows. A workflow is a series of steps that your subscribers will go through, triggered by specific actions or events. For example,
A welcome series workflow might include the following steps:
- Subscriber signs up for email list.
- Subscriber receives a welcome email.
- Subscriber receives a second email with more information about your products or services.
- Subscriber receives a third email with a special offer.
You can use an email marketing platform to create and manage your email automations. Most email marketing platforms offer a variety of pre-built automations that you can use, or you can create your own custom automations.
When planning your email automations, be sure to keep the following tips in mind:
- Segment your email list. This will allow you to send targeted messages to different groups of subscribers based on their interests or behavior.
- Personalize your emails. Subscribers are more likely to open and engage with emails that are personalized to them. You can personalize your emails by using the subscriber’s name, purchase history, or other relevant information.
- Test your automations. Before you launch your email automations, be sure to test them to make sure that they are working as expected.
- Monitor your results. Once you have launched your email automations, be sure to monitor your results so that you can see what is working and what is not.
By following these tips, you can plan and implement effective email automations that will help you achieve your email marketing goals.
Example: Welcome series automation
Here is an example of a welcome series automation:
Trigger: Subscriber signs up for email list.
Step 1: Send a welcome email to the subscriber. This email should introduce yourself to the subscriber and provide them with valuable information about your products or services.
Step 2: Send a second email to the subscriber with more information about your products or services. You can also include a special offer in this email.
Step 3: Send a third email to the subscriber with a case study or testimonial from a satisfied customer.
Step 4: Send a fourth email to the subscriber with a link to your blog or social media pages.
This is just a basic example, of course. You can customize your welcome series automation to include more or fewer steps, depending on your specific goals.
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