Marketing automation is a technology that automatically manages marketing processes and campaigns.It can be used on multiple channels: among the most important, there are social media and email marketing automation.

Read this text to fully explore what it is, what you should avoid and how you can use it to grow your business.

What is it?

This complex strategy is applied through marketing automation platforms which use different tools in order to make your work easier.

Some of the most repetitive digital marketing tasks (such as sending DEMs, posting on social networks etc.) can be more efficient and personalized through a marketing automation software.

The ideal marketing automation system combines software and strategy with great results for your conversion rates.

How does this kind of software work?

Successfull marketing implies the use of a specialiezed platform and a brilliant marketer. Human and technology must work hand in hand in order to give your users the best personalized experience.

A good marketing automation system helps you in the most time-consuming tasks. So, for example, it can identify your audience; create and segment email contact lists; trigger actions based on the users’ behaviour; analyze their response.

So, the final goal of a marketing platform is to help you save time and resources.

Pros and Cons

Implementing marketing automation in your strategy can be the best thing that ever happened to your business… or the worst. You should choose carefully which marketing system to use and how to integrate it in your customers’ experience.

Each customer journey will be tailored on the unique experience and habits of the user, giving you a great understanding of your audience. They will feel understood, loved and cherished by your brand.

But, if you use this strategies in a superficial way, they can make good damage too. For instance, a marketing strategy based on buying email lists is most likely to fail.

This goes back to the golden rule of email marketing automation: human and technology need to co-operate. Find and nurture your lead contacts in an organic way, then use automation softwares to grow your relationship with them.

Definition of email marketing automation

Marketing automation can especially be applied to email marketing. The best practises of this digital field require a personalized and targeted message to each customer (or group), and it can be pretty difficult to do on your own.

This is where you will experience the benefits of email marketing automation, based on a recent study:

• + 20% of sales opportunities
• + 451% in qualified leads
• + 14,5% increase in sales productivity

This, of course, will only happen if you set the right strategy and use the right software.

Why should you use a marketing automation software?

These platforms are designed to help you with creating a great experience for your customers. The latest email marketing news underline a world in which users want to be personally addressed.

They have specific needs and habits and want your brand to satisfy them in the most efficient, fastest and cheapest way. How can you do that without the help of techology?

Why some brands don’t trust marketing automation

It was a common myth for several years that email marketing automation (and automation in general) was for lazy companies. People were led to believe that a marketing automation software was just a robot with no understanding of human behaviour.

That’s right, to a degree. And that’s why an intelligent email marketer knows how to combine artificial and human intelligence to achieve the best possible results.

Set your goal: the software will follow

Automation is only as good as the people who use it. You need to study and apply different ways to communicate with your audience in order to find the right strategy of email marketing automation.

Firstly, set a clear and measurable goal. This is always necessary when applying a new strategy to your digital marketing work. Choose the best platform based on your purpose your target audience, your email marketing campaign strategies.

Then analyze the data your email marketing software will give you, drive AB tests to understand what works and don’t be afraid to experiment with new channels and messages.

More tips and tricks

Use email marketing automation to enhance your inbound strategies: they are not opposites, but rather complementaries. What you already know about your audience should be implemented in your new strategy.

Send highly targeted messages with an almost-zero chance of being marked as spam. On this topic, remember to avoid every word or practice usually associated with spam. These include all-caps, exclamation marks, general messages with no personalization.

Don’t make it all about money: email marketing can also convert in new followers, interested leads that can be turned into paying customers another time and more. Keep your users happy with valuable content and an expert voice that will make you emerge as an influencer in your field.

Examples of email marketing automation

In which campaigns can you use an automation strategy? Basically in every interaction with your customers, creating a workflow that seems organic and appropriate.

Here’s an example of an automated email marketing campaign:

1. Send an email to a trageted group of contacts. You can insert a freebie like an ebook or a promotional code for your e-commerce.
2. Send a thank you mail to the people who actually downloaded your ebook/used your coupon.
3. Send a follow-up email to that same group of people, suggesting another product or service they can be interested in.
4. Analyze how many of them bought something from your brand and study the conversion rate.

See the benefit of marketing automation?

You can clearly see the benefits of email automation from the example above. How much time and energy could you consume on a campaign like this?

EmailAn email (or electronic mail) is a method of exchanging communications through the internet. It is one of the most used features on the web and the number one mean... marketing automation helps you with highly specialized softwares that manage with the most time-consuming part of your work. So now you can concentrate your energy (and those of your team) on new strategies and campaigns.

What’s the best email marketing automation platform?

It obviously depends on your purpose, audience and the specific needs of your brand. Here are some of the most famous and efficient email marketing automation systems:

• Mailsenpai. It provides customized template designs, great deliverability rates and several data analysis about your emails. Also, you can try a free trial to familiarize with the platform.
• Mailchimp. It’s a marketing system which gives you a chance to reach your audience with transactional automated emails.
• Hubspot. This software offers a great variety of email tamplates and designs to catch your users’ attention.
• ActiveCampaign. It’s considered a good solution for small companies who are willing to grow their business.
• Marketo. This company provides different marketing applications that work better with large brands.

Conclusions

As every clever digital marketer, you need to understand every tool the web offers and use it to your advantage. Marketing automation can be a powerful way to boost your campaigns and save time and money if you use it correctly.

We gave you a wide range of examples and tips for using this startegy, but you need to find your own. Contact us to create the special email marketing automation campaign for your brand and receive full support from our team.