Automated emails have become an essential part of any effective marketing campaign. Thanks to them, you can reach your audience exactly when they need it, and when they are most likely to convert.
The good news is that you don’t need a big marketing budget or an overly complex marketing automation software to take advantage of automated emails.
If you’re thinking about adding email automation to your digital toolset, then this article will come in handy.
What is email automation
Email automation is an email marketing feature that allows you to send emails as a sequence, with specific time intervals in between them. Just like you set up your out-of-office replies, you can send your email marketing automation campaigns automatically. You would use this approach, for example, if you wanted to send an email course where each message would comprise an individual lesson. Marketers often call that drip campaigns or follow up sequences.
How to send automated emails
To send automated email campaigns, you’ll either need email automation or a marketing automation platform. Whichever tool you use, the logic remains the same.
Before anyone can start receiving your messages, you have first to specify a set of conditions and put them into a workflow. Think of it as a scenario – when a subscriber meets the conditions you’ve specified in the scenario, it triggers the system to send out your email.
The good news is that when you set up your workflow and hit publish – you’re done. From that point onward, every time your customer meets a specific condition, they will get your automatic email.
Setting up marketing automation workflows
Even though marketing automation workflows may seem complicated, most of them follow a simple if/then logic – if someone subscribes to your list, then wait five minutes, and send them a welcome email. And that’s it!
From there, you can, of course, develop the workflow further. Add other actions and conditions depending on whether the subscriber opens the welcome email or if they click a link inside it. But that’s all there is.
Getting started with marketing automation isn’t that hard either. Platforms like GetResponse often offer prebuilt marketing automation templates you can use right away. Just add your messages, tweak the scenario if you need to, and you’re done.