The term automated email has gotten something of a bad reputation. People hear that term and think of something cold and impersonal, which of course can be true. When done correctly, though, email automation is anything but irrelevant to the recipient. Ideally, automated emails play a critical role reminding your recipients why they signed up for your email list in the first place, potentially leading them down your sales funnel at the same time.

The key phrase in all of this is when done correctly. Many marketers attempt to automate their email activity and end up bombarding their followers with spam, or simply with fluffy, irrelevant, poorly-targeted and value-deficient messaging. To get email automation right, you’ve first got to have a good sense of what email automation can and should be.

Automation Helps You Welcome New Subscribers

When an individual first signs up to receive your company emails, that’s likely the most that he or she will ever be interested in receiving your messages. Enthusiasm is at its peak, which makes a strong first impression crucial. Sending an automated welcome email is a good way to help maintain that enthusiasm, and studies have shown that welcome emails can have an amazing effect on long-term engagement. An even more ambitious and great idea—when executed well—is to send a series of welcome emails, staggered over the course of a few days or even weeks, leading your recipient through everything he or she can expect from your company email list.

Customize the Consumer’s Journey

A little more advanced, but very much worth the effort: You can track the emails that each recipient opens, and the ones that don’t get opened, and use that information to trigger automated follow-ups that are relevant to particular topics—essentially creating a more customized email experience for each consumer. This is a smart, data-driven way to give your readers the things they really care about, while not bombarding them with content they just aren’t interested in.

Celebrate Milestones

While the concept of automation strikes some as robotic and sterile, it’s actually a really good way to humanize your interactions with customers. One way to do this is to trigger automated emails for key events—celebrating birthdays, thanking them for major purchases, etc. Including coupons, discounts, or free samples in these automated emails will make the celebration even sweeter!

Reach Out to Those Who’ve Been Left Behind

You might also have automated emails sent to people who haven’t engaged with your brand in a while—showing them everything they’ve been missing while also enticing them with special deals or promotions. Automated messages can go a long way toward renewing engagement with your brand.

Don’t think that just because a message is automated that means it has to be irrelevant to the recipient. Think about how automation might fit in with your integrated marketing strategy. Have a conversation with the enCOMPASS team about it today; reach out to us at your convenience!