Email marketing is a classic method of traditional marketing. While it is effective, putting together email campaigns can be tedious. Depending on the size of your mailing list or lists, it may be difficult to stay organized. Fortunately, there’s another option. An automated email system, sometimes also referred to as an email journey, is an easy and convenient way to take advantage of the benefits of email marketing without any of the drawbacks. An automated email system will help your business grow by saving time, connecting you with your customers, and driving sales.
Save Time
If you have ever organized an email campaign, you know just how time-consuming and complicated it can be. With an automated email system, you can create emails ahead of time for a variety of circumstances that are only sent when a customer reaches a certain point in their journey with your company. For example, whenever anyone signs up for your mailing list, you can have your system automatically send an email welcoming them. After every purchase, you can have your system send a confirmation and an expression of gratitude. If it has been a month or two since a customer has last shopped with you or used your services, you can send an email with a code for a small discount to encourage them to come back.
Using an automated email system means that you do not have to personally keep track of where your customers are at in their journey, manually send emails, or rely on less targeted messages. The time you save with an automated email system can be spent more effectively elsewhere, perhaps on other marketing methods, reaching out personally to your most valued customers, or providing prompt, friendly customer service and troubleshooting.
Connect With Customers
One of the most common complaints people have about promotional emails is the sheer number of them they receive. You do not want to spam your customers because that makes it more likely that they will unsubscribe, but you still want them to be aware of your products or services. Finding the balance between silence and spam is challenging. The targeted aspect of an automated email system means that customers only receive emails that are relevant and useful to them. Although you are using an automated system, it gives your marketing efforts a personal touch that is hard to replicate without investing a lot of time and money.
Quality is far more important than quantity when it comes to email marketing, whether or not it is automated. If you provide content your customers find valuable and want to engage with, you will not have to rely on the fact that it’s easier to delete an email without reading it than it is to unsubscribe to keep people on your mailing list. You also avoid annoying your customers. The purpose of marketing is to convince potential customers to spend their hard-earned money with your company. They will not do that if their first emotion on seeing your company’s name in their inbox is irritation.
Drive Sales
The odds of a purchase resulting from an email are far higher with a properly formatted automated email system because your customers are only receiving actionable emails about items that interest them. One survey found that slightly more than four percent of people who visited a website because of an email made a purchase. Just two and a half percent of visitors from search engines buy something, and less than one percent of visitors from social media make a purchase. Those percentages might seem small. If your company has a physical location where customers can shop, and only four percent of visitors made a purchase, you would probably feel like you were wasting your time. However, Campaign Monitor estimates that every dollar spent on email marketing generates an incredible 44 dollar return on investment. In today’s competitive business world, numbers like that matter.
There is also the fact that, depending on your expertise, email marketing is easier than search engine optimization and social media marketing. Most of your customers and employees are used to sending and receiving emails. Whether you are the one sending or receiving marketing emails, you are probably not going to have to acquire any drastically new skills or knowledge. Keeping up with the latest algorithm changes and trends in social media and search engine optimization is still important, especially if you serve a younger, more mobile-reliant audience. However, email marketing is a staple for a reason. The path of least resistance is usually the popular one. By ensuring that your customers do not have to overcome as many barriers, you increase the odds of them making a purchase.
Because email marketing is so effective, companies need to have a comprehensive strategy in place. With automated email systems or journeys, allowing you to save time, connect with your customers in a meaningful way, and boost sales, they are a good investment in your company’s future.
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