Introduction to Email Marketing: [Automation and Best Practices]

Why Email Marketing?

In 2022, hearing the term "email marketing" may sound dated, but I ensure you it's not. It's vital that digital marketers create an effective mix of promotional methods that can most effectively address consumers at each stage of a marketing funnel. Email marketing is still one of the most efficient ways of showing consumer segments targeted messages, "as 96% of consumers check their email daily". Some other associated benefits include:

Managing Email Campaigns

Managing email campaigns can feel overwhelming. Luckily, there are amazing tools that can help shoulder the load. Email marketing software can help create lists and even segment different clients/customers. Some processes can even be automated to reduce workload and assist with patron relationship building. Examples of this include thank you emails after purchases, abandoned cart reminders, and even reoccurring newsletters.

Two amazing services are Mail Chimp and Constant Contact. Pricing plans for each are as follows.

Mail Chimp

Constant Contact

Comparisons

Both services offer comprehensive email marketing services that include features like:

• Templates: Both services offer unique email templates to help encourage click-through and engagement. Mail Chimp offers a bit more autonomy for personalized designs, and even lets you use HTML and CSS to format and style your messages.
• List Builders: Both platforms have unique ways to create lists and segment users.
• Data Tracking: Analytics dashboards are offered with each service that can show metrics involving opens, click-through rates, and bounces. Mail Chimp also provides industry benchmarks to compare your results with.
• Automation Options: Mail Chimp offers full automation with free plans, while Constant Contact requires the advanced plan to access features like welcome, post-purchase, and retargeting messages.
• A/B Testing: A/B testing is vital in so many digital marketing processes, and email marketing is no exception. The ability to actively test different message alternatives in efforts to increase engagement allows a campaign to reach its full potential. With Mail Chimp, you can A/B test a variety of elements; Constant Contact only allows for testing of the subject line.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation software executes tasks without the need for interventive action. This automation assists with email marketing processes and can help increase ROI. Imagine that every time someone made a purchase on your website you had to manually write and send a confirmation email. Marketing automation can execute tasks of this nature, allowing marketers to spend their time more efficiently. Marketing automation can be seen as a tool to help assist with marketing processes, allowing each promotional tactic to reach its full potential.

Best Practices

1. Don't mindlessly automate everything! This technology is so helpful, but simply automating all processes can actually take away from feelings of personalization, and even cause mistakes to slip through cracks. Sometimes it may make more sense to use traditional strategies over automated processes.
2. Use automation to support inbound tactics and ensure content relevance! When targeting qualified leads while using automation, ensure that content is actually relevant. Sending generalized messages can sometimes be inefficient, even if you are reaching an audience that has pre-existing aligning interests with your business.
3. Track Everything! What good is a campaign, automated or not, if we can't measure its success? Data drives decisions and ensuring that we have the most relevant data can ensure that we make the most beneficial decisions. Set up analytics dashboards, and connect campaigns to Google Analytics accounts if applicable.

Email campaigns are a healthy part of a proper marketing strategy. Don't forget to apply automation to processes when possible to ensure maximum efficiency and ROI!