Automated email to save time and spice up your communications
Email marketing is still one of the most powerful marketing levers known today. But while it's not new, it's the way it's used that has greatly changed.
Yes, it's no longer a matter of laboriously concocting one mailing a year to your entire database, but of setting up scenarios to automate the sending of targeted e-mails in a contextualized way: this is marketing automation.
An even simpler alternative is to use specialized software with hundreds of personalized, automated email templates.
Discover the 11 examples of automated emails in pictures, the best practices to follow to optimize your campaigns in 2022 and finally the tools to facilitate their management and follow-up!
How does an automated email work?
An automated email or "automatic mail" is an email that is sent to your recipients or customers automatically, i.e. by itself, without you having to send it.
All you have to do is program the day and time of sending, and your marketing automation software will take care of the rest! There are a number of significant advantages to using it in your marketing management:
- you save time,
- reduce costs,
- you can deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, simply and quickly,
- you strengthen the bond with your customers,
- increase your conversion rate and thus your sales, etc.
11 examples of automated emails for your marketing campaigns
1 - Welcome email
The welcome email is used to guide the user through your site to create an account. This can be done by :
- downloading a document,
- continuing an order or purchase,
- subscribing to a newsletter, etc.
Then program an automated welcome email. It's a warm, individualized way of making contact with your new customer, while showing you care.
2 - The order confirmation email
Also known as a transactional email, the order confirmation email is a must. It enables customers to check that their order or purchase has been processed, and more:
- they can see a summary of their order,
- they receive an invoice and/or proof that a transaction has been completed,
- they can check that no errors have been made,
- they can track the shipment and delivery of their parcel.
3 - The newsletter subscription email
The newsletter sign-up or confirmation email is essential. It should be personalized with the new subscriber's name and sent automatically after registration. This will reassure them that their registration has been taken into account, and that they can't be mistaken about the e-mail address given.
4 - The birthday email
Do you know your customers' birthdays? Give them a present or offer them an exclusive promotion! It's a common practice that's always well received, and helps build long-term customer loyalty. It could be for :
- the customer's personal birthday,
- the anniversary of the customer's registration date (1 year as a customer).
5 - Cart abandonment emails
It's very common for users to select products in their shopping cart, but not to proceed to purchase , for a number of reasons:
- they have forgotten to finalize their order,
- they're waiting to see if other products will be in stock,
- the price finally seemed too high, etc.
Sending him a reminder e-mail will reactivate his interest in the products and ultimately trigger an act of purchase.
👉 You can send up to 3 shopping cart abandonment reminder e-mails, but at precise times (a few days or even weeks apart) so as not to appear too intrusive.
6 - Cross-selling and up-selling emails
Up-selling and cross-selling are very common and popular practices in e-commerce. While they are normally pre-integrated into your e-commerce management solution, you can also practice them via your e-mails.
They are also known as "additional sales", since their aim is to promote additional products or items over and above those initially ordered.
7 - The product launch email
This automated email is an excellent way to promote the launch of a new product. It's even more effective when it's tailored to the buying habits and behaviors of the customers who will receive the email.
8 - The satisfaction survey email
Your customers will be happy to hear from you, and they'll be even happier to give you feedback. As a sign of consideration, this e-mail can take the form of :
- a survey,
- an evaluation,
- an invitation to write a review on the site,
- or a satisfaction survey.
An excellent way for you to understand their expectations, so you can better meet them.
9 - The product expiration email
If your products or services have an expiry date, this type of automatic email can be very effective. This may concern :
- an expiring subscription,
- a software license,
- a promotion coming to an end, etc.
💡 Define a precise deadline before expiration (1 month in advance, for example), and automate the sending of the email, alerting the customer to the approaching expiration while offering to renew their experience. In this way, everyone wins!
10 - One-off promotional emails
Again automatically, you can send a personalized e-mail with promotions or special offers on specific dates. This may concern :
- holidays (Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day...),
- commercial events (Black Friday), etc.
11 - Email for inactive customers
Losing a customer can happen (faster than you might think). They may not show any sign of life from one day to the next, for no apparent reason. If you still have their contact details in your database, it's a good idea to send them a trigger email (just to remind them of your existence).
💡 Define a precise period of inactivity after which the e-mail is triggered. You can then automate the e-mail and offer them a discount or a free product to encourage them to make a purchase.
Best practices for effective automated emails
Segment your contacts for better conversion
Your email campaigns will be much more effective if they are tailored to your customers' behaviors and needs. Therefore, it's advisable to segment your data and/or contacts in order to set up tailor-made automated emails.
💡 The benefits of marketing targeting are numerous, on both sides:
- customers are happy to receive emails tailored to their needs, which will increase their interest in your products and therefore your brand, and thus foster loyalty,
- your e-mails are more likely to be opened, and your website gets more hits.
Adopt AB testing
AB testing, in the context of emailing campaigns, consists of sending your customers and/or prospects two different versions (content, design, tone...) of your newsletter or emails to see which one works best.
👉 However, for an AB test to be statistically representative, it must be sent to 2 similar (equal number of subscribers) and sufficiently large samples.
Evaluate the impact of your e-mails via KPIs
But that's not all. After your tests, you need to analyze the resulting results through marketing KPIs. The most relevant KPIs for email campaigns are :
- Open rate: how many people opened your e-mail;
- Click-through rate : how many clicked on one of your CTAs (call to action);
- Unsubscribe rate: how many unsubscribed or "spammed" your account;
- And the conversion rate: the percentage of prospects who turned into customers.
Get the right emailing software
The automation of your email campaigns is considerably facilitated by the use of specialized software. In fact, emailing software is a highly effective way of creating, sending and tracking emails, all in a centralized and intuitive way.
🛠 Iroquois, for example, supports you in optimizing and tracking all your multi-channel customer relations (emailing, SMS and push notifications) via its ergonomic, easy-to-use PoWoW solution. A true turnkey solution, it provides advanced, 100% customizable mailing functionalities:
- adjust your automatic scenarios for all your e-mails according to your needs: welcome e-mail, abandoned cart, etc;
- take advantage of numerous ready-to-use, customizable e-mail templates;
- perform AB/testing directly from the platform;
- evaluate the performance of your e-mails via clear, visual dashboards, and much more!
Automated email in a nutshell
As you can see, automated email is a real performance and productivity booster for businesses. No matter what sector you're in, automating your email campaigns is a lever not to be overlooked!
Article translated from French