8 effective email automation workflows you should try
With over 3.7 billion email users in the world, it is no wonder that businesses worldwide use email as one of the main communication channels to attract new customers. To add to this, 72% of users prefer to receive promotional content via email, personalized and relevant to their preferences. Automated email workflows are a very efficient solution for businesses to save valuable time and resources from manually creating and sending personalized messages to every subscriber they gain.
What are email automation workflows and why are they important?
Email automation is a powerful marketing tool that facilitates the process of sending emails and enables your business to send relevant and personalized emails to users based on predefined time and user activity, using workflows. Instead of assigning certain team members to send and reply to individual emails, email automation workflows help your business to simplify your team’s day-to-day tasks.
As a marketer or a business owner, you want to stay connected to your customers. Email marketing automation is an effective way that saves you time and energy from routine communication and gives you the much-needed time to focus on the most crucial aspects of your business. According to the Epsilon Email Institute, automated email messages generate a 70.5% higher open rate and a 152% higher click-through rate than standard marketing messages.
Studies show that 49% of companies use email marketing automation as a part of their digital strategy to streamline their business. Besides, 63% of companies are outperforming competitors with the help of email marketing automation. So, here are 8 email automation workflows you can consider adding to your email communication processes.
8 Effective email automation workflow
1. “Welcome” workflows
Welcome emails are essential for any brand and are triggered when a visitor signs up for an account or subscribes to a newsletter. Research shows that 74% of people expect to receive a welcome message when they sign up for a product or service, so welcome emails enjoy high open rates. These types of emails are a great opportunity for a business to engage its audiences and motivate them to become customers.
A simple example to initiate a welcome workflow is to use three email bursts. You can set up a trigger that automatically sends out the first email as soon as visitors submit their data. Make sure that your first email does not try to sell them something, but rather simply welcome them. A few days later, you can follow up with an email telling them where to look for information and how to contact you if they have questions. Finally, send out one last email asking them for information about themselves so you provide them with a better, more personalized experience.
You have endless possibilities as to what your welcome email will say. To decide on it, simply think about what you would like those who receive it, to accomplish next.
2. “Thank You” workflows
“Thank you” email automated workflows can be used as a part of most email campaigns to acknowledge readers for purchasing, for participating in an event, for downloading an ebook, for updating their email preferences, and so on.
The “thank you email workflows” goal is to provide continued contact between you and your subscribers, even after they have completed an action. You can even use a “thank you” email workflow as a way to reactivate idle subscribers and re-introduce your brand to them.
3. “Lead Nurturing” workflows
Lead nurturing aims to guide potential customers towards conversion and marketing automation, making this process easier and more effective.
By creating customized workflows you can nurture potential customers, maintaining engagement throughout the research and shopping process. You should aim to start your lead nurturing workflow at the earliest possible point in the sales funnel. This might be when a user subscribes to your newsletter or creates an account on your eshop.
You should build your workflow around providing prospects with the relevant information they need to make a purchase. Firstly, show them how you can provide a solution to their problem with the product you offer. Then, demonstrate your brand personality and establish your position as a credible business that they can trust. As a final step, you can email prospects with relevant messages to their preferences and interactions on your website.
4. “Transactional” workflows
If you run an eCommerce business, transactional workflows can be automatically set up and triggered by an action such as a purchase. However, they can be utilized for anything that involves an exchange of products or services.
Transactional emails aim to keep the conversation going after the receiver has taken some form of action. These emails can be customized into thank you messages with receipt details that provide a customer with an order confirmation and extend a sentiment of gratitude for choosing your product or brand. They can offer incentives to customers to refer your product/brand to others, encourage them to give feedback on their experience, and share their purchase decisions on social platforms.
5. “Abandoned Cart” workflows
Studies show that at least 68% of people that place a product in their shopping cart abandon it, making cart abandonment a top concern for eCommerce. There are many reasons customers abandon their shopping carts, some of these reasons are intentional, whereas others are completely accidental. For intentional reasons, research indicates that there is a potential for a shopping cart recovery of approximately 12%.
An abandoned cart workflow can help in shopping cart recovery. You can set up an email workflow that is triggered when customers leave their cart to remind them that they have items left in their shopping cart and to trigger them in moving forward with their purchase.
6. “Re-engagement” workflows
Re-engagement workflows are a great way to activate idle customers or prospects. You can send diverse re-engagement emails, such as “we miss you” campaigns, or feedback forms, or even a series of discount coupons via email.
As it costs approximately 5 times more to acquire a new customer than to attempt to re-engage an existing customer, re-engagement workflows are important. The best way to go about it is to send a high-value content message to those target groups to grab their attention once again.
7. “Free Trial” workflows
Once someone signs up for a free trial, you can set up a series of onboarding automated emails to send them, thanking them and helping them onto the next steps. You can treat this workflow the same way as the welcome email, or even combine the two types of email workflows, providing user guides, training videos, and demos.
Your first email can focus on highlighting the resources that help them utilize your product. A few days later, you can send an email pointing out your knowledge resources, so you can build credibility by providing subscribers with valuable and functional advice.
8. “Customer Feedback” workflows
Customer satisfaction is crucial in your customer’s journey. You want to make sure and you want to know that you’re dealing with issues in the best possible way and keeping customers happy, even when they run into any problems.
After customers interact with your brand, you can send out a
customer feedback email asking them to take a survey to measure the quality of the assistance they received.
This kind of email shows your customers that you care about them and about the quality of service you provide. When customers complete the survey, you can follow up with a thank-you email.
This workflow is useful for your sales performance and customer satisfaction. By asking people the right questions you will often get practical suggestions for how to improve your products, services, or procedures.
Create your email automation workflows
Automated workflows can yield great advantages, yet not all of them will apply to your unique business model. Take the time to consider your customer’s needs and interests, and use workflows that will be useful to them and that will produce the best results for your business. Use the above-mentioned examples as inspiration to put your knowledge into practice. Facilitate the whole email marketing automation process with an intelligent
marketing automation solution, like WayMore . Identify and easily design the workflow scenarios in which an automated email workflow would serve your needs, set them up, and let Waymore do the rest.