Make more out of your email data, look for the right marketing automation tool
When looking for the best email marketing software for your unique needs, it is essential to create a list of features and functionality that you cannot do without.
Most modern marketers need an email tool that lets you dig deep into your data and use it to reach out to customers more effectively. Email marketing automation and autoresponder features can help you use data to build stronger connections with your customers.
Gathering data to use within your email marketing software is not enough
A company can track contacts’ behaviour, purchase history, personal preferences and much more. By storing it in your database it is creating a customer profile. But once you have specific data for a contact, it can be challenging to make use of that data effectively. Just gathering the data is not enough. It has to be put to good use to be of real added value.
This requires email marketing software that allows for flexible use of the data and customization, plus also generates detailed reports so you can analyze how your email marketing campaigns are performing.
What if, in addition to sending out basic email newsletters, you could also create personalized email campaigns and even include behavioral email marketing for each one of your contacts? Organizing that contact data and using it for personalization and triggered messaging is where marketing automation comes in. It would be impossible to create personally targeted messages for each customer and lead manually. Yet, with email marketing automation, even a small business with limited resources can send personalized messages to each of their contacts.
Automatically personalized email campaigns
Personalized communication and marketing truly makes all the difference between a loyal customer and a potential lead who drops off without purchasing. Targeted emails enjoy much higher open rates (up to 40% higher, according to research by Experian) and interaction rates than non-targeted mass emails. When the email applies specifically to their needs, more customers will respond, click through, download and purchase.
Triggered emails can be sent when a contact makes a purchase or downloads a resource, so they receive an automated thank you and follow-up message. A few weeks after a purchase, they get a customer satisfaction survey so you can gain feedback on the purchases.
Before each of their appointment dates, subscription renewal dates or scheduled payment dates, customers receive an automated reminder message to keep them on time. On their birthday or anniversary, they get a personalized promotion or special offer. Those are just a few examples of automated and personally targeted email.
Benefits of the right type of email Automation
In addition to making it simple and efficient to create personally targeted campaigns for each of your contacts, automation has many additional benefits.
Email automation will let you save time and staff resources. When your staff doesn’t have to focus on manually contacting your many customers, they are free to take care of other important tasks. Nurture leads efficiently and shorten your sales cycle by using automatically personally targeted messages. One staff member or a small team can run much more sophisticated and complex campaigns than they would have been able to.
Automation helps you make the most of your budget. Many businesses and organizations simply do not have a lot of resources to devote to marketing and communication. Yet this is an essential part of connecting with your current customers, reaching out to new leads and growing your business. Marketing automation helps you compete with larger businesses. It gives you the ability to manage contacts, create and send campaigns and more without spending thousands of dollars each month.
Building customer loyalty and reducing churn
Using marketing automation, you can build loyalty and reduce customer churn. As we mentioned earlier, customers are more likely to respond to your marketing efforts when messages are personalized to meet their unique needs. Automation makes it simple to send personally targeted messages and to maintain ongoing contact over time. This type of consistent personal customer service also builds strong, lasting relationships with customers. You are focused on delivering highly personalized and relevant messages, and your customers appreciate this effort.
Going beyond simple email newsletters
If you want to go beyond sending email marketing newsletters and get more out of the data and customer profiles you have been gathering, the first thing to look at is the email marketing automation features that your potential email software supplier has.
