Email Marketing Automation 101

There are few things as exciting as email marketing automation when it comes to the merger of technology and marketing campaigns. If you are just now getting engaged in marketing automation, we’ve put together this quick start guide to help you jump into email marketing with automation.

The benefits of marketing automation are:

• Faster response rates to customer requests.
• Intelligent content delivered on time.
• Easier nurturing of customers through sales and support cycles.
• Deeper customer intimacy with your brand through effective email.

So now that you understand the benefits of email marketing automation, let’s get started!

Step 1: Plan your attack

The first step to a good marketing automation campaign is the creation of a blueprint, or a plan that will guide your automation campaign. The power of marketing automation is in using data to automate the marketing process. So before you start creating emails you need to know what data you have to work with to make insightful actions for customers equate to relevant emails. Many of you have a pressing need like automating a confirmation message, or looking to send emails based on a few simple rules, such as anyone who has not visited your store in 1 month. These rules are the basis of creating a campaign that works. So having a plan of where the data will come from and how it will get into your marketing automation system is critical to the overall success.

Step 2: Choose a system

There are many systems out there for marketing automation with email. Hubspot, Marketo, Paradot, and Silverpop are some great options. Yet the selection of these tools should be based on your needs, more than price. Hubspot tends to require much more integration than Silverpop to be really effective. So if you already have a lead management system or CRM, you would be better off with something that does not have those features. New North has used all of these tools for marketing automation and can help guide you quickly to the right solution if you can’t seem to make heads or tails of the offerings.

Step 3: Set up the campaign

Once you have your system, setup the email messages to connect to your customers. The key to this setup process is to marry the technology with personalization. We’ve written a few posts on personalization; The Biggest Mistake in Email Marketing, and 5 Basic Marketing Automation Emails for SAAS. With personalization, you can create impactful and meaningful messages for your customers.

Step 4: Measurement

The last step and really the ongoing step in email marketing is the need to test and refine your marketing efforts. Doing A/B testing of your emails is a great way to increase value for each sending. If you need help with what metrics to track, take a look at our article, Using Email Metrics to Determine Success. Once you know what success looks like, you can refine and continually improve your email marketing to an exact science.

Best of luck in your marketing automation efforts and if you need expert advice or guidance in the process, New North is a leader in campaign strategy and implementation. You can see more about our services here,  Marketing Automation Campaigns. Good luck!