Intro
We’re just going to say it: If you’re not incorporating automated messages into your email strategy, you’re missing out on some of the best-performing emails that you’ll ever create.
Automation is a robotic-sounding word, but it really means sending timely, targeted messages to subscribers based on key actions or milestones – milestones like signing up, making a purchase, renewing a subscription, or even just having a birthday. Stuff that’s actually the opposite of robotic.
Your subscribers want email that’s personal, relevant, and timely. This toolkit will help you create campaigns that check all three boxes and get some seriously great results fast.
1. Bright and festive, Gigi’s welcome email gives new subscribers a sweet taste of their brand – and an easy way to quickly order a cupcake (or two… or ten) online. We love the simplicity of this mailing: Keeping the focus on a single CTA is often much more effective than trying to load way too much information into your first touch.
2. We’re all about the hero image in this mailing from REI: It draws the eye with a big ol’ “Welcome!” and immediately jumps into copy (and a coupon) expressing the brand’s appreciation. And in the “Help Us Get It Right” section, they ask subscribers for their interests and preferences. It’s a smart way to help them start segmenting right out of the gate so they can send the most relevant emails possible.”
3. People respond to copy that indicates some sort of exclusivity – after all, who doesn’t want to be a part of something special? And this welcome email from JackThreads does it best with a big, bold statement everybody (not in a horror movie) likes to hear: “You’re one of us now.”
4. These tactics don’t just apply to B2C marketing! We’re head-overheels for this welcome message from Typeform, a company that helps brands build better, more beautiful forms. The tile format helps people easily find the template they’re most interested in and quickly get started on their first typeform. Plus, the staff photo at the bottom gives it a nice personal touch.
Automation Case Study
DOGFISH HEAD BREWERY
Since its humble beginnings as the smallest commercial brewery in America, Dogfish Head has grown like crazy – it now produces almost 250,000 barrels of beer annually, including over 20 styles of beer sold in 31 states and three kinds of 100% scratch-made spirits. That’s a lot of beer to talk about (and sell), so the brand turns to email marketing.
“We always have the goal of selling more beer to our fans and distributors,” explained PR Coordinator Janelle Miley, “but a huge portion of our email marketing has to do with raising brand awareness. We like to make sure people are always in the know about what’s going on: where they can track down new beers we’re releasing, the different things we have happening here at the brewery, and so on.”
Dogfish Head connects with new subscribers from the get-go with an automated welcome series.
The first email, a simple “thanks for joining our list,” deploys right after a new subscriber signs up. The CTA? A call to find Dogfish brews near you. And the results of that first message are astounding: It boasts an absurd 83% open rate!
The second message deploys a week later and helps introduce new subscribers to the brewery’s many offerings. That one averages a 82% open and 27% click rate.
The last one, sent two weeks after signup, is the first that contains any sort of hard sell. It lets subscribers know about all the Dogfish swag they can purchase, and it truly works: This message also averages a 78% open rate, and 26.9% of those subscribers click the incredibly straightforward CTA, “Take my money!”
Janelle has already been impressed with the incredible response they’ve gotten from subscribers. “It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for a while; the whole team was pretty much unanimous when we discussed automation as the next thing to add to our email marketing efforts.”
And the simplicity of the emails has proven super effective, as well. “One of the newer things that we’ve been playing around with have been the CTA buttons. They’re big, bold, and allow us to point people to the information directly without adding a lot of distractions within the body of the email.”
And with the results they’re seeing from their welcome series? The Dogfish Head team can’t wait to see what else they can do with email automation.
Advanced Automation: The Right Email, Right On Time
Automation has evolved to the point that you can build campaigns based on virtually any action your subscribers take – both inside and outside the inbox. It enables you to craft a personalized brand experience for every subscriber and move them down the funnel without ever hitting “send.” Here’s an example of one subscriber’s journey using our totally made up but totally awesome retail brand WANDR.
Day 1
A potential customer just joined WANDR’s email list through a custom signup form on their website. The form contains checkboxes where she can tell WANDR about her preferences and interests. That data is automatically brought into Emma, where WANDR set up an automated welcome email that populates content dynamically based on her responses. in this case, she lives in Portland and enjoys exploring and hiking. This is what she sees in her inbox immediately after signing up:
Day 3
She clicks on WANDR’s welcome email and starts browsing through their selection of backpacks. But, she ultimately decides not to make a purchase.
WANDR tracks which products she views and connects that data to Emma to populate the content in an automated follow-up email.
She opens WANDR’s email, which just so happens to contain a 20% discount on backpacks. The timely, personalized offer does the trick, and she decides to buy a new backpack.
Day 5
Once she buys the backpack, it triggers the next email in WANDR’s automated workflow – tips for how and where she can use the product.
Since WANDR already knows she’s from Portland and likes hiking, they send her their picks for the top 5 hiking destinations outside of Portland. There’s no push to buy – just helpful ideas for breaking in the new backpack.
This kind of relevant, useful content (delivered right on time) keeps her engaged and keeps WANDR top of mind the next time she’s ready to make a purchase.
A Handy Automation Checklist
Ready to get rolling with automation? This quick checklist of ideas is a good place to start.
- WELCOME NEW SUBSCRIBERS Automated welcome emails reach new subscribers right when they’re most excited and ready to hear from your brand. It’s a simple but effective marketing strategy: The average open rate for welcome emails is an outstanding 50% (Marketing Sherpa).
- OR BETTER YET, AUTOMATE A WHOLE WELCOME SERIES One welcome email often isn’t enough to do the trick, so try automating an entire welcome series. It’s a fantastic way to introduce yourself, and it gets results. Subscribers who receive welcome notes show 33% more long-term engagement with that brand (Chief Marketer).
- SAY THANKS (FOR A PURCHASE, LOYALTY, WHATEVER!) Automate a simple, straightforward “thank you” email whenever your subscribers take action. Showing some appreciation is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% (Marketing Metrics).
- RE-ENGAGE INACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS If your subscribers have been slipping through the cracks, drop them a quick, friendly note to remind them what they’ve been missing out on. One study by Return Path found that 45% of recipients who received win-back emails read subsequent messages.
- WISH THEM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY OR ANNIVERSARY Use your subscriber data to create an automated email that will send on their birthdays or signup anniversaries. Your customers want to feel wanted, so date-based messages like these are a nice personal touch that show them you care.
- SERVE UP A TARGETED OFFER Track the products your subscribers view on your website, connect that data to your ESP, and populate the content into an automated follow-up email. That kind of timely, personalized offer leads to big-time results – and big-time conversions.
- PROVIDE HELPFUL CONTENT An automated nurturing series is key to keeping subscribers engaged, but don’t always make the hard sell. Delivering relevant, useful content keeps subscribers engaged and keeps your brand top of mind the next time they’re ready to make a purchase.
- REALLY, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT! Most activity happens outside the inbox: purchases, web visits, reviews – you name it. As long as you’re capturing the data, you can automate from it. So identify the most useful data points you have on hand, and use them to automate your most relevant and effective emails yet.
Emma Automation: More Conversions. Less Work.
Automation is a hot topic among marketers, but it can also be kind of an intimidating one – especially if you’re looking at super expensive automation platforms built for orchestrating campaigns that are more complicated than Pee Wee Herman’s breakfast machine. We’re not that into clunky, unwieldy things (although we’re definitely into breakfast machines). That’s why we designed an automation suite that makes it easier than ever to create smart, targeted campaigns for any action your audience takes – both inside and outside the inbox.
