By Erik Emanuelli
Have you ever thought about using mass email services for cold email, and then automating the follow-up emails you send to your list?
This type of setup could contribute significantly to increase the interest and engagement, guiding them through the process of acquisition and increasing conversions of your business.
Whether people who initially engage may or may not be ready to buy the products or services you offer, automating subsequent emails will be very useful to send targeted messages suited to the stage where your potential customers are, “accompanying” them towards the purchase.
There are several strategies to optimize the use of automated emails.
Today I will introduce a basic process: simple, but very effective for email marketing.
What Are Autoresponders
Autoresponders are programs that are prepared in advance and send automatically to the subscribers specific messages at certain time intervals, from the moment of their inclusion on the list.
Choosing the right ESP can make the difference between the success or failure of your email marketing campaign.
Autoresponders offer you a simple and powerful automation tool to create a series of messages to be sent to people interested in your product and/or service. A clever option is to segment subscribers in order to target each list with relevant information, based on different interests or needs.
Why Automating Your Emails
Once created, automated email flows allow to keep in touch with your audience in the medium-long term without, actually, having to do anything (aside responding to any direct requests from end recipients).
Automating emails is very effective because:
– allows you to maintain regular contact with your subscribers;
– gives you the opportunity to send targeted messages, after segmenting your audience, creating particular groups of people according to their interests or needs;
– increases your credibility. Through autoresponders, you can provide valuable content to your audience (and then offering specific products and services);
– you may track what content, titles or call-to-action work better than others (the majority of autoresponder services have the function to analyze the number of openings, clicks or cancelations);
– helps you keeping your list active, by eliminating those subscribers who are actually not interested in what you offer (these people will probably unsubscribe from your list spontaneously, saving you time and money to keep them in your newsletter).
How to Automate Your Messages
Creating automated emails is vital to have a connection with your audience and generate profits for your business over time.
After choosing the autoresponder service you prefer, follow these simple steps to automate your emails and generate conversions.
- Identify the different groups of people to whom you want to send emails and the goal of your campaign.
One of the best ways to segment people who are part of your list is to monitor how and when they have subscribed to your list. For example: Have they downloaded a resource on a particular topic? Or, have they requested a quote? Another idea may be to create separate lists for past clients (with who you are not in touch anymore), for people who have shown interest in your services (but may not yet be ready to buy), or for those that have actively requested information on the possibility to purchase the products or services you offer. As you can imagine, these groups of people are located in different parts of the sales process. You may want to read these 15 quick tips to improve your email marketing in this post on SmartInsights.com - Organize the content and create your campaigns.
Depending on the type of content to which the various groups of people are interested, start building a collection of messages and begin creating your campaigns. Pay attention! Remember that one of the objectives of your emails sequence is to increase your credibility. It’s important, therefore, to alternate in a balanced way the email in which you simply promote your products or services and those where, instead, you provide links to useful resources, good information, interesting tips, etc. - Determine the time intervals between an automated email and the other ones.
To do this, identify the average duration of the acquisition process related to the particular group of people to which you want to address. Then schedule your autoresponder so that an email is sent immediately after the subscription to the list and the other ones at regular intervals, until the final offer. Remember, pay attention to not sending too many messages (unless, it’s a clear statement of your policy). - Analyze and optimize your messages.
Monitors which titles and topics generate the highest number of openings and clicks and edit your campaigns accordingly. Also, you may want to use some tricks, like adding the personalized name of your subscribers in the header of your message or the social icons within your email design, so to have your content shared. Finally, always remember to include a call-to-action at the end of your messages (good to have it also at beginning). - Offer the deal.
The last message of your email marketing campaign should be the offer of your product or service. If appropriate, consider the opportunity to write a customized message to the user, or arrange an appointment with the subscriber to support the email sent.
Conclusion
In this post, I have illustrated a simple process to use mass email services, as well as automate your follow-up emails and get more sales, which will help you increase the conversions of your website.
These rules, applied with care and consistency, will be a good strategy to increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.
Are you already using mass email services and autoresponders?
Can you recommend specific tips?
Please share your experience in the comments below, thanks!
About the Author
Erik Emanuelli is a professional blogger and freelance writer. He likes to write about internet marketing and making money online on his main website NoPassiveIncome.com.
