Top Gear: Useful Internet Marketing Strategies & Tips to Move You Forward: Introducing Email Automation

Tuesday, 9 May 2017

Introducing Email Automation

In the most current update to VerticalResponse we’re pleased to release our newest feature: Email Automation.

What is Email Automation?

Before we get started on putting Email Automation to use, let’s do a quick review. Email Automation can be one email or a series of emails that are automatically sent based on a pre-defined time interval. The series of email campaigns are also known by a variety of other names, including:

Drip campaign
Onboarding campaign
Welcome series
Lifecycle emails
Autoresponders
Marketing automation

Why use Email Automation?

There are tremendous benefits to leveraging Email Automation versus sending individual emails. According to Marketingtechblog.com, open rates for drip campaigns are 80 percent higher than individual emails, with click-through rates 3x that of a stand alone email. Additionally, companies that utilize and maximize Email Automation generate 80 percent more sales at a reduced cost from sending individual campaigns.

Types of Email Automation campaigns:

Depending upon your business goals and marketing needs, there are a myriad of email series you can send with Email Automation. Some of the most popular campaigns are:

Welcome or onboarding – Share information that is specifically relevant to new customers. Convert prospects into customers.
Promotional – Let customers know about an upcoming event or limited time promotion. Maximize exposure for a special pricing offer or upcoming sales event by sending a series of emails to remind customers of the sale.
Educational – Create a series of emails to train customers about how to use your product or service. Educate new users on the tips and tricks of your offering and send a series that highlights one or two features per email.
Top of mind – Keep your company top of mind as you nurture leads and encourage repeat business.
Re-engagement – Keep in contact with older or inactive customers to win back their business.
Product launch – Share new products or product enhancement updates with your customers.

How it works

Set up a series:

From the home page of the VerticalResponse app, navigate to Email Automation and select “Create One” to begin your campaign.
Create a name for your campaign and select which email list will receive the series.
Next, select the frequency of when your emails will be sent. You may choose between days, weeks and hours for the cadence that will fit your needs best.
Create your email as normal with the VerticalResponse email editor (or HTML).
Finally, you have the option to add another email to the series. Continue to follow the set up sequence until you’ve completed your autoresponder series. There is no limit to the number of emails that you can add to a series.

Reporting:

We’ve made it easy to view the results of your Email Automation campaigns. To check the progress of your autoresponders, simply follow these two steps:

From the VerticalResponse app homepage, navigate to the Messages tab, and then select an active Email Automation campaign to view reporting (see screenshot above in set up step 5).
Reports will show the total metrics for the entire series as well as individual break out per each email message. Each report summary will include number of emails sent, opens and clicks. For a more detailed reporting view, click, “View Report.”