The art of communication is a valuable skill for marketers to master over time. But companies are getting much smarter about when and how they communicate with their customers. Jamal Miller, senior director of product marketing at Intuit Mailchimp, argues that email marketing automation can be a key competitive differentiation strategy for companies of all sizes.
A study commissioned by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Intuit Mailchimp in March 2023 found that 67% of small business marketers believe increasing automation will help them attract and retain customers. Mr. Miller's case is persuasive.
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How can advanced automation make your email marketing more efficient and personalized?
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Data collected at Mailchimp shows that users who leverage automation and predictive segmentation to power their email marketing have up to 141% higher view rates.* Segments built by AI will earn you more money than those using basic email segmentation and email tools. For e-commerce customers, this means more clicks and more revenue. It's having a big impact on business.
We also know that this makes marketers more efficient, allowing them to engage with users when they need to, rather than relying on blanket communication. Setting up these always-on campaigns in the background saves time, allowing marketers and small business owners to spend their time thinking about more strategic brand-building opportunities.
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What common misconceptions do businesses have about automated emails, and how can these misconceptions be addressed?
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For one, email marketing automation takes a lot of time to set up. In reality, there are many tools that allow companies to work relatively quickly. Businesses can find automation templates that map out the most common processes that customers do, as well as AI tools that generate predictive content and segments based on previous customer behavior. Automation uses data science models to set triggers for what happens next.
Another misconception concerns return on investment. Automation programs will not have an immediate impact on sales like you would see if you batch emailed his messages to thousands of people. Automation is always about creating engagement with individuals. It is based on interaction and individual behavior. It takes time to accumulate results. An element of patience is required.
requires an element of patience
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What kinds of companies are successfully using these techniques?
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Some streaming services are leveraging automation to great effect. It can also be described as a subscription-based business that understands the customer journey. They know update frequency, they understand how much value their customers are getting from their services, and they can use that data to ensure they continue to get that value. Masu. When it's time for renewal, all that value will accumulate and be reflected to your customers.
A good example for me personally is streaming music services. There you'll get monthly updates on all streaming action. This includes which artists you listened to the most that month and how often you listened to them. It fosters loyalty because it feels very personal and relevant. They are using my personal data in a beneficial way.
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What potential pitfalls can businesses face when implementing an automated email strategy?
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The first challenge is often the data itself, and ensuring businesses have the right data inputs to drive their automation strategies. Before creating a plan of action, marketers should audit all the data available to their business and ensure everything is connected to the right tools.
This could be an online store or event platform, anywhere a business collects behavioral and transactional data from customers. Marketers need to ensure they understand where their data resides and can connect it to automation platforms. From there, connecting your e-commerce store to your marketing automation platform is a simple integration that marketers can set up themselves.
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Which areas would benefit most from an automated email strategy?
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Retail and e-commerce – it makes sense. There are so many data points collected throughout the customer journey, such as abandoned carts, product page views, and customer reviews. We see every day how revenue for these types of businesses increases when automation is implemented.
I would like to add industries that have a long nurturing period to this list. B2B sales processes tend to involve long interactions before a purchase is made. Automation tends to be a good fit for these long conversations. While you're having sales conversations with these customers, you can continue to engage with them with content such as e-books, webinars, and other materials.
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* From January 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023, connected store revenue increased by 141% for users who used predictive segmentation emails compared to using predictive segmentation emails. Standard and Premium plans only.
