Marketing automation often gets a bad rap for being impersonal. Critics say automation is an unworthy investment because it fails at making consumers feel special and unique.
While many automation messages sound distant and general, there are several marketing leaders who deliver positive experiences for consumers through automated email campaigns. These marketers use automation to develop personal, in-depth relationships with consumers to guarantee future purchases.
Not all automated emails are created equally. An automated email is only effective if it strengthens a relationship between the buyer and seller. Learn how today’s smart marketers are converting one-time-buyers to loyal consumers with automated email campaigns.
Effective Automation Characteristics
Make it personal
Personalization is the number one way to make your email recipient feel special.
Even small details like using the consumer’s name in a subject line makes an emails stand out among others. Small tweaks to content can yield some impressive results – 94% of marketers call personalization “critical to current and future success.” Personalization is important for companies’ success because it can dramatically increase customer loyalty.
Listening is key
In a relationship, caring about your partner’s interests is imperative for success. The same approach should be applied to marketing. By showing a buyer you genuinely care about their interests, he or she will feel a connection to your brand. The best way to show a customer you’re attentive to their likes and dislikes is to evaluate data and adjust product recommendations accordingly. Calculating a customer’s future interests based on past purchases can be done with simple algorithms and a Data Management Platform. After determining the customer’s purchasing behavior, marketers can send automated email offers with products that are relevant to the potential buyer. Showing consumers your company truly cares is a surefire way to strengthen a relationship.
Regular updates
It’s impossible to maintain a relationship if one partner constantly keeps to his or herself. Make sure your company doesn’t leave buyers in the dark by sending regular updates through newsletters. These updates should share any changes the customer might care about. Changes in management, new products, or special promotions are great ways to keep your customer informed.
C
ustomers with benefits
In any relationship, there are certain benefits. Whether your close friends buy you a birthday present or your SO cooks you dinner Friday nights, having special people in your life has some material perks. The relationship between your company and customers is no different. Automated emails that share exclusive rewards with its shoppers can reap more sales and increased ROI. Retailers that excel in automation often send their dedicated buyers special promo codes. Offers like these make a shopper more inclined to visit a retailer’s brick-and-mortar or ecommerce site in the future.
Familiarity
There’s something comforting about the predictability that comes with a significant other. Routine creates a set of expectations, which reduces stress. The same element of familiarity appears in marketing. Build the same “familiar” relationship for your consumers by sending emails in a set time frame. Committing to a designated time for communication gives a consumer something to look forward to and can act as a reliable messenger for your company A routine approach to emails increases a customer’s trust and in your company.
Be sure to keep these five key qualities in mind when designing your email automation campaign in order to keep relationships strong and secure. And be sure to avoid common automation mistakes in your email campaigns.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: How to Improve Your CRM Marketing Efforts
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