Think “automated email marketing” means “email marketing on autopilot”?
Think again. While automating a bulk of your email marketing does give you more time to focus on your business, it’s anything but a set-it-and-forget-it solution. Instead, to get the best results (and jaw-dropping ROI), you’ll need to tend to your automations like an attentive gardener with a crop of beautiful summer tomatoes.

Automated Email Marketing - A Quick Summary

Automated emails are set up and sent automatically (!) at various stages in the customer’s browsing and purchasing journey. Signing up, adding items to a cart, and shipping a purchase are all actions that trigger an automated email (or a series of emails).

Automated email marketing will save you a lot of time (like, LOADS), while making customers feel valued, and also increasing CLV. Now that’s a win-win-win.

But don’t just take our word for it - try these impressive numbers on for size:

  • 63% of marketing decision-makers use email automation in their marketing programs.
  • In 2022, Omnisend reported that automated emails generated over 31% of all email orders, and increased click rates by 341%.
  • They also reported that automated emails resulted in a 2,270% increase in conversions.

Most importantly, automated email marketing isn’t just a consideration, it’s essential for any successful email marketing program.

So, where do you start? Well, our must-have, can’t-live-without-it automated flows include:

  • Welcome Flows: These are triggered once a customer signs up for your email marketing program. Fun fact - your very first welcome email has the highest open rate, so make it count!
  • Browse Abandonment: Your customer perused your site and then decided to do something else. Time to reel them back in with a few tantalizing emails.
  • Cart Abandonment: A customer has added items to their cart, but they’ve yet to seal the deal and proceed to checkout. This flow is the perfect way to recover that potentially lost revenue.
  • Winback Flow: This is the email equivalent of standing outside your customer’s window with a boombox, or sending them a fragrant bouquet of flowers.

However, before you shout ‘Yeehaw!’ and wrangle yourself a few automated emails, there are a few things you need to consider.

Email Marketing Automation Tips

Best Practices
Build flows that work for your specific business
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all scenario, and the flows you build will depend on your business’s unique needs. For example, if your business is subscription-based, consider building subscription churn flows filled with value-added content that will prevent unsubscribes.
Test your flows
A/B test each touch and apply the results to optimize performance going forward.
Update and tweak regularly
Every six months you should refresh the subject lines in your automated email flows and check that all content is up-to-date. Plus, you should also do a brief audit so you can see what isn’t working and what is, just in case you need to change anything.
Personalize as much as possible
Adding dynamic sections of recommended products and personalizing subject lines and content can help generate engagement and revenue.
Include SMSes
SMS marketing can be a powerful tool when it comes to marketing automations. Text messages can be incorporated into your existing automated email marketing flows, or you can build standalone automated text flows.

What Not To Do

Another key point to remember is that, when it comes to email marketing automation, there are rules. So, you can either follow these closely, or you can disregard them completely.

One of these choices could lead to stellar ROI.

Bad Practices
Using templatized design or content in your email flows
The more specific and genuine your communication, the more successful it’s likely to be.
Forgetting to
clean your lists
Ensuring that your automated flows are only sent to active subscribers can help improve click rates and lower bounce rates.
Creating too many touches
Unless you’re building something like a subscription churn flow which is sent over many months, automated email flows shouldn’t be more than 6 touches each.
Forgetting to integrate your email marketing flows and the rest of your content
For example, if your email signup overlay mentions a discount, this should be highlighted in your welcome flow as well.
Forgoing two-step verification
Non-compliance can result in hefty fines later on, as well as a high number of unsubscribes.

Advanced Automated Email Marketing Workflows

Now, once you’ve got your basic welcome, browse, cart abandonment, and winback flows sorted out, you can try adding a few additional flows to up your game and increase revenue. These include:

  • Cross-Sell Flows: If someone has already purchased a product or service from you, it’s a good bet that they’ll be interested in other items you have to offer. For example, if a customer has ordered a brand-new set of tires, it might be a good idea to showcase other products they will need such as tire irons, jacks, and repair kits.
  • Post-Purchase Flows: These are sent after a customer has made a purchase, and can include important information about the item they’ve purchased, as well as review requests and information about your loyalty program, if applicable.
  • Reminder/Refill Flows: If you offer a recurring service or product that’s replenishable (such as skin care or office supplies), you’ll want to reach out to customers when they’re due for a refill. Sending an early reminder can help prevent your customer going to a competitor, and increase CLV.

Email Marketing Automation in B2B

If you’re in the business of B2B, automated flows can be incredibly impactful. However, they require a slightly different approach to a D2C brand.

Welcome, browse abandonment, and cart abandonment flows are very relevant in the B2B space, but there are more specific flows that can help improve client relationships, and get you the results you’re looking for. These can include: 

  • Reorder Flows: No business wants to be out-of-stock. By keeping tabs on your client’s inventory, you can help them keep their shelves stocked and their customers happy.
  • Referral Flows: Turn one happy client into two or three by offering incentives for client referrals.
  • Lead Nurture Flows: Lead conversion is a big part of any B2B brand’s success and the right flow can help you achieve this while you’re taking care of business.


Troubleshooting Your Email Marketing Automation

So, what if you’ve done everything you needed to, but your flows just aren’t performing as they should be? Well, getting to the bottom of this can take a lot of time, so we recommend you call in the experts (like CodeCrew) to take a closer look. 

Here are some of the things we’d look at first: 

  • Send Times: Each business’s customer base has different behavior patterns. Some people don’t read their email first thing in the morning, while others are very receptive to emails at sunrise. With A/B testing, you’ll be able to schedule your emails at a time that suits them.
  • Deliverability: Companies like Apple and Google constantly update their email regulations to protect users from spam. Each time they do, it requires a reworking of your existing emails to ensure each one avoids the junk folder.
  • Bad Subject Lines: Often overlooked, these serve as your one-line pitch to get a customer to read more. We’d test a few different subject lines to see what piques your customers’ interest.
  • Flow Length: Perhaps your flow is too long and engagement drops off after a while, or it’s not long enough and subscribers don’t have enough information to persuade them to purchase.

Finally, if you’ve read this far, then it means you’re probably keen to know more. Reach out now and let's talk about getting you a 1300% average ROI.

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