5 Types of Emails to Automate for Your Small Business
Small business owners wear a lot of hats - sometimes all the hats. That makes it difficult to keep up with all your marketing channels, even if you know their value. Email automation for small businesses can be a game changer. Automated emails help brands send personalized, targeted emails to the right audience at the right time without logging in.
Five Types of Automated Email Campaigns
It’s important to note that email marketing platforms like Mailchimp (our favorite), Constant Contact, and others allow for many types of email automation based on dozens of triggers. We tend to start our email automations based on engagement signals, which include user behaviors like clicks, opens, and conversions. A key part of our email marketing service is optimizing those automations over time and on certain campaigns, like your next sidewalk sale or open house.
Related: Email Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Start small and fire up a few of these email automations to drive site traffic and increase conversion - or let us get them rolling for you.
The Welcome Email
New email subscribers are interested in your product or service and ready to learn more. Welcome emails have an average open rate of 45%, more than twice that of normal promotional emails. That makes welcome emails an ideal time to give subscribers something juicy - think a 20% discount, access to a free download, or a buy one, get one offer.
Test your welcome email timing, too. E-commerce brands benefit from sending this email right away, when users are ready to convert. Use organic data to determine when most users tend to buy and consider sending the welcome when your site sees the most organic conversions, which may be a certain time of day or week.
2. The Abandoned Cart Email
Did you forget something? Nearly 70% of users abandon carts, which makes recovering those sales a critical part of ecommerce success.
Recover abandoned carts with a clear message, an image of the product the user left in their cart, and clear messaging to bring the user back to your site. While many brands’ first abandoned cart emails include a discount code, hold off; that user is qualified and likely to convert, so hold tight (and hold onto your margins).
Save that discount code for your second abandoned cart email. Like your welcome email, test the timing of your abandoned cart automation to serve emails when most of your organic users tend to convert.
3. The Shipping Confirmation Email
Users may have already converted, but the customer journey is far from over. One of the most important types of automated email confirms that their order or item is on the way. Shipping emails have an average open rate of over 65%, four times higher than bulk promotional emails. It’s an excellent opportunity to keep customers excited and set expectations. Shipping confirmation emails are a great chance to include:
Set-up or how-to instructions
Links to how-to videos on YouTube
Links to relevant products
Contact information in case customers have questions about their order
4. The Review Email
Reviews matter. 90% of shoppers read at least one review before making a purchase, which makes actively soliciting positive reviews extremely valuable for any small business. Invite honest reviews with an automated email four to six days after the customer receives the product. For service or software business, your automated review email might need to wait a few weeks to send to be truly relevant. Lean on clean data and accurate email reporting to get the timing just right.
5. The Rengage Email
One of the most overlooked types of automated email campaigns doesn’t focus on your top customers. Email platforms like Mailchimp and others create an “unengaged” segment, or a list of users who are still subscribed but haven’t interacted recently; no clicks, no open, no nothing.
It can take some testing to nail your email subject line and preview text, but crafting effective unengaged email automation provides some big wins. Consider using steep discounts and attractive promotions to get these users back into the sales process. We often use a two or three-email series to rekindle interest from lapsed customers.
These are just a few of the types of emails you can automate. We’ve helped set up automated B2B email flows, nonprofit drip campaigns, and a whole lot more.
Leverage Email Marketing for Your Small Business
We want to be your marketing department. For over a decade, Sovis Media has helped Michigan businesses and nonprofits craft effective marketing strategies on a budget. See what a robust email marketing effort can do to grow your brand. Get in touch; let’s grab coffee.