If the Internet hosted a giant cocktail party attended by all your email subscribers, how good would you be at mingling with the crowd? Would you recognize each one of your valued customers? Could you stroll up to any group and be invited to join the conversation? Would you remember that Dan likes camping and his iPhone, and that Linda just returned from a trip to Peru?
The evolution of the digital world into an online gathering place means email marketers must do more than send messages; they must learn the art and craft of conversation. Two of the biggest challenges facing email marketers are 1) the proliferation of channels beyond email and 2) the struggle to rise above the noise and stay relevant. Both require that marketers create personalized dialogues with subscribers.
To conquer these two challenges, email marketers must take on a third challenge: sophistication. With busy schedules and fixed budgets, this can be hard. Marketing automation, which helps you deliver maximum effect for minimal cost and effort, is the key.
By automating complex and repetitive tasks, marketing automation technology enables marketers to efficiently create sophisticated and engaging campaigns that automatically respond to customer behaviors, lifecycle segments, preferences or other criteria marketers define.
The great news is marketing automation technology has come a long way, and several capabilities are now available in the marketer’s tool kit. Creating relevant content that drives two-way conversations is incredibly easy compared to what used to be a manual and time-consuming process. From optimizing real-time content and email send times, to keeping track of visitors on your website and implementing welcome- or cart abandonment campaigns, marketing automation can be as easy as checking a box or dragging a resource onto the right spot in your marketing application. With very little extra time and effort beyond creating an email, you can engage more fully with your subscribers by providing a more measurably relevant experience that increases conversions and drives additional revenues.