The Best Email Marketing Automation Strategies to Engage Your Customers

Email can be an extremely powerful way of connecting with your market. Unfortunately, for many companies, their email marketing strategy is outdated and therefore ineffective.

If this sounds familiar, you probably need to combine better email marketing strategies with automation software to really engage readers and help turn them into customers.

Automating certain emails can go a long way toward saving you time and engaging your recipients in important and profitable ways. Just make sure you're utilizing the following three strategies:

1. Use Topic Workflows to Segment Your List

This is a simple but effective strategy for engaging recipients. Begin by assessing the content you currently create and dividing it up into different segments. For example, if you're a fitness expert, your content may fall into the following categories:

• Gear/Equipment
• Nutrition
• Product Reviews
• Rehabilitation 
• Supplements
• Workouts

Now, create an email workflow for each of these topics that you can then send out to recipients based on various triggering events. Maybe someone reads one of your blog posts about supplements and then signs up for your free ebook on the same subject at the bottom of the page.

After sending them their book, it would be wise to also send them emails about supplements, too. They could be reminders when new blog posts on the topic come out. If you have your own line of supplements or partner with a manufacturer, you could also send special offers their way.

The list of ideas goes on and on. The point is that once a reader has shown you which topics interest them the most, you want to keep sending them similar information instead of emails that may not connect with their interests at all. Email marketing automation tools are incredibly effective at creating marketing automation workflows that identify subscriber interests to send more personalized content. 

2. Leverage Your Blog as a Sales Tool

Blogs can be powerful marketing collateral. Unfortunately, many companies don't make the most of theirs because they don't allow readers to sign up for notifications when new posts get published. Instead, they just hope readers will return on their own.

Email signup tools are great at converting blog readers to email subscribers. Once readers sign up to receive your latest and greatest blog content, use your email automation software to identify which blog post topics get the most interest from individual subscribers and send them more content on that subject. You could also send new blog subscribers a welcome email that asks them to give their preferred topics of interest which would trigger an email funnel focusing on how your product or service solves a problem or adds value associated with that subject.

3. Give Customers the Attention They Deserve

If someone purchases a product or service from you, you better use email automation to roll out the red carpet. After all, you want them to be 100 percent satisfied with their decision and, ideally, ensure they make it again in the future.

At the bare minimum, you need to send the customer a message conveying your gratitude. Include customer support and contact information so the customer feels they are being taken care of.

To take your thank you email to the next level you can offer them access to your "exclusive members club" where they will get special offers, discounts and first look at new products.

You can also take the opportunity to ask for a review of their experience. For those customers who do leave a review, surprise them with a discount offer as a thank you!

Use Automation to Maximize These Email Marketing Strategies

As your readership grows, it will quickly become impossible to apply these strategies while still overseeing other critical areas of your business. That's why you should use an email marketing automation platform to send out these important messages the moment a triggering event is completed (e.g. someone makes a purchase) without requiring your input.

So long as you do that, the three marketing strategies above will turn your emails into powerful methods for driving engagement.