Understand the differences between working only with Email Marketing and automation, as well as the step by step to create a nutrition model that brings results and increases your sales
Email Marketing can be considered as an outdated tool for marketing strategies. But the truth is that this bad reputation is the result of the misuse of this mechanism as a way to connect with Leads and prospects. For many companies, and Knowledge2077 is among them, this channel remains efficient, especially when working with Email Marketing automation .
Do you already understand how to use Email Marketing to help build a solid and ongoing relationship with your customers? Do you know how to use an automation tool to be more agile and boost this process?
The results obtained through this important Marketing channel are the result of applying good practices in sending Email Marketing, as well as using automation to scale positive actions.
If you have not yet learned or have not put this knowledge into practice, you came to the right place. In this article, we will explore the differences of working with just an isolated Email Marketing strategy in relation to the use of automation and what are the steps you need to follow to implement automated actions . Check out below!
Email Marketing or Marketing Automation: when should I use each feature
It's not always clear when we should choose to just go email marketing or create a marketing automation flow, is it?
While some teams need to make a continuous effort to send a sequence of emails that could be automated, some people create segmentations and include their Leads within a flow so that they receive a single email.
All this work could be better planned so that the shipment is carried out in another way. The truth is that there is a recommended time for each use and prioritization in order to achieve better results, and this is what you will see below.
When to use Email Marketing?
When we talk about Email Marketing, we refer to the communication carried out via email that occurs between a business and its Leads or clients in a timely manner . We must use this feature on some occasions. These are the main examples:
When sending newsletters
Newsletters are communications made with a certain periodicity, they are usually scheduled to be sent close to the delivery date. Your goal is to
maintain a close relationship with your customers/Leads by sending them fresh information and content.
To send hyper-targeted campaigns
Do you know what it means to send a hyper-targeted campaign? It is about creating a very specific segmentation. Practical example : when carrying out a year-end campaign, a Landing Page is created that asks the Lead if they are over 35 years old and if they live in the city where you are located or not.
Once you receive the answers, you can use them to create a very specific segmentation. In this way, you can send more specific communications to these people, such as a local offer via Email Marketing.
To analyze specific data from email campaigns
Another difference between the features lies in how to extract the data and see the metrics obtained through the sending of Email Marketing compared to automation. When we send emails, we can see specific information that is important at this time, such as the number of bounces and unsubscribes made.
Taking into account this data analysis, when we import a new contact list to Knowledge2077 Marketing it is important that the first campaign is carried out via Email Marketing. In this way we will be able to obtain a more complete analysis of the performance and, in a second campaign, we will understand how the engagement of these new Leads is.
When to use Email Marketing automation?
Email Marketing automation is the set of interactions that occur between the company and the Lead/client in an automated way. The goal is to engage with this Lead/customer based on the conversions they made on the website, social media, or Email Marketing.
As the person performs the actions, automated communications are expected to be created, but at the same time personalized according to the path taken.
Creating automations strategically can be very important to optimize the work of the company, both for the Marketing and Sales teams .
In this live with André Siqueira, co-founder of Knowledge2077, you will learn about the main factors that make the use of automation so important for any organization:
Email Marketing automation goes from the simplest things like welcoming the Lead after signing up for a newsletter, to thanking the customer for contacting. It can also happen after landing page registration, pop-up or other possible conversions, such as integrations, Facebook Lead Ads , among others. Better understand when to use it:
To get results with Inbound Marketing
For the Inbound Marketing strategy , it is possible to define the automations according to the purchase process . It is worth thinking about what materials make sense so that each Lead is nurtured according to the stage in which it is in the sales funnel, in order to try to advance it until it is ready to be contacted by your sales team.
These automations can be smaller, for example, so that the lead goes through the entire funnel in just one flow. It is also possible to create multiple automations that connect based on Leads' actions , so they can move forward.
The previous example shows a flow of a sales process from an Email Marketing automation that has 4 basic steps. We can have several entry triggers for the same flow, create segmentations or even the same conversions.
By being placed in these automations, the stage of the funnel can be changed for these Leads, as well as receiving a tag, generating an email notification or even marking a sale.
In automations, we can send emails based on certain actions of the Lead, such as whether they opened or clicked on the email. We can also use the segmentations already created to separate the flow. For example, we can use some specific information that the Lead answered in a form and that is crucial to carry out a different communication.
To schedule recurring campaigns
Another aspect that differentiates automation campaigns from those that are exclusively for Email Marketing is that currently it is possible to schedule the sending of the email on a specific date, without having to waste so much time with manual work .
For example, if it makes sense for the client to receive a communication every Thursday informing them of a weekend promotion, you can leave it already scheduled in advance.
Similarly, when we think about open rate optimization, there are days and times that can greatly influence this aspect, and this can also be used as a complement to the automation strategy.
In the following video you can see more details of other examples that use the function to schedule a date and time in Knowledge2077 Marketing for automation flows, such as a Black Friday action:
How to implement an ideal Email Marketing automation for your company in 3 steps
How do I get the user to buy my product with an automated email sequence? Have you ever wondered this? The main moment in which companies look for this type of solution is the following: they already make online sales, but they want to scale their results and reduce their acquisition costs.
That is, they seek to attract more customers, while paying less and doing it productively. The good news is that Email Marketing automation is a specialist in this area.
To give you an idea, here at Knowledge2077 we generate 28% of the Leads accepted by the Sales team (SAL) only via Email Marketing automation . This supposes a cost of 5% of what we invest to bring a client.
It is the highest ROI of all the media we use. Ultimately, this generates what the readers of this post are probably looking for: income. But do you know what you need to do so that this is the result of your actions? Solve your user's problem.
That is the goal of this three-step sequence. To achieve this expected result and improve your strategies, consult and apply the following steps:
1. Planning
In order to define exactly the problem that your user has, the main thing to design Email Marketing automation is planning . Through it, you can avoid various communication and offer errors. I'll show you an example.
Before doing quality planning for our automated emails, we used to send the following welcome email to find out what the user was interested in:
In practice, with this email, we had an efficiency of 3.28%. That is, for every 100 shipments, we generated 3 downloads of materials, which advanced users in the purchasing process. This was up until the moment we asked ourselves the following question: what if we discover the users' problem before they tell us what they want to solve?
From there, we run a schedule exactly as I'll show you below. And we arrive at the following email:
Do you know what the efficiency we got was? 5.52%, that is, an increase of 68%. Observe how the process was carried out:
a) Interview your customers to understand what they are looking for
The starting point of planning is your best customers. They will be able to tell you what your product solves, how it solves it and what was the determining factor in choosing what you sell.
To make your job even easier, we include a ready-made script created by our Product Marketing team:
Personal information
- What is your name and age?
- What is your position in the company?
- What brands do you like? They can be brands of clothing, food, perfumes, cars and technology.
- Do you have any hobby? A favorite sport or something you normally do when you have free time?
Maturity/Carcasses
- What is your educational background/specializations?
- How long have you been in this job?
- How many people work directly with you?
- What apps do you use? Do you feel comfortable with them? (video
- games, bank, personal organization, among others)
- Do you have any portal/professional reference that you usually consult or read?
- What formats do you prefer or usually look for? (video, text, audio)
- Do you do Digital Marketing? What is the biggest difficulty you have about this topic?
- What topic do you think you need to know more about when we talk about the digital field?
Buying process: learning/recognition phase
- What was the situation of the company before learning about our solution? What was your problem/need?
- What content do you think is useful right now?
- How did you find out about our company?
Purchasing process: consideration
- When you started looking for solutions to this problem, which ones did you find?
- When you found our solution, what points caught your attention? (attractive)
- What were your main questions at this moment?
Purchase process: decision
- What were the main points that led you to decide on our product?
- What results did you hope to achieve?
- How do you evaluate the information available on the website? Was any information hard to find?
With this script already prepared, make a list of the main insights that would make your users buy your product, and then go to the next step. This process can also be done at the beginning of your Personas build .
b) Talk to your Sales team
It is extremely important that you validate with your Sales team if the information you found makes sense . Show them the completed script and ask them if they have any points they would like to add or delete.
After that, request some data from your Sales team:
- What are the main benefits of our product that you would highlight? Why?
- What are the main objections of users?
- Do you have a prepared speech about how you usually sell? Can you summarize it here?
The sales team will know how to tell you exactly how to talk to your potential customers.
c) Talk to your customer service or support team
Last but not least, talk to the people who help your customers solve problems they have with your product.
Request information such as:
- What are the main problems faced on a day-to-day basis related to our product?
- Which of these problems do you think we should solve first? Why?
By completing this step, you will most likely be close to the ideal world of nutrition. Basically, you will have a map to understand how your emails should be within the automation flow .
d) Ok, but how do I adapt all this and turn it into emails?
With this map in hand, do the following:
- Choose between 3-4 main problems that your product solves.
- Understand how to segment each user based on this problem (area or category of the website they visit, the emails they click on, the data they fill in on your Landing Pages or surveys).
- Deliver the product/offer or content that will solve this problem.
Take for example the problems we have here at Knowledge2077 and how we solve them:
- Problem 1 — Generate contacts to increase the email base: We segment these users based on beginner materials. We give them a material that helps to increase the base of contacts
- Problem 2 — Send quality Email Marketing campaigns: here we segment users interested in Email Marketing. From there, we send them content related to the issue.
- Problem 3 — Create a marketing automation: For more advanced users, who already have experience with the beginner materials, but who are looking to develop their Digital Marketing strategy. We provide them with specific materials with the aim of automating emails and processes (most likely, you, who read this post, fit here).
- Problem 4 — Analyze my results with productivity: For users looking to centralize their operation, analyze everything in one tool, and want to know how to do it. Obviously that's the value we're trying to deliver.
Basically, we send a specific nutrition process to each user, that is, a different email for each problem.
2. Good practices and execution
Now you know how an interview script works to get to know your audience. You will probably also have a specific vision of how you should position yourself for your user.
If you've made it this far, chances are you're above average for any company using automation strategies. However, in order to execute everything learned so far, we have chosen some good practices when sending emails:
a) What is the best type of nutrition email?
Based on our experiments, sales flows are 34% more efficient when created with plain text and personally. Preferably by a Sales or Marketing manager of your company.
Example:
b) Number of words per email
We have done some tests on the size of email automation and the average number of words you should have per flow is between 110 and 180 words. You need to have space to convey the message and spread the CTA, but in a direct and clear way.
c) How many emails should I send to the user?
The ideal for new users (who just entered your database) is 1 email every 2 days. After the first week in your base, the ideal is 1 email every 3 days.
d) Amount of materials or products offered via email
Ideally 1 material per automation flow. But since there are often narratives that complement the solution of the same problem, up to 5 materials are accepted per flow.
We expect a 7% loss on each item included besides the first.
e) When should I offer the product?
The ideal time to offer a product is after interaction with a material from the bottom of the funnel (close to the decision stage in the purchase process).
That means:
- Clicked on an email that is close to the sale of your product
- Visited the pricing page
- Made a contact request
- Checked out the shopping cart
When the user downloads material that we consider to be very close to purchasing our product, we send the following email addressing the problem they are having (in this example, the user wants to improve their Email Marketing strategies):
f) How should I write my emails?
Next, we show you a template that we use here:
subject the theme
What do you want to talk about? What topics can you cover to be successful with this text? Where do you want the user to go? What do you want me to do?
Theme related issue
It brings a problem related to the topic addressed
problem escalation
Then escalate the problem and present it in a playful way.
Proposed Solution
Soon after, he brings up a way to solve it.
Solution offer + call to action.
And finally, it offers the ready solution. Call it to action.
Look at an applied example:
3. Measurement and improvement
Once you understand your pitch and the problems users want to solve, it's time to measure whether what you're running is getting results . To begin with, let's understand what you should measure in Email Marketing automation:
Marketing Automation beyond emails: discover 5 use cases
Email Marketing Automation is a powerful tool. This is responsible for maintaining personalized relationships via email in an intelligent and scalable way. However, what few people know is that this tool offers other possibilities .
Email really is the main driver of results. However, automating Lead management and delivery processes also brings great increases in productivity and, consequently, in results.
Now we will show you how your company can automate 5 important processes in the Marketing area. In this way, you will be able to extract the full potential of Marketing Automation beyond emails.
1. Change the stage of the Lead
Within your contact base there is a mix of clients, new and old Leads, with potential or not, distributed in the stages of your sales funnel . Therefore, to guarantee a quality relationship, you must separate who is who and talk to each of them in a way that you can deliver the maximum possible value to them.
The price of not personalizing the relationship translates into seeing customers receive sales contacts, which generates lost business opportunities and, without a doubt, more complaints than thanks from your Leads.
With Marketing Automation, we can change the stage of the funnel in which the Lead participates, by separating who are customers, qualified Leads and business opportunities from the rest of the base , in order to guide your relationship.
How we use it in Knowledge2077
When a sale is closed in the sales CRM , this information is returned to Knowledge2077 Marketing in the form of a conversion. This conversion serves as a trigger for the Marketing automation, which changes the Lead's status to
“customer”.
Making this change prevents you from having sales contacts with someone who already purchased your solution. In this way, you can start working on the post-sales relationship.
2. Add/delete tags
Often, in the Leads database, there are groups that do not share any criteria that allow them to be brought together. A classic example is when you import Leads into the database, which were not generated by a Landing Page integrated into your Lead management platform.
The tags will help with this task, to facilitate the identification and segmentation of that group.
How we use it in Knowledge2077
When someone applies to one of the various openings to work with us, we add a tag called "talent" to them. From this, we can easily segment them and, in this way, prevent this Lead from being sent to a salesperson, which would waste their time.
3. Mark the owner of the Lead
Getting in touch with Leads that quickly become business opportunities can be a decisive point for more effective closings by the Sales team. The assignment of a Lead owner via Marketing automation allows to generate a notification to the seller in real time.
You can use several triggers, as long as they are segmentable, to know when a salesperson should act and contact a potential Lead.
How we use it in Knowledge2077
When a Lead is contacted and makes a purchase, it is important that the same seller continue to follow up. In this way, not only the seller will be able to identify a new way to contact the customer, but also the Lead will be able to become interested again.
The fact that the same seller resumes the negotiation improves the experience of the final buyer, since the seller already knows the context of the Lead.
4. Mark the owner of the Lead through a distribution
It is a variation of the “mark lead owner” function, which is important for automating the transition from lead to sales. This is because it allows scaling the process of assigning a Lead owner, by distributing opportunities alternately among a group of salespeople .
How we use it in Knowledge2077
We offer business opportunities to the Sales team based on the segment of the Lead. Basically, we deliver each segment of the market to a specialist seller. With this, we create salespeople who know more about the prospect's segment.
As a result, they will be able to create a stronger value proposition, which improves the team's close rate.
5. Mark as an opportunity
It is a way of indicating if the Lead should be or is being contacted. Although the assignment of an owner indicates that the Lead should be analyzed by the seller, marking it as an opportunity shows that the seller saw a potential and can contact it.
This markup is also widely used as an integration hook between the Marketing Automation platform and the CRM, signaling the handover of the Lead from the Marketing team to the Sales team.
How we use it in Knowledge2077
We have a CRM integrated with Knowledge2077 Marketing. Every time a Lead is marked as an opportunity, a deal is generated in the CRM, directly in the owner's pipeline.
In cases where the conversion necessarily involves a contact, we make the automation flow itself assign an owner in the first step. The Lead is marked as an opportunity in the second, which generates a deal in real time for the seller.
Results of using Email Marketing automation
As we have already seen, the results of Marketing Automation should not be measured only through the open and click rate, but also by its real impact on the Sales team.
Therefore, some results that are expected from Marketing Automation are:
- More sales, as Leads progress through the sales funnel automatically
- Reduce the cost of customer acquisition , since they arrive better
- prepared for the purchase
- Less time spent running the business: Once an automation flow is planned and configured, all email segmentation and sending is done automatically.
In summary, we must bear in mind that Email Marketing and Marketing Automation are not the same. In fact, these strategies can and should work together to generate more and better business opportunities .
The crucial difference is that Email Marketing automation must be thought of as a continuous action that occurs over time and not a one-off event like Email Marketing is. It must also be taken into account that automation is a powerful sales tool that directly influences the results of the company.
More possibilities with Email Marketing Automation
We have seen that by working with automations you can avoid manual work, increase efficiency and time, as well as improve the automatic nurturing of Leads, by taking into account the interest, the purchase stage and the information you provide in the Landing Page.
We also understand that there are still other possibilities for this tool. The goal is always to automate manual processes and allow volume to scale .
This increase in productivity is reflected in the results of the company. Remember that working with automations within your Marketing actions also helps to increase the speed with which the Sales team contacts the Lead.
We hope you can take advantage of the full potential of Email Marketing Automation, which goes far beyond delivering personalized emails.
