As a small business, do you have time to nurture and nudge every lead and client personally? It's necessary for business growth and to build a loyal customer base, but it can be time consuming. That's where automated email flows come in.
What are automated email flows?
Automated email flows are a pre-built series of emails designed to target a customer segment at the right time. Using triggers such as dates, purchases, actions done or not done, emails can be automatically sent to your customers to nurture the relationship or nudge them along the sales funnel.
Common automated email flows used by small businesses
Each business is unique and email flows need to be customsied to meet your exact requirements. Here are some popular email flows used by small businesses.
Abandoned cart series
Welcome series for new subscribers
Winback series - previous customers who haven't bought in a while
Birthday treat
Loyalty thank you / rewards - e.g. purchased x times or spent £x
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Upsells
What you need to set up automated email flows
Firstly, you need a mailing list or customer database. You can send transactional emails or 'legitimate interest' without permission under GDPR rules. These are emails relating to a purchase/service/subscription, or where there might be a legitimate interest e.g. a customer has shown an interest in an item that is now on sale, or there is a new model.
Next you need to chose an email marketing platform. Many website builders (known as Content Management System or CMS) have built in capability and may be enough to get you started, but eventually it is probably worth setting up an account with a dedicated email marketing platform and integrating it with the site.
Which email marketing platforms are best?
We are fans of Klaviyo, an email and sms marketing platform. It is easy to use, customisable, affordable and has great built in analytics and reporting. Other popular options are MailChimp, Hubspot, MailerLite and Send in Blue. You will need a paid subscription to be able to set up multiple flows and have full customisable options.
Key things to consider when choosing a provider:
Does it integrate with your website so new subscribers are automatically added to your mailing list?
Affordability- as your marketing list grows, it will cost more per month. Compare the various costs and plans to make sure it will be remain an affordable option as your business grows.
Ease of use - do you find it easy to use? Most have a free trial period so you can play around and set up templates to see what it woudl be like to use.
On brand - can you create professional looking templates that are on brand?
So why make the investment in email marketing automations and flows?
Our clients who have set up automated flows have seen an increase in sales, and since moving to Klaviyo from other tools, abandoned cart purchases have also increased.
With open rates well above the industry average and a healthy click rate, our clients are able to use real data to make decisions on future emails to help build on those click rates and ultimately conversion rates.
If you'd like to chat about how email marketing could work for you, get in touch.