How to Boost Your Business with Email Marketing Automation

| 21 Mar 2019

Email marketing automation is one of those pivotal, game-changing facets of marketing that nearly every salesperson and business need to not only adopt - but implement successfully. As most business grows, the number of customers they need to manage, keep track of and follow up with increases.

The ability to manage thousands of customers in the database and connect with them in a timely fashion with relevant content will be paramount to the success of any business. After all, it is the customer that decides if he should continue the relationship with the business or bring it somewhere else.

But what does it all mean, and how does it all come together to deliver the kind of results that matter to your bottom line? What are the benefits you can garner from email marketing automation?

Chong Soon Onn, CEO of KASH Academy, who has more than 25 years in the business and conducts training on email marketing automation to the insurance industry across Asia, shares his insight.

Follow up and keeping in touch with customers

The majority of people you approach to set up an appointment will unlikely be interested as you would probably be somewhere between their buying cycle. They have probably bought some policies a while ago and are probably not ready to buy some more any time soon. As such, you need to follow up with the customer on a regular basis until he is ready to buy his next policy.

Additionally, you will also need to be unobtrusive when following up so as not to appear too desperate and repel them. Another constraint facing most salespeople is that there is limited time available to follow up with all the customers in their database. With email marketing automation, the timing and content can be programmed so that the right email can be delivered to the right person at the right time automatically; without human intervention. This enables the salesperson to follow up and keep in touch with all the customers in the database while freeing up his time to perform other business functions.

 

Automate greetings and reminders

While sending birthday and festive greetings to maintain the goodwill with customers seem like a great idea, the time and effort required to sort out whose birthday is it every day and which customer celebrates which festive season can easily unfold into a logistical nightmare.

In many cases, the salesperson might be on vacation, sick leave, or is enjoying the weekends with family members and would rather not perform this task on these occasions. Another disadvantage is that also very costly to be sending out physical greeting cards. Over a large number of customers, this can add up to a pretty huge number. Email automation can easily and effortlessly perform this task to an unlimited number of customers 365 days a year with negligible cost.

 

Send personalize emails that connects

Email automation enables the salesperson to send out thousands of emails with each individual’s name in the salutation section. This allows the salesperson to appear personal in his communication with every customer without having to spend weeks or even months copying, pasting and then typing each and every customer’s name in the salutation section.

Imagine that you’re walking down a busy street. Are you more likely to turn around if you hear someone say, “Hey, you!” or if they use your name? You’re more likely to pay attention if someone addresses you personally, and the same principle holds true with email marketing.

 

Reach out to an unlimited number of customers easily and quickly

Oftentimes, there will be occasions where it is necessary to reach out to as many customers as possible to inform them about company’s promotions, invitations to special events or update them about industry news or changes in legislation. This is where email automation can easily perform this role easily, effortlessly and error-free.

 

Automate the sending of a series of emails

Another advantage of email marketing automation is that it can easily send a series of emails in the right sequence based on the time when the customer is entered into the database. For example, when Customer A joins the database, he will immediately receive a welcome message together with a discount voucher.

Every 3 weeks thereafter, he will receive some communication from the salesperson. When the next customer joins the database, he too will receive the same sequence of communication with the same intervals. All these can easily be programmed with email marketing automation.

Dripping email campaigns can be a great way to keep your business on the top-of-mind with people who are interested in your product or service but aren’t ready to make a purchase.

 

Position Yourself as an Expert

By programming the email automation software to send out a series of emails at certain intervals, the salesperson can also provide financial planning tips or ideas that can help the customer improve their financial situation. This practice can add substantial value and esteem in the eyes of the customer and it can easily be set up.

 

Customer Segmentation

Email automation can also easily segment the database based on a certain profile of the customer. For example, if he wishes to send a promotion on women’s critical illness policy, he can send only to the women in the database. This function prevents the indiscriminate sending of irrelevant emails to the entire database and thus loses the goodwill of customers.

 

In a survey asking companies why they use email marketing automation, 83% said the biggest benefit they see is being able to send more relevant messages. With email marketing automation, you can segment your customer database into different segments and tailor different messages to those segments based on their interests, demographics, or purchase behaviour. This ensures that email recipients only receive content that aligns with their interests.

 

Insights into customer interaction

Email automation allows the salesperson to keep track of which customer opened the email, click on the links (if any), which email bounced, as well as a whole host of insights that can help in determining the level of interest and the popularity of every email campaign.

As opposed to traditional mailing or advertisements, it is virtually impossible to know how many recipients are interested in the message. This feature can also assist the salesperson to prioritize the following up of more interested customers and thereby leading to a higher closing ratio.

 

Handles unsubscribes automatically

Despite the best efforts to reach out and connect with every customer in the database, there will also be some customers who no longer feel the need to continue with the relationship. All the customer need to do is simply click on the unsubscribe button in the email and he will no longer receive any more emails from the salesperson. This function is automated and the salesperson does not need to do anything to address it.

 

Cost effective

One of the biggest advantages of email automation is the cost of using it. Compared to hiring a personal assistant to perform all the above-mentioned tasks or doing it himself, the cost of using the software is insignificant.

The effectiveness of having email marketing automation in managing and building goodwill with customers is truly amazing and far-reaching. Businesses that capitalize on this software will surely receive a tremendous boost to their business.

 

Take your mind off stress and read these instead:

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