Ever considered how you can keep potential customers engaged and interested in your brand after they’ve visited your website? How can you consistently offer them value, build trust, and guide them through their buying journey? Email automation is one way to do this without having to lift a finger.
While the buyer’s journey unfolds through stages of awareness, consideration, and decision, it’s during the consideration phase that your audience needs the most nurturing. Email automation helps your brand remain at the forefront of their thoughts, offering them valuable content that builds trust and guides their choices.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can set up and utilise automation campaigns effectively, ensuring you not only maintain engagement but also successfully nurture and convert leads. By the end of this article, you’ll have an actionable plan to automate your email marketing outreach.
What is automated email marketing?
Email automation is a digital strategy that streamlines and optimises email communication.
By setting predefined criteria and triggers, it allows you to send timely and relevant emails to subscribers without manual intervention. This ensures consistent engagement with your audience, tailored to their interactions and behaviours.
Setting up and running automated campaigns
Through much trial and error, we’ve put together a step-by-step process for creating an automated email campaign.
1. Building your list
You need to begin by building your email list. The best way to do this is to funnel people to your email list using other campaigns such as social media, websites, etc.You also need to give people a reason to sign up—from downloads to online events, you should be creating content that your audience wants to see and be in the loop about.
2. Segmenting your audience
Once your list is in place, the next step is segmentation. By categorising your email list based on demographics, interests, buying stages, or engagement levels, you can tailor messages to resonate with each specific group.
This is a large topic, but the main thing to think about is how you can segment your audience in a way that will allow you to send information that is totally relevant to the issues they need to solve.
3. Mapping out their journey
Before you start building your workflow, it’s a good idea to chart the stages of your subscribers’ journeys and identify automation that could enhance their experience. Tailoring emails to different stages promotes a seamless transition of subscribers through their buyer’s journey. This includes welcome emails, informative content, and a re-engagement driver such as a free trial.
4. Creating great content
The key to any successful campaign is good content. Your copy needs to captivate your readers by using clear and concise language, and most importantly, it needs to be relevant to them.Looking for more guidance on how to write strong copy? Read our guide on how to come up with fresh, new content ideas.
5. Planning your triggers
Your triggers are what separate an automated email campaign from a normal one. Think about automating processes like welcoming new customers, nurturing potential champions, following up after events, and re-targeting lost customers.
6. Reviewing your metrics
Metrics are a marketer’s best friend and can help improve your campaign significantly. Track open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and unsubscribe rates to assess their impact.
7. Repeat
An email marketing campaign is an ongoing process with different subscribers at different points of their buyer’s journey. You should always be pushing for new subscribers, developing new content, and creating new triggers as your business grows. Learn to grow from your feedback and refine your process to suit your subscribers.
How long should automated email campaigns be?
When it comes to email automation, the goal is to maintain a consistent presence in the minds of your subscribers.
This extended exposure increases the likelihood that they’ll eventually choose to adopt your medical device.
Short automation campaigns can provide valuable information, but they might miss the perfect timing for conversion. With long-term campaigns, you can really take your time to help your subscribers mature into leads at their own pace. This is better because you’re putting it on their terms.
12-month automation campaigns
A year-long campaign offers several advantages. Firstly, it allows you to nurture relationships over time. With each interaction, you reinforce your brand messaging and build trust, brick by brick. Gradual exposure to your emails enables prospects to become more aware of and consider your products, leading to better chances of conversion.
A longer campaign lets you take a strategic approach to your messaging. You can introduce different features, benefits, and use cases gradually, catering to the evolving needs of your prospects. By adapting your content to address the changing challenges in the industry, you demonstrate expertise and a commitment to solving their problems.
Personalisation is also key, and a lengthier timeframe allows you to segment your audience based on their engagement levels, preferences, or position in the buyer’s journey. Delivering tailor-made content to each segment makes your emails more relevant and impactful, significantly increasing the chances of conversion.
Examples of automated campaigns
To help illustrate how email automation can be used in marketing medical devices, we’ve compiled examples of just some of the campaigns you can run to nurture your audience.
The product education drip campaign
Imagine a scenario where an individual, let’s call him Bob, expresses interest in your state-of-the-art medical device. Almost instantly, you can share a series of automated emails, unveiling your device’s features, benefits, and real-world applications. It’s like offering Bob a comprehensive tutorial, one insightful email at a time.
Webinar registration and follow-up sequence
If Bob chooses to attend one of your webinars, you could start a series of automated emails confirming his participation, reminding him of the impending session, and providing supplementary resources to enhance his experience.
Post-webinar, the engagement could continue with follow-up emails, offering a replay link and additional resources. This would create a seamless blend of information and appreciation, ensuring Bob feels valued.
Demo or free trial engagement
If curiosity led Bob to explore a demo or free trial, automation could ensure he’s well-guided, with emails offering essential insights, usage guidelines, and success anecdotes. It’s as if a dedicated assistant is ensuring Bob’s every query is addressed, while you and your sales team have time to dedicate elsewhere.
Customer relationship nurturing
Once leads have converted, email automation can continue to benefit your business by nurturing these customers and turning them into advocates for your brand.
This could include a series of automated emails designed to guide them through onboarding for a seamless experience. You could also use email automation to collect user feedback or send out maintenance and service reminders.
What are your next steps?
When executed with precision and foresight, automated emails not only streamline marketing efforts but also play a pivotal role in guiding potential customers during the crucial consideration phase of their buying journey.
By meticulously planning out the subscriber’s journey and crafting content tailored to their needs and interests, you position your brand as a trusted guide.
This not only aids in their decision-making process but also fosters a deeper connection with your brand. Over time, this consistent and personalised engagement can cultivate brand advocates—individuals who not only choose your products or services but also champion your brand in their networks.