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We rank marketing software according to 6 major categories; relevance to category, vendor reputation, ease of use, functionality, pricing & partner program strength. We seek to bring to our audience the most reliable and user friendly software that anybody can use.
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What is email automation software?
Email automation software is a tool that allows businesses to decide who to email and when, based on specific trigger points. That means that instead of needing to personally sit down and send emails to customers, which would be very time consuming, businesses can set their email automation software to do the job for them.
Email automation software works on the principle of a series of pre-defined trigger points.
Examples of trigger points include:
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A purchase
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Signing up to an email list
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Signing up for a free product such as an ebook
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Membership coming due for renewal
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An incomplete shop purchase
And many more - trigger points can even include customers' birthdays or a certain amount of time lapsing since last contact.. There are as many trigger points as there are reasons to get in touch with a customer. When a trigger event occurs, the software will then send out the appropriate email content. In this way, a business can set up any email campaign, from a simple one-time response to a more complex campaign consisting of multiple emails at different times.
Trigger points aren't limited to customer actions such as a purchase or subscription. Businesses can also choose to send out email blasts to their subscribers to build excitement about an upcoming product, to let them know about an event, or to remind them about a service that fits their past purchase history. In such cases, the trigger point might be a certain date (so many weeks before a product launch), or a certain amount of time (time since last purchase).
Many email automation software options come with easy to use drag and drop email designers, which make it easier for businesses to put together attractive, eye catching emails that will grab their customers' attention. Email automation software allows businesses to design any email campaign they desire, taking care of everything from visual appeal to carefully setting up the correct email responses to a wide range of triggers.
Email automation software can be used by any business of any size. This includes everyone from sole traders running an internet home business to large multinational corporations with a staff of thousands. Any business person who wants to keep in touch with their customers can make use of email automation software.
Why use email automation software?
Email automation software is a smart investment for any business of any size. Email automation software is reasonably priced, and yet offers benefits that could be worth thousands of dollars to the business, including:
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Time saved handling email campaigns
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Ease and convenience in creating campaigns
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Increased revenue
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Better customer engagement
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Nurturing of new leads
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Keeping a business fresh in its customers' minds
The amount of time and effort it would take to personally send out the right emails to the right people on a regular schedule would be immense and, in fact, untenable. Email automation software makes it possible for businesses to reap all the benefits of email marketing, in a way that is relatively quick and very convenient.
This increased convenience is an obvious benefit of email automation software. The learning curve for most automation options is relatively short and shallow, as many service providers focus on usability and an intuitive interface as a core part of what they do. That means that before long, any business can learn to use the software to craft their campaigns. They can relax then, knowing that their software will take care of reaching out to the right customer at the right time.
However, it's worth noting that increased convenience is just one of the reasons a business should invest in email automation software. Another important reason is its potential to dramatically increase their bottom line. Research by B2Bmarketing.net and Circle Research shows that 32% of businesses see increased revenue after a year of using marketing automation, with that figure rising to 40% after two years.
Using automation software allows a business to hyper-target each email to its recipient. They can segment their email list by a multitude of factors, including:
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Position in the buyer's cycle
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Length of time as a customer
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A subscription to or interest in a particular product or services
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Purchase history
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Demographics such as age or location
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Attendance at an event
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Sign up to a list or a request for more information
List segmentation means that a business can carefully create each email to appeal directly to its recipients. Customers enjoy getting emails from brands they like and use regularly. With email automation, businesses can make sure those emails are directly relevant.
As well as focusing on relevancy, businesses can use email automation software to carefully nurture new leads, hopefully building to a sale. This is most commonly done through the use of specific emails known as autoresponders.
An autresponder is, simply, a series of emails sent out on a timed track. One very common use of autoresponders in business is to provide a series of useful emails to new customers or subscribers. In email automation terms, that means a business would set up a series of emails to be sent at pre-defined emails when a new customer subscribes to their email list or requests information. Autoresponder content is typically written to introduce the business and drip feed useful information tips, while gradually bringing in more details about what the business does and how it can help the customer.
Email automation helps a business boost sales and build a good relationship with customers old and new.
What to look for in email automation software?
There are a lot of email automation software options available today, so how is a business to choose the best one? These 13 key features are a must when in the market for an email automation solution:
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Easy campaign management – setting triggers and email times should be easy to do via a user friendly drag and drop interface.
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List segmentation – being able to divide a list up is an absolute must when it comes to making sure subscribers only get the emails that are most relevant to them.
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Autoresponders – a series of timed autoresponder emails is one of the key uses of email automation software, so businesses should always check for that.
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Easy to use email builder – the email builder should be intuitive to use, making creating beautiful emails as easy as a few clicks.
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Customizable templates – email templates should be easy to customize with images and colours so they fit in with the business' existing branding.
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Sign up forms – many email campaigns start with the customer filling out a sign up form, making an easy to use form builder a useful addition.
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Simple campaign management – it should be easy for a business to see at a glance what is scheduled next.
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Easy subscriber management – businesses need to see at a glance who has subscribed and who has unsubscribed, alongside subscriber management tools.
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Analytics – good analytics let a business see whether their email campaign is successful, so they can figure out what works best and what needs tweaking.
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Deliverability – choosing a service that makes sure emails reach their destination and don't get flagged as spam will increase the chances of emails getting seen.
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CRM integration – linking email automation with customer relationship management allows for better sharing of information and a more integrated approach to lead nurturing.
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Scalability - a business doesn't want to pay to send email to 10,000 subscribers when it's just starting out. Most email automation providers offer a sliding scale of charges depending on subscriber numbers or email volumes.
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Strong customer service – the right software will usually run without a hitch, but for those times when something goes awry or a question needs answering, good customer support is a must.
Email automation software strategies, tips and tricks
Finding a really good email automation option is just one stage. To really reap increased revenue from email automation, a business needs to put an effective strategy in place. These 6 strategies are a great place to start:
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Set up an autoresponder - An autoresponder lets a business introduce themselves to new customers through a series of informative content-rich emails that generate interest in their products or services.
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Segment carefully - Segmenting a subscriber list is key to increasing revenue with email marketing. Segmenting the list means that customers will only see emails that are relevant to them, which will encourage them to keep opening and reading.
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Pay attention to content - Great timing and good segmentation help, but the actual email content needs to be of the highest quality, too. Businesses should take the time to ensure content is relevant, well written, visually appealing, and designed to be scanned quickly and easily for maximum impact in a short space of time.
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Use A/B testing - A/B testing means setting up two slightly different emails or contact forms to find out which is the most popular. A/B testing is offered by many email automation providers, and lets businesses see in real time what is working best.
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Create attention-grabbing subject lines - A great subject line is make or break – if it doesn't draw the recipient in, the rest of the email won't get seen. Subject lines should be interesting and clear, with no doubt as to what the benefit of opening the email will be.
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Use gentle reminders - Perhaps a customer put a few items in their online shopping basket, but abandoned it at checkout. Maybe it's been a while since they made a purchase, or a membership is coming due. Maybe they've shown interest in an event that's getting closer. Email automation is perfect for sending out gentle reminders that prompt action and keep the business fresh in the customer's mind.

Top 10 Best Email Automation Software Compared
Using an automated email marketing software can help automate your online business to actively engage your leads and customers at the right time, with the right message. You can use the automation tools below to easily setup rules based email triggers based on a wide range of inputs, such as if the user has visited a particular page, performed a particular action, hasn't clicked on a link in a certain period of time, and many more options. Companies who use email automation software experience higher returns on investment because of smart and personalied targeting and segmenting. All these applications below can be setup in minutes today.
