What is Email Automation?

If you type “Email Automation” into Google, your search result will be flooded with a definition by just about every email marketing software company on the internet. Each one is saying the same exact same thing but in a slightly different way. To make it easy for you, I’ll share the definition from my favourite email marketing software company, Klaviyo.

“Email marketing automation refers to messages a brand sends to people at scale, typically according to common online behaviors such as subscribing to a list or browsing a website. Automation technology is what enables you to build personalized content and rules around which emails go out, and when—without manually adding people to a recipient list or pressing send. In other words, email automation allows you to make money from your email marketing strategy in your sleep.”

Email Automation Simplified

Now if you’re new to email marketing or automation, this can sound a bit confusing so I’ll try and simplify it for you by giving you my “beginner-friendly definition”

“Email Marketing Automation is basically any type of email that get’s sent out automatically when someone on your email list or website does something. These type of emails are set-and-forget and you’ll generally have to set them up only once.”

Some examples include the following:

Abandoned cart recovery: When a website user doesn’t complete their checkout and an automatic email is sent to them in an hour to remind them to complete their purchase.

Sign Up Form: When a website user fills out their email on a pop-up form for a 5% discount voucher on your website, and an automatic email sends them their discount voucher.

There are a lot of different email automations out there and choosing the right one can be daunting and may even stop you from doing them in the first place.

Not to worry! I’m going to show you the best email automations that I help my clients implement all the time on their ecommerce stores with proven results. Some of my clients see a boost of 10 – 20% in their revenue in a month.

Why should I use Email Automation?

Well it’s simple… Email Automation will get you more online sales on auto-pilot. Does it sound to good to be true? Maybe some proof from these clients results taken from the last 30 days will change your mind and get you motivated to start email automation ASAP.

• Shoe Retailer based in Johannesburg, South Africa: 23% increase in monthly revenue
• Home & Fabrics Chain based in Pretoria, South Africa: 14% increase in monthly revenue
• Educational Toy Store based in Johannesburg, South Africa: 23% increase in monthly revenue
• Home & Garden Store based in South Africa: 10% increase in monthly revenue

*These results are from real client ecommerce stores based in South Africa. Results displayed are from May 2023.

If they’re doing it, why cant you too?

Another awesome thing to note is that if you set up these email automations on your own, it can take less then a day if you put the effort in and almost every email marketing software company will let you try it out for free. You could quite literally add an extra 10 – 20% in revenue on your ecommerce store, every month, for putting in a days work.

This is one of our top-rated easiest and cheapest channels to boost revenue.

Sound great? Then let’s get started!

How do I get started Email Automation?

Get started can be as simple as choosing a email marketing software company (if you don’t have one already) and following their step by step instructions on how to set it up.

Just to note, that this will require some skills with tech and an understanding of online tools. If you’ve never worked with email marketing software before, there will be a learning curve involved and it might take some additional effort to get up and running. Just know that it will be worth it and push on! This is something you can also easily outsource for an affordable fee

If you have some tech skills and you’ve tinkered with email marketing before, you could get up and running with email automations in 1 – 2 day (maybe even in a matter of hours)

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m sure you’re eager to hear what are the best email automations to start with.

Best Email Automations that you should implement first

These are the best email automations chosen by me and for a good reason. I’ve tried many email automations in my life but time and time again these one’s in particular out perform all the others, especially if you’re just get started. So let’s check them out.

Abandoned Cart Recovery: Setting this up will help you recover lost revenue from website users who start the checkout process and then decide to drop out of the process. It’s a little reminder for them and we see on average that around 30% of this group at least open the email. This gives you another shot at the sale.

Pro tip: Use this automation to offer some extra help or ask some questions as to why they didn’t check out. This can help you identify why users aren’t completing their checkout so you can make improvements on your site. You can also use this as an opportunity to offer a small discount or incentive like free shipping to increase your chances to get the sale.

Pop-up form with a discount: Setting this up will give website user a reason to give their email address to you. You typically want to offer this to first time users so they’ll be more likely to make a purchase from your ecommerce store. I like to offer something like Free Shipping or a Small Discount. Once they drop in their email they will be added to your list (which you can market to in the future) and you can send them an email automation with a voucher.

Pro tip: Make sure you’re pop-up is eye catching and your offer is clear and to the point.

Post-purchase follow up: Setting this up will allow you to send an email to a customer automatically after they’ve made a purchase. You can send this immediately or after a few days once they’ve received their order. This can be as simple as a “Thank You Email” or you can use the leverage positive reviews by asking your customers to rate their experience and/or purchase.

Pro tip: You can also use this automation to upsell or cross-sell to your customers in the future by understanding what their purchase preferences are, further boosting you revenue.

If implemented correctly, these 3 email automations are almost guaranteed to increase your ecommerce sales in a very short period of time!

If you don’t know which email marketing software to use, then carry on reading for my recommendation.

Which Email Marketing company should I use for Email Automation?

If you’re already using a software like MailChimp or any of the others out there, check the Knowledge Base and see what email automations they provide. If they don’t offer the 2 email automations that I’ve mentioned (or even if they do) then I highly recommend you take a look at Klaviyo. You can also check out our list of the top email marketing software companies for ecommerce here.

Why choose Klaviyo?

• They have a free plan for us to 250 subscribers
• It’s also very easy to setup with your ecommerce store
• They also have pre-built templates that you can literally click and edit
• They support the most popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WordPress
• They offer just about every email automation under the sun and have a ton more features to help you sell more with email

*I’m not affiliated with Klaviyo in any way, I just genuinely love their software and use it for all my clients. You can check out our service offerings here

That’s a wrap! I hope you’ve found this guide on email automation insightful and I really hope you can get going and make some more money on your ecommerce store. Feel free to drop a comment on my social media pages and check out our other helpful guides to make more money with your ecommerce store in South Africa.