9 Simple Email Marketing Automation Workflows That Drive Big Results

You have a great product and a steady stream of customers. The problem? Many of your prospects are just sitting dormant in your marketing database.

Lead nurturing isn’t the only marketing automation tactic you can use to get more of your prospects. There are many other ways you can engage existing customers and encourage upsells or additional purchases.

Workflows, for example, enable you to take automation to the next level, and build stronger relationships with your leads. These overlooked tactics can send emails, update contact information, trigger email notifications and so on. More than that, workflows can put prospects right into that “buying mode” you are striving for, and can even persuade customers who may have abandoned you to return.

Sounds too good to be true?

For once, it’s not.

Without further ado, here are ten simple email marketing automation workflows that drive big results.

• Blog Subscriber Welcome Workflow

You know how a sales consultant usually welcomes you with a friendly, “Hi! Please let me know if I can be of any help” when you walk through the door? You feel good and appreciated every time it happens.

The same scenario can apply to your blog subscribers. Certainly, you’ve worked hard to convince them to give you their email addresses – you’ve written high-quality content, and you’ve always tried to give them something valuable in return for their time. Now that they’ve subscribed, don’t they deserve a friendly greeting?

Welcome emails are a great way to make new subscribers or customers feel appreciated. You can use this opportunity to thank them for their interest and remind them what they signed up for.

• New Customer Welcome Workflow

Speaking of friendly welcomes, consider setting up welcome emails for your new customers as well. Thank them for their purchase, remind them the benefits of using your products or services and use this opportunity to promote other services.

This marketing automation workflow is a great way to initiate a strong relationship with your new customers, and to keep them engaged after they buy.

• Topic Workflow

People don’t usually give out their email addresses to random strangers. So, if they subscribed to your newsletter, it means that they are interested in the content you create. Set an automated workflow for each of the industry-related topics you write about in your blog.

For instance, if you are a pastry maker who writes about cooking tips, baking recipes and kitchen utensils, then you can pack your content into eBooks, tutorials, video, etc. When you set a topic workflow, subscribers will get notified every time you post something that is of interest to them. So, if a user downloaded your baking recipes eBook, your workflow would be triggered, sending the subscriber related content, such as articles, videos, etc.

• Lead Nurturing Workflow

If a prospect has signed up for your newsletter and downloaded one of your top of the funnel marketing offers, maybe it’s a sign that they are ready to move up the sales funnel.

Create an email workflow that encourages prospects to move further down the funnel. Highlight the benefits of your products, offer discounts, and use time-sensitive words to make them feel like they will miss out if they don’t take the next step.

• Abandoned Shopping Cart Workflow

If you are an online small business, you’ve likely dealt with many abandoned shopping carts. It’s frustrating to say the least. However, you can use marketing automation to get customers back into the buying mode.

Whenever someone adds an item to their shopping cart but leaves without completing the purchase, you can set an email workflow that reminds them of their abandoned cart. Persuade them to complete the purchase by offering a discount, a voucher or other motivation to buy.

• Re-Engagement Workflow

Many small business owners struggle to capture leads and to grow their email lists. Unfortunately, on an average, 60% of these lists consist of “dead” email subscribers. That is unacceptable, and you must do something to fix it.

A re-engagement workflow can be a great way to awake dormant customers and re-build relationships. This automation tactic will let you set the conditions that will trigger an email re-engagement campaign.

• Event Workflow

Are you hosting a live event, an online Q & A session or a webinar? Use email workflows to automate your communication to participants before, during, and after the event.

Set a workflow that sends attendees, important information, such as the schedule of the event, the webinar log-in data or other relevant tips. When the event ends, set up an email workflow that gives participants access to useful resources, photos from the event, and continue to nurture them.

• Upgrade Workflow

Communication with your customers shouldn’t stop after they make a purchase. That’s just the beginning of your relationship. Use this email workflow to promote other products or services and to upsell them. Try to make these suggestions relevant to their needs, and complimentary to the items they already purchased.

• Purchase Reminder Workflow

Picture this: you sell printer accessories, such as ink, toner, transfer belts and so on. Some of your customers purchase a six-month supply of ink. They do this on a regular basis. To keep these customers engaged and create a strong connection with them, you can enter them into a workflow that gets activated when they make a purchase.

Set an automated email that gets sent every five months to remind your customers that their six-month supply is about to end, and it might be a good idea to order a new batch.

Email workflows take marketing automation to the next level. Probably one of the most powerful tools available to marketers today, they help you get higher quality leads, build strong relationships with your prospects as well as existing customers, and save more of your time.

So, what do you think? Are you going to start using email workflows for better lead nurturing? Have you used these types of automated actions before?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.