The effectiveness and power of email automation is undeniable. According to Adestra Marketer, email marketing platforms save time by 76%, increase opportunities such as upselling by 58%, and increase customer engagement by 68%. Implementing a strong email platform is vital to marketing success.
Having an email automation platform is not enough though. Increasingly, consumers expect customization of everything from subject line to the products you suggest based on their site behavior. While social media is all about personal connections, email doesn’t always have the same feel. Even the most creative email subject lines and material can come off feeling flat and generic. Email marketers are constantly looking for ways to write emails that inject a personal touch.
There’s good news though. If marketing trends continue on course, 2017 will be the year of personalized email automation, thanks in big part to email marketing platforms offering more big data optimization. That data, in turn, will mean more opportunities for marketers to reach their audiences through personalization. When you combine that with streamlined automation, the effectiveness of your email marketing will improve.
Ready to get started? Take a look at these three platforms that are personalizing and automating email marketing the best.
Campaign Monitor
If you are looking to find ways to run a beautifully-designed, professional email marketing campaign to grow your business, Campaign Monitor is for you. It offers easy-to-use automation tools including a stellar drag and drop email builder and the ability to choose from countless professionally designed templates. Furthermore, Campaign Monitor’s templates help your company create an email campaign that will work and look consistent on all devices.
In addition to customers like BuzzFeed, RedCross, and Virgin Experience Days, Campaign Monitor has primarily helped over 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses’ email campaigns be mega successful. Their programs allow users to send hyper-targeted emails to ensure the timing and messages are perfect for each customer. Even more, native signup forms can be utilized to help build your audience and introduce yourself to new customers.
From your brick and mortar location to your website, Campaign Monitor’s tools and resources allow you to do it all from wherever you are.
GetResponse
GetResponse is an all-in-one email marketing platform offering landing pages, webinars, and email automation. The platform focuses on servicing agencies and affiliate marketers primarily but does offer ecommerce users functionality to automate transactional emails.
Two of the biggest differences I found between GetResponse and other platforms like Campaign Monitor has to do with the user interface and customer support. While Campaign Monitor provides an easy to use interface for creating custom customer journeys, GetResponse’s same functionality is much more complicated and difficult to use. GetResponse’s customer support is also much harder to get in touch with. Their offices are all located in Europe so I found their support staff much harder to get in touch with than Campaign Monitor who has offices in the US and globally.
MailChimp
Mailchimp is the largest of these email marketing platforms with over 15 million users but it’s by far the simplest in terms of functionality. MailChimp does offer email automation and many integration partners but some of the more advanced functionality like personalization and customer journeys are either non-existent or very difficult to set up.
Customer service is an area where MailChimp comes in dead last in my opinion. They do offer a comprehensive knowledge base, but it’s impossible to talk to a person. You can buy an upgrade to get access to a basic customer service rep but the platform doesn’t offer standard customer service or a customer success rep to all customers.
Most small business owners want the latest technology when it comes to marketing and email platforms that excel in personalization and automation fit the bill. As the world becomes more and more digital, it is imperative to stand out and not only attract customers, but win their business, too. Aim to find a user-friendly tool that allows you to create and send personalized campaigns efficiently. Make sure you utilize the platform that will best meet your needs – one that will turn customers into loyal fans through personalized email campaigns and automated customer journeys.
