Email Marketing and automation: key factors of inbound (part 1)

Inbound marketing is one of the most advanced digital methodologies, but it would bring few results without email marketing and automation. Do you want to know why?

It's quite simple: the inbound methodology comprises a set of processes, techniques and philosophy; if we remove any of these elements, the whole disintegrates and the usefulness is lost.

The most remarkable thing about this set is that most of the crucial inbound actions depend directly on these two key elements: marketing automation and email.

Why is email important in inbound marketing?

Nowadays we are connected by various means: mobile phones, instant messaging, social networks, email, among others. However, as a general rule, the data that can never be missing in blog subscriptions and any type of web form is email.

This implies that communication through this channel is still at the heart of B2B and B2C relationships. 

And not just because it is on all forms, but because of the benefits it offers:

Your database allows for a high degree of segmentation.

Not only by the information provided by the user but also by the actions they take on your website and even your social networks.

With user activity logging, you can create campaigns and content offers that are exclusive to certain users, allowing you to establish a closer and deeper bond than general, mass communications.

It is customisable

Personalisation does not just mean that the email carries the name or surname of the person to whom it is addressed. Depending on the system you use, you can set up tokens, tags or parameters of specific information from the database to appear in the emails you send. 

For example: 

Hello Name, 

Last week you downloaded name of the content of our website. We believe that our guide to new content name could be useful to you as a complement to what you were looking for from topic or category name. 

So we've taken the liberty of sending you this free resource that will help you generate new leads in company name.

Don't forget that if you have any questions, you can schedule a free consultation from name of the related service.

We'd love to hear from you!

In this way, the user perceives that it is a unique email, written exclusively for him and it is very likely that he will carry out one of the two actions you are looking for with this communication: download the new content that continues to nurture the relationship or schedule a consultancy, which would further advance in the conversion funnel.

It is economical

Compared to almost any other channel, such as telemarketing, SMS, remarketing, PPC, among others, email marketing is the lowest priced in relation to the benefits it delivers.

In the end, this means improving the ROI of your company's marketing actions, which is one of the fundamental premises of inbound marketing.

Measurable

Anything that can't be measured simply won't work for inbound methodology. But email marketing allows a fairly accurate measurement of user actions on each email that can be related to their behaviour and activity on other channels.

So an email can only be the way to send a downloadable that brings the buyer persona closer to the final conversion: the purchase. But without this path, without this intermediate step, this conversion may not be obtained.

Action-oriented

Attraction marketing is a methodology clearly focused on achieving specific actions and steps from potential prospects.

At this point, emailing is again a decisive player because it allows you to implement campaigns that stimulate the desired actions in certain members of the database.

If someone opened, responded, clicked, forwarded, downloaded a piece of content, subscribed via email, you can measure and generate an action that continues the process.

It is the preferred channel for communicating with companies

Studies show that the preferred channel for users to communicate with companies continues to be email. Although it varies a little depending on the sector, it is almost always among the top three options: email, telephone or WhatsApp, which is growing in its participation.

Inbound depends on the user's preferences, so having their preferred channel of communication available is a pillar for the progress of the negotiation.

It is easy to test, optimise and improve based on results.

Another reason why mail is key to attraction marketing is that this methodology relies on continuous improvement as it aims to generate scalable improvements.

Such improvements can only be achieved through testing, optimisation and improvement of results based on the same amount of material and human resources invested in them.

It's easy to monitor conversions, sales and the buying cycle.

In general, conversions from almost any digital channel are easily trackable and measurable. The interesting thing about email marketing is that it allows you to "rekindle the flame" when a prospect has been stranded in the middle of their buying cycle.

If a prospect is not nurtured properly in the process, it is the same as letting a sales opportunity die. That is why this medium is and will remain one of the pillars of inbound marketing for a long time to come.

Do you agree with the above benefits? In the second part of the post we will see why automation is a fundamental pillar of inbound marketing.