Email marketing is a strategy that has been recently (and wrongfully) dismissed by far too many businesses. The myth that “email is dead” arose in light of other, more innovative, digital marketing tactics, which overlooks the benefits of direct to consumer marketing via email. In fact, a recent study conducted by HubSpot – which analyzed consumer behavior since March 2020 – found an overall increase in both the volume of marketing emails sent and their open rate.
The recent success of email marketing can be attributed to realities imposed upon consumers due to the pandemic, like more time spent on the computer, more free time in general, and increased interest in the success of brands due to the abrupt, constant market shifts. Marketers know that traditional sales pitches have lower conversion rates than personalized messaging, which can be extremely time-consuming. Recently, however, brands are better positioned to send more personalized and higher quality emails due to the effectiveness of bots.
The Automation Capabilities of Chatbots
Let’s get one thing straight before diving in: all chatbots are not created equally. The term “chatbot” encompasses a wide range of functionalities, some of which do not include the typical “chatty” part of a bot. Email chatbots fall under the category of task automation bots, which consists of technology designed to eliminate time-consuming processes from human workers.
With that being said, bots have much more potential than what meets the eye in a typical online chat window. Bots are capable of developing and growing email lists, curating content to meet the specific interests of individual consumers, and disseminating those personalized messages straight to individuals’ inboxes. Best of all? These are all automated processes that require little to no human direction, once properly set up. So, now that it’s clear why an email can be a highly effective platform for marketers, and how chatbots can make email marketing a breeze, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of email marketing bots.
How To Integrate Chatbots To Your Email Marketing Strategy
First thing’s first: an automated email marketing chatbot is only effective when it has a bountiful email list. ROI will diminish when a bots emails aren’t reaching the right people. Luckily, chatbots can be set up to collect and vet leads, and even store and organize those leads. By administering an on-site questionnaire, collecting past customers’ addresses, and finding individuals who fit the common personas of loyal customers, chatbots can curate highly effective email lists.
Once a bot puts together a solid outreach list, the possibilities are endless. Discounts, holiday weekend specials, purchase receipts, and “thank you for your purchase” messages, shopping cart reminders, customer satisfaction surveys, you name it – chatbots can be programmed to disseminate any kind of message to any number of recipients. Depending on your outreach calendar and marketing goals, a specific strategy or two may prove more effective than others. Chatbots are easily adaptable to accommodate diverse email marketing needs.
Perhaps one of the most valuable gifts an email marketing bot can give is the gift of automation. Long gone are the days of sifting through email lists, filing through countless customer inquiries, and, in general, manually sending emails. Chatbots have programming capabilities that extend far beyond your wildest dreams. Whether you want to send a monthly newsletter, weekly shopping cart reminders, flash sale promotions, or even customer satisfaction surveys, email bots can take care of all of these marketing needs. Simply program a chatbot to disseminate emails at a frequency of your choice and voila! You can also, of course, always alter a bot’s settings to change its outreach schedule, depending on the success of each campaign.
The hidden gem of email chatbots? Data. Bots can store, manage, sort, and analyze the information provided to it, presenting opportunities far beyond the tasks of email automation. Email bots can report open rates, conversion rates, and even campaign performance, which provide valuable insights. Based on reports provided by chatbots, businesses can alter their email marketing strategy and curate campaigns to optimize their reception.
The Future Chatbot Customization
All together, chatbots have the potential to revolutionize email marketing for the better. Creating an email list with high-quality leads is just the beginning of chatbot-enabled possibilities. Automation is an obvious perk, removing the responsibility from humans to remember when to send out campaigns, provide shopping cart reminders, and disseminate other emails. Aside from automation, customization is another huge lift for bots: addressing consumers by name, providing information on specific products of interest, and thanking people for their purchases are just some of the ways in which email personalization is made easy by chatbots.
Best of all, email marketing chatbots can be extremely affordable and alleviate some (if not all) of the stress incurred by marketers juggling email campaigns. Once there is a chatbot in place to do the heavy lifting, marketers have the opportunity to develop even better content, which will be delivered to even better leads.