Email automation is often associated with e-commerce businesses that use it for abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, or purchase confirmations. However, non-e-commerce brands can also benefit immensely from email automation. Whether you’re a B2B company, service provider, nonprofit, or content creator, there are creative ways to leverage email automation to nurture leads, build relationships, and keep your audience engaged.
Here are seven innovative email automation ideas specifically tailored for non-e-commerce brands that will help you stay connected with your audience and drive engagement.
1. Welcome Series for New Subscribers
A welcome series is a foundational email automation that helps to onboard new subscribers and introduce them to your brand. It goes beyond a single welcome email by sending a series of emails that gradually familiarizes the subscriber with your offerings, values, and content.
What to include in a welcome series:
- Email 1: Welcome and Introduction – A friendly welcome email that thanks the subscriber for joining and sets expectations for future emails. Include a brief introduction to your brand and mission.
- Email 2: Educational Content – Share valuable resources like blog posts, guides, or videos to showcase your expertise.
- Email 3: Highlight Popular Services or Content – Guide subscribers toward your most popular services, events, or pieces of content.
- Email 4: Call to Action – Encourage the subscriber to take a specific action, like joining a webinar, signing up for a free trial, or following you on social media.
2. Lead Nurturing Series for Prospects
If your business involves a longer sales cycle, a lead nurturing series can help move prospects through the buyer’s journey by providing the right information at the right time. This series should be strategically designed to educate leads, address their pain points, and demonstrate how your solution can help.
How to set up a lead nurturing series:
- Segment leads based on their interests or behaviors to ensure that they receive relevant content.
- Provide valuable insights through a series of educational emails that include case studies, whitepapers, or relevant blog posts.
- Use targeted calls to action that encourage prospects to schedule a consultation, attend a demo, or download an in-depth guide.
3. Re-Engagement Campaign for Inactive Subscribers
Every email list has subscribers who lose interest or stop engaging over time. Re-engagement campaigns are designed to win back these inactive subscribers by reigniting their interest in your brand.
Steps to create a re-engagement campaign:
- Send a “We Miss You” email offering a special incentive, like exclusive content or a free consultation, to entice subscribers to re-engage.
- Provide a preference update option allowing subscribers to choose the frequency and type of emails they want to receive.
- Send a final reactivation email letting subscribers know they’ll be unsubscribed if they don’t engage soon, which can also help keep your list healthy.
4. Event Promotion and Reminder Series
For brands that host events such as webinars, workshops, or conferences, automating event-related emails can increase attendance and keep participants informed.
Event email automation ideas:
- Pre-event emails – Send a series of emails leading up to the event, providing details about the agenda, speakers, and any preparation needed.
- Reminder emails – Schedule reminders as the event date approaches, such as a week before, a day before, and an hour before the event starts.
- Post-event follow-up – After the event, send a thank you email with a recap or recording, and encourage attendees to take the next step (e.g., join another event, access additional resources, or schedule a consultation).
5. Automated Survey or Feedback Requests
Gathering feedback from your audience is essential for continuous improvement. Automating survey or feedback requests ensures you capture insights from your audience at the most opportune times.
Ways to automate feedback requests:
- After a service is completed – If you provide a service, automatically send a follow-up email asking for feedback a few days after the service has been completed.
- Post-event surveys – Automatically request feedback from participants after a webinar or in-person event.
- Content rating requests – If you regularly share content like articles, podcasts, or videos, send a follow-up email asking subscribers to rate the content or share their thoughts.
6. Content Drip Campaigns
A content drip campaign involves sending a series of emails with valuable content over a period of time. It’s ideal for educating your audience on complex topics, onboarding new clients, or delivering a free course.
How to set up a content drip campaign:
- Identify a theme or topic that your audience is interested in, such as “Digital Marketing 101” or “A Beginner’s Guide to Financial Planning.”
- Break down the content into a series of emails that are sent out over a set period (e.g., one email per week).
- Include interactive elements such as quizzes, downloadable guides, or exclusive video content to enhance engagement.
7. Milestone and Anniversary Emails
Celebrating subscriber milestones or anniversaries is a great way to personalize your email communication and strengthen your relationship with your audience.
Ideas for milestone emails:
- Subscriber anniversary – Send a “Happy One-Year Anniversary” email to mark the date when someone joined your mailing list. Include a special thank you or an exclusive piece of content.
- Service anniversaries – If you offer services on an ongoing basis, mark the anniversary of the service’s start with a thank you or a personalized offer.
- Content consumption milestones – If a subscriber has downloaded several resources or attended multiple events, acknowledge the milestone and suggest the next piece of content or event that might interest them.
Conclusion
Email automation isn’t just for e-commerce brands; it’s a versatile tool that can benefit any type of organization. By setting up automated email workflows, non-ecommerce businesses can stay connected with their audience, nurture relationships, and drive meaningful engagement without overwhelming their marketing teams.
From welcome series and re-engagement campaigns to content drip campaigns and feedback requests, there are numerous ways to creatively use email automation to add value to your subscribers and achieve your business goals. Start implementing these strategies today, and watch your email marketing efforts yield better results with less manual work.
