What is email automation and how you can use it to grow your business

Spoiler alert: Yes!

Email automation is one of email marketing's most powerful features. The best part? You set it up once, and it runs itself, sending triggered emails magically without you lifting a finger. While it sounds technical, it's actually quite easy to set up.

Let's break down email marketing automation step-by-step and then we'll show you tons of examples to help you get started.

Email automation is an invaluable marketing tool for setting up automatic email sequences.  These emails are activated to send by certain “triggers”, such as email interaction, form fills or shopping behavior. Automations like these allow you to send targeted emails at just the right moment.

For instance, instead of manually sending out a welcome email to everyone who signs up for your service, you can set up a trigger to do this automatically.

You write the email once, and it consistently reaches subscribers precisely when needed.

The power of email automation lies in its ability to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, without manual intervention for each individual email. This is achieved through pre-defined workflows, rules, and conditions.

To understand email automation, let's clarify how it differs from other common email methods:

• Manual emails: These are individual emails sent one at a time (e.g., direct replies). They're highly personalized emails but not scalable for large audiences.

• Bulk emails: Also called email blasts, these are single emails sent simultaneously to a large, often undifferentiated list. They save time for large audiences but lack personalization, potentially leading to lower engagement.

• Automated emails: These are part of a pre-defined sequence or workflow, triggered by user actions or events. Automated email workflows are designed to nurture leads, onboard customers, or recover abandoned carts automatically, offering the scalability of bulk emails with personalization closer to manual sends.

So, we've covered what email automation is and how it works. Now, let's talk about the why. If you're still wondering if it's right for you, get ready to be convinced. From saving precious time to boosting your bottom line, the advantages of email automation are simply too good to pass up.

1. Saves time and resources

Email automation frees up marketing and sales teams from repetitive tasks, allowing focus on strategic initiatives like content creation, campaign optimization, and in-depth analytics. 58% of companies use automation in their email marketing campaigns.

2. Boosts revenue with timely messages

By delivering highly relevant messages precisely when a customer is most receptive, businesses can guide them through the sales funnel more effectively, convert leads into customers, and encourage repeat purchases. In fact, behavioral triggers can generate 10 times more revenue than other email types.

3. Increases customer retention

Nurturing existing customer relationships is crucial for long-term business success. Email marketing automation helps with this by sending welcome sequences, onboarding guides, loyalty program updates, or re-engagement campaigns. 

These timely and personalized messages make customers feel valued and informed, building stronger relationships and reducing churn. 39% of email marketing professionals say that AI-driven hyper-personalization will have the biggest effect on email automation campaigns.

4. Enhances personalization and user experience

Unlike generic bulk emails, automated emails can be deeply personalized based on a wealth of data, including past purchases, browsing history, demographic information, and engagement levels. This high degree of personalization ensures that each recipient receives content that is highly relevant to their interests and needs, leading to a more positive and engaging user experience.

4 out of 5 email marketers have reported that personalization techniques like dynamic content or subject line personalization have significantly improved their email’s performance. 

5. Keeps your brand top-of-mind

Regular updates and timely offers ensure that your brand remains front and center in your customers' minds, even when they aren't actively seeking your products or services.

The ROI (return on investment) for automated emails are extremely high because people are receiving your message when it is top of mind, which satisfies their desire for instant feedback. The world's most high-performing companies like Amazon and Netflix have embraced automation resulting in huge revenue increases.

6. Supports customer lifecycle marketing

Email automation allows businesses to segment their audience and tailor communication to each stage of the customer journey, from initial awareness and consideration to purchase, retention, and even advocacy. Your customers receive appropriate messaging throughout their relationship with your brand.

MailerLite makes it easy for you to automate your emails in the same way that huge companies like Amazon personalize their emails to reach their customers.

Using email automation for your business is a great opportunity to engage your customers, deliver a better experience and increase your conversion rate.

MailerLite makes it easy for you to automate your emails in the same way that huge companies like Amazon personalize their emails to reach their customers.

Beyond the general idea of "automated emails," there's a whole world of specific, powerful email campaigns you can set up. From making a stellar first impression to winning back wavering customers, automated emails are designed to work for you around the clock, building stronger relationships and driving real results.

Welcome emails are your first impression, crucial for building trust and setting expectations with new subscribers. Studies show 74% of subscribers expect them, and they can generate up to 320% higher revenues than other promotional emails.

To make your welcome email series effective:

• Personalize with the subscriber's first name and infuse your brand's voice

• Remind them why they joined and how you can help

• Introduce your offerings (features, benefits, brand story)

• Build credibility with social proof, testimonials, or FAQs

• Provide immediate value through popular content (blog posts, guides, videos) or a discount (Especially if you’re an e-commerce seller)

• Clearly state the next desired action with a prominent call-to-action (CTA) to your website, products, or social channels

• Set expectations on email frequency and explain how to whitelist your address

• Always include an easy unsubscribe option to build trust

Here’s an example of a welcome email sequence created by our colleague Kerry Campion for her copywriting newsletter, Copy Comrades.

New subscribers join via a MailerLite pop-up and instantly receive a welcome email outlining what to expect. They then start getting her regular newsletters. 5 weeks later, an automated email goes out, asking for their feedback.

The image below shows her welcome sequence in action.

Learn how to create welcome email workflows with MailerLite.

A great way to improve retention with automation is by using an e-commerce integration (MailerLite integrates with e-commerce platforms including WooCommerce and Shopify) to send abandoned cart emails. 

All e-commerce sites experience cart abandonment, which is when a customer leaves before finalizing their purchase. While this is unfortunate, there is still hope. You can trigger emails automatically to re-engage them. Studies show that almost 1 in 3 buyers clicking on an abandoned cart email actually makes a purchase!

Try different strategies to bring your customers back including:

• Giving discount codes

• Recommending best-selling products

• Using customer reviews

Check out our tutorial to learn how to create abandoned cart workflows.

Personalized milestone and birthday emails are a delightful way to boost engagement and customer loyalty. These celebratory messages make subscribers feel special. By collecting birth dates or tracking key milestones (like a brand anniversary), you can trigger an automated email to arrive at the perfect moment.

Consider including:

• A heartfelt, occasion-specific greeting (e.g., "Happy Birthday!").

• A special discount or free gift.

• Exclusive early access to new products or sales.

• For milestones, a "look back" at their journey or a thank you for their loyalty.

Here’s a birthday email template on MailerLite:

Want to send a birthday email? Check out our step-by-step birthday email guide.

Not everyone engages with every email, and that's normal. If a subscriber hasn't opened or clicked in a while (6 months is a good benchmark), it's time for a re-engagement campaign—a series of emails to "win back" their attention.

Here’s a readymade win-back email campaign template on MailerLite:

Highly effective re-engagement emails typically:

• Have an eye-catching subject line

• Offer free shipping or a soon-to-expire discount to create urgency

• Remind customers why they signed up

• Create FOMO (fear of missing out) by mentioning upcoming offers

Setting up re-engagement campaigns with MailerLite is nice and straightforward because your inactive subscribers can be found using your subscriber search filters.

Simply navigate to your Subscribers page and use the “Time inactive” filter to select subscribers you want to re-engage. Then just add those subscribers to a group.

When you create your win-back automation, use the trigger ‘When subscriber joins a group’, and then select the inactive subscribers group. From there, you can create an email win-back series which will be sent to anyone who gets labeled as an inactive subscriber. Easy peasy! 

Learn more about re-engagement campaigns here.

Automated product recommendation emails are a powerful way to drive repeat sales and enhance customer value. By integrating your e-commerce platform with MailerLite, you can trigger follow-up emails based on purchase history, automatically suggesting complementary or higher-value products to past buyers.

Consider using product recommendation emails to:

• Suggest complementary products

• Introduce higher-tier versions

• Showcase related items

• Re-engage past interests

Here’s a product recommendation example on MailerLite:

Once someone subscribes, you can continue the dialogue based on their interactions with your emails. This means you can tailor your follow-up based on whether they open an email or click on a link.

Open triggers allow you to start an automation when a subscriber simply opens specific emails. This shows their initial interest and can be a great way to send a gentle follow-up or provide more information through a pre-defined sequence.

Link triggers let you start an automation when someone clicks on a link in your email, making the communication personal and relevant to individual interests. In fact, a MailerLite study across 22,000 e-commerce seller accounts showed that "When subscriber clicks a link" is the trigger that generates the second highest open and click rates.

Example: Link trigger to download a PDF

• Behavior: A subscriber clicks to download a free PDF chapter from an author newsletter.

• Response: You can segment subscribers into a group, based on those who clicked on the link, then wait a few days and send a follow-up email with the next chapter.

Here is how you could set it up in your MailerLite workflow builder:

Link triggers are a great way to engage your subscribers in a way that feels natural and adds value. Our study shows that if you can send a timely follow-up email, people will engage with your content and could end up buying your products.

Automated emails are incredibly powerful for gathering valuable feedback and reviews, which are essential for social proof and continuous improvement.

You can trigger survey emails after a key event (e.g., purchase) to capture fresh experiences. Similarly, for product reviews, automate a request a week or two after delivery, giving customers time to form an opinion.

Consider setting up automated feedback and review requests to:

• Capture timely insights

• Build social proof

• Identify areas for improvement

• Boost product visibility

Once an email subscriber is familiar with your company, you can create automated email sequences to educate them in a deeper way on topics related to your business. This could be a blog series, complex concepts broken down, or a mini-course delivered over days or weeks.

Consider using educational drip campaigns to:

• Onboard new users to a complex product

• Share expertise on a specific topic

• Nurture leads towards a solution

• Increase product adoption

• Strengthen customer loyalty

You can set up automated sequences based on your subscribers’ actions and lead them to purchase.

When potential customers come to you, they are rarely ready to buy on the spot. In fact, the majority of would-be buyers aren’t ready to make a purchase—they’re just browsing, or they stumbled across your site by accident, or they’re curious about your business! Nurturing subscribers to become customers is an integral part of the sales process.

Build a long-lasting relationship with subscribers with an automated nurturing email campaign.

Automated lead nurturing allows you to track each subscriber's engagement with your content and website. You can automatically send the right email at the right time when they interact with your content.

Here are some examples of different content you could share, depending on which stage of the sales funnel they're at.

When website visitors download a piece of content or click on a link, you can program your email to activate the next phase of the nurture campaign. This allows you to leverage every opportunity to push your subscribers towards a conversion.

Finding the ideal email automation tool means finding a partner that lets you connect with your audience intelligently and efficiently. Here’s how to approach your search:

1. Identify your specific needs and budget

First, figure out what you really need. Are you nurturing new leads, welcoming new customers, or trying to win back old ones? How many subscribers do you have, and how many emails will you send? Also, set a realistic budget. Some tools offer free tiers for small lists, while others have more robust, enterprise-level pricing.

Also, consider if the tool integrates with your existing CRM or e-commerce platforms. Seamless integration can save you time and hassle.

2. Evaluate core automation capabilities

Beyond basic email sending, a good automation tool should offer flexible workflow builders, segmentation options, and personalization features. Look for a visual workflow editor that lets you easily map out complex customer journeys with triggers, delays, and conditional logic.

Look for robust segmentation. Can you create dynamic segments based on subscriber behavior (e.g., website visits, past purchases, email engagement) rather than just static demographics? 

3. Prioritize user-friendliness and support

A powerful tool is useless if it's hard to use. Seek an intuitive interface for campaign building, ideally with drag-and-drop editors. Strong customer support—including documentation, tutorials, and responsive help—is also vital, especially when you're starting out.

4. Emphasize analytics and reporting

To optimize campaigns, you need deep performance insights. The right tool will provide comprehensive analytics and reporting, tracking key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI. Look for A/B testing capabilities to experiment with different elements (subject lines, CTAs) and see what resonates best.

5. Consider scalability and future growth

Choose a tool that can grow with your business. What are the limits on contacts or email sends? Can it handle increasing complexity in your automation workflows as your marketing strategy evolves? Investing in a tool that scales well now can save you the headache of migrating platforms later.

Email automation uses pre-set triggers or schedules to send targeted messages, saving you time while ensuring timely, relevant communication. Here's how to master it:

1. Define your goals and automation triggers

Clearly identify what you want to achieve (e.g., reduce churn, boost sales) and what actions will start your automated sequences. For instance, a customer not logging in for 30 days could trigger a re-engagement email, or an abandoned cart could prompt a sales reminder.

2. Plan and map out your workflows

Visualize the entire customer journey by drawing out the steps, decisions, and paths subscribers will take. This ensures a logical flow. 

Consider a typical "welcome series" workflow. A new subscriber signs up for your newsletter. They immediately receive a welcome email. If they click a link in that email to browse your products, they might receive a follow-up email showcasing popular items. If they don't click, they might get a gentle reminder email a few days later, perhaps highlighting your top blog posts. Mapping this out prevents subscribers from receiving irrelevant or duplicate messages.

3. Segment your email list strategically

Divide your audience into smaller, homogeneous groups based on characteristics, behaviors, or interests (e.g., location, purchase history, engagement level). This helps you send highly relevant content, leading to more personalized communication.

Let your customers tag themselves with different interest groups. Interest groups (aka subscriber tagging) are a way to divide up your customer base into smaller groups based on what they like about your products and services.

Instead of sending everyone the same message, interest groups help you target the right message to the right audience.

Let's say a subscriber clicks a link in your newsletter for an upcoming sales webinar. MailerLite automatically segments that subscriber into a group labeled “Sales Webinar”.

In this example, the subscriber's interest in sales led to a tag placing them in a group. Now, you can send them email content tailored to sales topics, which you know they care about.

The best email automations will separate subscribers into groups, so that they receive more targeted and personalized campaigns.

4. Build and test automation sequences

Configure each step of your mapped automation workflows within your email platform, setting conditions and order. Then, thoroughly test the sequence by sending email previews to yourself and colleagues. Check that all links work, images load correctly, personalization tokens (like a recipient's name) populate properly, and that the timing of emails aligns with your plan. 

5. Create reusable email templates

Develop a library of professional, on-brand templates for various campaign types (e.g., transactional, promotional, newsletters). Reusing templates saves time and ensures visual consistency, maintaining your brand identity across all communications.

You might have a clean, minimalist template for transactional emails (like order confirmations or password resets), a more visually engaging template for promotional offers, and a content-focused template for your regular newsletters. 

6. Personalize content, sender, and subject lines

Make emails feel human by personalizing content, sender names, and subject lines beyond just using a first name. Tailor messages based on individual interests or behaviors. 

Research shows consumers highly value personalization; 96% are more likely to purchase with personalized content, and 81% won't even engage with generic messages.

You can create personalized automations in MailerLite based on past purchases, interests, gender, age, location, job title… you name it!

Some super-simple and effective ways to collect subscriber data for personalization are:

• Adding custom fields to signup forms

• Attaching separate interest groups to specific signup forms

• Creating segments in MailerLite based on a set of characteristics

• Embedding surveys in emails allows self-segmentation

7. Set delays, conditions, and fallbacks

These are the “brains” behind your automation, letting you fine-tune the timing and flow based on subscriber actions. 

• Delays control when the next email is sent (e.g., 48 hours after a download)

• Conditions dictate which path a subscriber takes based on their behavior (e.g., clicking a link sends them to a sales sequence)

• Fallbacks define what happens if a subscriber doesn't meet certain criteria (e.g., moving inactive subscribers to a win-back campaign after 90 days).

8. Monitor results and optimize regularly

Email automation requires ongoing attention. Continuously track KPIs like open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and unsubscribes. 

Use this data to identify what's working and make data-driven adjustments. For example, if an email has a low click-through rate, test different calls to action. A rising unsubscribe rate might signal a need to refine content or targeting.

Keep up with where your subscribers are in the email workflow with activity reporting. You can also manually pull subscribers out of the workflow, re-add them and move subscribers to different steps.

9. Mix channels: Add SMS or in-app messaging if needed

Strengthen your automation by integrating other communication channels. This creates a multi-channel experience that meets your audience where they are most likely to engage.

For urgent messages or app users, SMS or in-app messages can provide timely engagement. For instance, a customer abandoning a high-value shopping cart might get an email, followed by an SMS reminder with a discount code.

Email automation is very simple to implement, and it’ll make your business processes and email results much stronger in the long run! You’ll notice higher open rates and conversion rates, because your emails are hitting those inboxes at the perfect moment. 

Whether you’re completely new to automations, or you’re looking to improve your current workflows, these ideas will help you take your emails (and your revenue) to the next level!

How does email automation work?

Email automation works by sending pre-written emails automatically based on specific triggers or schedules. It's about delivering the right message at the right time without manual effort for each individual.

Do I need a big list to start automating?

No, you don't! Email automation is beneficial even for small email lists. It ensures every new subscriber or customer receives consistent, relevant communication from day one, helping you build relationships and scale your efforts as your list grows.

How do I measure success?

You measure success by tracking how your automated emails perform against your initial goals. If your goal was to increase webinar registrations, you'd look at how many people registered through your automation sequence. If it was to drive sales, you'd track conversion rates. 

What metrics should I track?

Key email marketing metrics to track for email automation include:

• Open rate 

• Click-through rate (CTR) 

• Conversion rate 

• Unsubscribe rate 

Monitoring these helps you understand engagement and effectiveness.

Can automation feel personal?

Absolutely! By segmenting your audience, using personalization tokens, and delivering content highly relevant to their interests or behavior, automated emails can feel just as personal, if not more so, than manually sent messages.

What’s the difference between a workflow and a campaign?

A workflow (or automation sequence) is a series of automated emails and actions triggered by a specific event or condition, designed to guide a recipient through a pre-defined journey (e.g., a welcome series, an onboarding flow). 

A campaign, on the other hand, typically refers to a one-time, standalone email sent to a specific list or segment for a particular purpose (e.g., a holiday promotion, a weekly newsletter). 

Workflows are ongoing and automated, while email campaigns are usually manual and event-driven.