Email marketing automation: What is it and how to implement it

Email marketing automation sends targeted messages to your audience based on predetermined rules or triggers. This involves four key steps: defining your audience, setting triggers like sign-ups or purchases, creating message sequences, and reviewing results to improve.

Some of the most common examples of email automation include welcome emails for new subscribers, cart recovery emails to nudge shoppers to finish their purchase, and re-engagement emails to reconnect with inactive readers. These automated email marketing workflows keep your audience connected without adding more to your to-do list.

Over time, this practice can increase sales, improve customer relationships, and keep your brand top of mind. With the right tools and proper planning, you can launch your first automated email marketing campaign and start seeing results.

What is email marketing automation?

Email marketing automation is the process of using software to send emails automatically based on specific rules or subscriber actions. It streamlines repetitive tasks in your email campaigns, making sure subscribers receive timely and relevant messages without you having to manually send each one.

The process involves several key steps. First, you define your audience and segment them into groups like new subscribers, recent buyers, or inactive readers. 

Next, you set triggers like sign-ups, purchases, or lack of engagement to activate pre-made email sequences, whether it’s one message or a series. 

The final step is tracking results and refining your campaigns. By reviewing open rates, clicks, and responses, you can improve your email marketing strategy over time and keep communication consistent.

What are the common types of email marketing automation?

Automation can be applied to a variety of use cases in email marketing. Ecommerce brands rely on it to welcome new subscribers, recover abandoned carts, and re-engage inactive customers. B2B companies use it to nurture leads, onboard new clients, and send account-based marketing campaigns. And similar opportunities exist across most industries.

Here are a few go-to automated email marketing campaigns that can help you connect with your audience and save time.

Welcome emails

A welcome series is usually the first step in automated email marketing. When someone signs up for your newsletter or creates an account, they automatically receive a sequence of emails introducing your brand, products, or services.

These emails set expectations, share your story, and encourage subscribers to take the next step, like making a purchase or visiting your website. For example, the popular VPN service NordVPN uses welcome emails to increase product knowledge by providing a list of features and a one-click solution to enable the tool.

As a key part of personalized marketing, this type of campaign builds trust and creates a foundation for long-term relationships from the start. A well-designed welcome flow is one of the most impactful automated email marketing campaigns because it gives new subscribers the feeling that they’ve joined a community, not just a mailing list.

Abandoned cart emails

Abandoned cart reminders are one of the most effective automated email marketing campaigns for online stores. When a shopper adds products to their cart but doesn’t complete checkout, the system sends a reminder email (sometimes with a discount or product recommendation) to encourage them to return.

This type of outbound email automation reduces lost sales by giving customers a second chance to complete their order. Even a simple reminder can bring back buyers who were distracted or hesitant, turning missed opportunities into revenue.

Here’s a simple email example from Viva La Dirt League’s online store, showing items in the cart with a one-click button to return and finish checkout. 

Re-engagement emails

Some subscribers naturally become less engaged over time and stop opening or interacting with your emails. Re-engagement campaigns are designed to bring them back. These automated email marketing flows usually include special offers, surveys, or personalized messages that remind readers why they signed up in the first place.

Implementing this automation helps you maintain a healthy, active subscriber list. Instead of letting inactive contacts take up space, you use automated campaigns to reintroduce your brand and win them over again.

Zoom, for example, sent a re-engagement email congratulating users on two years of staying connected. The video conference platform added a nice message acknowledging the user’s journey and a discount to encourage upgrading, keeping it personal and persuasive.

If they still don’t respond, removing them from your list can improve overall email deliverability. Fewer inactive addresses mean a higher open rate, which signals to email providers that your messages are valuable and less likely to be marked as spam.

Transactional emails

Transactional emails are another common type of outbound email automation triggered by actions like order confirmations, shipping updates, or password resets. A classic example of transactional email automation is a login confirmation, which the streaming platform Twitch sends to verify account activity.

These messages are mostly functional, designed to share important details and confirm the user’s actions. However, since transactional emails are expected and usually opened right away, they’re also perfect for cross-selling, upselling, and highlighting related products.

With a bit of thoughtful design and useful extras, even a simple confirmation email can become a positive experience that strengthens customer loyalty.

What are the benefits of email marketing automation?

We’ve briefly covered how email marketing automation helps you save time, connect with your audience in a more personal way, and get better results from your campaigns. However, the benefits of email automation go far beyond convenience.

Here’s where it really makes a difference:

• Personalization at scale. Automated email campaigns send messages based on user actions like signing up, making a purchase, or abandoning a cart. This makes every email feel more relevant, grabbing attention and building trust faster than generic blasts.
• Higher conversion rates. Personalized emails reach your audience when they’re most likely to take the next step. That’s why the average email click-through rate is 1.89%, with some industries reaching up to 5.77%.
• Time and cost savings. Once you set up automated email marketing flows, they run on their own. That means fewer repetitive tasks for you and more consistent communication with your audience, all without extra time or budget.
• Scalability. Automated email marketing grows with your business. Whether you’re sending to 100 or 100,000 people, it handles delivery, timing, and segmentation. You can expand your reach without putting an extra workload on your team.
• Stronger customer relationships. Automated campaigns keep your brand visible with helpful updates, tips, or offers. Staying present in subscribers’ inboxes makes them feel valued, which can turn occasional buyers into loyal customers.
• Clear performance insights. Most tools let you track open rates, clicks, and sales from your automated emails. These numbers make it easier to see what’s working, adjust your campaigns, and improve results over time.

How to launch an automated email marketing campaign

Launching an automated campaign starts with planning your email marketing strategy and choosing the right tool to handle automation. It’s also important to build and segment your email list so you know exactly who you’re talking to.

Next, decide which automation workflow you want to run based on your goal. For example, welcome series are great for introducing new subscribers and guiding them toward their first action, while abandoned cart reminders help retrieve lost sales.

After mapping out your workflows, create email templates that match your brand voice and design, whether it’s for a one-off confirmation or a longer series. Most email marketing platforms offer pre-designed templates to speed up common workflows like creating a newsletter.

Once your campaign has launched, keep an eye on key metrics like open rates, clicks, and conversions. Tracking these results helps you spot optimization opportunities and get more from your automated email marketing campaigns.

Which tools can I use for automation?

Email marketing tools are key to automating your campaigns. They can do anything from growing your list and designing workflows to automatically sending emails, tracking results, and handling other repetitive tasks along the way.

When comparing email automation software, pay attention to factors like ease of use, automation features, template libraries, integrations, and pricing. And since each platform brings something different to the table, make sure your chosen tools’ features fit your needs.

Here are three of the best email marketing platforms to help you kickstart your automation journey:

Hostinger Reach

The Hostinger Reach email marketing platform simplifies email automation with AI. It helps you design brand-aligned email templates in minutes, manage lists, and send campaigns using prompts ‒ great for both beginners and professionals.

Its built-in integration with Hostinger Website Builder and WordPress lets you sync leads directly from website forms. It comes with ready-to-use automation templates and an AI-powered template creator, so you can set up campaigns in just a few clicks and start seeing results quickly. This makes it ideal for businesses who can’t afford to invest in a dedicated email marketing team.

The tool is fully compliant with regulations like GDPR and CAN-SPAM Act. It also comes with real-time reporting and analytics to help you spot opportunities to optimize your campaigns.

Mailchimp

This email marketing automation platform meets the digital marketing needs of solo entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses. Its automation workflows can include hundreds of steps on higher-tier plans, letting you automate nearly every part of your campaign.

Besides offering a wide range of integrations, Mailchimp also offers a drag-and-drop template to further streamline your campaign-building process. Whether you’re planning ahead or not ready to send, the email scheduler makes sure your content is sent at the right time. A/B testing feature is also available to help fine-tune your campaigns.

Omnisend

Omnisend offers email automation tools specifically catered to businesses looking to automate customer engagement across multiple platforms. Pre-built ecommerce workflows and blocks save you time, while the ability to add unlimited custom events as triggers makes them fully customizable.

You can also automate push notifications and SMS messages to encourage more engagement. Pair this with advanced customer segmentation and personalized product recommendations to further boost sales.

Advanced email automation tips

Basic email workflows are just the beginning of what’s possible using third-party platforms. Workflow automation tools like Zapier and n8n can help you create more powerful, customized email marketing workflows that save you time and improve results.

Here are some ideas to scale your email marketing workflow:

• Use Zapier to connect apps. This web automation tool lets you connect your email marketing tool to hundreds of other apps, enabling automated actions between platforms. For example, you can sync with Google Sheets to track and segment your audience in real time, giving you the best of both platforms.
• Use n8n for custom automation workflows. This tool enables advanced workflows across multiple apps without coding, creating a truly tailored email marketing automation workflow that reacts in real-time to customer actions.
• Automatically segment your audience for targeted campaigns. Both Zapier and n8n excel at integrating different data sources, letting you automatically segment your email list by customer profiles. The result is precise targeting, improving the chances of converting leads into customers through email workflow automation.
• Leverage dynamic content and personalization with AI. Some advanced marketing automation software integrates with AI tools that automatically adjust email content based on customer preferences and behavior. Use this to update product recommendations, adjust messaging based on past interactions, or modify email subject lines in real time to increase open rates.

Email marketing automation examples

With 4.73 billion people projected to use email by 2026, businesses are increasingly investing in email automation. That means there’s no shortage of inspiring email marketing campaigns to draw inspiration from.

Let’s look at some of the best automated email campaigns from different industries.

Afina

The showerhead brand makes a solid first impression with a discount code in its welcome email, which grabs attention right away. Next, they greet you with a warm message that highlights how their products can solve your everyday problems. They even tap into the eco-conscious vibe, letting you know their showerheads are good for the environment.

At the bottom, they feature a few popular products and add some social proof with a link to their Instagram. By sharing real customer stories, they start building trust right away, and they’re giving new subscribers a chance to engage and connect with the brand more.

How automation helps: With automated workflows, Afina delivers this personalized, consistent experience to every new subscriber the moment they sign up. It’s a great example of how automation allows you to nurture leads, build trust, and encourage engagement at scale without investing in a marketing team or running campaigns manually 24/7.

Birddogs

The men’s clothing brand keeps its messaging light and fun, offering entertainment instead of pushing marketing directly. By starting with humor, subscribers are more likely to stay engaged and reach the end of the newsletter.

Their campaigns usually kick off with a cheeky comic strip. In this example, the story casually highlights what the characters are wearing. 

In the final panel, the comic breaks the illusion with a real image of the trousers, revealing that all characters are sporting their khaki lineup. Paired with witty copy and a catchy call-to-action, Birddogs proves that promotional efforts can be playful while still remaining effective.

How automation helps: With automation, Birddogs can prepare a series of comic strips in advance and schedule them to go out regularly, keeping the tone consistent without extra effort each week. Automated workflows also let them easily combine entertainment with product reveals, making the switch from comic to clothing smooth and repeatable for every campaign. 

Porte + Hall

The home goods brand highlights its products through real-life shots, showing how its stylish mats look in everyday spaces. Authentic images help buyers picture the products in their own homes, which makes the decision to purchase feel more natural.

The email also features a discount code alongside a customer review to build trust and encourage purchases. Social icons are included too, giving subscribers another way to connect with the brand outside their inbox.

How automation helps: Automation makes it easy to send discounts to shoppers who abandon carts or browse without buying. Porte + Hall can also reuse templates, adjusting only the necessary elements to keep campaigns fresh. Rotating customer reviews, for example, would be time-consuming if done manually.

What does the trend for email marketing automation look like?

Email automation is on the rise because it saves time and makes messages more relevant, which means better results. With daily email volume expected to hit over 408 billion by 2027 according to email automation statistics, automation helps brands cut through the noise.

Most companies already use it to stay close to their audience. About 63% send customer engagement emails, while 58% focus on promotions and newsletters. Personalization is also a big factor, with more than half of marketers tailoring their content to match subscriber interests.

Businesses that send daily emails often see click-through rates of 5% or higher. Automation makes this possible even for smaller teams, as nearly half of companies dedicate less than a quarter of their staff to email projects. By automating workflows, they can still maintain consistency and strong engagement without adding extra workload.

Another trend is the shift to mobile. Around 80% of marketers now use mobile marketing tools, reflecting the fact that 64% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. As mobile use keeps growing, this focus has become a necessity.

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