What comes to mind when you think about writing email messages for your clients?
Email newsletters? Promotional emails?
Those types of emails are important — and they’re a great opportunity for writers.
But, where businesses see the most return on their investment is with automated messages.
According to data gathered by Campaign Monitor, automated email messages bring in 320% more revenue than other types of mailings. And, according to Forbes, that number could be as high as 2,900%.
Despite those amazing numbers, only about three in every five companies use automation as part of their email-marketing strategy (also according to Forbes).
Those numbers paint a significant, hidden email-writing opportunity for writers.
- For companies that already use email automation, you could help them improve the results of those messages.
- For companies that use email marketing, but haven’t made the leap to automated email messages, you could be the writer/consultant who helps them cross that bridge to higher revenues. Talk about being a hero!
Now, you probably have questions… like, What exactly are automated messages? And, How do I approach clients about writing these kinds of messages?
Good questions… keep reading to find your answers.
What Exactly Are Automated Email Messages?
An automated email message is any message that goes out automatically in response to a subscriber who meets certain criteria.
For example, when a customer clicks on a link and makes a purchase, the confirmation email they receive is an automated message. That’s a basic, transactional message.
But two days later, another automated message could go out about an additional product that will enhance their experience with their purchase. That’s an upsell message, and since it’s connected to their previous actions, it’s much more likely to resonate and get a response.
Because automated messages get sent based on specific actions or criteria, they offer a highly personalized experience. These messages are about topics a reader has expressed an interest in, and they arrive at a time that makes sense in context of what the reader has been looking at and doing.
And that means they’re relevant, useful, and welcome from your reader’s point of view. That’s a great recipe for conversion!
Contrast automated messages with broadcast emails that go out to everyone on a list (or a segment of a list) at the same time. These messages (newsletters, announcements, product promotions) also play an important role in a company’s marketing, but they aren’t going to be as powerful at making sales as automated messages… because, by their nature, they’ll be less personalized.
Let’s Look at a Few Examples…
Automated message flows can be very basic.
Customer Purchase => Confirmation Email (Immediate) => Upsell Offer (+2 days)
In many cases, they can also be combined with a text message (SMS). So, that might look like…
Customer Purchase => Confirmation Email (Immediate) => Upsell Offer (+2 days) => SMS Reminder (+1 day, if and only if they don’t purchase from the upsell).
Automated message flows can also be quite complex.
For example, imagine you have a newsletter. And within your website, you have three different invitations to subscribe to the newsletter, each with a different lead magnet.
Now imagine for one of those lead magnets, you write a three-part welcome series that ties into the lead magnet topic.
In that welcome series, you might include a special offer on an entry-level product. For anyone who converts on that offer, that could move them from the welcome series into a new two-part series that offers a higher-value service.
And anyone who makes that purchase might receive a confirmation email followed by a five-part series on how to get the most from that service.
Meanwhile, the folks who don’t convert to the first offer will finish out the original welcome series and then begin receiving the broadcast messages sent to the full list. But, they may also be tagged to receive a two-part automated series one month later that offers the entry-level product again.
In case you weren’t keeping track, this more complex flow has 13 automated messages that could be sent out to folks who sign up for one of the lead magnets…and, if you write a unique flow for each lead magnet, that would be a a total of 39 messages.
That sounds like a lot of work, which is great for you as the writer!
But, it’s also excellent for your client… because, even though these messages mean a little more up-front work, they go out to prospects who are warm, if not blazing hot. And, since the topics of those messages are directly relevant to the interests expressed by those new subscribers, you’ll deliver a higher conversion rate.
That means a flow like this has the potential to contribute significantly to a client’s bottom line.
What Are the Most Common Automated Messages?
Automated messages come in handy in a variety of situations. And, when you think strategically about the customer journey, you may come up with ways to use automated messages that aren’t in common practice. (More on that in a moment.)
But, there are a variety of scenarios where automated messages have been proven effective — have even come to be expected by readers — and these are a great place to start a conversation with your clients.
Basic Automated Messages:
- Order confirmation messages: Send these when someone purchases a product or service. Set expectations for delivery. Make an upsell offer on a related product.
- Shipping messages: Send these when a product has shipped to manage delivery expectations and build excitement.
- Order delivery messages: Send these when a product arrives at a customer’s doorstep. This is an opportunity to include helpful tips for using the product, if it’s at all complex.
- Review requests: Send these a week or two after a product has been delivered. Request a star rating, a review, or honest feedback.
- Software updates: Send these to software-as-a-service users, when new features are being added.
- Welcome messages: Send these to new subscribers to an email list. Fulfill any subscription incentives, invite them to follow you on social media, share your best stuff (most popular blogs or articles), introduce your team, and set expectations for what they’ll receive as a subscriber.
- Abandoned cart messages: Send these when someone has added items to their shopping cart but not completed the purchase.
- Birthday greetings: Send these on a subscriber’s birthday, maybe with a special offer.
- Milestone messages: Send these to active subscribers and customers on the anniversary of their subscription or purchase, again maybe with a special offer.
Ask Your Clients About Their Automated Messages
The best way to break into writing automated messages is to start with your existing clients.
Ask about their automated messages and how they’re using email automation.
If they’re already using some of the basic email automated messages listed above, ask if you can review what they have. Look for opportunities for improvement and then ask if they’d be interested in new versions to test against what they’re currently using.
A lot of basic automated messages are very dry and read like boilerplate copy. These messages work better when you have a little fun with them, so that’s one thing to look for when you review your client’s messages.
These messages are often (not always) a good opportunity to suggest related products, so watch for missed opportunities, as well.
If your client isn’t already using automated email messages, talk to them about the potential to increase their conversions by adding some of these messages into the mix. And who better to write them than you!
You can also approach new prospects with this service, highlighting how strong and effective automated messages can dramatically boost their conversion rates.
But Wait, There’s More…
Writing basic automated email messages is just the beginning.
There are tons of ways to deliver great results through more advanced automated email message flows. These take planning and work. But, they can pay big dividends in conversions down the road.
To learn more about how you can help your clients create advanced automated email flows, keep an eye out for the second half of this series in our member’s only article coming out on Friday.
Not yet a Digital Copywriter member? Start your membership today for just $1 and enjoy the second half of this series, along with a ton of other resources to help you thrive in your career.
I’ve got a request to Colleen for a tracked link. I can drop that in or send it over when I get it.
