One of the many great features of a marketing automation tool like HubSpot is the ability to set up email workflows that deftly and automatically nurture prospects by delivering the right marketing content in the right sequence. However, as one of the top HubSpot agencies in Missouri and Colorado, we advise the clients we work with nationwide that in order to make the most of email workflows, you have to use them wisely. “Automated” should never be equated with “mindless” or “robotic.”
Insights from an Experienced HubSpot Certified Agency Partner
As a HubSpot certified agency partner, we’ve helped many clients use email workflows to increase engagement, grow their audience, generate more leads, and make more sales. Here are five critical considerations that have become apparent along the way:
- You have to be clear about your goal. Yes, that goes without saying. But, you’d be surprised by how many seasoned marketers kick off an email campaign with a less-than-clear vision of what they’re trying to accomplish. Are they looking to grow their subscriber base? Get prospects to talk with a sales rep? Convince the recipient to make a purchase today? Having a well-defined objective will always deliver better results.
- You should plan your campaigns down to the smallest details. How will the messaging evolve from one email to the next? What call to action will be used in each email and why? On a busy marketing team, it’s easy to say, “Let’s get the first email crafted and sent, and then after that we’ll play it by ear.” But, that strategy more often than not results in you hitting some sour notes along the way. Take the time and effort to map the campaign from beginning to end before any emails get queued up.
- Your messaging must be persona-driven. If you are not marketing to a very specific type of prospect, you are not marketing well. In this age of information overload, it’s crucial that your emails “talk” to the recipient as if it were you sitting down next to them. Otherwise, they’ll remove them from their Inbox as fast as they can reach the Delete key.
- Your content must solve a problem. Content marketing is all about helping a prospect overcome a hurdle and arrive at a better/happier/more effective future state. They don’t need to know what your product does, they need to know what it will do for them.
- You have to measure and adjust throughout a campaign. As noted above, while HubSpot can greatly simplify the management of email workflows, that doesn’t mean you should “set it and forget it.” On the contrary, you should be using the powerful analytics in HubSpot to determine how your emails are being perceived and how your content is being consumed (so that you can tweak the campaign as you go to optimize its performance).
Combining Technology and Expertise for Optimal Results
As powerful as it is (and it is powerful), the HubSpot marketing platform can’t truly “know” your company, your market, or your objectives. That’s why you need to collaborate with a group like our HubSpot Gurus. We not only understand the technology, we bring more than two decades of experience to bear on your communications and marketing challenges. What should the email workflow of your next campaign include and how should the sequence play out in order to achieve the highest return? Let’s discuss it.