Email marketing remains a cornerstone in digital marketing, but managing effective campaigns can be a significant challenge for businesses of all sizes.

Many find themselves grappling with time-consuming processes, difficulties in personalisation, and the complexities of tracking campaign performance.

The sheer volume of emails required for a successful campaign can be overwhelming, often leading to inconsistent messaging and timing.

Tracking the performance of these campaigns presents its own set of challenges. With multiple metrics to monitor—from open rates and click-throughs to conversions and ROI—analysing campaign effectiveness can quickly become a full-time job in itself.

Given these challenges, you might be considering email marketing automation platforms to streamline your processes.

HubSpot’s Email Marketing Automation is a tool that many marketers and business owners have found helpful.

This platform offers a range of features designed to address the common email marketing pain points you may be experiencing.

Today, we’ll take a closer look at HubSpot’s Email Marketing Automation and how you can use it to improve your email marketing.

We’ll discuss three main topics: a summary of HubSpot Marketing Automation’s, general instructions on creating automated emails in HubSpot, and useful tips for getting the most out of the platform.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it!

What Is HubSpot Email Marketing Automation?

HubSpot Email Marketing Automation is a tool that helps businesses send targeted emails to their contacts automatically. It’s part of HubSpot’s larger marketing apps and works with other HubSpot features.

This tool lets you create email campaigns that send messages based on specific triggers or schedules.

For example, you can set up emails to go out when someone fills out a form on your website, clicks a link in a previous email, or reaches a certain date.

With HubSpot’s automation, you can:

1. Create personalised email content
2. Schedule emails to send at optimal times
3. Segment your contact list for more targeted messaging
4. Track email performance with built-in analytics
5. Set up complex email sequences based on user behavior

The goal is to help you communicate with your audience more efficiently and effectively without having to manually send each email. This can save time, improve your email marketing results, and help you nurture leads through your sales funnel.

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How to Set Up an Automated Email in HubSpot

Setting up an automated email in HubSpot is a straightforward process. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

1. Log into HubSpot and navigate to Marketing > Email. Click “Create email” and select “Automated” as the email type.
2. Choose a template or start from scratch, then design your email content using the drag-and-drop editor.
3. Set up your enrolment triggers, which determine when the email will be sent (e.g., when a contact submits a form).
4. Define your target audience by selecting the list or criteria for recipients.
5. Review, test, and activate your automated email in the workflow settings.

Remember, you can always go back and edit your automated emails or adjust the workflow as needed. It’s a good idea to monitor the performance of your automated emails regularly and make improvements based on the data you collect.

For more detailed instructions on how to use automation with marketing emails in HubSpot, it is advisable to visit the HubSpot Knowledge Base. That resource provides comprehensive guidance on creating and managing automated email campaigns in HubSpot.

7 Tips & Best Practices for Email Marketing Automation

Doing email marketing automation properly will help to boost your marketing efforts, increase engagement, and ultimately drive conversions.

However, it’s not just about setting up automated workflows and letting them run.

To maximise HubSpot’s email marketing automation, you need to implement advanced strategies and best practices.

There are at least 7 tips and best practices that can elevate your email marketing game, helping you create more targeted, personalised, and effective campaigns.

From advanced segmentation techniques to innovative content strategies and cutting-edge analytics, these tips will guide you in maximising the potential of your automated email marketing efforts.

Let’s get into the details of each tips

1. Segment Your Audience

Break your contact list into smaller groups based on shared characteristics. This allows you to send more targeted, relevant emails that resonate with each segment. Consider segmenting based on:

• Demographics (age, location, job title)
• Behavior (past purchases, website activity)
• Engagement level (active vs. inactive subscribers)
• Position in the sales funnel (leads, prospects, customers)

You should expect improved performance overall and higher engagement rates if you customise your messages for particular audiences.

2. Personalise Your Content

Email personalisation is much more than just putting the recipient’s name in the subject line.

Generic communications are often missed in today’s cluttered inboxes.

To truly capture your audience’s attention, you need to leverage advanced personalisation techniques that speak directly to each subscriber’s unique interests and behaviours.

HubSpot’s has smart content features to help you with the content personalisation.

These tools allow you to dynamically adjust your email content based on a wealth of subscriber data. Imagine being able to show completely different product recommendations to a first-time visitor compared to a loyal customer who’s made multiple purchases. This level of customisation can significantly boost engagement and conversion rates.

But personalisation doesn’t stop at content. Timing is equally crucial.

Send-time optimisation allows you to make sure that your emails get in each recipient’s inbox at the exact moment when they are most likely to interact with them. For example, subscribers who subscribe early might get their emails at 9 AM, and those who sign late might get theirs at 8 PM.

3. Create Valuable Content

In email marketing, content is king, but valuable content is the true emperor.

Creating and delivering content that resonates with your audience is crucial for maintaining engagement, building trust, and ultimately driving conversions.

Valuable content is beyond just promotional messages or generic information.

It’s content that addresses your subscribers’ specific needs, answers their questions, and provides solutions to their problems. This could take many forms, depending on your audience and industry.

For example, if you are a Managed Service Provider (MSP), useful content could be case studies illustrating how you have assisted clients in minimising IT downtime, in-depth guides on cybersecurity best practices for small businesses, or comparison charts of various cloud storage solutions tailored for different industry needs.

You may also include infographics that outline the financial advantages of outsourcing IT services as opposed to keeping an in-house team or video lessons on how to set up safe remote work environments.

These kinds of content offer useful, doable knowledge that specifically addresses the needs and problems of your target audience in the field of IT management.

Remember, the key to creating truly valuable content is understanding your audience deeply and consistently delivering information that they find useful, relevant, and timely.

4. Test and optimise

Experimenting boldly in email marketing can reveal what truly connects with your audience. Adopting an iterative mindset involves constantly fine-tuning your strategy using data-driven insights to enhance email effectiveness.

This approach requires regular testing of various email components and result analysis. It focuses on small, gradual adjustments and observing their effects over time. You might try different subject lines, modify email layouts, or explore diverse content types.

For example, as an MSP business, you can test to send two newsletter versions: one detailing technical service aspects, another showcasing client successes.

Analysing open rates, click-throughs, and conversions helps identify which style engages subscribers more. These findings can guide future strategies, perhaps merging elements from both versions.

HubSpot’s Email Marketing has A/B testing functionality that allows you to compare different versions of your emails. You can test elements like subject lines, content, or sender names to see which performs better.

Keep in mind, the aim isn’t to create a single, unchanging “perfect” email template. Rather, it’s about fostering ongoing refinement, constantly learning from your audience, and adjusting to their shifting preferences and requirements.

5. Monitor Your Metrics

Monitoring the right metrics is essential for gauging the success of your email marketing efforts and making informed decisions.

While it’s easy to get lost in a sea of data, focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) can provide valuable insights into your campaign’s effectiveness.

HubSpot’s email marketing tool offers several important metrics that you should keep an eye on:

1. Open Rate: This shows the percentage of recipients who opened your email.
2. Click-through Rate (CTR): This measures how many people clicked on links within your email.
3. Conversion Rate: This tracks how many recipients completed a desired action after clicking through your email.
4. Unsubscribe Rate: This indicates the percentage of recipients who opt out of your email list.
5. Bounce Rate: This shows the percentage of emails that weren’t delivered successfully.

The goal isn’t just to improve these numbers for their own sake, but to use them as indicators of how well you’re connecting with your audience and achieving your business objectives.

6. Maintain a Clean Contact List

A “clean contact list” means that your email database should contain accurate, up-to-date, and engaged subscribers. It’s free from invalid email addresses, inactive users, and those who no longer wish to receive your communications.

Maintaining a clean list is important for improving deliverability, engagement rates, and overall email marketing effectiveness.

1. Regularly remove bounced emails: Hard bounces (permanent delivery failures) should be removed immediately, while soft bounces (temporary issues) should be monitored and removed if they persist.
2. Implement a re-engagement campaign: Periodically reach out to inactive subscribers with special offers or content to win them back. Remove those who remain unengaged after these attempts.
3. Use double opt-in: This method requires new subscribers to confirm their email address, ensuring only interested parties join your list.
4. Provide easy unsubscribe options: Make it simple for recipients to opt-out. This helps maintain a list of only those who want to receive your emails.
5. Segment your list: Group subscribers based on their interests, behaviours, or demographics. This allows you to send more relevant content, keeping subscribers engaged and less likely to unsubscribe.

It’s important to note that if your email metrics (such as open rates, click-through rates, or conversion rates) seem unusually low, a “dirty” email list could be the culprit.

A list filled with invalid emails, unengaged subscribers, or spam traps can significantly drag down your performance metrics.

In such cases, cleaning your list might lead to a temporary decrease in your total subscriber count, but it often results in improved engagement rates and deliverability in the long run.

7. Respect Privacy and Compliance

Go beyond basic compliance. Implement a customer data platform to create a single source of truth for all customer data, making it easier to manage consent and preferences across channels. Use privacy by design principles when developing new email campaigns or workflows.

Regularly conduct privacy impact assessments to identify and mitigate potential risks in your email marketing processes.

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Conclusion

Email marketing automation with HubSpot offers a powerful way to engage your audience, nurture leads, and drive conversions. Remember to continuously test, optimise, and monitor your metrics to ensure your email marketing strategy evolves with your audience’s needs and preferences.

As you implement these strategies, you may find that integrating HubSpot with your other business applications could further enhance your marketing efforts.

Nexalabs’ App Integration service is designed to address these challenges.

We focus on integrating HubSpot with your current business tools, such as PSA software, to build a unified system that boosts your operational abilities. This connection can give you a fuller picture of your customers, automate workflows across platforms, and open up new ways to personalise and target your email marketing campaigns.

Contact Nexalabs today for a consultation about your specific requirements and discover how App Integration Services can help drive real results for your business.