What is Email Automation? Definition, Benefits and Examples

With more marketing channels than ever before to keep up with, email automation can be a way to reclaim some of your business’ resources whilst driving sales in the process.

Previously, email campaigns or sequences would have to be manually triggered. This process could be complicated and time-consuming, especially if you were sending emails to multiple shopper segments.

However, thanks to email automation tools, sending marketing emails has never been easier.

Email marketing automation can significantly shorten the time it takes to create and send personalised emails to individual shoppers. By helping you target shoppers with more relevant campaigns, email automation can drive improved email engagement and increased revenue.

In this article, we’ll cover the basics and benefits of automation in email marketing and provide examples of how to automate emails for your business.

What is email automation in email marketing?

Email automation is the process of using software to automatically deploy email campaigns when specific triggers or events are recorded.

These triggers could include behaviour a shopper carries out on your site or criteria such as mailing list membership or a certain period of inactivity.

Automated emails could be a standalone campaign, part of a sequence of multiple emails, or even part of a wider workflow that involves other marketing channels, such as SMS. 

How does email marketing automation work?

To send automated email marketing, you’ll need to pre-set your campaign triggers within your email marketing software. The software will then recognise when these events occur and deploy an automated email campaign, or activate your automated email sequence or workflow.

So what is an automated email campaign? We’ve listed some example campaigns below to help you understand:

• Welcome emails: Set up an automation to send a welcome email when a new shopper subscribes to your mailing list. This can help your brand build a positive relationship with the shopper.
• Cart abandonment emails: Drive shoppers back to your site to complete an unfinished purchase. Set up an automated email campaign that triggers after a shopper leaves your site with items left in their cart.
• Follow-up emails: Follow up with shoppers who’ve recently been in touch with your customer support team to gather feedback. Trigger an automated survey email to send after a shopper has had contact with a team member.

The benefits of email automation marketing

We’ve mentioned that sending automated emails usually requires specialist email automation software.

As these tools typically charge a subscription fee, you may be wondering whether it’s worthwhile for your business to invest in email marketing automation.

Many marketers think so, with over 50% now opting to use some form of email automation.¹

However, if you’re still unsure, let’s explore the benefits of email and marketing automation for your business.

1. Increased marketing efficiency

What comes to mind when you think of the word automation? It’s likely you think of increased efficiency and productivity.

This is true of email automation, and one of its main benefits.

Once you’ve built your automated email flows and set your triggers, you can let the software take over. You can retarget, re-engage or even nurture shoppers without having to manually segment audiences or press send.

Pro tip: Speed up the setup process with email automation tools that offer pre-set campaigns. Using tools like Salesfire, you can choose from ready-made campaigns with pre-programmed triggers, so you can start sending automated emails in just a few clicks.

Implementing pre-set campaigns reduces the manual labour and time it takes for you to create complex email campaigns and flows. This means you can invest more time in developing creative marketing strategies that drive success for your business.

2. Enhanced shopper personalisation

Email automation can make it easier for you to deliver campaigns to your shoppers’ inboxes. However, to ensure shoppers engage with your email campaigns, you need to include the right message.

Another advantage of email automation is that it allows you to easily personalise your campaigns to the individual shopper.

Most email marketing automation tools will allow you to add variables to your email campaign content or subject lines. This means when an email is sent to a shopper, it will automatically pull through data from their profile, such as their first name.

With more advanced email automation software, campaigns can be automatically triggered by the unique behaviour a shopper carries out on your site. You can also include personalised product recommendations relevant to the shopper’s interests and browsing or purchase history.

As automated personalised emails adapt the campaign and content to each shopper’s unique on-site behaviour, they can be highly engaging. This can boost email open rates and drive clicks that lead to conversions on your site.

3. Improved customer engagement and retention

Email marketing can be the perfect channel for nurturing relationships with your shoppers. From leading new subscribers towards their first purchase to keeping loyal shoppers coming back for more.

Consistent communication goes a long way to building positive relationships with your shoppers, but manually maintaining this through email can require a lot of effort.

Email workflow automation can help you nurture these relationships and improve your customer engagement and retention levels, with minimal effort. 

Send a specific campaign or sequence of emails automatically every time a shopper triggers your email workflow, preventing you from having to create and send new campaigns.

Even whilst you work on other marketing tasks, these automated campaigns will function in the background, helping your brand remain at the forefront of your shoppers’ minds.

4. Better customer experience

When you automate email, you’re no longer relying on a human to press send on your campaigns. This means you can deliver the most relevant messages at the optimal moment. 

For example, a shopper may sign up for your mailing list to receive a discount on their purchase. They will expect their voucher code to be delivered immediately, or they may abandon their purchase completely.

You could set a trigger within your email automation software that will deploy a voucher code confirmation email as soon as a shopper subscribes to your newsletter. 

By allowing you to send emails at the most appropriate times, email automation can help you deliver an enhanced shopping experience.

5. Boost conversions

We’ve discussed how automated email marketing campaigns can enhance shopper personalisation, boost customer engagement, and even deliver a better overall customer experience.

However, it’s likely your main goal is to simply drive more sales for your eCommerce brand. So, how does email automation work to boost conversions specifically?

Email automation helps you deliver the right message to the right shopper at the right time. This means your emails will be more effective at capturing your shoppers’ attention and driving them back to your site to make a purchase.

Now that we’ve explored the benefits of email automation, it’s clear to see why so many marketers have chosen to implement this strategy. Read on to discover some of our favourite automated email examples.

Examples of email automation

We’ve discussed what automated email marketing is and touched on several ways to use email automation as part of your wider email marketing strategy. However, it’s important you set up a range of automated campaigns that are effective at engaging shoppers at every stage of the customer lifecycle.

Consider how new shoppers may have different needs and require a different approach than existing customers who’ve become disengaged with your brand. You need to understand how to automate email marketing in a way that targets these different needs.

To help inspire your campaign creation, here are some examples of the most effective automated emails.

Mailing list voucher confirmation emails

Drive conversions from new mailing list subscribers by setting up an email automation that delivers a voucher code as soon as they sign up. This campaign can help you build positive relationships with your new shoppers by rewarding them for engaging with your brand.

Pro tip: Include a discount amount within your subject line to prompt shoppers to open your email. For example, ‘Here’s £10 off your first order.’

Browse and search abandonment emails

Retarget shoppers who searched for or viewed products on your site but left without purchasing with browse and search abandonment emails. These automated personalised emails can recapture a shopper’s attention by reminding them of the specific products they’ve shown interest in.

Pro tip: Include a personalised variable in the subject line of these emails, such as the name of an item they’ve viewed, to better capture a shopper’s attention.

Additional reading: Learn more about retargeting your shoppers through email in our blog ‘The Ultimate Email Retargeting Checklist’.

Price drop and back in stock emails

Foster positive relationships with your shoppers by sending them timely notifications about their favourite products with automated price drop and back-in-stock emails. Help shoppers secure their perfect product by notifying them immediately when an item they’ve viewed is available again or lower in price.

Cart abandonment and save my basket emails

On average, 70% of shoppers who add items to their online cart will leave without completing their purchase.²

Automated cart abandonment emails are an effective yet low-cost way to drive these shoppers to convert. Trigger an email that reminds shoppers of the specific products they left behind and to return and complete their purchase.

For larger purchases requiring more consideration, keep abandoning shoppers engaged throughout their decision-making process with automated save my basket emails. This campaign allows shoppers to save their items for when they are ready to purchase, with a series of follow-up emails to gently encourage them back to your site.

Post-purchase recommendation emails

Maximise the value of a recent purchase by promoting cross-sells through automated post-purchase recommendation emails. You can set these campaigns to automatically deploy after a shopper has bought from you, suggesting complementary products they may like.

Pro tip: Make these emails more effective by including personalised product suggestions. Email automation tools like Salesfire can automatically populate your email with AI-driven product recommendations relevant to each shopper’s interests or purchase history.

Re-engagement emails

Automated re-engagement emails can help you recapture the interest of shoppers who have stopped engaging with your brand. You could set this campaign to deploy when a shopper hasn’t interacted with your site for a certain amount of time. Use this opportunity to remind shoppers of why they should choose your brand.

Pro tip: Include an exclusive discount code in your re-engagement email to motivate disengaged shoppers to return to your site and purchase.

Automate for success

You’ll now understand what email marketing automation is and how it makes implementing advanced email marketing strategies much more accessible for your business.

We’ve explained how email marketing software enables you to automatically deploy engaging emails to shoppers at the optimal moment, improving your marketing efficiency.

From sending new subscriber discounts to recommending complimentary products, you can leverage automated email campaigns to guide shoppers through their entire buying journey and boost conversions.

1 Areas in which marketers used automation the most worldwide 2024 | Statista

2 49 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics 2025 | Baymard Institute