How Blink Built Its Business with Email Automation

Customers also receive automated email surveys during the onboarding process itself.

“When we see that a customer is setting up the system, we use an automated survey email to gather profile information,” Laubner says. “That lets us slice up our list and identify some of our key demographics. And Mailchimp makes that kind of segmentation really easy to do.”

That segmentation is important, because it determines how customers will be targeted by future email campaigns. This step is key to ensuring that Blink’s marketing emails stay relevant to their customers.

Crafting the content

Once customers have had a chance to begin installing their cameras, Blink follows up with emails showing how other people are using them.

“Every day, people send us emails showing these cool new ways they’re using the cameras,” Hinds says. “So our users actually help create that content, which we can show new customers to help get them excited about the possibilities. Primarily, we want people to see how they can get the most out of their cameras, but there’s also an opportunity to sell them on more equipment or a second system.”

Whether it’s a new sale, a survey response, or a good review, successful conversions in automated campaigns depend on good design as much as anything.

“It has to draw people to the primary call to action,” Abner Cavalcanti, graphic designer for Blink, says. “It’s easy—and all too common—for emails to get cluttered trying to cater to different groups. But because of how Dan segments our email audience for each campaign, I’m able to design with a single conversion objective in mind.”

Not every email has to convert, though. It’s equally important to foster a relationship.

“We try to keep our emails less salesy,” Laubner says. “We watch how people come in to our list to figure out how we can best nurture our connection. If someone came in because of pet videos, they may not be as interested in home security. But as long as we keep providing the content they’re interested in, they’ll be happy to hear from us.”

4 ways to automate better

1. Do your homework. “Mailchimp gives you a ton of analytics data, but you have to get the groundwork done,” Hinds says. That can include using surveys to build out customer profiles, or finding opportunities like abandoned carts to trigger an automatic email. The more information you can gather about your customers, their behaviors, and their goals, the better your automated campaigns can serve them.
2. Test, refine, and test again. You probably won’t get things right the first time. Maybe not even the first few times. “One example is our automated campaign to sell discounted refurbished cameras,” Cavalcanti says. “We’ve tried a half-dozen pieces of creative this year. It was a lot of work, but just this month we finally hit on a winning combination.” Don’t stress if it takes time to make your campaign successful—just keep testing it until you get it right.
3. Grow your list with offers. The more people on your email list, the better. You can perform better testing, segment more campaigns, and automate more effectively. So how do you entice people to sign up? “We offer 5% off right away for joining our email list,” Hinds says. “That generates far more emails than I ever would have thought, and it’s a discount that won’t break the bank.” Don’t be afraid to offer a few incentives.
4. Then test some more. Even if you’ve crafted a tried-and-true campaign, it’s important to avoid settling into a rut. Every time you send an email, it’s an opportunity to test new ideas, even in automated campaigns. “We’re always working on new ways to sell, and that starts with looking at open and click-through rates,” Hinds says. “I test things bracket style—the winner of one test goes up against something new the next time, and we see who lasts.” A good automated campaign needs to be nurtured and developed. When it is, some pretty amazing things can happen for your business.