7 Ways To Make Your Automated Emails Feel More Human

By April 10, 2017

Marketing automation makes it a lot easier to engage and nurture your following. It also saves you a lot of time, which inherently saves you money and lets you focus on the important aspects of running your business.

I think it’s safe to say that automation is awesome.


But that’s not to say that automation isn’t flawed. When done wrong, it can come off as cold and stale—and nothing is more off-putting than receiving messages from a robot.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. We teamed up with our friends at Zapier to talk about bringing some life back to your automated emails.

First things first: What does automation even mean?

It can be hard to do automation the right way if you aren’t fully aware of what it means and the opportunities it allows for.

To put it simply, automation allows you to automate the apps and tasks you do every day to improve your workflow and give you more time to focus on the things that machines can’t do—like creating content or building your next product.

Automation does have it’s critics…

Zapier explained it best: Bad automation can come off as the internet’s version of telemarketing. (The worst, right?)

Don’t waste your subscribers time by sending impersonal, spammy content. At the other side of the inbox is a real, live human after all. Try weaving in a personal note or making simple tweaks to your design and content to give it a a much needed human touch.

But when done right, you can reap the benefits

Email automation can create a really great experience for your subscribers by allowing you to deliver content to them on demand. This is perfect for a welcome email or promotional offer that you want them to receive right away.

It also means you can schedule your content in advance, keeping a clear and consistent content cadence that nurtures those subscribers overtime.

Automation is a must for a well-rounded email strategy

If you’re going to automate anything, it should be your welcome email. (And if you don’t have a welcome email set up, what are you waiting for?)

Your welcome email is that initial impression subscribers have with your brand. Relationships take time to grow and build trust, so set a high standard by offering something valuable right off the bat.

Just don’t forget that human touch

The easiest way to make your automated messages feel like they were sent from a real person is to ensure that they’re being sent at the right time. Personalization is key for getting relevant content in front of the right audience.

Another pro tip? Use your data! Look at where your subscribers are clicking and scrolling the most and take advantage of those opportunities to highly target your content.

And definitely don’t use it in these situations

There’s nothing worse than reaching out to get help and receiving an automated, impersonal message in response. Take advantage of the opportunities to have real, live conversations with your subscribers.

Automation also shouldn’t be used when there’s timely content involved, like a newsletter or promotion.

Keep these best practices in mind before you hit “Schedule”

Automation doesn’t mean “set it and forget it”. You need to remember to go back and fine tune your messages to ensure they stay fresh and make sense as your business grows.

What’s next

Be sure to tune in on Thursday, May 4 for our next #EmailChat. We’ll be discussing the hot topic of email deliverability. (After all, your emails have to make it to the inbox to get opened, right?)

Sign up for our blog digest to get email marketing news, strategies and more delivered right to your inbox. We’ll see you next month!

Posted By

Olivia Dello Buono

Social Media Specialist

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3 Comments

  1. indir

    4/10/2017 7:31 pm

    thanks I think automation can be used in most cases

  2. thientampc

    4/11/2017 5:39 am

    thanks for sharing

  3. bullet force

    4/13/2017 4:02 am

    It’s really useful. Thanks for sharing!