10 Important Email Marketing Features You Need in 2024

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Email marketing platforms can take a lot off your workload and give back valuable time to your day. They’re an effective means of becoming more efficient and profitable as marketing efforts become better informed and as sales are given quality leads. 

But not all tools are equal. This means, there will be variances in each one’s performance and the results you may get from its use. In this article, we’ll take a look at the essential features an email marketing platform should have.

  • No-Fail Email Deliverability
  • A Customer Journey Map
  • Dynamic Content & Email Personalization
  • Send Time Optimization
  • Live Content
  • Excellent Customer Support 
  • A Thriving Community
  • 24/7 Available Technical Support
  • System Status
  • Flexibility To Integrate Apps With Your Tech Stack

To set a good foundation, let’s define email automation first.

What is Email Marketing Automation?

Email marketing automation is the process of sending emails automatically where the action is prompted by a schedule you’ve set or certain triggers from your customers. Examples of triggers are an opt-in to your free content or subscribing to your newsletter. 

On the customer side, the goal of email marketing automation is really on engagement like:

  • Engage prospects, leads, and existing customers through content that will encourage them to make a purchase or buy again
  • Give you data that will help you create a marketing strategy that’s tailored to their interests

On the side of workflow, the goal of email marketing is to take tasks that are time-consuming and do them for you: 

  • Send welcome messages to new subscribers
  • Create email lists according to the customer journey

With automation, you can enter them into the system beforehand and set the prompts that will trigger the system to send the emails. Additionally, you can also schedule messages to be sent at the best times your current subscribers are most engaged.

10 Important Features An Email Marketing Platform Should Have

Let’s look at important features now that we’ve settled how email marketing automation works. Here are 10 essential features that can revolutionize your email marketing campaigns and your business: 

No-Fail Email Deliverability

Operational emails are messages that contain information your subscribers need to know and shouldn’t fail to be delivered. These are emails that intend to inform customers instead of market them. Examples of emails like these are order confirmations, password resets, download links for the requested content, and shipping status. 

Other examples are changes in your terms of service and downtime notifications. A deliverability feature that performs 100% all the time on your email marketing automation platform will help you build trust and credibility with customers. Delivery should always be successful so essential information gets sent to them with no fail.

A Customer Journey Map

A customer journey map (others call this an email journey builder) visualizes the customer journey and assigns prompts in each phase from being a prospect to someone who’s finally purchased. What’s special about this is that you can create a seamless and personalized experience for your customers that will help build your relationship with them. 

The email journey builder can also adapt to customers’ ever-changing preferences as you adjust the flow from the available data. With this feature, your emails will see a lot more engagement throughout the customer journey.

Dynamic Content & Email Personalization

Say goodbye to cold generic emails that make customers feel like a number and less of an individual. Email marketing platforms that let you personalize your messages with dynamic content let you connect better with customers as you send them content they’re interested in. You can show different content for different sets of people. Having this on board will get you better results as people receive content that meets their interests and needs.

Send Time Optimization

As the name implies, send time optimization lets you optimize messages by sending them on times when your customers are most engaged. Whether that be at twelve midnight or 10 AM, you can schedule your emails to be sent at times customers are most likely to open it. 

The send time optimization feature is powered by data so your platform can give insight on what’s the ideal time to schedule your email. This way, you can be assured that your messages don’t end up unopened.

Live Content

Live content lets your customers take part in an event as it unfolds right on the spot. A sense of urgency is given to them in knowing that the event will end within a specific timeframe. In addition, it gives a sense of belongingness since it’s happening in real-time and they’re experiencing the event with other people too. 

Email marketing platforms that support live content will give another dimension of personalization and relevance to your emails. This is also a good way to add value to the content your customer receives.

Excellent Customer Support 

Think of this as white glove support customer service levels. White glove support is customer service that’s excellent and above reproach. It’s a way to take care of your customers through their whole relationship with you. And that covers before purchase, during, and even after no matter what the price of goods or services they availed. 

If your email marketing platform is able to provide this level of excellence, you can rest assured that your marketing needs are in good hands. You’re assured too that your needs will be seen through until you arrive at a resolution. 

A Thriving Community

This may seem minor but an email marketing platform that has an active community shows the brand’s strength, its customers’ loyalty, and the quality of the conversations it’s having with them. After all, you’re their customer. 

It’s from that community as well where you can get insight from others that only their experiences can give. Members learn from each other too and provide valuable feedback to the platform coming from their discussions. 

24/7 Available Technical Support

Technical difficulties can arise at any time of the day which means having a tech support team that’s available anytime is essential to resolve these issues right away. Having problems solved as soon as possible are critical to marketing as the majority of marketing efforts are time-dependent. 

Missing out on a golden hour can also mean missing out on business opportunities which is the last thing we’d want to happen. So make sure your email marketing platform has 24/7 online tech support so your business can continue operating smoothly no matter what time technical difficulties happen.

System Status

A system status, as the term implies, shows the status or the state at which the platform currently is. These are messages like the rate at which your actions in the system are progressing, how many emails are read or unread from your list of subscribers, and the like. 

As the proverbial saying goes, knowledge is power. Knowing what’s going will give you the proper insight to know what to do next that will help you reach your goals best. Without a system status, you wouldn’t know how things are going which can lead to wasted time and effort as you act with a lack of information.

Flexibility To Integrate Apps With Your Tech Stack

A tech stack is simply a group of apps or other tools that you can integrate into your email marketing platform. These enhance your use of the system through features that aren’t native to it. 

Examples of these are apps for automation, syncing data, creating a design, chat, or eCommerce among many others. An email marketing platform that lets you integrate other apps will enhance both your workflow and possibly help increase revenue too.

The Only Things You’ll Need From An Email Marketing Platform

You might be feeling a bit overwhelmed now with all that you’ve read. Don’t worry. These features are all great and we advise that you choose an email marketing platform that has the features that you need. 

If some are non-essential for now, that’s okay. You can forego the others and go with the one that’s with your non-negotiable. That’s all you need to get started. We’re wishing you success in your email marketing campaigns!

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Anthony Milia

Anthony Milia

Anthony Milia is an author of Marketing Magnifier, marketing consultant, and owner of Milia Marketing, an award-winning Marketing firm located in Cleveland, OH. Anthony helps Small and Medium-sized businesses get the best ROI for their marketing dollars by shedding light on their sales and marketing challenges.

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