Give us one euro for every time someone confuses the terms email marketing and marketing automation, and we'll eat lobster every month. Both phenomena are popular in the world of e-commerce - and for good reason - but they are definitely two different things.
The confusion is not only caused by the umbrella word marketing. There is also overlap in terms of content. To prevent things from getting messed up: an unravelling blog about the differences between email marketing and marketing automation.
If you want to get the most out of the internet, use automation. Marketing automation is the art of distilling the most relevant data from visitors' behavior (automatically) and offering relevant content (again automatically) based on this.
By offering content - white papers, a blog like this, emails, a demo, a trial, an ebook, etc. - you are gradually working towards a lead conversion. The benefits are great: it's personal, it's effective and if you organize it properly, you don't have much to worry about.
Email marketing is a way to attract more customers to your website. So it's actually a channel, just like SEO, SEA, social media, etc. Within email marketing, there are a world of buttons you can tap. You can (must!) make it very personal. You can (must!) ensure a high level of relevance. You can (do it!) ensure a good structure in terms of the content of your emails.
Within marketing automation, all kinds of actions are automatically arranged. In most cases, email is also a logical part of marketing automation. That's where some of the confusion with email marketing may arise.
Another possible source of confusion lies within email marketing itself. Email marketing tools, the software for organizing and optimizing email marketing, are increasingly sophisticated. Here, too, there is a high degree of automation. Progressive email software responds to behavior, offers lead scoring, lead nurturing, multichannel campaigns, etc. It's just not the same as marketing automation.
Simply put, email marketing is a communication channel. Marketing automation is a communication method.
First of all: one does not rule out the other, far from it. However, marketing automation is not interesting for everyone. Marketing automation is particularly valuable in purchasing processes that usually take a little longer. After all, the goal is to gradually get someone excited about a purchase. Other considerations may also play a role, such as whether you sell different products for different markets, or whether you want to get a higher return on your sales campaign.
It is best to talk to a party that knows the ins and outs of the various options for compelling advice on the best choice and strategy. Both phenomena have fantastic potential, but success depends on common sense.
