In this short article I want to share with you how I'm using automated email sequences to create a good customer experience and not just a "how my god how do I turn this off" feeling.

Don't fake it. I know it's automated.

Hey, let's be honest. We all know that most emails we get after having signed up anywhere are automated. So let's not fake it. Because if we do it will feel like a stupid lie.

That's why in my automated emails I try to make clear that the email is automated. But automated doesn't mean it wasn't crafted with care by a human first. 

Start a conversation and provide value now

For me the goal with those emails is to start a conversation. So I ask a question that I'm geniunly interested about. But not everybody wants to have a conversation with me. So that's why I always try to also provide an immediate value to the person by offering a link to some content she might find useful.

Allow me to be lazy.

So I ask questions, but I know most people won't spend precious minutes giving long answers. So I provided them either with ready-made answers that they can send in one click or templates they can copy, past and fill where there are blanks.

To do the first thing, I use a tool called mailtolink.me. With this tool you can create a link that when it's clicked creates automatically an email with the right email, subject and even body. See for yourself in this screenshot:

Here is then how it looks in an email:

The second approach, for more complicated interactions is to propose a template that people can play with.

Show me how many automated emails you'll send.

When I recieve an automated email I'm always asking myself: "Oh my god, how many more will I receive? Will they send me one everyday for the next month?!"
It's a legitimate question, and I think most people have it. So I try to answer this question in my automated emails in advance:

My intuitions

I hope that these automated emails will start some real conversations and real interactions. But only time will tell if my intuitions were right.
Even if that doesn't happen, I hope people will appreciate that I was honest and tried to make them save some precious minutes by preparing shortcuts for them.


Written on Tuesday 1st of March 2022 by Daniele Catalanotto