This document compares email marketing and marketing automation. It defines email marketing as directly marketing to groups using email, while marketing automation focuses on defining, scheduling, segmenting and tracking marketing campaigns using technologies like autoresponders. Key differences are that marketing automation tailors each email for personalization, while email marketing sends the same messages to all. Marketing automation also has greater awareness of user behavior through link tracking and reporting. Integration with CRM systems is another distinguisher. Both can be effective depending on a business's needs.

1. Whitepaper
2012
Best Practices in Email Marketing
Email Marketing v.s.
Marketing Automation
© Mailigen, Inc. All rights reserved 2012. Mailigen Email Marketing Solutions

2. Email Marketing v.s. Marketing Automation 2
Email Marketing v.s. Marketing Automation
The marketing automation world is booming, giving rise to Definitions
new marketing automation tools. It feels like I get a new sales
email every day from a start-up company offering me some Defined, marketing automation is a subset of customer relation-
sort of new automation tool. All of them automate some form ship management (CRM) that focuses on the definition, sched-
of the marketing process. To date, I don’t think any of them uling, segmentation and tracking of marketing campaigns. The
really automate the entire online marketing process. The most use of marketing automation makes processes that would oth-
recent capabilities I seem to be getting inundated with are: erwise have been performed manually much more efficient and
makes new processes possible.
• Email marketing
• Marketing automation Email marketing defined is directly marketing a commercial
message to a group of people using electronic mail. So while
• Social media engagement
they both have their resemblances, marketing automation goes
• Social media monitoring a little deeper than email marketing. Most of the good email
• Content curation marketing tools on the market, like Mailigen, have built market-
• Content syndication ing automation into their product features. Email marketing au-
tomation includes functionality like autoresponders. Other no-
table features Mailigen uses to take email marketing one step
further are mail-merge personalization, auto customer profile
updates and segmentation.
For someone who doesn’t work in this space every day, it can
be hard to decipher between email marketing and marketing
automation capabilities and tools. Often, the sales email I re-
ceive doesn’t even really tell me what their tool does. Some, Distinguishers
even after I click through to their site, don’t really tell me why
I need their product. So, it’s easy to see how business owners When it comes to differentiating the two, there
and marketers can be confused by what they need, when they are a few major distinguishers -
need it and which tools to use to automate their marketing. • Process
• Awareness
Email marketing and marketing automation are two relatively • Integration
similar systems that tend to cause confusion as to what their Email marketing and marketing automation have the same
functionalities really are. Many companies have difficulty de- goal: staying in contact with possible customers with hopes of in
ciding which system would be best for their business because time, converting them into paying customers. However, the two
they seem so alike. One reason in particular is that both email different systems also have two different processes in reaching
marketing and marketing automation use email as the prima- this goal. Marketing automation attempts to convert prospects
ry vehicle to communicate with potential consumers. Essen- through targeted efforts, such as sending more relevant email
tially, marketing automation is often an email marketing tool messages. Email marketing, on the other hand, sends out the
with some type of CRM. Even though they have many similari- same or a similar message to all prospects, such as an email
ties there are important factors that differentiate them. newsletter. Essentially, marketing automation tailors each email
so that it is a little more personal, thus making it more engaging
and encouraging the prospects to continue reading—ultimately
converting them into consumers. That means it is critical you
procure an email marketing tool that provides marketing auto-
mation functionality like segmentation and autoresponders.
© Mailigen, Inc. All rights reserved 2012. Mailigen Email Marketing Solutions Phone: (+1) 718 303 1864

3. Email Marketing v.s. Marketing Automation 3
Awareness is a major distinguisher be- Furthermore, there is no right or wrong in each system. When
companies decide which capability is a better fit for them, they
tween the two. Awareness refers to the system’s ability base that off of the type of business and campaigns they will
to detect if and when a prospect clicked a link in an email, be running. If, for example, the business cycle is less than one
whether or not they went to a specific page on your website week, it involves a simple selling process, and the company is
and whether or not they filled out a contact form. The tool is looking to send offers based on shopping cart abandonment,
“aware” of these actions which can help you analyze wheth- they would most likely lean toward email marketing because it is
er or not a certain email campaign is successful. Basic email less complex and they wouldn’t need all the tools and functions
marketing, on the other hand, does not have the capabilities marketing automation has to offer. On the other hand, if a com-
of performing such tasks to the extent marketing automa- pany has a selling process of longer than one week, they need
tion does. You must have a more advanced email market- to qualify leads beforehand, and they want reports that show
ing tool to perform some of these tasks. Mailigen, however, the effectiveness of each campaign, then marketing automation
can offer that advanced email marketing tool. Like market- would be right for them.
ing automation, the Mailigen email marketing tool is capable
of real time reporting—determining the number of emails
opened, which prospects clicked links, as well as the number
of emails that were received. Not only that, but Mailigen can
also report the click through rate percentage, open and click
tracking, and detailed click through and links clicked (unique Our Mailigen experts are always
vs. total). Mailigen is building unique and beneficial capabili-
ties than most email marketing tools available today.
available to answer any questions
you may have.
I ntegra t i on can sometimes be the
If you want to find out more about email mar-
deciding factor for businesses on whether or not they want
to use an email marketing system or marketing automation. keting or marketing automation and what
This is largely in part because marketing automation systems process would be best for your business, please
integrate closely with sales force automation (SFA) and other contact our team at Mailigen and we will help
CRM tools. Mailigen can integrate with these CRM systems you!
through the API to make marketing automation even more
efficient. This makes it easier to personalize different cam-
paigns and gather insights as to how the prospects engaged
with each campaign. It is important to keep in mind that
Mailigen recognizes this advantage and therefore offers simi-
lar features that can be equally valuable; such as personaliza-
tion and customization, social media integration, link track-
ing, advanced search options, and many more. Marketing
automation can also be quite an investment for companies.
Seeing that it is very complex, not only does it come with a
much higher cost, but it also can be more difficult to imple-
ment and creates a higher learning curve.
© Mailigen, Inc. All rights reserved 2012. Mailigen Email Marketing Solutions Phone: (+1) 718 303 1864

4. About us
Mailigen is quickly becoming a leading provider of web-based email marketing soft-
ware for any size business, organization or individual. Our product philosophy is simple, Are you just learning or maybe looking
make it flexible, easy to use and cost effective. As part of the iMedia family, Mailigen has for ways to improve your email marketing
a dedicated product development team with an eye for building client driven software skills?
services with industry leading functionality.
We have created this document with
best industry practices and helpful tips
To find out more about Mailigen solutions, please visit www.mailigen.com to be sure your are on the top of email
marketing performance.
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