14 Powerful Marketing Automation Workflows to Boost Productivity & Conversions

Keeping up with marketing demands can be overwhelming. That's where marketing automation workflows come in. But why are they so important?

You see, they're a technology that helps digital marketing agencies (and your small business clients) do things automatically, like sending emails or posting on social media. They save time by doing repetitive lead generation tasks for you, so you can focus on the more important stuff.

Plus, they also help nurture leads by sending them the right messages at the right time, making them more likely to buy from you. And let's not forget about customer satisfaction—automated workflows make sure your clients always feel special by sending them personalized messages. 

So, in a nutshell, if you want to boost productivity and conversions for your AI marketing agency, marketing automation workflows are the way to go. In this article, we share some marketing automation best practices, and go over some of the most popular (as well as some more advanced) types of marketing automation workflow strategies to help you work smarter, not harder, and make more money.

What Are Marketing Automation Workflows?

Let’s start from the top. A workflow is like a step-by-step guide for your marketing tasks, detailing each action you need to take to achieve your goals. 

It typically includes: 

• Actions: Tasks you want to perform, like sending an email or updating a contact's information. 
• Conditions: Criteria that determine when those actions should happen, such as a contact clicking on a specific link. 
• Triggers: Events that set the workflow in motion, like a new lead signing up for your newsletter.

Now, let's talk about workflow automation. Once you've designed your workflow, automation software takes care of the rest. 

It follows the instructions you've set, executing tasks automatically based on predefined conditions and triggers. This is the fun part, because it frees up your time and ensures consistency and efficiency in your marketing efforts. Two great things you want.

The role of AI marketing automation software is the key to creating and executing workflows. These platforms provide intuitive interfaces where you can design, customize, and manage your workflows effectively. They offer a range of tools and features to streamline your marketing processes, from AI email marketing and lead automation to social media management and even customer segmentation.

Tip: Put your marketing efforts on autopilot and let Vendasta’s award-winning platform power your company’s growth with more—and better—leads.

Remember, marketing automation workflows are supposed to make life easier, not harder. If they’re not, that’s a problem. Check out our step-by-step guide on how to build a workflow automation, or take a look at examples to help you get started fast.

Types of Marketing Automation Workflows

Not all marketing automation workflows are the same, let’s take a look at 10 popular types that you can start using to make money with AI:

1. Welcome Workflows

These workflows roll out the red carpet for new subscribers or customers, delivering a series of welcome emails to introduce them to your digital agency, set expectations, and initiate engagement. Make sure to craft these emails with a personal touch by sharing your story, offering helpful resources, and encouraging further interaction.

Example:

Imagine you've just subscribed to a fitness newsletter. Over the next few days, you receive a series of welcome emails. The first email welcomes you aboard, introduces the brand's mission, and provides links to popular blog posts on nutrition and workouts. 

The second email shares success stories from other subscribers, inspiring you to kickstart your fitness journey. By the third email, you're invited to join an exclusive online community where you can connect with fellow fitness enthusiasts and access additional resources.

How to Set up a Welcome Automation Workflow

Want to make a great first impression? Of course you do. Here’s how to do just that using our welcome email template: 

2. Lead Nurturing Workflows

Think of lead nurturing workflows as your trusty 24/7 AI sales team, carefully cultivating your leads until they turn into loyal customers. 

You can use AI to detect user behaviors and tailor content marketing efforts to match their interests. This could include educational emails, inviting them to webinars, or showcasing case studies that demonstrate your value proposition. 

Just remember, nurturing is about building relationships, not pushing for a sale.

Example:

Suppose you've shown interest in a software company's project management tool by downloading an eBook on productivity hacks. In the following weeks, you receive a series of emails tailored to your interest in project management. 

The first email offers more in-depth content on project planning, while the second invites you to attend a webinar on optimizing team collaboration. As you engage with the content, you receive personalized recommendations for case studies featuring companies similar to yours, demonstrating the tool's effectiveness in real-world scenarios.

3. Onboarding Workflows

First impressions matter, especially when it comes to onboarding new customers. These onboarding workflows are the perfect way to guide users through the initial steps of using your product or service. It helps them get better acquainted and maximizes their chances of success with the product. 

By reducing churn and fostering product adoption, onboarding workflows help you set the stage for long-term client satisfaction and loyalty.

Example:

You've just signed up for a graphic design software. Upon logging in for the first time, you're greeted with a step-by-step onboarding guide that walks you through setting up your account, creating your first design, and exploring advanced features. 

Over the next few days, you receive a series of emails offering tips and tutorials on different aspects of the software, along with invitations to join live demos or Q&A sessions hosted by experts. 

By the end of the onboarding process, you feel confident using the software to bring your creative vision to life.

4. Abandoned Cart Workflows

Ever heard of the phrase "Don't leave money on the table"? Abandoned cart workflows do just that—they rescue potential sales by reminding customers of items they've left behind and sweetening the deal with incentives or limited-time offers. 

With this type of marketing automation workflow, you can craft compelling emails that gently nudge them back to complete their purchase, while addressing any concerns they may have along the way.

Example: 

You're browsing an online fashion retailer and add a few items to your cart but get distracted before completing the purchase. Shortly after, you receive an email reminding you about the items in your cart and offering free shipping on your order if you complete it within the next 24 hours. 

Intrigued by the offer, you revisit your cart, make some final decisions, and proceed to checkout, taking advantage of the limited-time incentive.

5. Post-Purchase Workflows

The journey doesn't end once a customer makes a purchase. Post-purchase workflows keep the conversation going, offering opportunities to cross-sell or upsell related products, solicit feedback, and provide valuable resources to enhance their experience. 

By continuing to add value even after the sale, you are better equipped to deepen client relationships and encourage repeat business.

Example: 

After purchasing a smart home device, you receive a series of follow-up emails from the brand. The first email thanks you for your purchase and provides a user manual and setup guide to help you get started with AI. 

A week later, you receive an email recommending complementary products like smart bulbs or sensors that enhance your device's functionality. As you continue to use the product, you receive occasional emails with helpful tips and tricks for maximizing its features and troubleshooting common issues.

6. Re-Engagement Workflows

Sometimes, subscribers or clients go silent. Re-engagement workflows are your secret weapon for reigniting their interest and bringing them back into the fold. Try offering irresistible incentives, share fresh content or product updates, and remind them why they fell in love with your brand in the first place. 

With a little TLC, you must just be able to win back their hearts (and their business).

Example: 

You haven't made a purchase from your favorite online bookstore in a while. To win you back, the bookstore sends you an email with a personalized book recommendation based on your past purchases and browsing history. 

Intrigued by the suggestion, you click through to the website, where you discover a curated list of new releases and bestsellers. With the bookstore's enticing offer of free shipping on orders over a certain amount, you decide to replenish your reading list and make a purchase.

7. Customer Loyalty Workflows

Loyal customers are the lifeblood of any business, including digital marketing agencies. Customer loyalty workflows celebrate and nurture those relationships, whether it's by sending birthday or anniversary emails with special offers, rolling out VIP rewards programs, or launching referral campaigns to acquire new customers. 

At the end of the day, showing appreciation and recognizing their loyalty, you have a greater chance of turning your clients into your biggest advocates.

Example:

As a loyal customer of a coffee subscription service, you receive a birthday email offering you a free bag of coffee with your next order as a special gift. The company also runs a referral campaign, where you earn rewards for every friend you refer who signs up for a subscription, further incentivizing you to spread the word about their delicious coffee.

8. Product Update Workflows

Keep your customers in the loop with product update workflows, announcing new launches or features directly to their inbox. 

You can offer exclusive previews or early access to generate excitement and anticipation and encourage feedback to ensure your updates align with their needs and preferences.

At Vendasta, we do this regularly, including a weekly YouTube video update about our platform called What’s New At Vendasta. Here’s a recent one to give you some inspiration:

Also see: Top AI Business Ideas

9. Event Promotion Workflows

Hosting a webinar, conference, or other event? Event promotion workflows help spread the word and drive attendance by sending invitations, reminders, and follow-ups to registrants. 

Try to incorporate engaging messaging and clear calls-to-action (CTA) to encourage more sign-ups and improve your next event’s participation.

Example:

You've registered for a virtual marketing conference, and leading up to the event, you receive a series of emails with important updates and reminders. The first email confirms your registration and provides details on accessing the event platform. 

As the conference date approaches, you receive emails highlighting keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities. After the event, you also receive a follow-up email thanking you for attending and providing links to session recordings or additional resources shared during the conference.

10. Survey/Feedback Workflows

Last but not least, valuable insights can be gathered through surveys and feedback workflows. Timing is key here, so make sure to ask for feedback at strategic touchpoints to capture the most relevant insights. 

From there, you can use this feedback to fine-tune your products, improve your services, and ultimately, deliver a better experience for your clients.

Example: 

After completing a purchase from an online retailer, you receive an email asking you to rate your shopping experience and provide feedback on the products you purchased. The email includes a short survey with questions about product satisfaction, delivery speed, and overall shopping experience. 

Upon submitting the survey, you receive a personalized thank-you email acknowledging your feedback and assuring you that your input will help improve their products and services.

Pro Tip: Marketing automation for small businesses is also possible. Your clients can take advantage of marketing automation workflows and AI communication automation, too. Check out Customer Voice, available within the Business App, to learn more. 

Advanced Workflow Strategies

 11. Multi-Channel Automation

Multi-channel automation is about using tools to automatically send messages to potential clients in different ways like: 

• Email
• Text messages
• Social media
• Website notifications

This marketing automation strategy helps your agency talk to potential clients in the places they prefer most, making it easier to get their attention and keep them interested.

Example:

Picture a scenario where your agency is launching a new service offering aimed at helping businesses improve their online presence. 

In addition to sending out email announcements to your subscriber list, you utilize SMS marketing to reach clients who prefer text messaging and social media platforms to connect with followers and your target audience. 

By orchestrating a coordinated campaign across multiple channels, you are better able to generate buzz around your agency's new service offering, attract potential clients from diverse demographics, and showcase your expertise.

 12. Lead Scoring and Segmentation

Lead scoring means giving points to potential clients based on how much they interact with your agency's marketing. 

Segmentation, on the other hand, means sorting potential clients into groups based on things like their age or income, industry, what they're interested in, or what they've done on your website. Doing this helps your agency focus on the people who are most likely to become clients and personalize your messages to them.

Pro Tip: Telling between a “hot” lead, and a “cold” lead can be tricky, so with our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform and email tracking, we make it easier for you by using flame indicators and showing you exactly how your prospects are interacting with your campaigns and emails. 

Example:

Imagine a scenario where a potential client visits your agency's website, downloads an ebook on digital marketing best practices, and signs up for a free AI consultation. 

From there, your marketing automation system assigns a high score to this lead based on their engagement level, indicating a strong interest in your services. Subsequently, the lead is segmented by the algorithm into a category of high-potential prospects, triggering personalized follow-up emails from your sales team. 

Meanwhile, leads with lower engagement levels are categorized into separate segments and receive targeted content designed to nurture their interest over time, ensuring that no opportunity goes unnoticed.

 13. CRM Integration

These types of AI integration tools mean connecting the tools your agency uses to keep track of clients and the tools you use for marketing. It helps your agency keep all the information about clients in one place, so you can understand them better and engage with them in the right way at the right time.

Example: 

Consider an instance where a lead submits a contact form on your agency's website to inquire about your services. Their information is automatically captured by your marketing automation system and synced with your CRM database. 

This marketing automation integration enables your sales team to access real-time insights into each prospect’s customer journey down your AI powered funnel, and prioritize follow-up based on lead quality. Your marketing workflow automation also generates a Snapshot report recommending tailored solutions that address their unique issues, such as a slow website, giving you talking points to engage them with.

By streamlining the communication between your marketing and sales teams, you can accelerate the sales cycle, close more deals, and elevate the overall client experience.

 14. Analytics and Optimization

Analytics and optimization are about looking at the numbers from your marketing efforts and using that information to make things better. 

It's things like checking how many people visit your website, how many of them become clients, and figuring out what you can do to get even more clients (and what may potentially be standing in your way).

By doing this, your agency can keep improving and make sure you're doing the best job for your clients.

Example:

Imagine running a digital advertising campaign for a client in the e-commerce industry. By closely monitoring key metrics such as ad click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS), you identify opportunities to refine your targeting, ad creatives, and messaging to better resonate with the client's target audience. 

Additionally, conducting A/B tests on different ad variations allows you to experiment with different approaches and spot the most effective strategies for driving conversions, improving your marketing automation ROI.

Continuously analyzing campaign performance and iterating based on data-driven insights means you can better demonstrate the value of your agency's expertise, deliver great results for your clients, and solidify long-term partnerships.