Automations are an integral part of any business. Automations are triggered by actions taken by the potential/existing customer. Subscribing to emails/texts on your website triggers an automation called the "Welcome Series". This can be a series of texts and/or emails sent to the recipient over a set of hours/days to encourage them to purchase. It can include discounts to assist in enticing them to purchase. There are several more automation styles/types such as abandoned cart, browse abandonment, customer win back, loyalty offers, order confirmation, shipping/pickup, delivery, post-purchase reviews, cross-sells, upsells, and more.
All automations can be styled to fit your brand as well as edited to determine when emails/text messages are sent, what they say, what graphics are attached if any, when they are sent, which segments of people they are sent to, and how many emails/text messages are in automation.
All graphics attached to messages should match your brand. You are reiterating to the potential/existing customer what your business is, and it should have your branding to ensure there is no confusion. Personalized messages, even in a broad form, can aid in customer retention due to them feeling as though they are a valued part of your business.
Messages/emails should always have correct grammar and punctuation - you would be surprised how much this truly matters to customers so please proof-read your automations before enabling them. Automations can be set up for specific segments of customers such as wholesale, retail, blanks, returning, new, etc. This helps you target which audience you want to receive certain promotions, discounts, etc. You do not want to annoy your customers so be mindful of how many messages are in the automations and when they are being sent.
Setting up email/text automations on your website will assist in cross-selling and upselling your products and/or services. Upselling is a technique in which a seller attempts to coax a customer into buying a service/product of greater value than they were originally planning on. For example, in my case this would be me offering a full website set up as opposed to the cheaper route of a website startup. The price is significantly different but so is the service provided. Cross-Selling is where a seller tries to sell products/services to the customer to add onto what has already been purchased. An example of this would be asking the customer if they would like to purchase 20 listings to go along with the 20 mockups that they purchased. It takes two tasks off their plate and doesn't necessarily takeaway from what was already purchased - just adds to it.