13 May, 2025

The Dark Side of Email Automation When ‘Set & Forget’ Loses You Customers

Did you know that an average person receives about 44,165 emails a year? With such overwhelming volume, email marketing mistakes can quickly alienate your audience instead of engaging them. Despite 65% of marketers embracing email automation, the "set and forget" approach often leads to disastrous results.

Unfortunately, many common email mistakes stem from misusing the very tools designed to make our lives easier. When automation goes wrong, it can damage customer relationships rather than nurture them. For instance, nearly 85% of users access emails via mobile phones, yet failing to optimize for these devices remains one of the worst email marketing mistakes. Additionally, while one in three people who click on an automated email make a purchase, this conversion potential vanishes when automation becomes impersonal or irrelevant.

In this article, we'll explore the marketing mistakes to avoid that can silently sabotage your campaigns, from neglecting list segmentation to ignoring changing customer behaviors. We'll also examine how using tools like the Omnisend email subject line tester can help you avoid the common email marketing mistakes that drive customers away.

The Promise of Email Automation

Email automation has emerged as a cornerstone of modern marketing strategies, with over 59% of marketers prioritizing its expansion in their operations. The attraction is clear—automation promises efficiency, personalization, and increased revenue without the constant manual intervention that traditional email marketing demands.

Why businesses love 'set and forget'

The allure of email automation lies primarily in its ability to free up valuable time for marketing teams. Once you've established your automation workflows, they can run independently, delivering timely messages to your audience without requiring someone to click "send" every time. This self-sufficient nature of automated emails allows your team to focus on strategic initiatives rather than repetitive tasks.

Time and resource optimization stands as the most compelling reason businesses embrace the 'set and forget' approach. Email automation functions like an additional team member working around the clock, handling routine communications while your actual staff concentrates on creative and analytical work. Consequently, this leads to enhanced marketing efficiency through features like A/B testing and segmentation, enabling data-driven decisions without constant human oversight.

Furthermore, automation scales seamlessly with your business growth. As your subscriber list expands, manually sending personalized emails becomes increasingly impractical. Automation eliminates this constraint, maintaining consistent communication quality regardless of audience size.

Benefits that make automation attractive

Beyond time savings, email automation offers numerous advantages that make it particularly appealing to marketers:

Dramatic revenue impact: Automated emails generate an impressive 37% of sales while comprising just 2% of email volume. This remarkable efficiency explains why businesses increasingly invest in automation technologies.
Enhanced personalization: Personalized subject lines achieve 26% higher open rates, whereas personalized content experiences interaction rates six times higher than generic messages. Automation makes delivering this level of personalization feasible at scale.
Behavioral targeting precision: Automation lets you trigger emails based on specific customer actions, creating more relevant communications. Subsequently, one in three people who click on an automated message make a purchase compared to just one in eighteen for regular campaigns.
Measurable results: Automated workflows provide detailed analytics, allowing continuous optimization of your email strategy based on concrete performance data.

Perhaps most notably, email automation significantly improves customer relationships through timely, relevant communications. Welcome emails, for instance, are opened four times more frequently than standard marketing messages and generate 320% more revenue per email. Additionally, segmented campaigns have shown a remarkable 760% increase in email revenue.

The ability to reach customers at critical moments—immediately after purchase, when items ship, or after browsing products—transforms routine interactions into revenue opportunities. Specifically, abandoned cart emails, welcome messages, and browse abandonment sequences are responsible for 87% of all automated orders.

Ultimately, the promise of email automation lies in its capacity to deliver the right message to the right person at precisely the right moment—all while reducing costs, minimizing errors, and freeing up human resources for higher-value activities. Nevertheless, as we'll explore in the next section, this promise can quickly unravel when automation is implemented without proper strategy and maintenance.

When Automation Goes Wrong

"Zappos uses call center technology to track average call time per agent. But the goal isn't to reduce this average — it's more important that we make an emotional connection with the customer, rather than just quickly getting them off the phone." — Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

The alluring promise of "set and forget" email marketing often crumbles into costly mistakes when businesses mishandle automation tools. According to research, 85% of B2B marketers using marketing automation platforms admit they're not using these tools to their full potential. This underutilization represents just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to email marketing mistakes.

Over-relying on default workflows

One prevalent issue with email automation is treating it as a completely hands-off solution. Many marketers establish automated processes and then neglect them, assuming they'll perform effectively without further intervention. However, this approach can lead to missed opportunities and diminished results.

In reality, marketing automation requires regular optimization to maintain effectiveness. As one expert notes, "Marketing automation does save you time by automating manual tasks, but you still need to be the guiding force for your campaigns".

Businesses should regularly evaluate how campaigns are performing by checking metrics like opens, clicks, and conversion rates. When performance metrics decline, they serve as important indicators that adjustments are needed. Otherwise, your automation strategy remains static while your market and customers evolve.

Ignoring customer behavior changes

Perhaps the most damaging of common email marketing mistakes is failing to adapt to evolving customer behaviors. Markets are dynamic and shift due to economic changes, emerging trends, and competitive actions. Automation strategies that worked well previously may become ineffective if they don't adapt to these changes.

Unfortunately, many businesses continue relying on static data, missing opportunities for real-time engagement. According to experts, behavioral triggers and dynamic content are essential for maintaining relevance. Without them, you risk:

Increasing unsubscribe rates as customers disengage
Damaging your sender reputation
Experiencing lower engagement and conversion rates
Missing opportunities to connect meaningfully with your audience

Indeed, one study found that 55% of consumers ignore marketing emails due to inbox overload. This stark statistic highlights how quickly customers tune out when emails don't align with their current needs and behaviors.

Sending irrelevant or outdated content

Nothing drives customers away faster than irrelevant or outdated content. Surprisingly, 30% of consumers reported receiving recommendations for products they'd already purchased, revealing a fundamental breakdown in automation intelligence.

"When customers receive emails that do not resonate with their interests or needs, they are more likely to disengage from the brand," notes one industry report. This disengagement manifests in various ways—ignoring emails, marking them as spam, or even voicing frustrations on social media platforms.

The consequences extend beyond individual campaigns. According to Marketing Sherpa, one out of five people will ask a company to stop emailing them altogether if they believe the messages aren't relevant. Each irrelevant email risks more than a single missed opportunity to engage—it potentially closes the communication channel permanently.

Even technical issues contribute to this problem. Some automated systems send emails before content updates are fully processed, resulting in outdated information reaching customers. In effect, your automation system might be undermining your credibility without you realizing it.

By understanding these common email marketing mistakes, you can begin implementing strategies to avoid them—a topic we'll explore in subsequent sections.

Common Email Automation Mistakes to Avoid

Effective email campaigns require more than just pressing the "send" button. Most email automation blunders stem from poorly executed strategies rather than technical glitches. Let's examine the most common email marketing mistakes that silently sabotage your results.

Not segmenting your email list

Surprisingly, 32% of marketers identify segmenting their email database as one of their organization's top priorities—yet many fail to implement it properly. This oversight is costly: segmented email campaigns produce 30% more email opens and 50% more click-throughs than untargeted campaigns.

Moreover, research from Lyris reveals that 39% of marketers who segmented their email lists experienced higher open rates, 28% saw lower unsubscribe rates, and 24% enjoyed better deliverability and greater revenue. When you blanket your entire list with identical messaging, you ignore the reality that different customers have unique needs and interests.

Lack of personalization

Beyond adding a first name to an email, true personalization involves tailoring content based on subscriber behaviors and preferences. Emails with personalized subject lines achieve 26% higher open rates, yet many marketers still send generic content.

First of all, customers recognize when you're sending mass communications. Consequently, 45% of consumers unsubscribe from promotional emails when content doesn't feel relevant. Finding the balance is crucial—overpersonalization can appear intrusive, while insufficient personalization fails to engage.

Skipping A/B testing

A remarkable 39% of brands don't test their broadcast or segmented emails, essentially leaving performance improvements to chance. Through proper A/B testing, companies have achieved impressive results—including a 127% increase in click-throughs by testing different templates.

Even seemingly minor changes can yield significant outcomes. For instance, when Hubspot tested personalized sender names against generic company names, the personalized version generated 0.53% higher open rates and 0.23% higher click-through rates—resulting in 131 additional leads.

Failing to optimize for mobile

Given that over 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices as of 2023, overlooking mobile optimization is a critical mistake. Particularly alarming, 45% of consumers unsubscribe from promotional emails that don't work well on smartphones.

Essential mobile optimization factors include:

Making CTAs at least 44×44 pixels for easy tapping
Using minimum 14px font size for body text
Optimizing images to prevent slow loading
Positioning key content and CTAs at the top

Using unclear or too many CTAs

The battle between single versus multiple CTAs continues to rage. Although you can improve click-through rates by 127% with button-based CTAs, their effectiveness diminishes when you overwhelm readers with options.

Essentially, emails with multiple prominent CTAs create confusion about which action to take. As one expert notes, "Your goal should be to take your reader down a very specific path. If you give them several options, they're typically less likely to end up in the destination that you want".

For product-focused emails, you can include multiple CTAs as long as each accompanies its specific item—but always highlight your primary action button through distinctive design. Ultimately, your CTA serves as the bridge between engagement and conversion, making its clarity critical to campaign success.

The Hidden Costs of Poor Automation

"Sales without Customer Service is like stuffing money into a pocket full of holes." — David Tooman, Customer Service Professional

Behind the scenes of poorly executed email automation lurks a variety of costs that go far beyond mere inconvenience. Most marketers focus solely on the immediate benefits of automation without considering the long-term damage that can occur when these systems run unchecked.

Loss of customer trust

Poor automation practices quickly erode the foundation of customer relationships. Strikingly, 66% of customers feel brands treat them as numbers rather than as people. This perception stems from impersonal, irrelevant communications that demonstrate a fundamental disconnect between your brand and its audience.

When automation feels robotic or fails to address specific concerns, customers become increasingly alienated. The impact deepens especially when automation sequences lack the human touch that customers crave. 71% of consumers report feeling frustrated when shopping experiences are impersonal, indicating how quickly trust erodes when automation misses the mark.

Increased unsubscribe rates

Poorly timed or irrelevant automated emails directly contribute to list shrinkage. According to research, the top reason consumers unsubscribe is receiving too many emails from a particular brand. Others lose interest in what's offered or find content irrelevant to their needs.

What's more concerning is how quickly this happens—especially with automated sequences. Automated emails don't always drive lower unsubscribes than batch emails. In fact, triggered emails often maintain unsubscribe rates similar to or slightly higher than batch emails.

Damaged sender reputation

Above all, poor automation practices harm your sender reputation—a vital metric that determines email deliverability. When your emails generate minimal engagement, you begin looking like a spammer to email blocklists and spam filters.

Eventually, this leads to:

Emails being filtered into spam folders
Poor email deliverability
Abysmal open rates
Potential blacklisting by anti-spam services

Lower engagement and conversions

The most immediate cost appears in declining performance metrics. Research reveals that ecommerce email conversion rates have dropped dramatically since more marketers began using automated email marketing. Similarly, click rates dropped by more than 10% year-over-year in 2022.

This decline isn't merely an inconvenience—it represents lost revenue opportunities. For instance, order confirmation emails saw year-over-year improvements in click rate (from 9.2% to 10.4%), while browse abandonment emails experienced significant declines (from 6.4% to 3.9%). Each percentage point represents potential customers—and revenue—lost through common email marketing mistakes.

How to Fix and Improve Your Automation Strategy

Turning around struggling email automation campaigns requires strategic intervention rather than quick fixes. By implementing these proven strategies, you can revitalize your email marketing and avoid the worst email marketing mistakes.

Use behavioral triggers and dynamic content

Behavioral triggering transforms traditional email campaigns by sending automated messages based on specific subscriber actions or behaviors. These triggers respond to user intent, increasing the likelihood of opens, clicks, and conversions as content directly matches current needs. According to experts, incorporating behavioral triggers creates a highly responsive, data-driven approach that speaks directly to individual users.

Dynamic content takes personalization further by resolving just before a message is sent to a specific individual. This allows you to merge information from the recipient's contact record, including first and last name, and position special links based on their preferences. Through dynamic elements, brands have seen remarkable results—a 76% increase in click-through rate and a 45% increase in conversion rate.

Regularly update and test workflows

Email automation isn't truly a "set-and-forget" situation. Regularly update automated email content to keep it fresh and relevant, ensuring it aligns with current products, customer feedback, and evolving preferences. As one expert notes, "You still need to test and adapt your emails to evolving customer behaviors and needs".

Continuously test subject lines, body content, and send times to optimize campaign performance. With Omnisend, you can run A/B tests on two automation versions, splitting participants to see which performs better.

Track key metrics like open and click-through rates

Click rate serves as a true indicator of customer engagement, considered a 3-in-1 metric because deliverability, opens, and clicks all impact it. To calculate, divide unique clicks by total deliveries.

Email conversion rate measures the percentage of recipients who took action after clicking. This directly indicates whether your automation strategy is delivering actual results rather than just engagement.

Use tools like Omnisend email subject line tester

The Omnisend subject line tester helps analyze and improve subject lines before sending campaigns. This matters because 33% of customers open emails based solely on the subject line. Even more concerning, 69% of customers mark emails as spam based on the subject line alone.

Using such tools helps you avoid the common email marketing mistakes of poor subject lines while boosting open rates and protecting your sender reputation.

Conclusion

Email automation offers tremendous potential for marketers, though this power comes with significant responsibility. Set-and-forget approaches ultimately lead to disengaged subscribers, damaged sender reputations, and lost revenue opportunities. Indeed, the most successful email marketers understand that automation requires ongoing attention rather than passive management.

Avoiding these critical mistakes requires deliberate action. Segmentation, personalization, and mobile optimization certainly deserve your immediate attention as these factors directly influence customer engagement. Additionally, regular testing and optimization create a foundation for continuous improvement instead of stagnation.

The stakes remain high in today's overcrowded inboxes. Each irrelevant message pushes subscribers closer to the unsubscribe button, while thoughtfully crafted automated emails build lasting customer relationships. Therefore, marketers must balance automation efficiency with genuine customer connection.

Remember that behind every email metric lies a real person making decisions about your brand. Your automation strategy should accordingly reflect this human element through relevant, timely communications that respect subscriber preferences. Overall, successful email automation doesn't mean less involvement—it means smarter involvement focused on strategy and optimization instead of repetitive tasks.

The next time you review your email automation setup, ask yourself: "Does this truly serve my customers, or simply my convenience?" This question, above all others, will guide you toward automation that builds relationships instead of destroying them.