Using email campaign automation technology can fuel personalized and relevant messages to leads across a sales funnel, which emphasizes the shift marketers are making away from bulk email campaigns, BtoB Online reports.

Locating and assisting individual potential leads rather than a faceless mass is a way for marketers to put the buyer first. As the news source states, email campaigns have shifted from an “I’ll send this mass email out today at 9” mindset to “This email will be sent [automatically] whenever it’s helpful to an individual we market to.”

What’s more, automated emails are more efficient. They can be triggered to be sent on a defined set of rules based on dates, events or lead behaviors, MarketingSherpa explains. The media outlet cites its 2012 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, which found that 43 percent of marketers said triggered emails were effective and that, in all, 80 percent of organizations sent automated emails.

One way automation can help achieve this goal of personalization is via a welcome email. The benchmark report found that six out of 10 marketers sent automated welcome campaigns, which can be especially useful following a recent sign-up or initial newsletter, BtoB online finds.