# What is Marketing Automation?

What is Marketing Automation? Systems that trigger automatic marketing actions: cart abandonment → email, purchase → thank-you SMS, 90 days without a…

## How it works in practice

Automation is a marketing team that works 24/7 for free. Set it up once — it runs forever. Four flows can generate 20-35% of a mature store's revenue.

## Related metrics

- Email Marketing — the fuel of automation
- Klaviyo — the leading tool
- Segmentation — automation plus segmentation equals power
- Trigger — the event that activates it

## Common misconception

'Automation replaces the human touch.' Bad automation feels like spam. Good automation feels like 'they know me.' The difference: personalization, correct timing, human-sounding copy.

## How to fix it

Automation not converting? (1) Timing — send an abandoned cart email within an hour, not a week, (2) relevance — is the message tied to the trigger? (3) fatigue — how many automations does a customer receive per day?

## Real-world example

A sports store set up Welcome, Abandoned Cart, and Post-Purchase flows. Month 1: automation drove 31% of email revenue. A $220 setup cost produced $5,000/month.

## Where to start

Order: (1) Abandoned Cart, (2) Welcome Series, (3) Post-Purchase, (4) Win-Back, (5) Browse Abandonment. Start with #1.

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Category: Technology · From the [Jimmy OS KPI Glossary](https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi.md) · Source page: https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi/marketing-automation