• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, June 10, 2015

Beware of the automation trap! Efficient as it may be, too many clients “struggle” with email automation because of a misconnection that is should be entirely automated, according to David DeVore, CEO of content marketing startup Story Ports.

Because “it takes a lot of time to set up, people feel like it’s very hard to change once it's doing its thing,” DeVore told attendees of MediaPost’s Email Insider Summit, on Wednesday. Yet, “It’s important to understand what the dials are.” For example, clients would be wise to know how subject lines are created, and how to test them.

That said, DeVore is absolutely certain that all email marketing campaigns will be automated in the future. Currently, “The way we do email is archaic,” he said.

Vivek Sharma, co-founder and CEO of email marketing firm Movable Ink, said he couldn’t agree more. “I definitely don’t disagree with that.”