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AI Email Automation

Email Automation
That Reaches The Inbox.

Running email marketing properly takes real time. Someone has to write the messages, set up the automation, check that the mail is not going into the spam folder, and keep the customer list clean. Most business owners here simply do not have the hours for it, and hiring one person just to look after email is hard to justify.

So we do it for you. We build the system, write the messages with AI, look after the technical side so your email actually reaches people, and report back in plain English every month. All you need to do is approve what goes out — or, if you prefer, you can let the AI handle the routine messages on its own and only step in for the important ones.

The difference

We do the work,
not just sell you the tool.

There are plenty of good email tools out there, and we are not saying otherwise. The difficulty is that they are only tools. They give you a login and a screen full of options, and then everything is up to you — the setup, the writing, the checking, the cleaning up. That is fine if you have a marketing team. If you do not, the tool quietly sits there costing you money while somebody sends the occasional newsletter by hand.

We work the other way around. We are not selling you software. We set everything up, run it, keep it healthy, and stay responsible for the result.

You get a system that works, not another login

You will not need to learn any new software or spend your evenings inside a dashboard. We build the automations, write the messages, and look after the technical parts. If something goes wrong, you tell us and we fix it.

We handle the technical parts nobody enjoys

Setting up the settings that prove your email is genuine, warming up a new sending address, watching bounce and spam rates, keeping the list clean, checking every message looks right on a phone — this is the unglamorous work that decides whether your email reaches people at all. We take care of all of it.

The AI can send on its own, if you want it to

Some owners want to read every message before it goes out. Others are happy for the AI to handle the routine ones by itself and only step in for anything sensitive. You decide which, you put it in writing, and you can change your mind any time.

Everything belongs to you

Your customer list, your templates and everything we build belong to you, not to us. If you ever decide to stop working with us, you take all of it with you. We will hand it over properly, and there is nothing to pay to leave.

Hard limits that apply in every setting

The automation cannot override an unsubscribe, invent a price, or email somebody who never signed up. Complaints and refund requests always go to a person. These limits are built in, not something we switch on for you.

Your data stays yours, and stays protected

We work inside your systems with limited permissions rather than copying your customer list elsewhere. Access is restricted to the people doing your work, credentials are stored encrypted, and we never sell your data or use it to train AI models.

Common problems

The problems
we see all the time.

Most of the businesses we speak to have the same few problems. None of them are dramatic, and each one is easy to ignore until it has been going on for a year. If any of these sound familiar, we can help.

Your email is going into the spam folder

This usually has nothing to do with what you wrote. It happens because the technical settings are missing or wrong, because your sending address has lost its good name, or because too many people marked your mail as spam. Nobody warns you — you only notice that fewer people reply. We set this up correctly and keep an eye on it.

Your customer list is getting old

People change jobs, close old email accounts and stop buying. If those addresses stay on your list, you keep paying to email people who will never open your mail, and email providers start treating all your messages as unwanted. We clean the list regularly so the people who do want your email still receive it.

You cannot tell which email is making money

Emails are going out and orders are coming in, but nobody can say which email brought which sale. When you cannot see that, you cannot do more of what works. We connect the two together and show you clearly in the monthly report.

Enquiries get forgotten

A customer asks a question, someone on your team means to reply, and then the day gets busy. Two weeks later that customer has bought from someone else. We set up reminders so this stops happening.

Everything is kept in different places

Order confirmations come from one system, newsletters from another, and the customer list lives in a spreadsheet on one laptop. Because nothing is connected, your staff key in the same information again and again. We connect these systems so the information moves by itself.

What you get

Everything we
take care of.

Six areas in total. Most businesses need two or three of them urgently, and the rest once those are running well. They work best as one system, because that is where the real benefit comes from.

01

Getting Into The Inbox

Whether your email reaches someone is decided before they read a single word of it.

Gmail, Outlook and the rest now expect proof that your email is really from you, sent from an address with a good reputation. Most businesses never set this up properly, and they never find out — the email simply goes to spam. We set it up correctly for you, then keep checking it and fix anything that starts to slip.

What this includes

  • The technical settings that prove to Gmail and Outlook your mail is genuinely from you
  • A separate address for sending, warmed up slowly before we send a lot from it
  • We watch the bounce and spam-complaint rates, and remove bad addresses for you
  • We test that your mail is landing in the inbox, not the spam folder
02

Automations We Build For You

The follow-up emails that quietly bring in money, set up around the way you actually sell.

You will not be given a blank screen and told to build it yourself. We design the emails, build them using your real customer data, and write everything down so your staff can change the wording or the timing later without needing us.

What this includes

  • A welcome email for new customers, so they start buying sooner
  • Reminders for people who left items in their cart but did not pay
  • Thank-you and re-order reminders after a purchase
  • A friendly email to win back customers who stopped buying
  • Every automation written down, so changing it is easy
03

Writing With AI, In Your Voice

Written faster, always in your own voice, and sent however you choose.

The AI learns from your past emails and your brand guide, so what it writes sounds like you wrote it — not like a generic template. It can write in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese, and you decide whether it asks you before sending or handles routine mail on its own.

What this includes

  • Subject lines and message text written in your own voice
  • Versions for different customer groups, in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese
  • Testing of subject lines and sending times, with the results explained to you
  • Your choice of approval: check everything first, or let routine mail go out on its own
04

Order Updates & System Email

The everyday emails your customers actually depend on, connected to the systems that hold the information.

An order confirmation with the wrong total, or a password reset that never arrives, upsets a customer far more than a hundred good offers please them. We connect these emails to your real systems, so the information is always correct and nobody has to type it again.

What this includes

  • Order confirmations, invoices and receipts, taken straight from the order
  • Password resets, account notices and security alerts
  • Shipping, delivery, back-in-stock and waiting-list notifications
  • Polite reminders when a payment fails, so you recover the sale
  • Connected to your online store, accounts, CRM and order system
05

Shared Inbox & Follow-Ups

One shared place for customer emails, without paying for a big helpdesk system.

For a team that has outgrown a single shared password, but is not ready to pay for a full helpdesk. This is the awkward stage in between, where most businesses end up keeping track in a spreadsheet.

What this includes

  • A shared inbox where each email is clearly assigned to one person
  • The AI sorts incoming mail and tells you which ones are urgent
  • Draft replies for common questions, which your staff can check before sending
  • Reminders to follow up, so an interested customer never gets forgotten
06

Reports You Can Understand

A short monthly update in plain English, not another dashboard you have to figure out yourself.

Most reports tell you what happened and leave you to work out what to do about it. We tell you what happened, what we think you should change, and why. We hold ourselves to the same numbers we show you.

What this includes

  • How much money your email brought in, broken down by automation and customer group
  • Whether your email is reaching the inbox, and how healthy your customer list is
  • A short, plain-English summary with one clear recommendation
  • A review every three months of what to keep, change or stop
How the AI behaves

You decide how
much it does alone.

Some business owners want to read every message before it goes out to a customer. Others are happy for the AI to take care of the ordinary emails by itself — the order updates, the shipping notices — and only ask about the ones that need a decision. Both are sensible, so we do not choose for you.

You tell us which one you want, in your own words. We turn that into the rule the AI follows, and you can change it whenever you like — usually just by sending us a message.

Check everything first

You approve, then it sends

The AI writes the email and then waits. Nothing goes out to a customer until someone on your side has read it and clicked approve.

Most clients start here, and some stay here for good. It is the safest option while you are still getting comfortable.

Let it send routine mail

It sends, and asks you when unsure

The AI sends the everyday, predictable emails by itself — order updates, shipping notices, back-in-stock alerts — and comes to you for anything that needs a judgement call.

Useful when you send a lot of email and most of it is routine. You still get told about anything unusual.

An example of what you might write

Send on its own:
  - order and payment updates
  - shipping and delivery
  - back-in-stock alerts

Ask me first:
  - anything about price
  - any unhappy customer
  - a first email to a new group

Never:
  - ignore an unsubscribe
  - email anyone who did not sign up

Things that do not change

  • Unsubscribe requests are always followed. The AI cannot override one, in either setting.
  • If you want it to stop, you message us and it stops. There is no waiting period.
  • Every automatic email is saved with the reason it was sent, so you can check any of them later.
  • New sending addresses start slowly, and we only increase the volume when the results look healthy.
In practice

What it looks
like day to day.

Two screens do most of the work: the one where emails get written, and the one where the replies land. Here is roughly what each one looks like. The examples below are samples, not real customer data.

Writing an email

Compose · AI draft
To
Customers who have not ordered since June · 412 people
Subject
We saved your usual order
Hi Priya,
It has been a while since your last order with us. The items you usually buy are in stock again, and we can have them on the way today.
Waiting for your approvalSample content

The switch at the top is the setting you choose. Leave it on approve-first and nothing goes out until a person has read it. Switch it and the routine ones go by themselves — you can see the difference in the line at the bottom.

Incoming email, sorted and marked

Shared inbox · sorted for you5 need a person
Urgent · today2
  • Refund request for order #4192ComplaintAinaToday
  • Payment failed, customer retryingBillingRaviToday
This week2
  • Wholesale enquiry, 200 unitsSalesAinaThursday
  • Delivery delay, customer askingOrderRaviFriday
Waiting on the customer1
  • Quotation sent, no reply yetSalesUnassignedFollow up in 3 days
Handled automatically2
  • Order confirmation sentOrderAutomaticDone
  • Back-in-stock alert sentMarketingAutomaticDone

Every message gets a category, an urgency mark and a person responsible, arranged the same way as a project task list — so your team can see at a glance what needs attention today. Whatever was handled automatically is listed separately, with a record of what it did.

Guard rails & security

What it will not do,
and how your data is kept safe.

Letting somebody else send email on your behalf is a real decision, and you should be able to see exactly where the limits are before you say yes. So here they are, in plain terms.

What it will not do

  • It will not email anyone who did not sign up, buy from you, or ask to hear from you. Consent always comes first.
  • It will not override an unsubscribe request or a complaint. Not in one setting, not in the other, not ever.
  • It will not invent a price, a discount or a delivery date. Any figure in a message comes from your system, not from the AI.
  • It will not keep sending when something looks wrong. If bounce rates or spam complaints rise, sending pauses and we find out why before anything else goes out.
  • It will not exceed the daily sending limit we agree with you together.
  • It will not handle an upset customer by itself. Complaints, refunds and anything sensitive always come to a person.
  • It will not send a single email until your written policy is in place.

How your data is kept safe

  • Your accounts stay yoursWe work inside the systems you already use, with limited permissions, instead of copying your customer list somewhere else. You keep control and can remove our access whenever you want.
  • Named accounts, two-factor loginNobody shares a login. Every person who can see your data has their own account, with two-factor login switched on.
  • Only the people doing your workAccess is limited to the team actually working on your account. Nobody else in the company can look at your customer data.
  • Credentials kept encryptedPasswords and API keys go into an encrypted store. They are never left in a spreadsheet, a chat message or an email.
  • Encrypted in transit and at restYour data is encrypted while it moves between systems, and while it is stored.
  • Never sold, never used to train AI modelsWe do not sell your data, and we do not use it to train AI models. It is used for one purpose only: sending your email.
  • Unusual activity raises an alertIf something changes in the way your account is sending, we hear about it straight away instead of finding out at the end of the month.
  • A clean exit, and the paperwork you needWe are happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement and a data-processing agreement before we start, and we handle personal data in line with Malaysia's PDPA. If you stop working with us, we revoke our access, rotate the credentials and hand your data back or delete it, whichever you prefer.
An honest comparison

Email software
or a service?

This is the plain difference, and it is not about which one has better features. It is about who does the work, and who is responsible when something goes wrong.

Comparison of a self-serve email platform with a managed email automation service
 Self-serve platformMERC managed service
Who does the workYou and your staffWe do
What it costsPriced by number of contacts, so it grows with your listOne monthly fee, agreed before we start
Getting startedYou set up the templates and automations yourselfWe build it and hand it over ready to use
Your customer dataStored inside their systemYours, and you can export all of it
Connecting your systemsOnly the apps they have already built connectors forWe connect the systems you actually use
Reaching the inboxYou work out the problems yourselfWe set it up and keep watch for you
How the AI worksWhatever the software is set to doYou decide: approve first, or send automatically
Staff neededSomeone to manage itSomeone to approve, about once a week
If you leaveGetting your data out can be difficultWe hand it over properly, and it is yours

To be fair to the software: most of these products are good, and we use them ourselves every day. Some of them can already write emails with AI and show you your sales figures. The difference is not the features. It is that with software, the work and the responsibility stay with you.

How to start

Three ways to
work with us.

Every business is different, so we do not put a fixed price on this page. The cost depends on how many emails you send, how healthy your setup is right now, and how much of it you already have. We will write the price down for you before any work begins, and we stick to it.

Not sure which one you need? Start with the audit. It is the smallest commitment, and it tells you whether the rest is worth doing.

Email Audit

One-off, fixed price

We start by finding out what is really happening with your email now, and what it is costing you — before you commit to anything bigger.

  • A check on whether your email is reaching the inbox
  • A review of how healthy your customer list is
  • A look at the emails and automations you send today
  • A written report listing the problems we found, with the fixes ranked by importance
Most common

Build

One-off, fixed price

We build the whole system, connect it to your other software, and hand it over to you properly documented.

  • Setting up your sending address and all the technical settings
  • Designing and building your automations using your real data
  • Setting up your email templates and the AI writing rules
  • Connecting your online store, accounts, CRM and order system
  • Written instructions and training for your team

Managed Run

Monthly, ongoing

We look after it and keep improving it every month. This is what most clients end up on.

  • We keep checking your email is reaching the inbox, and fix problems
  • New emails and automations written for you each month
  • Your customer list kept clean and up to date
  • A monthly report and a review every three months
  • You can speak directly to the people who built it
Getting started

What we need
from you.

This part is simple, and it decides how quickly we can begin. If you can get us these five things, we can usually start within a week. If you are not sure about some of them, tell us anyway — we can work it out together.

  1. 1Access to your domain settings and to the email system you use now
  2. 2A list of the systems we need to connect to — your online store, accounts, CRM, order system
  3. 3Some examples of the emails you send today, including any you would rather stop sending
  4. 4One person on your side who can approve messages, about once a week
  5. 5A rough idea of how many emails you send each month, and how many types of customer you have
Before you ask

Questions we
get asked.

Do we have to move away from the email system we use now?

No. If the system you already pay for is working fine, we usually suggest you keep it and let us fix the automations and the housekeeping instead. We only recommend moving when there is a clear reason, and it is never a condition of working with us.

Will the AI send email on its own?

It can, but only if you tell it to. You write down which emails the AI may send by itself — usually the routine ones like order updates and delivery notices — and which ones must come to you first. The AI follows that instruction. If you would rather check every single message, that is completely fine, and most clients start that way. Either way, it can never ignore an unsubscribe request.

Can you make sure our email reaches the inbox?

We set up everything that decides whether email reaches the inbox, we keep watch over it, and we fix problems when they appear. What we will not do is promise you a result we cannot control, because no honest provider can promise that. What we can promise is that somebody is actually watching it, which is more than most businesses have today.

What about consent, unsubscribe and spam rules?

We set up the unsubscribe link, the preference page and the record of who agreed to receive your email, and we keep all of it in line with the rules that apply to you. The content of your emails, and making sure you have permission to send them, stays your responsibility.

Do you do cold email outreach?

No. We only send email to people who already know you — your customers, your subscribers, people who asked to hear from you. We will not send bulk email to strangers, because it damages the reputation of the domain you need for the email that actually matters.

How much of this do we have to run ourselves?

On a Managed Run, almost none of it. You give us your brand voice, your approvals and access to your systems. You do not need to learn any software, and you do not need to hire somebody just to look after email.

Who owns everything when it is finished?

You do. Your customer list, your templates and everything we build belong to you from the day it goes live, and you can export all of it whenever you want. There is nothing of yours that we hold on to.

How long before something is live?

Most projects have the first automations reaching customers within a few weeks of the audit finishing. We deliberately keep the audit short, because its job is to help you make a decision, not to become a long project of its own.

How do you keep our customer data safe?

Your accounts stay yours. We work inside the systems you already use, with limited permissions, instead of taking a copy of your customer list somewhere else. Only the people doing your work can see it, everyone logs in with their own named account and two-factor login, and passwords and API keys live in an encrypted store rather than in a spreadsheet or an email. Your data is never sold and never used to train AI models. When the work ends, we revoke our access, rotate the credentials and hand everything back, or delete it if you prefer.

What stops the AI from sending something it should not?

Three things. First, the written policy you give us, which says exactly what may go out on its own and what must come to you. Second, the hard limits that apply in every setting: it can never override an unsubscribe, it can never invent a price or a delivery date, and anything involving a complaint or a refund always goes to a person. Third, automatic pauses. If bounce or spam complaint rates rise, sending stops and we look into it before anything else goes out.

Start here

Tell us what is
happening.

Just describe the situation in your own words — roughly how many emails you send, which system you use now, and what is bothering you about it. There is no need to prepare anything formal.

We will reply with what we would do about it and roughly what it would cost. If we turn out not to be the right fit for what you need, we will tell you that honestly.

Prefer email? hello@mercstudio.com

Related work

If your main concern is the online store rather than the email, we build e-commerce infrastructure that the email plugs into. If you want to keep every message you have ever received, have a look at Mail Archive.

We'll send a confirmation link — double-check for typos.