Marketing automation is a marketing tool that allows a company to perfect the automation of most of its tasks according to predefined conditions. It is a strategy management tool that is very popular with marketers. It must be admitted that marketing automation offers a large number of advantages, especially for the execution of email campaigns or the automatic execution of scenarios when an action is performed by customers. Let’s take a look at this marketing tool in this article.
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing Automation is a tool that allows a company to perfect the automation of digital marketing tasks as well as the management of the scenarios and actions that take place. The main goal of this tool is to make the customer journey customizable based on his progress. With marketing automation, it is possible to have the history of results, whether it is for the number of sales, loyal customers, turnover, etc.
Marketing automation is used by a company to improve its lead management. Note that everything is orchestrated according to the scenarios imposed by the marketers. The scenario (workflow) groups together the conditions necessary to launch the process of a dedicated task.
In a company, marketing automation is a management tool that allows the automation of the following actions:
- Activation of a notification if a user is performing an action via the marketing tool;
- Automatic sending of an email (emailing);
- Automation of the sending of an SMS ;
- Fragmentation of the database stored in the marketing management software;
- Customizing a Chatbot to the user;
- etc.
What is a scenario in Marketing Automation?
The scenarios launched with marketing automation are necessarily activated by an entry point. For example, the scenario can be launched when a customer adds a product to his cart on the company’s website. Using this entry point, the algorithm that makes up the marketing tool will take over the verification of the customer journey, whether or not it meets the conditions set by the marketer.
Let’s take as an example a company that uses Marketing Automation on its e-commerce website. In the case where the marketing strategy used by the company consists of emailing customers who have abandoned their shopping cart, the scenario will be as follows:
- If the customer (visitor to the company’s site) does not add a product to the shopping cart, the entry point is not started, so there is no scenario;
- If the customer adds a product among those proposed on the company’s website to the shopping cart, the scenario is started;
- If the customer adds one or more of the products offered on the company’s website to the shopping cart, he automatically enters the scenario ;
- Once the customer has placed an order, he automatically exits the scenario as there is a purchase confirmation;
- If the customer chats with the company’s chatbot, the data collected can be used to refine the personalization of the journey
- If the customer leaves the company’s website and abandons all the products he has placed in his shopping cart, the conditions will be met, which automatically triggers an email reminder.
The marketing automation scenarios are different depending on the marketing strategy and the objective the company wants to implement. As a result, the possibilities for optimizing marketing campaigns with marketing automation are almost infinite. Moreover, with the tools (software, Chatbot, CRM, etc.) that are dedicated, marketing automation becomes easily accessible.
A company can apply and develop a marketing automation strategy by registering on free and/or paid platforms, whether B2B or B2C, or by using a company’s own management software.
What are the benefits of marketing automation for email campaigns?
In any business, using marketing automation can help with the automatic execution of repetitive tasks that could waste valuable employee time. The implementation of the automation strategy allows marketers to have a considerable saving of time that they can devote to the design of new marketing strategy or to the optimization of emailing campaigns.
For emailing campaigns, the use of a marketing automation strategy allows you to better classify contacts via criteria imposed by the company:
- Demographics;
- Customer loyalty;
- Products frequently purchased by customers;
- etc.
The management of the contact list will be made easier within the company with marketing automation, advancing at the same time the emailing campaigns.
Also, marketing automation remains a management tool that facilitates the personalization of actions and the web marketing strategy of a company. The fact is that with this marketing tool, it is quite possible to send tailor-made messages that perfectly match the leads, whether in B2C or B2B. By doing so, marketing automation tools will be able to send personalized emails based on the customer journey or scenario.
The emailing campaigns will be assured as the company will be able to send personalized emails. New customers will receive a welcome message. In addition, it will be possible to add dynamic content inside the emails sent. Loyal customers will receive the latest news from the company. At the same time, this marketing tool allows you to classify the customer contacts of a company in the best possible way. Indeed, marketing automation combined with a management software allows to delete erroneous or duplicate contacts. All of this makes it possible to make visits more profitable and increase the bounce rate of emailing campaigns designed by the company.
How to make a marketing automation strategy successful?
If a company wants to design a marketing automation strategy that can ensure a good return on investment, it is crucial for the team in charge of developing the strategy to ask the right questions.
The use of the QQOQCP method is thus de rigueur to help determine the company’s needs. Marketers will be able to develop an effective marketing strategy and tailor-made scenarios to meet the needs of the company and its customers. Except for this method, The results of each action taken must be analyzed periodically and frequently. The goal is to detect the flaws and to find an effective solution. The company will be able to easily reach the objectives it has previously set.
It should be noted that not all marketing automation tools offered on the internet are efficient. Indeed, it is necessary to do some research and make comparisons on the options that each platform offers on the web. For example, if your company wants to perfect the management of email campaigns, emailing platforms like ActiveCampaign, Sendinblue or GetResponse can offer you a wide range of custom marketing automation solutions, depending on your needs and resources.
Thus, for effective emailing campaigns, the use of marketing automation is more than recommended. Nevertheless, the choice of platform can also influence the success or failure of your marketing strategy. Indeed, it is important to remember that each marketing automation strategy can differ according to the needs of a company. In this case, do not hesitate to make multiple comparisons between existing platforms on the web to find the best suited to your company. At the same time, companies will be able to improve the tracking of customers who visit their website, apply various scenarios to better serve them and encourage them to return to the e-commerce site.
