The possibilities of marketing automation are vast and the obstacles that it can help you overcome are many. Since using automation is not as straightforward as simply deciding to use it or not, it can be difficult to understand where to start or how to begin.
If you’re at this stage and wondering how incorporating automation into your marketing strategy can help you achieve your goals, consider what you want to accomplish, and which processes might be holding you back. Once you have clearly identified where you want automation to take your business, you begin to have a clearer picture of what gaps and opportunities automation can fulfill for you.
That may sound oversimplified, and it probably is. In fact, we know marketing automation can involve many moving parts and defining exactly where it can help can be its own process. However, you need to start somewhere, and once you have the right processes in place, the benefits of automation often yield massive results and compounding wins.
Here are six benefits that automation can deliver:
1. Personalized workflows.
We’ve come a long way from the early days of personalizing by just adding a customer’s first name to an email. Today, personalization is a way of showing them that you understand their individual needs and know how to meet them at the right time. Manually tracking where and how your customers are interacting with you is a tall task, and it’s one you probably don’t have time to manage if you want to achieve your other sales and marketing goals. This is where automation can help you pick up the pieces and apply them without losing momentum. By leveraging your customer data and defining a sound process, you can deliver the right content at just the right time, helping to drive qualified prospects and customers through to conversion and establishing your reputation as an authority in your industry.
2. Simplified and optimized processes through every stage of the funnel.
While many will use automation for a specific step in the funnel, it can be helpful across the entire lifecycle. With your customer at the center of your strategy, you can map out workflows and automation to help nurture leads from top to bottom. Whether you want to attract new prospects, convert them into clients and customers, or upsell and retain what’s already in the converted column, automation can be the glue that puts it all together.
3. Centralized data and connected departments.
Since it can be used across the entire funnel, automation can help streamline your organization. With an effective strategy, automation can eliminate unsteady hand-off procedures, prevent departments from falling into silos, and reduce customer effort. From customer service to sales, the experience you offer needs to be quick, seamless, and consistent. Keeping data in a central location will keep your teams more connected and agile while easing the burden on your customers. This makes life easier for everyone, and that ease of use can affect your bottom line in a good way.
4. Appetizing data.
Data is king, and these days it’s coming from everywhere. Landing pages, websites, email analytics, surveys, CRMs–the list goes on. So, it’s all too easy to have your data dispersed between different platforms. This makes knowing your customers on a deeper level tougher than it needs to be. Automation can help you connect your data sources and keep a single source of truth in a central location, making it both easier and quicker to access. It may also allow you to use sources in tandem, which will help level up your marketing strategy and improve the consistency of your customer experience.
5. Improved customer experience.
Your customers expect find what they need when they need it. The higher the obstacle for your customer to find the information they are looking for, the lower they will rate their experience, and the more likely they will be to go looking elsewhere. One in three consumers are willing to walk away from a company they love due to just one bad experience. Get ahead of any obstacles by using data to deliver the content your customers crave when they crave it most. Having your customer data stored in a central location allows you to understand where they are in the funnel and what you can expect them to be looking for at that time. It also allows you and your employees to better understand the customer journey and where they want to go next.
6. Consistent communication across channels.
Having a consistent brand experience regardless of the touchpoint will help you build a positive brand reputation. Part of improving the customer experience (see #5) is delivering consistency. Knowing how and when you have already interacted with a prospect or customer will go a long way toward anticipating their needs and being able to proactively meet them, rather than waiting on them to reach out to you. This builds loyalty and increases that ease of use people long for.