A Deep Dive into Marketing Automation

As with other marketing strategies, marketing automation can help encourage individuals to complete a sale. This technology provides the nudges and information the customer is looking for right when they need it.

What is Marketing Automation?

It’s a type of technology that automatically manages marketing processes and campaigns across different channels.

That may include:

• Email
• Social media
• Text messages
• Phone calls
• Mail

Marketing automation software monitors and reacts to a website user’s activity and responds according to the instructions or workflow you assign. For example, after filling out a form or responding to an email, the user’s website activity is now connected to their email address.

Capabilities

Good marketing automation software streamlines lead generation, which helps your marketing staff optimize their time. It allows you to target potential customers and follow up on website interactions, information requests, even incomplete purchase orders.

Marketing automation eliminates the need to press “send” on a follow-up email or text, so you can focus on adjusting your campaign. You can also measure the return on investment of your marketing campaigns with tracking pixels – a digital code that gathers information on your website visitors. Tracking pixels measure marketing campaign performance, so you’ll know if your content or ads reach your target audience.

Marketing Automation and the Sales Cycle

Workflows vary by industry and individual business needs. If you want to promote a product or service, you can implement an automated workflow to trigger follow-up emails specific to key pages or searched items.

Marketing automation can target visitor statuses, including new, long-term, former and infrequent customers. The software also addresses status changes.

You can send automated workflows weekly or monthly based on a customer’s position in the sale cycle. “Abandoned carts” are a good example of marketing automation commonly used by e-commerce sites. The workflow triggers an email when a purchase is started but not completed. That allows you to follow up with a potential customer and bring your product/service back to their attention.

Marketing automation is not exclusive to online interactions. If online users make frequent visits to a website without buying, you can notify sales staff to follow up by phone to provide assistance. In some cases, you can also pair print mail services with marketing automation to send postcards based on online activity and triggers.

The team at TouchStone Digital can create a customized workflow to help you maximize your marketing campaign. Ready to get started? Call 419-299-9000 or contact us online today.