Marketing Automation: What Can You Automate?

Automation makes sense for those who feel they don't have the time or resources to personally communicate with their customers. As a result, many times you end up choosing to send a newsletter to the entire list of recipients.

You may not be very clear about what your audience is interested in. Are it the blog posts, articles, cases or videos that you dedicate time and resources to that your audience finally ends up reading? And when someone buys a product or service from your company, you don't know exactly if their interest started with that article you wrote last year. Or do you know?

Data, data data!

Data is very important. We can't talk about Marketing Automation without understanding segmentation and data — and how much data you have access to. With the right database and an understanding of what your customers are like, we can start with segments. With segments, we can begin to personalize our communication with customers.

Here's an example:

Imagine that we are a university that offers degree and master programs, continuing education, courses and MBAs. We have a database consisting of:

• Downloadable material (brochures/informational material)
• Sign up for the newsletter
• Former students
• Current students

If we look at the “X segment”:

• We know that they are interested in continuing their education.
• They have downloaded the material or displayed it through their behavior.

• More precisely, we know that they have been looking for Accounting and Auditing courses.
• They have downloaded the material or displayed it through their behavior.

• We also know that they have been looking for courses starting in the fall of 2019.
• They have demonstrated this through their behavior.

• We know that they have visited the page where you can register for the course, but they have not completed the form

With all this information, we can go from sending a generic email to an entire database, where we try to sell a wide range of courses, to being able to focus our communication and make it very close — in this case, people who want to start a course in accounting and auditing in the fall of 2019.

There can be many reasons why visitors end up on the form page and finally leave without filling it out. A full review of the Customer Journey it's a great help here. But let's assume that there are some doubts about:

• The economy
• The time they need to spend it.
• What they really get out of it.
• Fall 2019 may not fit them, but they might be interested in a later date.

We can address all of these concerns and thoughts with a flow that guides them to the right decision — to buy or not to buy. The latter is also good, because if the customer can come to this conclusion on their own, then you and your sales department haven't wasted time keeping track of those that aren't the right combination for you and your products.

And what's automatic about that?

First of all, You can set up a dynamic list to do the segmentation for you. Simply choose the criteria and the tool will add people to your list when they meet that criteria.

Contacts are automatically added to your email flow as they appear in the list. Those who finally register can be incorporated into a new flow, to prepare them for the start of the course. All done with the purpose of getting closer to the consumer and giving them the impression that they are being cared for — or that they don't feel like they're receiving a barrage of emails, but that you've really spent time communicating with them and understanding them.

Marketing Automation Made Easier

This was an example of 100, or perhaps 1000 potential email flows that this university could have employed. Which one do you think could be used for your business?

Do you think that sounds too complicated? Keep in mind that the Marketing Automation is not about making things more complicated, quite the contrary. It's about getting closer to the consumer and finally make your job easier. Of course it involves a lot of work at the beginning, when you have to set everything up, but it pays off later.

How can we help you?

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us.