There are many industry blogs and articles that talk to the benefits marketing automation can have for your business. From an efficiency perspective, it’s easy to see the benefits. Less time spent on customer relationship management throughout their journey, means more money in your pocket. But what of the customers? They too benefit from a well implemented automated journey.
We have (and will continue too!) spoken on the many and varied benefits marketing automation can make to your business. We’ve already written a number of blogs – which you can re-read here and here – and we also make it a key focus goal for all of our new clients. As well as increasing business efficiency, it is also of great tool if you’re looking to optimise customer experience. According to TFM&A’s 2014 marketing automation report, improving customer experience is actually a core reason why marketers use automated marketing. And when businesses who use automation can experience a 451% increase in qualified leads it’s easy to see why!
Automating your marketing can help you turn your sales funnel into a journey your customer will enjoy. And this is the key! Ensuring your customers transition from one stage to the next with ease makes their buying experiences a positive one. And this equals more sales, more return customers and more customers that become your advocates.
So, let’s take a look at what an automated marketing journey can look like to your customers.
Personalised customer interaction
Automated marketing increases the level of engagement in the customer journey. You can customise every interaction based on customer data to create continuous, seamless journeys through every brand touchpoint. Automated marketing allows you to gather as much data about your customers as possible, and it goes far beyond demographics. When do they buy, what platform they use (mobile, desktop), what time of the day they’re online, or what part of the journey they need an additional push. It’s all very useful!
Say you knew one of your customers first experienced your brand on social media. Marketing automation would assist you to re-market to them in a seamless way that also helped to enhance their engagement. And if they’re done well, these automations can be like a fascinating TV series that your customers look forward to watching!
Receives email messages with dynamic content
It takes time to gain your prospect’s trust, and the faster you get them to trust you, the better. Remember, your competitors too are also targeting them. For that reason, you need to ensure they commit to becoming your reliable customers sooner.
Sending automated emails with dynamic, personalised content ensures they transition smoothly from one stage of the funnel to the next. Automated emails get 86% higher open rates, create 320% more revenue, and yields a 196% increase in click-through rate compared to cold emails.
Customers aren’t forgotten
Before your prospects commit to becoming loyal customers, you must make sure they transition smoothly from the top of the sales funnel to the bottom of the funnel. Sometimes they can get forgotten. Using automated, event-driven campaigns that identify the stage your leads are in is one way to connect with them throughout the journey.
And the more you can connect throughout the journey, the easier it will be for you to offer an improved customer experience. Bots or an automated help desk can help improve customer experience without sacrificing the human touch. Importantly, you can rely on them to solve problems immediately.
Access to better communication
Various tasks fall under the marketing scope — communication with prospects throughout the sales process is one of them. That means, when you automate marketing, you are also automating your communication. This increases your capabilities to develop personalised connections with your customers when, where, and how they prefer.
Communicating with leads throughout various channels is not only a proven technique of converting them into customers but also a proven way to inform them about the products and services you offer. And once you manage to convert them into customers, it is easy to turn them into loyal brand ambassadors.
A brand ambassador software can make the process of managing your brand’s ambassadors easier. From helping you stay in touch to issuing ambassador rewards, it simplifies everything for you.
Over half of all B2B marketers currently use or plan to leverage marketing automation to communicate with target audiences and clients.
Better connected customer experiences throughout the journey
Throughout the journey, you will be talking to various customer pain points in an attempt to convert leads into loyal customers and ambassadors. While doing so, you will also create a connected customer experience. An experience that proves you value your prospects throughout the journey.
With automated marketing, you have the capabilities to keep your leads engaged at all stages — and that ultimately will improve their experience. For instance, you can create a system where when a customer email is received, a workflow is created automatically and routed to the relevant departments, then tracked until a resolution is reached.
Marketing automation promises a lot of things: more conversions, sales, and leads. And all with less work! But it does take an initial investment of your time and money if you’re going to get these results. Your business ability to automate the marketing journey is, therefore, something you need to consider seriously. Here at Oracle Tree, we can help to guide you on your marketing automation journey at a pace that’s right for you. So, whether you need help with funnel building, landing pages, or user experience improvements get in touch with us today!
