Modern businesses have a lot to deal with. To expand the customer base, companies need to open as many touch points as possible. Therefore, one company operates through email, multiple social media platforms, SMS, phone call, and website. In addition, they must provide sales, marketing and customer service services at all of these touchpoints. That puts an incredible workload on staff and poses a huge risk to productivity, efficiency and morale. Consequently, it becomes almost impossible to scale up and compete. Perhaps this is a major reason why the companies' 20% fails in the first year, while 50% fails within five years. What is the solution for the above scenario? Well, marketing automation of course.
WHAT IS MARKETING AUTOMATION?
Marketing automation is the use of software to manage repetitive sales and marketing processes. Simply put, it's a technology designed to put marketing on autopilot. It eliminates the need to manually send emails or post content on social media, making digital marketing efforts more efficient. According to Hubspot, at least 33% of companies not yet using automated marketing will do so by 2022. Their biggest motivation for this will be to increase sales. And rightly so, because automation increases sales turnover by about 53%. Therefore, this technology has become an indispensable part of modern business practice.
HOW DOES MARKETING AUTOMATION LEAD TO HIGHER INCOME?
BOOST PRODUCTIVITY
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of marketing automation is its positive effect on productivity. Research from Nucleus Research reveals a productivity increase of at least 20%. Automating repetitive tasks frees up more time for marketing and sales staff. These extra minutes and hours can be spent developing more creative marketing campaigns and closing sales. In addition, because automation analytics generate great customer insights, marketing and sales staff can work more efficiently in less time.
BETTER LEAD MANAGEMENT
Sales revenue is closely linked to lead management efficiency. With marketing automation, companies can control all aspects of lead management: generation, nurturing and scoring. 80% of the companies using this technology are witnessing instant improved lead generation. Marketing can also score leads more accurately and pass them on to sales at the right point in the sales funnel. Interestingly, leads make more purchases over time when they are nurtured. With personalized email drip campaigns, automation makes the important task of lead nurturing easier for marketing.
CREATES SALES OPPORTUNITIES
When used judiciously, marketing automation offers opportunities to sell even more products. About 58% of marketers are already using automation for upselling and can vouch for its effectiveness. For example, upselling can be done through post-purchase thank-you emails or abandoned cart email reminders. Similarly, more sales can be made by selling complementary products among themselves. All it takes is well-timed communication through the right channels; automation takes care of that.
REDUCES ACQUISITION COSTS
In the fast-paced business world, it is cheaper to keep customers than to acquire new ones. That's why reducing customer churn is crucial, and your business can do that in several ways with marketing automation. First, automated communication can be used to build relationships. In addition, it offers opportunities to retain customers through post-sales nurturing. Finally, as the customer database improves with more communication, automation can yield more insights that personalization strategies Hence, targeted and relevant messages can move the customer through the sales funnel faster.
MORE EFFICIENT MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
With marketing automation, email and social media marketing can reach new heights of success. For example, social media posts can be scheduled in advance. Also, customer interaction through email marketing can be maximized using triggered emails. According to Epsilon, the open rate of triggered emails is 70.5% higher than regular emails. Therefore, marketing campaigns led by automation can lead to better results for companies.
FACILITIES WORKING RELATIONSHIP
When both sales and marketing teams are working at full capacity, everyone gets along better. Marketing teams can develop better campaigns and generate more leads. On the other hand, sales can do what they do best: sell products. By simply improving productivity, both teams can work better together. This is what marketing automation does for companies investing in the technology.
Finally, consider this fact: 63% of companies are already using marketing automation plans to increase their spending on automation tools. Certainly, that statistic reflects the value of this technology. Consider simplifying the routine tasks in your marketing processes automate to boost today's revenue streams.
