Automating some of your repetitive – but important – tasks is a great way to maintain or improve your client relationships. With a bit of effort on the front end to set your systems up, marketing automation can save tons of time in the long run and maintain a stellar level of customer support and engagement, even as your customer base grows.
Why Use Marketing Automation?
We know – it feels a little bit counterintuitive to imply that your relationships will improve with your use of technology rather than customer care facilitated by a human. But hear us out.
Many sales leads are lost and client mistakes made from human error. Forgetting to follow up with a warm lead, or failing to have a robust welcome routine in place for a new purchaser is a surefire way to rack up lost leads.
Think of marketing automation as the oil on that proverbial “well-oiled machine.” Automating tasks like email marketing, CRM system protocols, and social media engagement are examples of ways that automation can turn repetitive tasks into touchpoints with your customers that will go a long way in gaining their loyalty.
Email Marketing Automation
Automating your email marketing is a no-brainer. It’s the most widely used form of automation out there, and for good reason. 59% of consumers say that emails inform the purchases they make. This number holds true when you look at the fact that for every dollar spent on email marketing, the ROI is $38.
So, yeah, email marketing automation is well worth your time and money.
Email marketing software such as Convertkit or Mailchimp allows businesses to create automated email templates or campaigns that are sent when a trigger behavior occurs.
So, if a new customer fills out an interest form on your website and includes your email, your software system would automatically start a “welcome sequence” of emails that welcome your new customer to your brand, provide them with information or further reading, and offer them exclusive insights into your products or services.
Automation and Social Media Engagement
As you probably know, managing a social media account can easily suck up a ton of your time during your workweek. Planning content, designing and writing the content, posting the content, and then interacting with your followers is no small task.
Social media marketing software can help you to save tons of time and energy on some of the more menial tasks associated with your social media marketing. Some of these include:
- Content scheduling
- Engagement with mentions, comments, or reposts
- Curating relevant content from across the web to reshare
- Tracking your analytics
Automate Your CRM System Protocols
CRM stands for Client Relationship Management systems. This sophisticated software allows you to track all the information you could possibly need about all of your current and past clients. These tasks may be doable by hand when your business is still small, but as it grows you will need technology to assist your team in making sure that no lead ever falls through the cracks.
A powerful CRM software will allow your team to automate communication with leads at various points of their buyer’s journey. A popular example of this is the “abandoned cart” trigger. If a customer places an item in their shopping cart and then fails to complete the purchase, your CRM software can connect with them via email to nudge them toward that purchase, or to find out more about why they didn’t follow through.
The automating features of your CRM can also be an in-house perk. Some CRM software will allow you to distribute your analytics to different people on your staff. Consistent, robust data analytics is one of the best ways to grow and ensure growth as a business.
So, what are you waiting for? Set aside time and a bit of your budget to initiate some automated protocols into your customers’ buyer’s journey. It’s a surefire way to convey compassion and professionalism to your clients.
For advice on where to begin with marketing automation, reach out to our team at Deal Digital.
