If your online business is growing, you might’ve already considered improving or refining your marketing strategy – or initiating a complete overhaul. With e-commerce revenue reaching £693 billion in 2019 in the UK alone, you’ll want to seize the opportunities within the online market wherever possible.
More businesses are starting to realize the benefits that marketing automation software can bring to their companies, but some have taken to it more than others. In this guide, we’ll outline elements you might not know about automation and how it could make a great investment for your company.
Which companies could benefit from automation?
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Amy Birch, Head of Client Operations at leading digital agency Wired Plus, responded to some of our burning questions on marketing automation. We first asked what type of businesses would benefit most from implementing an email marketing strategy, and it’s clear from Amy’s response that a whole range could benefit. Amy replied:
“…We encourage clients to think of their whole sales and marketing funnel and somewhere along the way there is a task someone begrudges, data is siloed, tracking is lost, [and] customer experience could be improved – and it’s these parts of the funnel where we suggest automation is added.”
What are the main benefits of automation?
- It’s cost-effective: You won’t need to dedicate your entire budget to automation, so you’ll have room for other techniques too.
- It’s convenient: You don’t have to remember to send something at a certain time, and you won’t miss any crucial deadlines.
- Better ROI: You’ll see an increased Return on Investment, highlighting the value of this solution!
Current academic research shows that for 45% of surveyed businesses in Switzerland, a leading global centre for the use of digital marketing in business, automation increases efficiency and ROI in their marketing. For over a third of respondents, automation also increased quality of leads and resulted in more leads or conversions.
Are there any future trends in automation?
Market experts have identified several exciting trends expected to develop with marketing automation. Three of those include:
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Conversational marketing
Businesses need to start paying closer attention to the ways in which they communicate with their customers. People generally don’t like impersonal and emotionless interactions, but this doesn’t mean that using a chatbot would be entirely ineffective. If your automated chat is conversational, engaging, and attentive to the customer’s needs, it could make a valuable addition.
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Personalization
Identifying the behaviors of your customers makes up the modern definition of marketing personalization. If you stop sending emails to people who don’t open them or stop sending specific product discounts to customers who search for something entirely different, you’re more than halfway there.
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AI-powered Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems
This year and beyond, companies will start to rely more upon automated call center tools to improve their marketing strategies. Done right, voice bots and IVRs can calm down angry customers while they wait to speak to a representative and could ultimately improve their experience. Plus, positive experiences lead to better chances of loyalty.
Amy Birch believes that marketing automation is only going to get “more prevalent” and that more companies will be striving to reach the levels of automation, like those seen in Amazon’s model, that “we’ve all come to know and love.”
