Marketing Automation is the use of technology to automate marketing activities and processes, reducing human labor and increasing action efficiency. Marketing Automation is the primary instrument for nurturing and advancing leads till the point of purchase.
This post discusses what Marketing Automation means and its benefits for your business. We also recommend free marketing automation software you can use, so stick around till the end!
What is Marketing Automation?
Marketing Automation is riddled with misconceptions and falsehoods. As a result, it is critical to define what we are discussing. Many people believe that any activity completed automatically (such as following back or scheduling posts on social media) constitutes full Marketing Automation.
Nevertheless, they are simple acts that fall well short of what we consider successful Marketing Automation. Marketing Automation entails analyzing and responding to individuals connected with your company via numerous online channels in a customized and scalable manner.
It is to exactly grasp the lead’s interest and buying stage, providing him with all the information he requires at any given time in an automatic manner.
8 benefits of Marketing Automation for your company
Investing in Marketing Automation makes it possible to increase sales and revenue, decrease customer acquisition costs, and improve customer retention.
Nurturing Leads That Are Not Ready
It is common to come across the situation of the customer not being in the ideal moment of purchase. This customer may have exhausted or stuck the budget for the year, have other priorities, have just bought a similar solution, or still need to realize that he has a problem and needs to solve it.
In all these cases, some leads are not ready and will not buy now but may buy soon. The relationship is still valuable in this situation, as often what is missing is your company educating them and providing more information to generate demand.
It could also be a matter of timing. In these situations, remaining close, and adding value, is enough to generate credibility and keep your company in the minds of potential customers when the moment of purchase arrives. Automation allows you to do this relationship efficiently and with little effort.
More Efficiency in the Funnel
We know that every purchase has a process, with some stages that every buyer must go through. It is as if it were a prerequisite of a stage to master the basic information of the previous moment. Through user behavior, Marketing Automation allows for identifying each potential customer’s purchase stage and interests, sending the appropriate content to take them to the next stage.
What we see as a result is a funnel that moves. That is, among the people who enter your company’s sights, a smaller number move to the final stages and become customers.
More Prepared Leads Generate Bigger Tickets
Who do you think buys more expensive wines? Someone who needs help understanding more and chooses an option at the supermarket for dinner or someone who has already taken courses, read books, studied, and become knowledgeable about the subject?
The more the lead knows about the topic, the greater their tendency to recognize the problem and feel willing to invest more in the solution. More mature leads generate larger tickets, and Marketing Automation software ensures this role of providing the appropriate content and preparing the sale.
Personalized Communication for Each Persona
With automation campaigns, it is possible to segment leads by many criteria, such as position, company, segment, time of purchase, etc. From these segmentation possibilities, your company can customize communication much better, making the different people walk their own paths, not generic ones.
The result, in practice, is extremely high efficiency in the relationship, adding value to each step and keeping Leads looking forward to the next emails.
Less Recurring Work for Marketing
With Automation, a large part of the lead preparation that marketing should be doing for sales is automated. Of course, there is a great deal of effort in creating the “paths” that the different Leads must follow, but when adjusted, it is not necessary to spend all the time starting from scratch.
This reduces the need for a marketing team focused on doing this relationship manually.
Sellers Receive More Prepared Leads
Conversations with the seller are very different when the lead starts to discover the topic and when he has already researched, understands the subject well, his needs, and wants support to make the final decision.
If Leads are better prepared, sellers need to invest fewer hours making contact to make the sale.
More Productivity for Sellers
With all the initial stages of the sales process handled by the marketing automation software and previously created content, sellers can be much more productive.
Since the tool does the job well, they feel more comfortable focusing on those Leads who are most ready and trust that Leads who are not yet ready will come back to it after some time. As there is no need to do all the initial education, they can also specialize in the final stages of the process, ensuring a higher close rate.
More Prepared Leads Are More Successful With the Product
Just as we said that people with more knowledge tend to have higher tickets, they also already know what to expect and how to implement your product or service. This makes them more successful, stay longer, and generate more referrals. The benefits, when added, generate an even better result!
Conclusion
Automating email and SMS marketing to enjoy these benefits is also possible. But then you need marketing automation software to meet your aim. So, if you are on the look for free marketing automation software, EQUP is the best subscription management software you can bank on for all marketing automation.
