Marketing automation works by using cookies installed in a website visitors web browser. This enables the software to track the visitor through the website pages. By using this technology a company can start to build up a score for the ‘prospect’ and start to trigger further information to the visitor based on what information or pages they visit whilst on the website.
Marketing Automation Software And How It Works
Marketing automation systems are not a new development. They have been around for a very long time. The difference is, like most technology, the price comes down over time and Small businesses can now invest in the technology that only the Blue Chip companies could afford previously.
The Best Example Of Marketing Automation In Action
At some point, most people will have had some interaction with www.amazon.com.
Amazon has been using automated systems for a very long time to help understand how likely a customer is to purchase a particular product and move them further up the funnel.
When you browse a certain type of product on the Amazon storefront, are logged into your Amazon account but don’t end up purchasing the product, the email you receive within the next few days, funnily enough, has a whole raft of alternative products that all offer the same or very similar features to the product you were browsing only a day or so before. And how many times do you then go on to purchase that product? Well, that’s more than you might have had you not received the email.
This is Marketing Automation working perfectly. Helping Amazon or your business build a relationship and improve the likelihood of doing business.
What Is The Purpose Of Marketing Automation?
Generate more leads or sales for your business!
The first and foremost reason for the development of marketing automation is to generate a business more leads or sales by putting the right information in front of the right person at the right time.
How Does It Help Gain More Leads?
When you think of a traditional online lead funnel it helps envisage wherein the funnel a visitor is. Using the theory behind the sales funnel below there will be different types of content required to move the prospect through to the final buying stage.
Build Trust With Your Audience
One of the main reasons someone buys from a company is the fact they trust them to provide the product or service required.
An automated marketing campaign that is pre-programmed into the system can help build trust in your product or service much quicker than the traditional routes.
What’s more, it will mean you no longer need to worry about whether or not you sent that person that email or the last time you were in contact with that person.
The system is set-up initially based on moving the prospect through the sales funnel to the point they complete the sale or submit a lead.
Build Interest In Your Product Or Service
There will be certain signals or triggers that signal a prospect is moving from the initial awareness stage of the buying funnel through the interest, consideration and hopefully move them into the intent phase.
Constant contact is a great philosophy for helping a prospect move along the sales funnel. It’s a process that has been used for many years by lots of companies. The issue comes with being able to scale this style of manually reaching out to each prospect in a sales pipeline. Automation of your marketing and sales funnel means that a higher level of consistency is achieved along with an increase in the conversion rate should it be implemented properly.
At each point in the online journey, the system will keep building the score of the prospect; once a prospect reaches a certain score or fills in a lead form on the site you would look to engage a final sales process to convert the prospect into a customer. Some of this will be automated by the system and some will form part of the offline sales process. All working hand in hand to reach the ultimate goal of the prospect converting.
The Benefits Continue After The Prospect Becomes A Customer
It’s all well and good gaining a new customer but continued custom from them will help you build a more sustainable company that continues to grow.
After the sale is a vital time to garner new opportunities. When the service or the product has been delivered, it’s the perfect time to be asking for a review and also introduce the customer to your referral scheme.
After this, it is good practice to keep in touch with customers. You never know how much they actually know about the services you offer. A perfect example is, us, here at Relative Marketing, our customers know we provide a very high-quality design agency service, but they may not know we also offer marketing automation with strategy and implementation of the systems.
For help in deciding on the right marketing automation software for your business and help on implementing the system get in touch with us here at Relative Marketing. We know how to engage your audience, marketing automation helps us reach them more often.
