Anyone can say you need marketing automation. And if you look at marketing blogs often enough, everyone probably has. So how do you know that you’re ready to take the automation leap? Here are a few ways you know if you’re ready for marketing automation. [Build Trust]
Keeping track of your customers is chaotic at best
Imagine a world where the contact information for everyone who has ever interacted with your brand—customers and prospects, accounts, leads, and sales opportunities—is all in one place. Now think about how much happier you would be if that system was updated automatically and you didn’t have to worry about keeping track of changes yourself. That’s what CRM [Customer Relationship Management] software can do for you. When you think about how much it would cost to pay someone to monitor and interact with every customer you’ve ever had around-the-clock, it’s one of the best investments that you can make for your business. Plus, it integrates with your email marketing. So if a new customer makes her first purchase, she gets a unique thank you email from you right away. If she comes back to buy again, she can get a different email offering her a loyal customer discount. The possibilities are endless.
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Your sales cycles take forever
If your customer is taking weeks or months to make a buying decision, something in your sales cycle is broken. With automation. you can pinpoint the issue, fix it, and prevent it from happening again. Attention from an automated system is highly personalized and almost instantaneous. This will shorten your sales cycle and your conversions will increase. Automation can help you make sure nobody ends up stuck in your sales funnel.
You’re losing leads
Let’s say someone visits your site and signs up for your email list. If it takes you two weeks to respond, do you think they’re going to be ready to buy from you? What if you promised them content –– like an eBook or video series––but forgot to send it? Chances are slim they’re going to do anything with your marketing emails, except perhaps click Unsubscribe. If you’re having to keep track of all your customer management (and all your email marketing) by yourself, you’re losing leads. Period. Automation nurtures leads far more effectively. It demonstrates to your customers that you care about them and notice their interactions — and that you don’t want to lose your relationship with them.
Everyone’s getting the same content
If you’re sending even your most loyal customers a welcome email every time they make a purchase, they’re going to notice. It’s hard for people to feel like anything more than an ATM if a business makes no effort to get to know them. Automation demonstrates that effort on your part. It allows you to segment your lists by criteria like demographic info, purchase and click history, and more: so your customer knows you’re paying attention. It looks a lot better if your brand gives personalized attention— and customers remember who remembers them.
If you’re drowning in business cards and email addresses— and unsure where to begin—it doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of affordable automation systems out there, and marketing professionals trained to set up and implement them for you. You can get back to running your business— and stop it from running you. Are you ready?
