Today’s complex marketing landscape presents many opportunities for automation. More and more companies are leveraging automation to not only streamline their processes, but to enhance customer experiences throughout the whole customer lifecycle. For example, a customer may see an ad for a product on TV and social media. They may then initiate a search for more information, visit the website, and land on a custom page all before deciding to purchase the product in store. Finding the right balance of touch points across the customer journey enables marketers to create a competitive advantage, as well as drive business results. Here are a few ways to employ automation at each stage of the customer journey and best practices for implementation:
Your brand is being discovered by potential customers. Marketing tools in this stage help to identify and segment your audience to deliver personalized and relevant content. CRMs are key systems of record for customers and help to support contact, account and opportunity management. Platforms such as Adobe, Oracle and Salesforce automate marketing actions and workflows for prospect interactions and are also useful for understanding reach and engagement.
During this stage, potential customers are evaluating your brand. Automation can guide customers through the decision-making process, providing them withthe information they need to make informed choices. Salesforce Journey Builder can be effective for automating cross-channel communication and integrating withother marketing platforms and your overall messaging strategy. Additionally,analytical tools can assist in tracking engagement to measure campaign success.Guide your customers towards a purchase by ensuring capabilities are in place for your marketing, content, attribution and media platforms.
Marketing automation during this phase should be a seamless transaction process such as workflows for order confirmation, payment processing and delivery updates. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Salesforce Commerce Cloud enable full end-to-end buying experiences with ability to manage product information. These tools can be integrated with CRM for personalized post purchase emails and exclusive offers to enhance the customer experience.
1. Data collection: A rich source of data can be beneficial for aggregation by marketing automation technology which can then power customer data, creating a 360 view.
2. Training: Increase usability in using automation through training across your organization. Develop platform champions within your organization to facilitate tool adoption.
3. Multi-channel integration: With a fragmented customer journey, integrating automation across various channels help create more personalized experiences and measures of success.
4. Compliance: With data privacy concerns and regulation, ensure your marketing automation complies with protections and standards to build trust with your customers.
Leveraging automation tools today is essential for creating lasting and meaningful experiences for your customers throughout their customer life cycle. As technology continues to advance, automation will become more apparent in shaping the bottom line for your brand.
