Improvements in technology allow businesses to access a huge amount of customer data. Successful companies use data to improve their marketing efforts. You may use data to improve your email marketing work, for example.
Some firms benefit from adding marketing automation to their email campaign efforts. Use these tips to determine if marketing automaton can improve your business results.
Many of us receive emails for products and services. We sign up for emails because the product is interesting or important to us. An email marketing campaign’s objective is to build a relationship with a prospect and eventually make a sale.
As your business becomes more complex, you may consider a marketing automation system. Marketing automation requires more time and money, however. Business owners need to think through the benefits of email marketing vs. marketing automation.
An email marketing system
Say, for example, that you own a retail shop that sells outdoor hiking and biking gear. Your shop also arranges and sells trips for hikers and bikers. People can sign up for emails through your website or sign up when they visit your shop.
Assume that your primary email marketing tool is an e-newsletter. The newsletter provides articles about great places to hike and bike, as well as product reviews for outdoor gear.
You track your email marketing results. You analyze the percentage of viewers who open your email newsletter. Your newsletter includes links to products you sell. You also track the number of email readers who click on the newsletter links.
Over time, you’re able to build a relationship with your newsletter readers and generate some additional business.
Taking the next step
At some point, you may benefit by investing in marketing automation. This system adds to your email marketing efforts.
Marketing automation tracks visitor activity on your domain. Based on the web pages and other emails your prospects respond to, the automation system sends a specific set of emails. The goal of marketing automation is to efficiently move your prospects through a sales funnel. If you do a better job of directing clients through a sales funnel, you can increase your sales.
Moving prospects through the sales funnel
Assume that you decide to use marketing automation in your outdoor gear business. One of your sales funnels is selling Colorado mountain biking trip. Prospects can visit a webpage that explains the trip and provides some stunning images of the mountains. Your newsletter also includes articles about mountain biking.
To improve your marketing results, you set up a trigger. When a customer clicks on the Colorado trip webpage or the newsletter article, your system sends a string of emails about the trip. The emails include more pictures and testimonials from bikers who have taken the trip.
Your marketing automation system tracks the number of people who open each email. Depending on each prospect’s response rate, the email frequency may change. By making your email campaign more specific, you can increase your sales.
Marketing segments
Marketing automation can benefit companies that sell products to different market segments. The outdoor gear shop may consider the Colorado trip prospects to be a different market segment than customers how simply buy a pair of hiking boots.
If you sell to different market segments, consider investing in a marketing automation system. You may be able to move more prospects through your sales funnels and increase your revenue at a faster rate.
