What is automation and how can sales and marketing automation grow my business?
Automation simply means that we take some of our business process and automate them. You can automate many different functions in your business-like finance and sales and marketing. By reducing the risk of human error in common daily tasks, automation gives you predictable and repeatable processes for managing configurations to improve consistency, speed changes and increase uptime. Automation gives us more time to work on the business and less in the business.
I have automated my whole sales and marketing processes. I use a system called www.leadsquared.com and have already automated 12 months’ worth of marketing material and content. Now that sales and marketing is out of the way I have 2-3 hours a day to focus on other areas of my business. The bulk of automation work is done in the beginning and then you need to maintain it monthly. Customers do not always but at the beginning on the customer journey. We need to convince our customers and gain their trust so they will buy from us at some point. This could take as long as 10 communications. With an automated email campaign, you can guarantee that you will communicate with your customers monthly and keep your brand top of mind.
Automation also helps to keep consistency in your business. It does not matter how you got into my database every customer has the same customer experience. We take all our customers on the same journey so each and every potential leads gets to experience all of the value we add to our customers.
Customer experience management refers to the various processes and strategies that a business utilises to deliver a great customer experience throughout the customer journey for every single lead. Simply put, it is what the company does to keep their customer happy.
Countless businesses are using obscene amounts of resources in trying to win customer’s loyalty. The simple reason behind it is that customers now have the power to choose. With the rise in competition, monetary freedom and the internet, today’s customers are spoilt for choice. Frankly, there has never been a better time to be a customer.
Such empowerment in customer’s choice has brought forth change in the way a customer think. The customer’s expectation from each business has slowly but surely evolved.
The Benefits of Automation
More Repeat Business
A happy customer who is valued (thanks to a great customer experience), is a customer who ‘loves’ you back. He is a customer who stays and refers you to other potential customers.
More Time
When you automate processes in your business you will give yourself more time to sell.
Increased Loyalty
Once a customer has had a great experience with you, they will continue to buy from you every time. That means, he will choose you over competition because they know they get what they pay for.
Increased Cross Selling or Upselling
The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 - 70 %, vs 5 - 7 % for a new customer. Because, if a customer is happy with your service, he will be willing to invest more in your product - the chances of cross selling or upselling is more realistic.
Connecting With Customers Regularly
Marketing automation helps you seamlessly connect to customers across all channels on a regular basis. An ideal marketing automation software provides clear insights of the customer journey to the business. It also allows the business to understand customer behaviour and requirements so that business can provide the customer the most hassle-free experience possible.
Engagement Across Channels
With marketing automation, you can engage your leads meaningfully by sending them relevant content at the right time. If the content helps them make a buying decision, answers a query they may have - then it is indeed providing solid value and will keep the lead interested.
Informative Lead Insights
Marketing automation software can track the lead behaviour across their website - know how long they spent on which page, what information they have downloaded and thus use it to identify their key requirements. These insights can in turn, help businesses provide better experiences to the customers.
Marketing automation will ensure that you continue to deliver exemplary customer experience to all your customers at any stage of the funnel.
