3 things to consider when selecting your marketing automation tools
If you’re new to marketing automation, you may want to think about how you and your team will want to adopt those automated processes in the right way. Considering how the marketing automation industry is growing with higher adoption rates, it’s important to ensure automation is done efficiently. To start, let’s consider some statistics:
has. About 49% of businesses use some form of email automation. (Email Monday, 2018)
b. In the next two years, an additional 21% of marketing leaders plan to use a marketing automation platform. (Salesforce, 2017)
Con Spending on marketing automation tools is expected to reach $25.1 billion annually by 2023. (Martech Today, 2018)
d. 79% of top-performing companies have been using marketing automation for three years or more. (Port of Risk, 2017)
me. 80% of marketers using automation software generate more leads. (LinkedIn, 2016)
Source: HubSpot Marketing Statistics
Clearly, many industries are embracing marketing automation software and technology tools; here are some really important things to consider when making your decisions:
1. Do not automate bad processes and be careful with outsourced lists
Map your marketing processes that drive traffic and leads thoroughly. The flow of leads through the funnel, including the assignment and their sources, is key. So map those properties accurately. Make sure your team members running these processes are on board with any changes such automation will bring to their daily work. Appointing a change manager (champion) who is a marketing process specialist will save you time and money. Identify and eliminate poor processes – Fix the process before you can automate it.
two. Beware of outsourced listings and automate lead qualification to stay compliant
Avoid buying email lists and sending them automated email campaigns. These will fail and be expensive to fix. Especially now, with GDPR, this can cause a lot of problems for your business. Automation tools can be a lifesaver with their built-in measures to ensure that some of your processes comply with new laws. That said, software is a unique enabler and must do the work to be compliant. To further help the process, focus on creating exciting content that motivates people to subscribe to your content offerings (e.g. ebooks and animated GIFs) and build and grow your own subscription database that you can offer. better conversion of potential customers.
Email databases expire as the years go by, so it’s important to keep generating new leads at a rate higher than the expiration rate; which is about 25% per year. To generate new leads, you need to constantly create better content, design engaging calls-to-action and landing pages, write engaging blogs, and optimize your website for search engines. Automation is great for nurturing leads, but you need to generate those leads first for the next step to happen.
3. Don’t let fancy features fool you
When implementing marketing automation for your needs, don’t let the fancy features fool you. Each software will have a different learning curve, and perhaps using software with a simpler user interface could speed things up. But, if it doesn’t solve the (specific) problems related to your marketing process, it may not be the software for you.