Introduction to Marketing Automation
The Indian economy is becoming highly competitive due to rapid growth in the number of businesses operating across various sectors. Businesses are constantly searching for unique and differentiated strategies to occupy a significant share in the Indian market in their respective industry so as to boost its sales. Customer acquisition and retention becomes a core challenge for all sorts and types of business in this intensely competitive environment.
Since a large volume of businesses operate in the market, price war is inevitable. Businesses can’t survive for long relying solely on pricing strategies. Factors such as customer experience, customer satisfaction, customer relationship and customer value become crucial for overcoming competition and staying ahead of their competitors.
To understand and identify customer sentiments, preferences, behavior and to serve the customers with best experience and build strong relationships with each customer on a manual basis is nextly impossible task. This is where the CRM system and its marketing automation tools play a crucial role. IT experts have identified this pain point decades ago and developed the best possible solution in the form of CRM software for managing customer interactions and relationships efficiently.
CRM solution along with its various marketing automation tools, helps businesses perform multiple marketing tasks with minimal human intervention. The marketing campaign runs on automation mode. Leads are automatically captured from websites, landing pages, different social media platforms etc. while follow-ups communications are automatically delivered through multiple channels like SMS, whatsapp, email,etc. Furthermore, personalised campaigns and offers are created based on customer insights and sentiment derived from past interactions and transactions. These features minimize missed opportunities, improve customer experience and loyalty, enhance customer conversion and retention rate resulting in boosting sales and profitability.
Key Marketing Automations in CRM
Let’s understand the Marketing Automation tools in a CRM in detail -
Automating Lead Capture -
Leads are automatically captured and recorded in the CRM system directly from multiple customer touchpoints such as websites via Inquiry form, landing pages, social media platforms(Facebook, Google Ads), webinar and other marketing channels. This is possible by integrating CRM automation tools with these platforms and as the prospects visit any of these platforms and submit their information there it gets recorded in the CRM without any manual intervention.
For Example
When a potential customer visits our website and shows their interest in our product/services, they will try to contact us by
- Filling the Contact us/Enquiry form
- Leaving their email address
- Initiate conversation via Whatsapp
As soon as they perform any of these actions, their details are automatically captured and recorded in the CRM database.
Email Marketing Automation -
A CRM system sends pre-approved and pre-defined mail to potential and existing customers after certain criteria are fulfilled. For instance if a customer has been inactive for the past 2-3 months, a customized mail based on their past purchases would be sent to re-engage them.
Similarly, welcome email, follows-up emails, quotation emails etc are automatically sent according to pre-defined rules to keep them updated and engaged, thereby increasing the chances of conversion.
In this way, marketing automation tools keep potential and existing customers engaged with minimal human intervention. This ensures no missed communication as right mail is sent to the right person at the right time, without delay.
SMS and WhatsApp Automation
With this automation feature, CRM sends messages either through SMS, Whatsapp or both when any specific action is performed.
For instance, when a new lead is registered in a CRM system, a pre-designed welcome message will be automatically sent to the lead via SMS and whatsapp. This ensures efficient communication without any delay since there is no human intervention. No more excuses like “I forget”or “I was busy with other tasks”.
Key Benefits
- Zero missed follow-up
- Immediate communication ensures improved customer experience
- No human excuses anymore
- It ensures the right message reaches the right person at the right time by pre-deciding which messages to be sent for each specific scenario.
Customer Segmentation Automation
Customer segment is a process of clubbing customers of similar characteristics into distinct groups so that the organisation could address specific needs of each customer segment more efficiently. Segmentation could be based on various factors such as demographics (gender, age, income,education), geographical location, culture, behaviour etc.
The primary goal of customer segmentation is to identify the preference, needs and purchasing pattern so that the organisation can design different products/services for each segment and accordingly run targeted marketing campaigns for each segment.
The CRM system facilitates customer segmentation by analysing the previous customer data enabling the sales team to target each segment with customized offers or communications.
Benefits of Marketing Automation Tools in CRM
- Increased customer engagement
- Customized communication to meet the need of each customer segments
- Improved customer experience
- No delay in communication
- No missed communication
- Increased Conversion and Sales
- Lesser human intervention ensures lesser human error
- Instant communication ensures higher customer satisfaction
Some credible research papers or journals have found that companies adopting marketing automation have observed higher improvement in lead quality and conversion.
According to a 2021 study by Nucleus Research , businesses that invest one dollar on marketing automation generate a return of $5.44 that is 444% return.
How to measure the success of marketing automation?
To measure the success of marketing automation, businesses need to track key metrics such as conversion rate, customer retention rate, customer satisfaction level, reorders, customer engagement level etc. If metrics are showing a positive improvement that means marketing automation has succeeded in its objective.
Does marketing automation improve ROI? If yes, How?
Yes, marketing automation significantly improves business ROI by increasing customer engagement , automating repetitive tasks, minimal human intervention means minimum error and cost optimization and customized offers, greetings improves customers experience. Together, all these benefits lead to improved customer bonds and their satisfaction which ultimately, increases sales.
Best CRM company in Noida for Marketing Automation
Eduzent is one of the best CRM companies in Noida. You can take a trial of their CRM. A free demo of the software is available. The company has been operating for more than 14+ years with a significant number of happy customers. They have 4.9 rating on Google.
Conclusion
Some world class research has found the valuable benefits of marketing automations of CRM. One such finding by Nucleus Research states that marketing automation leads to 14.5% increase in sales productivity and 12.2% reduction in marketing cost.
