4 Ways Marketing Automation Can Drive Better Online Sales

Getting your business online has never been more important. Riding on the digital transformation wave that came in full force during the pandemic, it’s become obvious that businesses must be able to sell to their customers online to survive.

Businesses are quickly realising that they must become an e-commerce business in one way or another, as part of their efforts to future-proof their marketing strategies. For many, this shift will likely be at least semi-permanent.

While this is a necessary transition, it brings its own set of challenges. One of which is that businesses must now compete in the crowded online marketplace.

Online, thousands of other businesses — competitors and non-competitors alike, are constantly jostling for your customers’ limited attention. Without investing in marketing, it will be impossible for you to remain top of their minds.

Online marketing has thus become a necessity. You are probably already doing it, but there is one important question you should ask yourself.

Are Your Online Marketing Efforts as Efficient as They Could Be?

In these uncertain times, apart from monitoring key marketing metrics, proper resource management is also critical. If you are not using technological tools to manage a significant part of your marketing processes automatically, you are missing out, not only on resource savings, but on other benefits as well.

Here are four reasons why marketing automation is key to making your marketing efforts as efficient and effective as possible (and how specific software can help).

Reason #1 Lower Overheads

The obvious benefit of automation is time savings. But beyond that, it can translate into direct cost savings as well. Nucleus Research found that marketing automation resulted in a 12.2% decrease in marketing overheads.

Investing in marketing automation software like Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, and Capsule can help free up the time your employees spend cold-calling prospective customers manually, allowing them to channel their energy into other more productive and value-adding work.

One of the most common forms of marketing automation comes in the form of Electronic Direct Mailers. By letting them run on an automated schedule, it becomes a fuss-free and meaningful way of reaching out to your customers, and keeping them in the loop regarding your new offerings or any ongoing promotions.

Reason #2 Higher Quality Leads

All your customers began as leads. But not all leads turn into customers. The quality of your leads matters — the higher quality your leads are, the greater the percentage of them you can convert into paying customers.

On top of that, the ability of marketing automation tools to track customer behaviour and segment them accordingly also contributes to higher quality leads and conversion rates.

Ever received an abandoned cart email? That’s marketing automation at work — by tracking your behaviour (leaving items in your cart without checking out), an email is sent out to remind you to complete your purchase. And more often than not, you will.

In fact, the Annuitas Group found that businesses who use marketing automation saw a 451% increase in qualified leads.

Email marketing software like MailChimp and Campaign Monitor, when combined with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools like Exsalerate and Capsule, allow you to track where customers are in the purchasing lifecycle and customise follow-ups accordingly.

Reason #3 Create Personalised Customer Journeys Easily

Your prospects or leads will fall into different categories. Some may have just discovered your business, while others may be ready to buy — those at different stages in the customer journey require different treatments.

Each ‘class’ of leads needs to be put on their own personalised customer journey for you to develop customer relationships and have the best chance of converting them into paying customers.

For instance, Campaign Monitor clients can access its ‘visual journey designer,’ a graphically intuitive way of designing specific customer journeys. You can set specific triggers such as a lead downloading a free report or purchasing an item above a certain amount.

Source: Campaign Monitor

You can even automate ‘re-engagement’ emails to revive cold leads or customers who haven’t bought in a while, to entice them to return. This helps to improve the performance of your email campaigns by lowering your customer acquisition costs even further, and increasing customer retention at the same time.

Reason #4 Get Better Data (and Make Better Decisions)

We live in a data-driven economy, and large companies now compete to acquire as much customer data as possible. As a smaller business, although you may not have access to as much customer data as the big players, it does not mean you cannot leverage what you do have to obtain more.

Marketing automation tools offer you a great way to gather, organise, and analyse customer data. For example, by integrating MailChimp (an email marketing tool) with Capsule (a CRM tool), you can get a more holistic overview of your customer data. You will also be able to identify ‘sales bottlenecks’ or areas where the conversion process is less than optimal, and take specific actions to remedy them. Retargeting these prospects will also be faster and easier, thanks to these tools.

Increase Your Marketing Automation ROI

Forrester Research predicts that global spending on marketing automation technology will hit over S$35 billion by 2023. The reason is simple — marketing automation works. The Nucleus Group found it led to a 14.4% increase in sales productivity. The Aberdeen Group discovered that best-in-class companies are 67% more likely to use a marketing automation platform.

Start Right. Start Digital

Keen on growing your online presence? Consider OCBC’s Start Digital bundles that provide your business with up to 12 months free subscription for selected apps.