Best Marketing Automation Practices
The effectiveness of your marketing automation strategy will be determined by a number of factors: campaigns employed, content created, leads nurtured, and much more. To get the most out of automation software, it can be beneficial to follow established best practices.
Start Small, then Build. If you start your automation experience with guns blazing—i.e. a huge campaign targeting all of your leads—you’re apt to commit a faux-pas and alienate potential customers. Start small. Think of your first campaign as a learning experience. Mistakes may happen, but they can be used to optimize future campaigns.
Create Personas. A successful strategy comes down to understanding your buyer. Many marketers do this by establishing buyer personas, research-based representations of who your buyers are, what they need and want, and problems they face.
Collect the Right Information. The content you deploy has the potential to capture valuable information from leads. However, it’s essential that you ask for the right information. Data you should consider collecting includes: name, email address, job title, company name, and phone number.
Segment Your Lists. Automation software allows you to segment your list of leads into smaller lists based on various qualifiers. Creating these smaller lead segments will allow you to craft campaigns that are highly relevant. The more valuable your email, the more likely readers are to engage and convert.
Begin With a Welcome. Welcome emails receive nearly 4x as many opens and 5x as many clicks as the average promotional email, according to Experian. A welcome email can be the perfect opportunity to make a good first impression—and encourage readers to further their engagement.
Target the Unengaged. Data collected in automation software makes it easy to pinpoint leads who aren’t engaging. Ideally, these leads should be entered into a re-engagement campaign, with the purpose of reviving interest. To renew this interest, many marketers find it valuable to offer news, updates, discounts, and information on what makes their brand stand out.
Score Your Leads. Many platforms will automatically calculate a score for your leads based on behaviors and pre-set criteria. This score, a numerical value, will essentially tell you the quality of your lead—if they’re hot or warm. Lead scores are a powerful tool that can help you connect with the right leads at optimal times.
Test. Then Test Again. A/B testing—also known as split testing—allows you to test content variations on control and test groups. This allows you to get a sense for which aspects of your strategy are working and which are not. The more you test, the more refined and effective your strategy will become.
Marketing Automation and Your Brand
There are no steadfast rules for being successful in marketing automation. However, these established best practices will go a long way in making sure you’re getting the most out of your strategy.
Not quite ready to implement your own automation strategy? That’s okay—63% of companies outsource all or part of their marketing automation strategy planning. Where do they go? To the experts, like mXtr Automation. We work with you to develop a custom strategy designed to generate more leads and increase your ROI. Contact us today to get started!
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