With the vast amount of competition for Internet-driven sales, many businesses feel that automated marketing just doesn’t cut it anymore. Automation is associated with robotic-sounding mass emails that end up in spam folders, or simply get deleted unread by consumers who are now hardened to these tactics.
However, there’s more to marketing automation than massive email blasts. With the right strategies and methodologies, you can streamline your marketing activities and enjoy a boost to your bottom line.
Automated doesn’t mean impersonal
Sophisticated programs will not only allow you to send emails automatically, they’ll also let you personalize by pulling customer information—such as names and preferences—from your database. Using first names for personalization is a tried-and-true marketing tactic: a recent study from MarketingSherpa found that the strategy increases click-through rates by more than 17 percent.
And marketing emails don’t have to be limited to a strictly professional tone. Anecdotes, humor, and even a little personal information about “the person behind the email” can help create a stronger connection with recipients and pique their interest.
Skip the batch sends
Sending the same content to your entire list of contacts simultaneously is rarely effective these days. However, just as consumer awareness of blast emails has evolved (in a negative direction), automated software has developed to address this problem.
You can set up an automated system that sends out individual, personalised emails to customers based on their actions and responses. For example, you might send a “thank you, why not try…” message to a customer who has downloaded a free trial from your website, or send discount offers to customers who’ve made a recent purchase.
Think outside the inbox
Email isn’t the only marketing channel that can be automated to increase efficiency and response times. You can set up your system to place pre-recorded calls thanking customers for their purchases, send text messages to people who’ve registered for a teleseminar or webinar, or mail postcards to those who have requested to have something shipped to them, such as a free software disc.
If you’d like to get more from your marketing automation, contact Informatix for a consultation. We’ll tell you how we can help improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns, while saving time and increasing revenue.