How to Use the Newest Automation Tools to Drive ROI

If you’re not using the newest marketing automation tools for your SB, you’re simply not making the most of your time, learn how to drive ROI through automation.

How to Use the Newest Automation Tools to Drive ROI

The face of marketing has changed tremendously over the last decade. It’s no longer about placing a few ads here and a few ads there; it’s evolved into multi-channel campaigns across the web, social media, email, print and so much more. With so many opportunities to explore, where do you even start?

Answer: marketing automation software (MAS) helps save a significant portion of time—and when time is money, every second counts.

Marketing automation tools make it possible to offload some of the most time-consuming tasks that occupy workflows, freeing up attention to focus on business management and strategy. Better yet, most MAS platforms come equipped with data analytics that shows the effectiveness of each initiative in fine detail. Marketers use these insights to demonstrate their proven results unless the numbers suggest it might be time to rethink strategy.

Machine-powered learning systems can execute certain tasks far superior to any human performance, so it seems as though at least a certain level of automation is inevitable. Today, 75% of companies say they already use at least one type of marketing automation tool [1].

Are you?

automated marketing

Today’s post talks about how you can implement marketing automation tools to drive your return on investment (ROI) and improve your bottom line. Keep reading to learn more.

Bridge Marketing and Sales Departments

Who takes credit for a closed deal, marketing or sales? It seems like companies are constantly at odds over how to attribute success.

When two departments work against one another, the entire business suffers in terms of efficiency. Leads go cold, revenue is lost, and results are unsuccessful. MAS can establish mutual goals that bring separate departments onto the same team thanks to lead generation tracking and reporting.

The streamlined collection of higher-quality data turns marketing leads into valuable assets given to the salesforce, thereby increasing close rates across the board.

Optimize Sales Funnels

Automation can help you transform your sales funnel by combining the latest technology with massive data sets. Scoring and grading algorithms applied to data will sort top-of-the-funnel leads out from the rest.

How? You can quickly create the persona of an ideal prospect who enters your database. Some variables you might prioritize include age range, familial status, job industry, and so forth. Then, assign each incoming lead with a letter grade based on how well they fit your criteria.

Automated scoring occurs when leads take meaningful actions and engage with your product or service. By keeping tabs on their behavior, you can determine their interest level and usher them into your sales funnel with real-time alerts.

There are other ways you can configure your platform to optimize the sales funnel, but this easy example solves widespread business needs. When MAS users were asked about their main goal, 92% agreed that improving their qualified lead pipeline was a top priority, followed closely by customer retention (81%) and the lead nurturing process (66%) [2].

lead goals

You can’t earn revenue without first converting leads into customers, but automation tools make the preliminary step much easier and ensure that only the best leads are passed onto the sales team.

Streamline Customer Communication

In business, there’s only one way to make money: sales. But as purchasing decisions become increasingly complex, digital marketers have a long way to go before convincing a customer to pull the trigger and complete a transaction.

A successful inbound marketing strategy that drives leads to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform is only half the battle; once potential buyers make it to your site, you need to keep them happy by nurturing leads at every stage of the sales funnel.

Even though automated grading and scoring can identify the top leads with the strongest interest, research shows that a large portion of qualified leads isn’t ready to buy immediately. In order to push someone caught in the middle of your sales funnel toward the bottom, you’ll have to continue educating them at the right time with the appropriate information.

Unsolicited sales calls and excessive email spam are unwanted, ineffective, and lead to wasted sales energy. MAS solutions ensure potential buyers receive appropriate content in a perfectly timed fashion. For example, did you know that relevant emails drive 18 times more conversion than broadcast emails [3] ? Uniform templates sent to your entire database won’t cut it in today’s competitive world.

convert with emails

New tools allow you to customize your email marketing campaign so that the right information is provided along the buyer’s journey. Create content that guides them from awareness of a problem, to consideration of solutions, to the decision of which solution to buy. The messaging automatically sent to them will correspond to the stage they’re at currently so sales teams will no longer need to educate leads about your offering.

MAS streamlines communication before and after the point of sale, helping businesses achieve their goal of customer retention. Whether it’s an email on their birthday or the anniversary of their sale, automated tools help you live on in the minds of your customers and encourage them to come back again.

Business owners have a million-and-one things to think about around the clock, but automated marketing tools can dramatically lighten their load. Start implementing this technology to save time, improve productivity, and drive ROI with greater success.