Sales and marketing automation is all about working smarter. Use it effectively and you will save your team time, add value to your software business and deliver more personal experiences to customers.
Evolving far beyond the email marketing tools that used to dominate the automation space, providers are now offering a powerful range of features that can streamline almost every area of your business.
Benefits of marketing automation
On average, 56% of companies are currently using some form of marketing automation (Emailmonday). Many find that it helps to:
Increase efficiency
Automation is key to making your sales and marketing departments more productive, with data from Adestra indicating that 74% of marketers believe saving time to be the biggest benefit.
You can programme your automation software to send emails, messages and notifications based on specific situations; schedule posts for various social media channels; and follow prospects around the web with personalised adverts to encourage them to convert.
Altogether, this can help to reduce staffing costs, while freeing up your team’s time to focus on more important and creative tasks, such as planning an upcoming campaign.
Sales and marketing alignment
Your sales and marketing departments should always be on the same page to ensure you are aligning your software company’s goals and efforts. Automation will essentially streamline the process, including assigning and following up leads, making the step from ‘marketing qualified lead’ to ‘sales qualified lead’ that much simpler.
Personalise the customer journey and boost satisfaction
One of the most difficult challenges for companies across all industries is how to convert one-time customers into loyal fans.
Consumers want original and targeted content and one of the easiest ways to achieve this is by utilising the power of your marketing automation tools. 70% of businesses find that the improved targeting of messages is one of the biggest benefits (Liana Technologies), as it enables to push relevant content out to prospects via various channels, including email and pay per click.
Not only does this help to deliver more valuable communications, but it helps to build stronger relationships too.
Generate and nurture leads
According to McKinsey & Company, over 30% of sales activities can be automated. These include pipeline management, follow-up emails and scheduling appointments.
By automating procedures in your sales and marketing departments, your staff will have more time to concentrate on formulating strategies that will bring in more promising leads.
Increase conversion rates
Speaking of leads, automation software is a great way to help you increase your conversion rates and manage warm prospects more efficiently. In fact, 59% of B2B marketers believe higher conversion rates to be one of the biggest advantages of the technology (Communigator and SmartInsights). Not only can it help you to keep track of leads, but it can also enable you to set up retargeting campaigns for any who don’t convert initially.
When used correctly, automation should give your team the time to analyse your sales and marketing strategies and consider how you can encourage people to convert.
Improve data to make informed decisions
Not all software companies are efficient in collecting and using their data in sales and marketing efforts. This is where automation platforms can come in, helping you to keep track of leads and their engagement with your content – meaning data is easier to manage and kept up to date.
Figures from Ascend2 state that 52% of businesses believe analytics and reporting to be some of the most useful automation features, which can be used on a regular basis to help make informed decisions that reap benefits down the line.
To conclude…
Sales and marketing automation is one of the best ways to create a function that will grow with your company, aligning departments and helping you to meet your goals. By considering all available platforms and assessing your specific requirements, you will be able to tailor a solution that suits your teams’ requirements.
To find out how Vesta supports the sales and marketing strategies within our family of software companies, and how we could do the same for you, get in touch.
