To define Marketing Automation in official terms, it is the use of software to automate repetitive tasks related to marketing activities and connect different parts of the marketing funnel.* The strategy helps marketers manage and nurture leads across multiple channels – and it’s designed to increase revenue and maximize efficiency.
To sum up Marketing Automation in simpler terms and show how effective it can be for your business, consider the strategy in these four steps:
- Capture all information that is available about your website visitors.
- With Marketing Automation technology, you can identify each visitor and track all movement before and after they fill out a lead form on your site. By tracking this information, you can see the complete history of each of your leads and then customize your sales pitch to that lead based on their individual interests. Metrics tracked within a visitor’s history include things like pages visited on the website, frequency of visits, lead forms filled out, email interactions, and more.
- Rank those leads based on factors that are most important to your dealership.
- Using the information and history available with each visitor, you can assign a lead score based on your dealership’s unique scoring system within Marketing Automation software. These scores are customizable based on your business needs – whether you want to prioritize certain page visits, lead forms, unit sales vs. service requests, or something else. Giving each action a set amount of points allows you to score each lead based on their actions and pursue them accordingly.
- Focus sales efforts on the leads that demonstrate highest priority based on their scores.
- With knowledge of a lead score, your sales team can determine how soon to pursue a given lead and with how much energy. How likely is it that this lead will turn into a sale? What would be the most appropriate way to follow up? These questions can be answered based on the lead scores that you have determined.
- Customize the messages you send to reach the right leads at the right time.
- One of the most popular ways Marketing Automation is used is through email marketing. Marketing Automation makes it easy to set up automated processes based on specific actions – for example, if someone submits a lead on a unit, you could set up an automated follow-up email inviting them to the dealership to test it out. You can also set up workflows that trigger follow-up emails in a pre-determined order as a website visitor or email recipient takes certain actions. An automated process of emails can take the lead through a well-planned customer journey that will best nurture their interests and encourage them to follow through with a sale.
While this may seem complicated, the sole purpose of Marketing Automation is to simplify and streamline your marketing efforts, ultimately helping you convert more leads into sales. It is frustrating to be faced with a lack of conversions – even if you’re getting tons of leads on your website, that doesn’t mean they are all going to follow through and make a purchase. This frustration stems from not knowing why a lead did not convert, and therefore having no way to save the sale. Marketing Automation helps to close that gap, making it simple and straightforward to nurture and focus on the best leads.