The Basics of Marketing Automation Workflows
Marketing automation is a powerful tool for small businesses, but it can be overwhelming when you first start integrating it into your marketing strategies. This post will help you understand marketing workflow automation, its importance, and how to set it up in your business. Additionally, we'll introduce you to our COGS templates, which can streamline your workflow further. Let's dive in!
What Are Marketing Automation Workflows?
Marketing automation workflows connect various marketing channels to ensure a seamless customer journey. They automate repetitive tasks, freeing up time and providing customers with the information they need at the right time.
Benefits of Using Marketing Automation Workflows
- Efficiency: Automate time consuming and repetitive tasks.
- Consistency: Maintain consistent communication with customers.
- Personalization: Deliver personalized content based on customer behavior.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Use custom data to optimize marketing strategies.
Common Types of Marketing Automation Tools
Most of the automation tools and techniques exist within the first stages of the customer acquisition process. The key automation factors you should consider when picking your marketing automation platform include the following:
Landing Pages - contact forms geared to capture customer information
Welcome Emails - the first email to new customers
List Segmentation - segmenting your mailing list based on information
Targeted Follow Up Emails - email campaigns sent based on specific information
Creating a Basic Workflow
To visualize your workflow, you can use use tools like Zapier's Canvas. This is a purely visual way to plan, pitch, tweak and share amazing workflows for pretty much any type of automation. For examples of how we use canvas to visualize and showcase the basics of workflows, we input a top down canvas visual for some of the workflows we have created as "COGS Templates". Check it out:
Lead Nurturing Workflow
Objective: Guide potential customers through the sales funnel with a series of targeted emails.
Template Includes:
- Welcome Email
- Follow-Up Email after Initial Contact
- Product Information Email
- Special Offer Email
- Thank You Email
How It Works:
Set up an automated series of emails that triggers based on lead generation customer actions, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading a resource. Each email is designed to provide value and move the customer closer to making a purchase.
Event Promotion Workflow
Objective: Automate the promotion and follow-up for an upcoming event.
Template Includes:
- Event Announcement Email
- Reminder Emails (one week and one day before the event)
- Post-Event Thank You Email
- Follow-Up Survey Email
How It Works:
This workflow ensures that your audience is informed and engaged leading up to the event, and it captures feedback afterward to help improve future events.
Customer Feedback Loop
Objective: Collect and analyze customer feedback to improve products and services.
Template Includes:
- Feedback Request Email
- Follow-Up Email for Non-Respondents
- Thank You Email with a Discount Offer
- Internal Reporting Template
How It Works:
Automatically send feedback requests after a customer interaction, and follow up if there is no response. Use the gathered data to generate internal reports for actionable insights.
E-Commerce Abandoned Cart Recovery
Objective: Recover lost sales by reminding customers of their abandoned shopping carts.
Template Includes:
- Initial Reminder Email
- Follow-Up Email with a Discount Offer
- Final Reminder Email
How It Works:
Trigger a sequence of reminder emails to customers who have added items to their cart but have not completed the purchase. Include personalized recommendations and incentives to encourage them to complete their purchase.
Key Rules for Setting Up Workflows
If you take anything away from this guide, let it be these three rules you should always adhere to when setting up your marketing workflow automation:
1. Have a Clear End Goal: Know what you want to achieve with each workflow.
2. Gather and Log Customer Information: Use every interaction to learn more about your customers and tweak future versions of your workflows.
3. Communicate the Next Steps: Keep customers informed about what happens next in your automation through email, SMS, notifications. This is how automation loses the personal feeling.
Conclusion
Marketing automation workflows can transform your business by saving time, enhancing customer engagement, and driving more conversions. Incorporate our COGS templates to streamline your efforts further. If you need help setting up your workflows, let's talk and create an action plan together.