B2C Organizations Should Turn to Marketing Automation to Close the Gap to the Top

The Covid-19 pandemic has widened the gap between digital haves and have-nots. Businesses that were just beginning to get their digital “act” together now find themselves lagging even more, with marketers’ leaders now further in front after adopting additional and innovative tech, Marketing Automation for B2C brands, initiatives to weather the Covid-19 storm. It’s a situation that has left many small and medium-sized B2C organizations pondering their next move. A substantial number of consumers have shifted to digital commerce; a few now shop almost exclusively online. How does a medium-sized organization ravaged by the pandemic keep its operations running and stay connected with customers, clients, and partners? How do they meet the ever-changing needs of the increasingly digital consumer? It requires a greater investment in digital experiences, pivoting from brick-and-mortar to online sales, and, for those who already had a digital presence, finding ways to respond to the massive increase in digital transactions. For U.S. businesses, this means attending to twice as many customers as a year ago, given online transactions rose 100% over the past year. Quick-thinking organizations are embracing Marketing Automation for B2C brands as one of the tools to help them close the gap to market leaders.

What is Marketing Automation for B2C brands?

Business process automation, also known simply as automation, is the term for software solutions that simplify and automate repetitive tasks. These solutions provide a way for businesses to streamline operations, reduce errors, and minimize wastage for improved revenues and higher profit margins. Business automation can also help increase accountability, boost transparency, and enable accurate data recording. Depending on your business needs, you can also leverage automation to achieve business transformation. An organization pursuing automation may focus on CRM integration, analytics and reporting, lead nurturing and scoring, and contact management at the most basic level.

3 Ways SMBs Can Leverage Marketing Automation for B2C brands To Close the Gap to the Top

If you’re one of the B2C organizations feeling left behind digitally following the Covid-19 pandemic, the following are three automation tips you should consider to close the gap;

1.      Plan ahead; what do you want to achieve?

This is by far the biggest step in the automation process. What are your automation goals? What exactly are you automating? Are the employees up to speed on the due changes? These are just some of the questions you need to ask. The integration process and user acceptance are especially critical to the success of the automation campaign. Integration covers everything from obtaining the right automation solutions to fitting them seamlessly into the existing system and ultimately bringing on board the team tasked with operating the new tools and processes. Providing training through workshops or other alternative methods is recommended. When it comes to user buy-in, the best advice is to start early. Before you even begin designing the workflows, make sure that your customers and other stakeholders are sold on the idea. Demonstrate how they stand to benefit.

2.      Don’t just automate; get personal

Marketing automation and personalization, put together, form a potent combination. Though there are many ways you can bring the two together, we’ll recommend just three tips. First, every marketer has an email campaign. You should consider both personalizing and automating your campaigns. However, this is where it gets a little interesting. Often, email marketers focus on the name during personalization. Be a bit more creative. Use the colors the recipient loves, mention songs they like, and occasionally mention their location. Secondly, you can leverage automation to improve your timing. Don’t just send emails and other marketing messages whenever you wish. Instead, always refer to the data you collect and use it to send the messages at the best possible time. Finally, you can also automatically personalize your homepage(s) for maximum impact. According to Optimizely.com, homepage automation increases conversion rates by 113%.

3.      Nothing is created perfect; measure and adapt

A common mistake most people make is assuming that setting up the automation system is an end to itself. Don’t fall into this trap. Business automation is an ongoing process. Every single day, you’ll need to monitor the system and seek ways to improve it. Two things, therefore, become crucial – measurement and adapting. Always track the goals set in the planning stage to know whether you’re getting anywhere. Ideally, you want to identify KPIs and closely track them to assess your progress. A few excellent KPIs for business automation are click-through rate, sales leads, and conversion rate. Adapting means being able to tweak a few things depending on current conditions to maximize your returns. If a few challenges arise, you should be able to adjust the business to weather the storm. This can often mean scaling down your operations. The opposite is true. As they say, when it’s raining gold, put out a bucket, not a thimble.

Summary

Marketing automation for B2C brands can be a powerful tool when used correctly. If you can seamlessly migrate to platforms such as Salesforce that allow you to automate nearly every step of the marketing process, you can significantly reduce the load on your shoulders and free up plenty of time to deliver on other areas.