In 2022, after experiencing a technological revolution in e-commerce due to COVID-19, competition will be fierce and brands will need a solid marketing automation strategy to survive. By automating repetitive tasks, the workload can be reduced more than ever. But what types of repetitive tasks should be automated?
Marketing automation, one of the most important trends in digital marketing
The marketing automation industry is growing and has become one of the most important trends in digital marketing. According to recent studies, this leads to a 12.2% reduction in overhead costs related to marketing strategies and up to 14.5% on average increase in sales productivity.
ahead :
- 91% of marketing automation users agree that it is “very important” to the success of their business;
- 77% saw an increase in conversions;
- 80% saw an increase in leads from marketing automation software.
In the modern marketing world, successful campaigns rely heavily on targeted marketing, which is basically based on the old adage of getting the right message to the right person or company at the right time. Before marketing automation, there was a lot of guesswork, as marketers were forced to take a trial-by-trial, error-by-error approach after launching their campaigns. This resulted in completely random actions and there was no way to know what worked and what didn’t.
Now, by automating their marketing campaigns, businesses can now more easily identify their web visitors, allowing them to convert unknown leads into known leads. And once they know who they’re talking to, they can segment those leads by behavior, demographics, and other characteristics to create personalized, automated lead nurturing campaigns.
That way, it’s easy to keep consumers in mind while guiding them through the customer journey with highly personalized messages.
What types of repetitive tasks should be automated?
Whether you are an entrepreneur or a freelancer, automating recurring low value-added processes is essential to allowing you to grow your business by focusing on your core business. Thus you can automate your technical, commercial and administrative tasks.
automation of technological processes
- data backup
Thanks to automation, it is possible to save the latest versions of your files or various administrative documents. This solution is particularly useful to prevent possible mismanagement or technical failure. If you forget to plug your external hard drive in, opt for a backup to a cloud or server available over the Internet. You can also choose an automated data backup tool like CrashPlan or Blackblaze.
- maintaining a website
It is possible to automate the maintenance of your website with WordPress. Some extensions improve automatic security updates and are also automated with this software.
automation of business processes
- post on social network
Some tools like SocialBee, Metricool, MeetEdgar allow you to plan and organize your posts on social networks. Both comprehensive and easy to use, they are suitable for producing “non-perishable” content or evergreen publications. They help you save time when setting up a marketing strategy and are also useful for creating automated lists.
- Collecting data on prospects and customers
Get into the habit of creating forms using, for example, Typeform or Paperform, to encourage prospects and customers to communicate information about them. If Typeform is a free solution to facilitate the creation of an online form, Paperform offers paid features aimed at creating advanced online forms. Thus, many of its features offer you the possibility to accept payment through the form or to redirect the user to another page after completing it.
- appointment
If it takes about 8 exchanges of e-mails to get an appointment, automating the sending of e-mails to your prospects and customers saves time. Synchronized with your calendar, such as Outlook or Google Calendar, Calendly makes it easy to set up reminder emails. This planning tool is available in a free version and can be easily integrated into your website.
- active prospect follow-up
Tools, such as ActiveCampaign or HubSpot CRM, can automatically trigger various follow-up email scenarios. They provide quality and relevant content, and help increase your conversion rate.
automation of administrative processes
Automation accelerates daily commercial and accounting management. Accounting and invoicing tools such as Salesy, iPilot My Business or QuickBooks are especially well suited for sending invoices to a customer who has just paid for a specific service.
Some software, such as QuickBooks, also allows you to automate your reminders. This marketing automation tool integrates with platforms like Zapier.
Entering email and creating auto-response templates
Use filters for Gmail or Labels to categorize your emails. Thanks to automated response templates, you’ll save time.
- signing documents online
Some tools like HelloSign offer a maximum signature of three documents per month. In addition to automatically adding your electronic signature to your online documents, this software allows you to sign quotes that your customers will sign. You can also use this signature to sign administrative documents, quotes from your affiliates and suppliers.
These are just some of the reasons why you should consider switching to marketing automation if you haven’t already. By automating some repetitive tasks, you’ll save time, money, and manpower so you can ultimately focus your efforts where it matters most—developing more creative and compelling content and campaigns.