Explanation
Let's take a look at what it is. And more importantly, what you can do with it.
Before people ultimately become your customers, they have followed a whole path. And of course, that doesn't end after the purchase.
The process leading up to the purchase is called the Buyer journey.
After the purchase, it is called the Customer journey. Together, they form the Customer experience.
In the buyer journey, you want leads/prospects to make a purchase: the conversion.
The customer journey is about retaining existing customers. But it's also about ensuring that they go through the buyer journey again. You can use marketing automation for both of these goals. The principle is that you 'help' people through that journey. How? You stimulate them at the right moments. This is often done by emailing specific information.
Steps
The entire customer experience process consists of four steps.
Buyer journey
See: becoming familiar with your product or service
Think: considering choosing your product or service
Do: proceeding to purchase
Customer journey
Care: customer loyalty
Marketing automation allows you to "see" which stage a visitor is at and gradually guide them through the journey. This is called lead nurturing. The actions people take tell you whether they are ready for the next step.
Contact information
Marketing automation starts with gathering information. More specifically: the contact details of visitors who are in the first two stages. You do this by offering content that is appropriate for that stage. In exchange for the content, you receive their email address and name. You can then use emails to guide them further along the customer journey.
The actions that visitors take on your website or after receiving an email you have sent are called Triggers. These can be downloads, but also, for example, opening an email, clicking on a link in the email, or visiting a specific web page.
Many websites focus primarily on 'Do'. 'Contact us' or 'Order here'. This is completely unsuitable for those who are still in the See or Think phase. Not every visitor is ready to convert. It is best to design your website with specific pages for each phase. A trigger is a reason for you to take follow-up action. This could be another email, for example. But it could just as easily be a tip to the sales department to get in touch.
Marketing automation is, of course, only truly effective if you can track the behavior of your visitors. This is done through tracking on websites and in emails.
Interested?
Would you like more information about how marketing automation can help your leads and existing customers convert? We are happy to help.
