It has become a widely recognized fact that the automation of marketing and sales processes increases the efficiency of business efforts.
According to a Marketing Automation Report by the B2B Technology Marketing Community, 53% of B2B marketers are actively using marketing automation today, and another 17% are currently evaluating adopting it into their current strategies. The top 3 benefits marketers are looking to receive from marketing automation are more and better leads, improved marketing productivity, and improved conversion rates.
The right eCommerce platform and correct business practices can turn your brand into a sales juggernaut. We see more and more customers taking the quick dip into the pool of online shopping and services rather than spending time at the malls/retail stores. Smart software and orchestrating sending out relative content will not only help to build a great sales funnel but also lead to ultimate sales conversion.
Key components of marketing automation to driving more sales:
1. Providing your marketing team with the right tools
With the right tools, your team will be able to spend more time effectively qualifying and guiding leads through the sales funnel vs. manually obtaining, tracking, and passing along leads.
2. Leveraging personal relationships
It’s important for your marketing and sales to lead the process to enable your team to nurture personal relationships. Make sure your system can account for personal referrals, allow for customization to host information you know about your main contacts and allow for you to personalize messages that are being delivered.
3. Identifying the right amount, and type, of follow up throughout the sales cycle
Not everyone is ready to buy right away. Identify the different stages your buyers go through when determining when to buy, and use that to segment future leads and assign the appropriate type of outreach and message for the audience.
4. Shortening the sales cycle
Through automated nurture and scoring programs marketing can deliver more high quality leads to the sales team at a quicker pace.
5. Focusing on delivering more high-quality leads (vs. high quantity) to sales
Allow sales and marketing to identify key characteristics for high-quality prospects. In addition, look to lead sources that send prospects through at a further point in the sales funnel, such as referrals. Referrals are often higher quality leads because they have been influenced upfront by a trusted source.
6. Integrating cross-sell and upsell strategies to maximize the value of each customer
Revenue opportunities exist after the initial sale and should be part of your overall marketing automation strategy. Utilize dashboards that track customer profiles and activity and implement cross-sell and upsell strategies.
The Auction platform provides marketing and sales tools focused on capitalizing on the highest quality segment of leads—referrals. The platform can stand alone, or integrate with existing marketing automation and/or CRM systems you have in place. It works to expand your direct sales force through building a community of internal and external referrers, incents their activity, and implements cross-sell and upsell strategies appropriate for your audience.
7. Segmenting your Customers
Do you keep track of all the customers that visit your website/online store? Identifying and leveraging your customers is another important thing to do while you work on marketing automation for eCommerce. Remember your business model depends on your target audience. Now, there are several ways to do this based on Demographic factors, Purchase History, Psychographic factors, and Dividing them into Benefit Groups. All of this helps you in personalizing the experience for customers by providing them with more relevant services on one hand and devise clear strategies for the growth of your online business on the other.
Personalization 