5 Developments in Marketing Automation

12 Dec 2017

Behavioural-based automation continues to develop, providing even more opportunities. So what are the latest developments in Marketing Automation?

Marketing Automation software has become much more sophisticated in recent years. Whilst it started off as a tool that helped to automate email marketing (with a bit of reporting built in).  In more recent times, software has become much more advanced and a valuable (and affordable) marketing/sales tool.

With MAPs (Marketing Automation Platforms) like SharpSpring, marketers now have the capability to see who is visiting their website. They are able to track them, raise awareness, nurture these leads and report on leads/ROI.

More recent advances include: 

1. progressive profiling.
2. the A/B testing of alternative web page content before new content is published.
3. the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to predict future customer/business interests.
4. higher degrees of personalisation resulting in even more visibility.
5. detailed reporting tools allowing easier ROI calcs and performance assessments.

Automation platforms re-focus marketing and sales efforts, leading to more power and control over buyers and the buying process.

Higher degrees of personalisation = increased relationship building

One of the key benefits of getting to know your customer’s online behaviours is that you can personalise the content that you send to them. This is much more likely to influence their decision-making, guiding them through the sales cycle, toward your brand.

Remember customers want and expect more from you. With 70% of the buying process complete by the time a prospect is ready to engage. And 90% of buyers saying when they’re ready to contact you they will. You need to develop trust and confidence if you are to build lasting relationships and convert prospects into sales-ready leads.

With a modern, simple to use automated platform like SharpSpring, behavioural-based lead tracking, creation of highly personal landing pages and content, is all designed to gain and secure that customer trust, so that when a prospect is ready to make their move, they’ll come to you.

Developments in Marketing Automation: Progressive profiling – what is it?

Gaining a closer understanding of how your prospects think, what they want from you, and using this information to build a prospect profile e.g Their individual details, is the first step to developing a customer relationship.

Progressive profiling is a new feature within automated platforms, that allows you to select which ‘form fields’ appear based on the information you already have about a particular lead. This allows you to collect new information about a prospect each time they fill out a form – cool eh!

Over time, as information builds, you can connect with someone on a highly personal level.

So as reporting features, segmentation opportunities, storage of data, prospect nurturing functions and personalisation, all become more intelligent, it’s not a question of whether a B2B company should invest in a MAP, but when.

Marketing Automation, as part of a wider inbound marketing strategy, is what every business needs to fast track their future.

Perfect is a SharpSpring Platinum Partner and experienced Customer Acquisition Agency. Specialising in Sales Lead Generation, through Marketing Automation. If you find our blog interesting then please take 2 minutes to make contact, so you can start benefiting from our experience and ideas.