What is marketing automation software?

Definition

Marketing automation software refers to platforms designed to automate repetitive marketing tasks, with marketing departments and organizations in mind.

The goal is to drive up conversion rates while reducing the need for manual interventions throughout the conversion funnel.

How does it work?

To achieve this goal, marketing automation software provides an intuitive, easy-to-use interface designed to specify criteria and create scenarios to trigger marketing processes automatically throughout the customer lifecycle.

They allow you to set up rules to automate repetitive tasks, such as:

• Sending personalized answers
• Attributing a lead score
• Creating custom reminders

What are the main features of a SaaS marketing automation solution?

Marketing automation software provides a wide variety of tools. Complete solutions usually include the following functionalities:

• Email campaign management: email templates, email scheduling
• Landing page creation
• Social media tracking and automated social media posting
• Newsletter automation based on RSS
• SMS marketing management
• Marketing analysis tools for multiple channels

Marketing automation solutions integrate with CRM tools. Some even include built-in CRM functionalities, and are considered to be all-in-one CRM solutions.

Why use marketing automation software?

Marketing departments, consultants, and part-time marketing employees use marketing automation platforms to increase efficiency and reduce human error. Using such solutions provide several benefits which help your business gain valuable competitive advantages.

Advantages of marketing automation

• Extend your customer life cycle: by reaching out to the right customers, with the right message and at the right time, you increase brand loyalty and customer engagement
• Free up time for marketers: by automating repetitive, low-value-added tasks, you allow your teams to focus on what's really important, meaning they can spend more time thinking about innovative marketing strategies
• Facilitate lead generation: design attractive landing pages, integrated contact forms and impactful call-to-actions
• Spend more time with prospects: not only will you be able to send emails to rekindle a purchase intention automatically, you will also be able to schedule calls and meetings more effectively
• Identify qualified leads: lead scoring has never been easier with automated scoring rules. Marketing automation tools give you access to a large amount of data (position, activity sector, etc.) and behavioral tracking to assess the engagement of your leads and prospects
• Improve conversion rates and the ROI of your marketing campaigns with A / B testing
• Centralize the strategies and results of all marketing channels with tools suited to phone prospecting, social selling and more

Disadvantages

• These tools should not be used to replace your marketing and sales teams: a warm approach and human interaction remain essential to nurturing leads and managing customer relationships
• Complex scenarios require a more advanced mastery of these solutions: unlock their full potential by taking the time to learn and practice

How to choose the best marketing automation solution?

The acquisition of a marketing automation tool should be based mainly on the functionalities required by your company. Take your marketing strategy into account before making a choice.

What social media should the solution support to be in line with your brand identity? Do you need email marketing automation? Asking yourself these questions will help you not waste money buying software that would offer more than you would ever need.

The best marketing automation software

• Webmecanik Automation
• HubSpot Marketing
• Mailchimp
• Marketo
• Zoho Campaigns
• Zapier
• Salesforce Pardot
• Oracle Eloqua