Strategy conversations very rarely start with marketing automation, but they very often end there. Through the strategic development process, as we design customer strategy that is based on responding to customer interactions, we very quickly appreciate the need for an executional process where the number of resources required does not rise linearly with the number of campaigns or initiatives. The move from 10’s of executions per day to 100’s or 1000’s necessitates automation.

The automation of marketing is critical to delivering the necessary scalability to support any marketing program that seeks to achieve more than last year’s activity plus a bit!

Literally speaking, marketing automation is a technology that automates repetitive and mundane tasks in marketing processes. These might include, for example, marketing workflow and approvals, planning and budgeting, campaign development, execution, measurement and analysis. It helps marketers to increase their speed- to- market, liberates them from many operational tasks and gives them more time to focus on marketing analysis and strategy. However, Marketing Automation is not just about automating marketing tasks and processes - it’s the foundation of transformational marketing programs.

Is it only automating marketing?

Marketing Automation: A transformational building block

Marketing Automation is like the foundation of a house. If it’s not well constructed, the house you build on top will be unstable. Marketing Automation is the solid foundation you need in order to execute your customer-centric strategies with precision and provides a scalable platform for improving customer experience through multiple touch-points.

The underlying purpose of marketing automation is not simply to automate existing processes but to use the migration to marketing automation to create transformational change to your marketing. Work processes and strategic thinking need to synchronise with your Marketing Automation program and this is likely to require changes to the way you approach customer targeting, how you initiate customer conversations and adjust campaign specifications. It will also change the volume, frequency and manner in which you launch campaigns. It’s therefore evident that Marketing Automation is the first step in the journey to transform your marketing into strategic database marketing.

Why should you care about Marketing Automation?

Past research from the Aberdeen Group into planned technology among Top Performer’s over a 12-24 month period shows the high importance of Marketing Automation.

Marketing Automation Tools / Applications

BI / Predictive Analytics Tools

Outsource Services: MSP, Agency, Consultancy

Call Centre / Service & Support

Data Warehouse / Data Mining

Enterprise Marketing Management

Web Analytics

Information Service Providers: External Lists

Customer Relationship Management

66

66

63

62

57

57

53

53

42

Technology Solution Area % selected

MA capabilitiesMarketing automation drives transformational change to your marketing processes:

Analytics

Campaign ideas and development

Analytic capability is used as a forward-looking tool to predict the next action of customers based on the customer’s behaviour rather than looking backward to statistical models that only show what happened in the past. This shift alone will take you to the next level of campaign execution.

The old practice of outbound marketing was to launch large volume campaigns that bombarded segmented groups. New generation customers however are repelled by this method of ‘communication’ and in any case, marketers struggle to execute campaigns in a timely manner. MA enables marketers to split up mega-campaigns into micro-campaigns that are more effective, the work process consumes less time and marketers are able to stay ahead of the game.

Figure 1: Planned Technology Investment

Customer contact strategy

Marketing Automation has changed the nature of contact strategy from calendar-driven campaigns to customer-initiated campaigns. The system is set-up with a series of rules to trigger appropriate actions. Integrated checks and balances ensure that relevant content goes to the right individual at the right time via their preferred channels. Customers should only be contacted when they are ready to opt into marketing campaigns.

Customer engagement

MA drives effective targeting, timing and customer relevance. It allows marketers to detect changes in a customer’s status and to promptly engage in real-time marketing in response to identified opportunities, i.e. triggers. This distinguishes MA from manual executions.

What is in it for you?

MA supports more effective engagement with customers and drives sales revenueWith Marketing Automation it’s easy to see what’s working for you and how well. You can measure the sales opportunities sourced and the conversions influenced all the way through to the revenue generated. According to Aberdeen group research last year with 106 companies using Marketing Automation, the Best-in-Class companies realized a 67% current increase in annual revenue and 65% year-over-year increase in Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI).

Free up resourcesMarketing Automation potentially releases more resources that can be re-allocated to develop strategy and conducting analysis, enabling you to do more at a lower cost.

Speed to marketThe time span from development to execution is greatly reduced so that new campaigns in response to specific circumstances or opportunities can be initiated and launched faster, gaining first mover advantage.

Boost campaigns response rate to over 5%

Reduced average campaign design and testing time to four hours

Increase campaign volume to 300%

Time to production is less than three months

Tidbits from Unica Campaign implementation (Debitel Netherland case study):

Operational efficiency

The increased efficiency, accuracy and reduction in human error also reduce risk exposure.

Process standardisation is inherent within automation, so MA campaigns can run at lower volumes, more frequently. This is because the costly set-up and labour intensive elements are built into the automated processes once and then re-used with each similar campaign.

Improved campaign

A case study below indicates that companies achieving the highest performance in key metrics like revenue, conversion and return on investments are more likely to use marketing automation technology.

Case Study from ING(Unica Campaign Management Solution Implementation)

Situation:

In the past two years, ING was struggling with its traditional Direct Marketing processes which were found ineffective and generated low returns. To solve this situation, ING needed to create more effective and productive marketing processes by adopting appropriate technology.

Outcome:

Higher response rates: the average response rate to a product offer is 60% higher than with the traditional direct marketing campaigns

Faster to market: the campaign cycle time has fallen from 26 weeks to 4 weeks. This makes it easier for marketers to take corrective action or to integrate lessons from one campaign to the next.

Lower direct marketing cost: thanks to the efficient automation program ING has reduced the marketing cost by 35% per year

Solution:

After ING moved from Traditional Outbound to Personalized Inbound Marketing, ING is able to initiate the communication to the customers by sending a personal offer through their preferred channels based on the individual’s profile. Besides this, ING can predict the next logical action of the customer based on transactional information and send out relevant messages in order to stay in touch with the customer. Additionally, with an automation capability, ING can launch the campaigns in a shorter period of time and meet the real-time needs of the customer.

The results of this new technology implementation are already impressive, even though ING hasn’t yet fully applied it at all bank branches.

Requirements before kick starting MA

Here are some steps to consider...

Define objectives: which marketing processes do you want to automate?

New mindset:

Technology is nothing without a suite of solid business processes behind it. You’ll need to specify what you expect to accomplish, then the system needs to be set up according to your individual requirements and goals.

An understanding and awareness of organisational resources at every level is vital. The broad reach of Marketing Automation and the wide-spread changes to work procedures required throughout the organisation has an impact on all resources, roles, and responsibilities. For example, the workforce involved in Marketing Automation, both directly and indirectly, needs clear demarcation and guidelines so that their respective roles are understood and agreed by all involved, hence ensuring that each works cohesively with their peers. In effect everyone needs to cultivate a new collaborative mindset.

The toolset can only perform to full potential if the skill set and expertise of the end users are equal to the system. It is wise to review this at an early stage in case the necessary knowledge and skill resources need to be acquired, either by training or recruitment. It is also important when selecting vendors to fully explore the extent of training required, what they provide themselves and on what terms and any additional training that may be necessary for other third parties toolsets employed within the system.

Using the MA toolset: training and experience are essential

Technology changes rapidly, so seeking additional support from external providers may be another alternative worth considering. There is a wide range of vendors and consultants with extensive experience in Marketing Automation who can assist you to find appropriate out-of-the-box software or niche software as well as outsourcing providers who take on the responsibility for looking after your system.

These are just a few of the issues you need to consider, but be assured that in the long run Marketing Automation is not only worth it – it’s essential!

Insource VS outsource

In conclusion, Marketing Automation is not the single panacea or the one “solution” that will resolve all of your database marketing issues. It is however the cornerstone and an essential tool for developing the system you need to take advantage of future opportunities. Marketing Automation places the customer’s needs centre stage and provides the relevant information needed to navigate the buying process, which in turn helps customers to make informed buying decisions. Satisfied buyers lead to long term customer relationships and for marketers, that’s the holy grail. Marketing Automation clearly drives transformational change to all of your marketing processes and it is the only way to compete in future. Your next strategy development discussion should therefore start with Marketing Automation.

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About Digital AlchemyDigital Alchemy is Australia’s largest dedicated Database Marketing Service Provider. We have a large and growing pool of specialist resources dedicated to working with our clients to improve their marketing efficiency and capturing latent customer value through marketing automation, customer analytics, and strategic consulting. Our ever-growing client community includes a wide range of organisations and industries such as financial services, telecommunications, motoring services, automotive, etc. Our proven transformation process ensures the blending of Digital Alchemy’s capabilities in analytics, campaign management, database design, and development and hosting to your business knowledge.

Reference Cited

Ament, Leslie (2006). The precision Marketing Benchmark Report: How top performers turbo-charge their investments, Aberdeen Group research

“Field Marketing 2.0: The Heart of Growing Conversion Rates,” SiriusDecisions 2008

<http://customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com/2010/09/hard-data-to-justify-your-marketing .html >

“Lead Lifecycle Management,” Aberdeen Group, July 2009

<http://customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com/2010/09/hard-data-to-justify-your-marketing .html >

“Crossing the Chasm with Automated Lead Management”, Aberdeen Group, January 2010

< http://customerexperiencematrix.blogspot.com/2010/09/hard-data-to-justify-your-marketing .html >

Alexander Hesse (2009). “Case Study: ING delivers personalized product offers across channels in real time”

<http://www.unica.com/documents/us/Unica_CaseStudy_ING_021910.pdf>

“Case Study : Debitel Netherlands Selects Unica to Increase Campaign Volume and Boost Response Rates”

<http://www.unica.com/documents/us/Unica_CaseStudy_debitel_A4_072109.pdf>

“Marketing Automation as Part of Integrated LeadGen”

<http://ilgresults.com/marketing-automation-as-part-of-integrated-leadgen/>