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Marketing Automation
July 27, 2020
How Marketing Automation Workflows Lead to Conversions
More than 9 out of 10 (91%) of marketers surveyed by Instapages say marketing automation is integral to the success of their campaigns. SocialMediaToday found that 61% of marketers viewed increasing lead generation as the most important strategic goal of marketing automation.
But how does marketing automation nurture and prime leads to prepare them to be handed over to sales? How does it build interest and intrigue? It does so with a marketing automation workflow. Let’s dig a little bit more into what a workflow is.
Triggers and actions
A workflow consists of triggers and actions. Triggers are behaviors and things that leads, prospects, and customers do to interact and show interest in your brand. Actions are the automated responses to what they do. If someone downloads an ebook off your website, you send them an email to notify them when the next ebook in that series is available. If someone signs up for a webinar, later on, you send them a related white paper. If someone subscribes to your newsletter, you send them an email invite to an event that your newsletter promotes.
Essentially, you provide relevant content and information to follow up on the interest that someone has shown. You entice them with valuable knowledge to engage them more and more with your brand and lead them down the marketing funnel to make them more and more interested in making a purchase.
A workflow can help convert a prospect into a lead, a lead into a customer, and a customer into a repeat customer.
How does someone become a prospect?
This doesn’t fit into the “trigger/action” sequence, but it remains important. A prospect is someone who has shown interest in your brand. They have business problems they think your content and thought leadership can help with.
How can a prospect become a lead?
A prospect becomes a lead by showing even more interest in your brand by continuing to engage with it.
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Possible triggers |
Possible actions a marketer might then make |
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New subscriber signs up |
Send them how-to emails to get them onboarded and started |
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Someone downloads a gated asset |
Show them related content and how to access it |
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Someone signs up for a webinar |
Follow up with a thank you note and make them aware of related upcoming events and content
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How can a lead become a customer?
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Possible triggers |
Possible actions a marketer might then make |
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Someone continually downloads your content, opens your emails, attends your events, or in some way engages with your brand |
Notify sales to contact them |
How can a customer become a repeat customer?
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Possible triggers |
Possible actions a marketer might then make |
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Someone has already made a purchase and continues to engage with your brand |
Send them more personalized content, special offers, and make them aware of product updates, new features, and information about upcoming events |
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Someone has been your customer for some time |
Send them an email celebrating your relationship with them and let them know of any product renewals and updates coming up |
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A customer is experiencing difficulties with your products or services |
Send content that offers potential solutions and tell them they are welcome to contact customer service |
How do you reengage with a lead or customer who has dropped off?
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Possible triggers |
Possible actions a marketer might then make |
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A lead or customer hasn’t stopped opening your emails or downloading your content within a certain timeframe (say, four to six months) |
Send a personalized email to catch their attention and say you miss them and tell them about a special offer or event |