How does marketing automation work?

26 Jun 2024

Automation is the act of automating marketing. The goal is to be attentive to prospects and increase revenue while achieving better performance. To be effective, automation is based on three pillars: the use of powerful software, the availability of a centralised database, and the creation of workflows. So how does this mechanism work?

A strategy based on understanding lead behaviour

Automated marketing, or automation, is a digital technique that emerged towards the end of the 2000s. The goal of its creation is lead generation through inbound marketing. This technique involves automating every step in a lead's journey, from the first contact to the closing of the sale. The aim is to facilitate the work of the marketing and sales team. Lead qualification is handled by the tool, along with the transformation into prospects until delivery to the clients.

The process therefore consists of understanding the behaviour of potential prospects. By establishing the most accurate profile possible, the sales team can define what type of products correspond to a particular potential client.

Automation is not the same as email marketing, which sends the same message to all contacts. Automated marketing personalises prospects according to the criteria discovered during the prior assessment. To understand leads, the parameters analysed are:

The identity of the potential prospect: their age, gender, socio-professional category... and this information must be recorded according to the rules established by the GDPR
The behaviour of the future client: what type of internet user are we dealing with? What kind of information interests them? How long did they stay on the site, on the pages...? What is the prospect's behaviour regarding the emails? Are they active and responsive on social media?

And to succeed, it is necessary to have the right software, to define a clear action plan and objectives. Do not hesitate to test and analyse while creating varied scenarios.

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A centralization of databases

Automation, in addition to focusing on the behaviour of future prospects, is also a technique that involves having a centralized database. The advantage of using software is to be able to collect and centralize the information gathered during surveys on profiles. The data collected becomes a database that will serve in sorting prospects based on sectors or the products offered. The software thus handles prospecting but also consolidates the information and sorts it afterwards. The main advantage is saving time in the selection of prospects while maintaining a database of these future clients.

Automatic segmentation

The tool will establish different categories to classify prospects based on their needs. The software can assist in establishing the various classifications that can be by sector, by age, by geographical area, or even by pages visited, the type of device used, the usual platforms…

Lead qualification

Lead scoring is the act of qualifying the leads obtained. This practice allows for easier tracking of the progress of prospects. It helps to define which type of conversion funnel to steer future clients towards. It is also a good way to classify a prospect and grant or remove points based on their behaviour. The goal is to achieve a finely-tuned ranking of contacts according to their level of engagement.

Creating Workflows

Lead generation and the classification of information will allow for the implementation of scenarios. These workflows must be relevant for the strategy to work from start to finish. This is why it is important to conduct tests and analyses as much as possible. Since marketing is not an exact science, the effect of a message can vary from one prospect to another. Therefore, to be sure that a practice is profitable, conducting tests is the best option.

The relevance of a workflow can be based on certain criteria such as the number of openings, clicks, bounce rates, the number of appointments, or the cost of acquisition. A good workflow is the result of excellent cooperation between the marketing team that seeks the prospect and the sales team that sells the product at the end of the entire strategy.

It is important to clarify that the workflow is an existing product. Its objective is to establish rules to follow that facilitate the execution of a project. The workflow can be set up in the form of to-do lists or boards. The key is to have in mind and at hand the tasks to complete until the end to achieve results. So, it is the chosen method to carry out work.

The tasks performed by the software are those customary in a company that it already knows. Lead generation, information gathering, converting prospects into customers… but with automated marketing, all this work is done by a tool. The goal is to save time while helping the company to thrive and gain even more prospects. My Name is Bond explains in detail everything you should know about automated marketing. How does it work, what strategies should be adopted? All with the aim of helping you advance your business.

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