The customer journey, from the first touch point with a brand to purchase and every step in between, can be a complex and arduous one. Each customer has a unique way they want to communicate with brands, and it’s our job as marketers to listen to those cues and fit seamlessly in their lives.

As technology advances and we are able to learn more information about people and their spending habits, it’s our responsibility to use the information to connect with our customers when it’s appropriate and helpful. Marketing automation helps us do just that, and ultimately, converts a brand’s leads to sales and better profit margins, principally through customer loyalty and repeat business.

Customer Loyalty

When a customer has repeated positive interactions with a brand, they develop loyalty. A loyal customer is far likelier to choose your product over a competitor’s when making a purchase. Marketing automation helps boost customer loyalty by offering customers a personalised experience. By tailoring communications on email, social media and even SMS to a customer’s specific needs, a brand shows the customer they matter. Marketing automation also collects feedback from customers so we can alter their experience based on their actions. This helps build a better overall experience and lets the customers know that their needs are being heard.

Sales Retention

Sales retention is all about getting customers to keep coming back after they’ve made the initial purchase. Of course, product quality plays a large role in this equation, but once a customer has made their first purchase, a brand has many options to lead them back through the sales funnel. Marketing automation allows us to monitor customers through this journey. Based on their interactions with a brand’s communications, we know when to actively engage them and how.

SharpSpring   

At Fuse Agency, our marketing automation platform of choice is SharpSpring. SharpSpring is jam-packed with features that support our efforts. Below we list out our favourite features that the platform offers.  

1. Visual Workflow Builder

With this feature, we can map out unique buyer-journeys and segment our target markets so that we can customise how the brand communicates to them. SharpSpring will also notify us of leads (customers ready to make purchases) based on their engagement with the brand’s social media and websites.

2. Social Media Management

The feature allows us to manage client accounts for social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We can post instantaneously to these platforms or schedule posts in advance based on peak-traffic time data. We can also monitor engagement from social campaigns which allows us to create conversations with potential customers.

3. Behavioural-based Email Automation

One of SharpSpring’s best features is how they monitor buyer behaviour. The platform will recommend active or passive communications to consumers depending on what stage they’re at in the customer journey. This feature helps us build a solid customer base, which leads to increased sales.

4. Analytics and Reporting

Where would we be as marketers without data to support our findings? SharpSpring also compiles key analytics that allows us to track customer engagement, behaviour, and success rates of social campaigns and blogs which inform our strategies and lead to better results.

Still not convinced if marketing automation will give you a return on investment? Come have a chat with the Fuse Agency team. It’s our job to stay ahead of the curve on the newest marketing tools, and we’re confident we could find the perfect marketing solution for your business.