What Is Marketing Automation & How to Get Started?

Marketing automation is simply a indispensable for immoderate marketer, nary substance the size of their company. It doesn’t substance whether you merchantability products oregon services. Those who disregard selling automation are missing retired connected almighty resources.

According to EmailMonday, around 56% of companies usage immoderate signifier of selling automation, and 40% of B2C companies program to follow the technology.

But selling automation tin beryllium overwhelming, with truthful galore antithetic platforms, integrations, and services available. How bash you cognize what works champion for your business?

Don’t worry. You’re not alone.

In this guide, we’ll spell done the following:

• What selling automation is
• What the benefits of selling automation are
• Some examples of selling automation
• How to get started with selling automation 

Let’s commencement by defining selling automation.

Marketing automation uses software, tools, oregon processes to automate repetitive tasks. This frees up clip for much important tasks oregon increases efficiency. Automation tin beryllium utilized arsenic portion of an overall selling strategy or for standalone tactics, such arsenic email marketing, pb generation, sales, societal media management, alerts, analytics, and reporting.

There are 5 main benefits of selling automation. Here’s however it helps marketers and businesses.

1. Save clip and money

The main payment of selling automation is it tin prevention clip and wealth due to the fact that it automates repetitive tasks, specified arsenic sending emails oregon societal media posting, which tin trim selling expenditure.

For example, the University of Buenos Aires saved 28 worker salaries and $100,000 per annum by automating its pupil communication.

2. Increased sales

Marketing automation tin summation sales, arsenic it allows companies to standard their selling efforts crossed aggregate touchpoints, campaigns, and channels astatine the right time.

This sports nutritionist generated $50,000 successful 8 weeks by adding exit-intent automation.

3. Higher pb conversion

Drift reported that 58% of B2B companies don’t respond to income leads. To combat this issue, marketers tin amended income funnels by automating archetypal and follow-up touches with prospects and customers, starring to higher revenue.

4. Improved engagement oregon lawsuit service

Automation helps lawsuit work by handling galore lawsuit requests oregon issues successful real-time. It is imaginable to make automated responses to communal questions, specified arsenic “What is my bid status?” oregon “How bash I usage Ahrefs’ Content Explorer?”

5. Better investigation and reporting

Automation tin supply selling teams entree to data, information, oregon insights that are easier to interpret.

For example, Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker contains accusation that integrates with this Google Data Studio report that lets you show your Google rankings and competitors.

Now let’s instrumentality a look astatine examples of selling automation.

Here are immoderate examples from marketers who usage automation to assistance them amended antithetic aspects of their businesses.

Drip campaigns

Drip campaigns are a bid of emails automatically delivered implicit clip that archer a communicative oregon amended prospects astir a solution oregon problem.

Here’s an example: Blair Enns, who helps selling agencies with pricing strategies, created a drip run to transportation radical to bargain his book.

After you opt successful to get a escaped illustration of his book, helium sends you a bid of emails based connected his halfway message: “Charge more, bargain my book.”

Outreach campaigns

Link gathering agencies usage automation to travel up connected prospects and gain much links from their outreach campaigns.

Here are the emblematic steps successful an outreach campaign:

1. Find prospects’ interaction details
2. Craft your pitch
3. Outreach to prospects
4. Secure links

According to Postaga, the mean effect complaint for an initial email is 16%, and sending astatine slightest 1 follow-up volition get a effect rate of 27% connected average.

So if you nonstop 1,000 outreach emails and see 1 automated follow-up, that’s 110 much replies and nexus possibilities.

Sales conversion campaigns

I spoke to Adam Watson, the co-founder of Hollywood Mirrors, about automation.

Here’s his reply:

Another income conversion automation example

Automation tin besides notify customers and unit astir income promotions, orders, shipping, and deliveries.

At the Nike.com shop, I added this merchandise to my handbasket and past received this automated “Complete your acquisition earlier we tally retired of your size” message.

I astir surely bash not privation to miss retired connected this garment.

Chatbots

A website chatbot is an automated instrumentality that tin interact with visitors successful real-time via substance messages, emails, oregon telephone calls. It tin besides automatically reply questions from visitors.

The Ahrefs chatbot provides visitors casual entree to the Ahrefs Academy, assistance information, and chat with enactment staff.

When you click “send america a message,” the chatbot interprets your connection and proposes applicable help pages.

If the assistance articles aren’t capable to reply your question, you tin speech to Ahrefs enactment staff.

Alerts and notifications

An alert is simply a notification sent by a website proprietor whenever idiosyncratic performs a circumstantial action. For example, if idiosyncratic joins your newsletter, you tin email them to convey them for subscribing.

Last year, we launched Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, a escaped instrumentality to assistance you get much retired of your website.

Once you’ve verified a website and the domain is added to the dashboard, you tin make automated backlink, keyword, Site Audit, and ranking notifications.

Click the 3 dots adjacent to the domain name, past take which notifications you privation to receive.

WordPress uses automation to notify you astir comments posted connected your website and alteration plugin updates, redeeming web designers, developers, and bloggers time.

For invoicing purposes, I usage Harvest to nonstop retired invoices. If the lawsuit pays via Stripe oregon PayPal, automation sends maine a outgo notification and the lawsuit receives a thank-you email.

In addition, I tin acceptable up the invoice settings truthful that dilatory payers get affable reminders each 7 days until they have paid.

Leads and appointments

If you beforehand services connected your website, the purpose is to cod accusation from tract visitors, specifically those funny successful your services.

This lead qualification automation asks website visitors a bid of questions and aims to publication an assignment with superior prospects. But the automation doesn’t enactment disconnected those who aren’t acceptable to talk to a institution typical yet.

In this example, present are the 4 questions a visitant is asked.

Question 1. What assistance bash you need?

Question 2. What is your website built on?

Question 3. What is your budget?

Question 4. When are you looking to start?

If the imaginable is simply a highly qualified lead, they are invited to publication a call.

A less-qualified pb tin motion up for a newsletter.

This automation enables marketers to get contiguous and aboriginal leads from their websites.

Personalization

Automated personalization allows marketers to tailor their messages to circumstantial individuals alternatively of sending the aforesaid connection to everyone.

I sent subscribers a personalized website audit utilizing Ahrefs’ Batch Analysis tool and ConvertKit customized fields.

I sent 262 subscribers a personalized email containing:

• Their Domain Rating (DR).
• The fig of referring domains.
• The fig of keywords they ranked for.
• Organic traffic.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

1. Export subscribers from ConvertKit into Google Sheets
2. Select Data > Split substance to columns to get their domain sanction from their email address
3. Copy and paste domain names into the Batch Analysis tool to extract the website metrics
4. Create caller columns successful Google Sheets for the DR, referring domains, keywords, integrated postulation data
5. Match this information with subscribers
6. Create customized fields successful ConvertKit for the domain name, referring domains, keywords, integrated postulation information
7. Import Google Sheet accusation backmost into ConvertKit
8. Create an email broadcast
9. Insert the customized fields into the email assemblage transcript to personalize each subscriber’s domain name, referring domains, keywords, and integrated postulation information

Segment customers

Customer segmentation is the process of grouping unneurotic customers based connected akin behaviors, interests, or needs.

For example, you tin make rules aimed astatine radical who unfastened emails and past tag them by a merchandise they’ve bought oregon a leafage they’ve visited.

Here, we tin spot that radical who sojourn and commencement to exit this spreadsheet website receive a pop-up connection with segmentation options.

Upon selecting the “I’m caller to Excel” option, I spot that the website shows the “get 3 video lessons for beginners” offer.

Now the tract proprietor tin tailor follow-up contented and offers aimed astatine their “beginner” lawsuit segment.

Email triggers

An email trigger sends designated contented to prospects oregon customers who instrumentality enactment connected your tract (e.g., motion up for a escaped trial, marque a purchase, oregon rise a enactment request).

These emails corroborate that your concern noticed the customer’s petition oregon action.

While astir email selling tools and automation platforms tin trigger automatic emails, 49% of marketers don’t usage these tools. So utilizing these features gives you a competitory advantage.

Let’s accidental you merchantability grooming courses connected a platform, specified arsenic Teachable or Podia.

After a lawsuit buys your grooming course, you tin nonstop the bid details to a selling platform, specified arsenic Drip, ConvertKit, Mailchimp, etc., done an integration.

When the bid details travel done the selling platform, you tin trigger an automation that emails the lawsuit a invited email and past different email 14 days aboriginal to cheque connected their advancement successful the grooming people they signed up for.

PPC and retargeting

Automated PPC bidding is erstwhile an advertis­er bids automatically based connected their fund and different criteria to marque managing advertizing campaigns easier.

Automated retargeting is erstwhile you show ads to radical who person conscionable visited your website to promote them to return.

1250ships.com, an e‑commerce website, created a Google remarketing advertisement successful Mailchimp that generated implicit $8,200 successful gross and gained 19 caller customers—leading to a 3,879% ROI successful the archetypal 3 months.

And here’s however you tin make a Google remarketing advert with Mailchimp.

Reports

Automation tin make circumstantial reports for specified people, dates, and times.

You tin make automated reports for customers, clients, oregon unit wrong Google Analytics.

For example, here’s however to make a study showing each transmission traffic:

• Go to Google Analytics > Acquisition
• All Traffic > Channels
• Click the arrow adjacent to the day scope > Tick “Compare to the erstwhile period” > Apply

• Click the stock fastener > Customize the email study options

Additionally, Google Search Console sends regular show reports each month.

Onboarding

Onboarding is the process of bringing users up to velocity with your product/service arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.

It’s astir making definite they consciousness invited and assured capable to use, purchase, and support utilizing your product/service.

Over the festive break, I considered migrating my website from WordPress to the Ghost CMS.

Here’s the Ghost onboarding process for proceedings customers.

I purchased a customized taxable but changed my caput and canceled the proceedings period.

The ConvertFlow onboarding process is much broad than Ghost’s, including a video course, lawsuit studies, results, and techniques.

While I person abandoned involvement successful these services, I inactive person invaluable emails from some brands.

Social media

Automated societal media uses bundle to station updates astir a concern connected societal media sites similar Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Marketers tin bash this manually, but it’s overmuch much businesslike if done automatically.

We usage MeetEdgar to automate posting and contented organisation connected our main societal channels; you tin larn much astir Ahrefs’ marketing stack in our precise ain Mateusz Makosiewicz’s guide.

It’s present clip to enactment what you’ve learned astir automation into practice.

If you’re caller oregon privation to automate more, here’s our seven-step usher to get started.

Step 1. Goal

Define a circumstantial goal. Note that definite goals—such arsenic redeeming clip oregon wealth and expanding sales, leads, conversions, oregon engagement—are excessively broad. You request to analyse things much closely.

For example, let’s accidental you looked astatine Google Analytics and discovered that 1.7% of postulation becomes a lead.

But aft delving deeper, you observe you don’t person galore of these leads into paying clients.

Thus, 1 of your main goals tin beryllium to summation qualified leads oregon summation your conversion rates betwixt the pb and lawsuit stages.

Step 2. Identify technology

Take a look astatine the exertion you are presently using.

Are determination options disposable to reuse the existing exertion to scope your goals?

Are determination resources you’re not utilizing oregon could be using?

For example, if you make leads but bash not person them, is your squad pursuing up connected those leads?

Could you talk to the income squad that interacts with prospects and physique an automated series that answers the cardinal questions income leads have?

Step 3. Look externally

Look however others successful your manufacture are automating parts of their businesses.

I utilized Ahrefs’ Content Explorer to find automation lawsuit studies alternatively than Google erstwhile researching this article.

Type “automation” AND “industry” (replace “industry” with your manufacture name) into the instrumentality and benignant by date.

You’ll observe galore examples and lawsuit studies circumstantial to your manufacture that you tin learn from.

If you don’t judge your existing solutions oregon tools tin assistance lick your issues oregon execute your goal, look elsewhere.

For example, I’m comparing the templates offered by ConvertFlow and RightMessage because I judge their exertion tin assistance summation and person much qualified leads than my existent solution.

Most selling automation tools volition connection demonstrations, escaped trials, oregon “recipes” to assistance you determine if they are close for you.

Step 4. Map retired the process

If you request to representation retired a process from scratch, usage a mind-mapping tool like Xmind or MindMeister to visualize each user’s step.

This process for qualifying leads has already been mapped out.

However, there’s nary acquisition and conversion process successful spot aft the visitant subscribes to the newsletter.

Here’s an illustration of the process to make qualified website leads.

1. Define pages that prospects visit
2. Create form, fields, and CTA
3. Create a page, web form, and email reply
4. Connect signifier submission with CRM by creating Zapier integration
5. Set up a trigger to nonstop follow-up emails
6. Create applicable contented for the email sequence

Step 5. Build, test, launch

After mapping retired your process, it’s clip to physique the automation.

Most SaaS automation bundle lets you visually plan the automation; if that fails, get your improvement squad progressive instead.

Then trial retired your process; for example, if you’re automating cart abandonment, spell to Chrome Incognito and adhd a merchandise to the basket:

Then wantonness the bid and guarantee the automation works the mode it’s expected to:

Step 6. Measure

Measuring show against the past 30 days is usually the astir close way, and astir automation solutions person methods for measuring.

Step 7. Repeat

After tackling 1 occupation oregon goal, repetition the process by identifying different occupation or goal.

Final thoughts

This nonfiction covered everything astir selling automation.

Automating repetitive selling activities tin assistance you prevention clip and money; amended sales, leads, lawsuit services, and engagement; and let marketers to absorption connected higher-priority tasks.

The champion attack is to commencement by automating tiny selling tasks first, past determination connected to much important tasks. You should besides cheque retired how to physique a martech stack and what online selling tools Ahrefs uses.

Got questions? Ping maine on Twitter.