COVID-19 changed the way brands interact with customers and vice-versa and brought forth all of the issues of eCommerce and brick-and-mortar businesses trying to go online. In this guide, you’ll learn what marketing automation trends will shape years to come, future techniques, and how they can increase your ROI.
The numbers above show the vast difference in online trade from the first year of the pandemic alone, showcasing just how important adopting eCommerce marketing strategies and creating a contemporary business model really was for business owners and brick-and-mortar stores. And now that the pandemic is still here but more manageable, marketing automation is here to stay. Automating workflows and giving more options to users to interact with has never been easier.
Segmentation and personalization have never been more important, and email marketing has become a core element of any marketing strategy. At the same time, businesses opt for omnichannel experiences and multiple touchpoints, while inclusive tactics and social justice elements in content marketing seem to be critical elements for a marketing strategy to work.
Ready to go into more detail? Let’s begin!
The Core Marketing Automation Trends of 2023
In 2023, as marketers, we’re all set and ready to utilize all of the techniques the pandemic taught us. So, from personalization according to the funnel stage of the client to responsive email templates and content that most email marketing and marketing automation platforms – like Moosend and other Mailchimp alternatives offer – automation tools have grown more prominent.
The reason is straightforward: marketing automation can save time and resources and allow marketing teams to find solutions to more urgent or complex matters. Let’s see what that means. In this guide, you’ll learn what marketing automation trends will shape years to come, future techniques, and how they can increase your ROI.
Segmentation and Personalization According to Funnel Stage: Marketing Automation Trends
As we know, everything’s been said and done in 2023, and this goes for marketing as well. Instead of trying to come up with something new, marketers opt for improving existing methods. Segmentation and personalization are prime examples of that logic.
Instead of merely adopting a “Hello, [First Name]” approach when it comes to personalization and basing your segmentation on the main buyer personas your marketing team will create, you can incorporate the funnel stage into your segmentation and personalization efforts.
The customer’s journey is, after all, a core element in any marketing strategy, especially if you want to boost conversion and remain top-of-mind. A repeater will need different handling compared to a fresh lead that hasn’t proceeded with a purchase yet.
In that case, marketing automation will allow marketers and sales teams to manage email accounts, creating personalized experiences that answer their specific, individual requests and questions.
AI and machine learning are the perfect tools to boost your marketing automation tactics. That way, you’ll manage to create segments that can correspond to your users’ individual needs on a one-on-one basis.
Automated tools are perfect for detecting patterns that are too small for a human analyst to detect or even predict. This means that with such tools, the content a brand will produce for any and all customer actions will be spot-on and relevant.
This will, in turn, lead to a whole lot of conversion and revenue. Spot-on and tailor-made content that applies to the customer’s journey can bring about a whole lot of revenue and sales. Even more so if it seems like a natural continuation of the brand and the customer’s actions. It’s natural and shows that you want to communicate with your customers on a human level. In this guide, you’ll learn what marketing automation trends will shape years to come, future techniques, and how they can increase your ROI.
Chatbots Automate Customer Service
Chatbots are on the rise today, and with good reason. A great chatbot can help with customer support. Chatbots nowadays have evolved beyond simple tools with canned answers and can handle more complex questions. In fact, chatbot apps are powered by AI technology and can be combined with a brand’s social media messaging apps.
AI technology, in this case, boosts chatbot automation with more sophisticated solutions that can handle complex requests and understand – and train themselves – how to respond to different segments and different crowds. This ability aids the personalization we mentioned above.
This could be a real threat to customer service professionals, of course. However, a chatbot that can handle complex queries – like the one that H&M uses – can actually allow more freedom.
With chatbots handling simple requests like styling tips and answers to frequent questions, customer service representatives can focus on more complex problems that do need a human touch.
Another important element is that chatbot automation has evolved to make the interaction more human. Customers may be fully aware that they’re talking to a robot, sure, but this doesn’t mean that chatbots are complex or not of service. On the contrary, they’re great for some extra data and a better understanding of user behavior.
Omnichannel Experiences: Marketing Automation Trends
Omnichannel experiences are not optional anymore. Especially since COVID-19 forced many brick-and-mortar stores to create multiple touchpoints.
If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you’ll need to use marketing automation to create seamless experiences that create the image of a unanimous brand that presents itself with the same tone of voice throughout its presence.
Of course, creating an online store and reaching your eCommerce KPIs is not something that will account for an omnichannel experience. It requires touchpoints that go beyond a web page and reflect on your content marketing, email marketing, and social media efforts. Of course, this doesn’t mean you don’t need to adapt your tone of voice to the medium you’re using and the social group that frequents said medium.
With marketing automation, you can identify and understand the touchpoints you need to use and create content that applies to different channels. Use your data and analytics to understand the touchpoints you’ll need to take advantage of.
After that, invest in marketing automation tools that will allow you to create a competition on your app that will be posted on your website, promoted through social media, and end up in your brick-and-mortar store while gently guiding the user in that same direction.
A/B Testing and Marketing Automation Trends
A/B testing isn’t a new concept, but automated A/B testing through marketing automation tools is something brands and marketers are still trying to master.
Marketers are looking for the right automation tools, the right type of content to test, and the right crowd to test on. Of course, this can be taxing on marketers and teams that are forever trying to make good use of A/B testing.
And it’s true, automated A/B testing is worth the time and effort. It can provide fantastic results in the long run. Just remember to change only one variable at a time. To understand what it was that worked for your audience, analyze your data correctly. So, let it run for as long as your audience needs.
Of course, these actions take a lot of trial and error. But they’ll help with marketing actions in the long run. Let me give you an example.
Suppose you need to run an email marketing campaign and have no idea what the best email subject line would be. You can split-test your ideas and see which email subject line got a better open rate. Which audience loved it more. Pinpoint what pain points your subject line covered and apply your knowledge to the rest of the campaign.
Responsive and Inclusive Content
Mobile device use is on the rise, which means that responsive content is now a no-brainer. In the simplest of terms, responsive content is the type of content that can work well beyond desktop devices using marketing automation trends.
Marketers aim to use marketing automation to create responsive email marketing campaigns. So, better websites that can work just as well on mobile and tablet devices. The reason behind that is quite simple: As a prospect. Would you buy from a brand that sends email campaigns with broken elements? Would you remind yourself to check their email when you have access to desktop devices?
The answer is probably no, which is why responsive content is so important.
But inclusive content is just as important. It’s content that can resonate with many segments of your audience, prospects with different needs and diverse backgrounds and capabilities.
The pandemic helped a great deal in refocusing the way users experience brands. How some brands were not well-versed in creating experiences. By leading with empathy instead of creating content that simply sells.
Inclusive content has a social and practical meaning. Content that can be experienced through screenreaders is just as important as content that takes a clear stand against bias. It creates empathy and the image of a brand that aims for all of its audience to be represented through its brand tone.
Create a form and engage with your audience. A questionnaire on what type of inclusive content is missing from your marketing actions would be fantastic. So, would show a brand that is audience-first instead of sales-first.
The Takeaway
Marketing automation is something that has been helping marketers clear out their heads. So, engage in pressing matters, especially during COVID-19. Trying to improve already established procedures is a fantastic move, but knowing the current trends is just as important.
AI, machine learning, chatbots, and data will dominate the years to come. At the same time, there will be a massive shift toward hyper-personalized experiences and tailor-made marketing messages. I hope that this article helps you o understand what marketing automation trends will shape years to come, future techniques, and how they can increase your ROI.
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