Relying on Marketing Automation is Killing Your Business
As marketers in the digital world, there is no tried, tested and true path to success. We must experiment because quite often what we are doing has rarely or even never been done before. When automation started to become a part of our daily lives many rejoiced! Finally, no manual lead gen, followup, or searching. We'd just let a computer do it for us ... right?
We Were Dead Wrong
Automation has provided convenience at times but it has also killed a lot of businesses. Anyone that relied solely on automation is either limping along or dead. This is because automation doesn't build relationships, and relationships are at the core of business.
If you think back to all of the successful deals you've ever done, the relationship between you and the other party was the difference maker. Or, think of it this way; if you have 2 equally beneficial proposals in front of you and you've only really connected on a human-to-human level with one of the groups behind those proposals, who will you do business with?
Automation lays the foundation for a connection but it is by no means a magic bullet.
When is Automation Good?
There are many reasons to use automation, including building that foundation I spoke about. Here are some great examples:
- As an introduction.
- To shore up follower and connection counts.
- In polling and surveys.
- For drip campaigns to existing customers.
- When processes that the customer doesn't see but is a part of the process (ie: buying tickets)
When is Automation Bad?
Well, this is easy. Automation is bad when you employ it for any of the reasons above but don't follow up with a personal connection.
Let's say you introduce your business in an automated email; how often do you get a reply? It's likely near 1% of the time. Follow that up with a phone call and suddenly you'll see your percentages increase.
When growing your networks, automation is great but if you don't have people power behind that growth you'll fall flat. Chances are the automation is doing a few things that need to be monitored and at the very least follow up is important. The worst is when automation sends out a message, someone replies, and then the business doesn't reply back.
In polling and surveys, a final note from the owner or department head that is customized goes a long way to showing you care as a brand. Don't forget those personal talking points.
Here's a particular pet peeve of mine; drip campaigns to existing customers. When people reply to your drip (even if it's not required) you should reply back to them. So often I see a drip campaign go out for a deal on a product, and I reply asking for a few details, never to get a reply again. That's a real lead they just lost.
For processes that are behind the scenes, I point to our ticketing site, Diyobo. The act of getting an account and buying a ticket involves a lot of automation. There's no need for human intervention, except in 2 important cases. One, when the customer needs tech support. Two, every so often reach out and thank these people for their business.
To Automate or Not to Automate
Automate! Go for it. But just make sure you have a team behind you willing to monitor and building relationships. Automation may get a foot in the door, but only through relationships will you get a handshake.
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