by Fronetics | Jan 15, 2018 | Blog, Marketing
Marketing automation can help supply chain marketers become more efficient and more successful in earning and converting leads.
Automation is changing today’s supply chain, and not just because robots and autonomous vehicles are scooting around warehouse floors. Supply chain marketers can use automation to drive efficiency and improve our success rates.
HubSpot recently reported that businesses using marketing automation to nurture leads received a whopping 451% increase in qualified leads. So how can you reap these benefits? Let’s take a quick look at automated marketing applications in supply chain marketing.
What is marketing automation?
B2B buyers are increasingly demanding vendors provide personalized experiences throughout the buyer’s journey. That makes marketers’ jobs 1 million times more difficult in having to provide custom lead-nurturing content to all prospects in the database. Enter, marketing automation — a way to automate the process of personalizing leads’ interactions with your business.
HubSpot describes marketing automation as “software and tactics that allow companies to buy and sell like Amazon — that is, to nurture prospects with highly personalized, useful content that helps convert prospects to customers and turn customers into delighted customers.”
Examples of ways supply chain marketers might use marketing automation include:
- Chatbots
- Social media scheduling tools
- Thank-you, welcome, and other triggered-by-an-event emails
- Event reminders
- Email workflows
Example: Automated email workflows
Automation is particularly useful in email. I’ve written before about how marketers spend way too much time creating marketing emails. How much of your day could you gain back if you didn’t have to create, send, and follow up with prospects via email?
One easy and effective way to utilize marketing automation in your emails is to set up an automated email workflow. That is a series of emails that a user will receive from you based on actions they take.
First, create an email list from your database based on certain criteria — like leads who have been inactive for 6 months or longer. Send them an email inviting them to download a new industry report you have published (using personalization tokens to show them its relevancy to their business). Then set a second email to send to only those who downloaded the report a day or two later thanking them for downloading. A third email could follow several days later offering a case study related to the topic. When someone downloads that case study, the workflow could trigger the designated sales rep to receive a notification to follow up with the prospect.
Instead of having to watch your database to see when a prospect takes each of these actions, then completing the necessary follow-up, automation software (we like HubSpot) can do this for you right when it happens. What’s more, those leads that have gone through the workflow will be more qualified (meaning more likely to buy), so your sales reps’ time will be better spent as well.
Marketing automation won’t make you irrelevant
Fear not, supply chain marketer. Marketing automation will not make you redundant. I have clients that express this fear to me on a regular basis. Instead, I have seen automation make marketers more efficient, more successful, and more valuable.
Marketing automation will help you provide more personalized experiences to your leads. That will increase the chances that they’ll buy. But it won’t take up more of your time. In fact, it will free you up to provide value in other areas that can’t be automated (like content creation). It’s really a win-win.
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by Fronetics | Dec 6, 2017 | Blog, Current Events, Marketing, Social Media
The increasing popularity of chatbots is making it harder to ignore how artificial intelligence is helping shape the content marketing landscape.
Chatbots are the latest trend in artificial intelligence for marketers, and the supply chain and logistics industries should take note.
Chatbots can help automate and improve some of your marketing and customer service efforts. But to get the most out of these automated systems, you first must understand what they are and how they work.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is s a computer program that simulates human conversation using auditory or textual methods. Basically, it’s software that communicates with your customer inside a messaging app, like Facebook Messenger. Chatbots are similar to email marketing, but, instead of ending up in your inbox, they communicate through a messaging app.
Why are chatbots so popular?
As our mobile devices continue to change the way customers receive and interact with our brands, messaging-app usage has skyrocketed. In fact, 2017 saw a 69% increase in messaging-app users from last year. Business Insider reports the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks. From iMessage to Facebook Messenger, mobile users are leaning more toward this newer technology to communicate with friends and family.
Why the big drop from email? Because people are buried in emails. On average, office employees receive 121 emails per day. Of those 121 emails, only around 20% are opened — and click-through rates are even lower. More and more companies have stuffed inboxes with repeated emails. Over-communication is the number one reason for readers’ unsubscribing to your email list. Chatbots have alleviated the inbox drama.
Why does my business need a chatbot?
Quality messaging without the spam
Chatbots take the spam out of email marketing. When companies market on a messaging app, they create an easier way for leads to receive educational messages about their brand. Chatbots are an easy and fun way for audiences to engage with your brand, getting answers to their questions and quality messaging about your products and services.
Ease of tracking and segmenting
Your brand will also appreciate the ease of tracking and segmenting your customers through chatbots. Take Facebook Messenger for example; using messenger bots, you can identify who your customers are in less than a minute. No other platform (email, social media) can get you that information as quickly or efficiently.
Increased customer engagement
Getting customers to subscribe to your chatbots is much easier than email subscriptions. Why? The ease of usage and lack of friction on messaging apps creates a more positive customer experience. Businesses can set up chatbots to message any user who comments on your social media pages. They can retarget people who have left your site, offering special discounts or promotions if they place an order. And chatbots can also nurture the sales process by notifying you of potential customers that request a specific action during their interaction with your chatbot.
How do I create a chatbot?
There are plenty of chatbot-building platforms available online. Before you pick a platform, make sure you do your research. Here are three of the top chatbot building platforms.
1. Chatfuel
This chatbot engine will do most of the hard work for you, ideal for those lacking programming experience. MTV, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, British Airways and Adidas are said to have used Chatfuel to create their chatbots, along with almost 20,000 other users across the globe. The user interface is easy and slick, meaning you could create a chatbot in less than 15 minutes!
2. Chatscript
Launched back in 2011, ChatScript is a ‘next generation chatbot engine,’ which has won the Loebner Prize (awarded for the most human-like examples of artificial intelligence) four times. It provides an open source framework for developers to build and deploy chatbots.
3. Facebook ‘Bots for Messenger’
At its F8 developer conference in April, Facebook launched Bots for Messenger, a tool which allows developers and businesses to build chatbots for its Messenger platform (which is used by almost a billion people). Developers build bots, submit them for review, and then Facebook decides which get onto Messenger. The three main capabilities are its send/receive API, generic message templates, and the ability to customize the welcome screen users first see when interacting with your bot.
Messaging automation is the new email automation. Brands will be looking to join the chatbot craze for the ease, convenience, and the positive customer experience. Have you tried a chatbot program yet? We’d love to hear from you about your experience.
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