marketingautoWhoever wants to be successful today, needs to provide potential customers with relevant messages in the right place at the right time, especially since digitalization has transformed consumer behavior.

Increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Today’s customers are self-determined and use many different communication and information channels, always in the expectation to be supplied with relevant information - and that beyond the purchase. Proper support creates customer loyalty in the long term, guarantees additional sales potential and increases the so-called Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Furthermore, Marketing Automation Systems (MAS) automatically support customer acquisition and maintenance, enabling companies to quickly respond to changing buying behavior - at the right time, at the right touchpoint.

But Marketing Automation can do even more: Companies can use automated marketing processes to personalize campaigns. This is made possible by a legally compliant tracking of reading and clicking behavior integrated into the MAS, allowing companies to find out which content is particularly well received. This increases the relevance of the individual content for the respective recipients, and the success of the marketing measures, which can be measured and evaluated with the help of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) CLV. This metric measures the value a customer brings to a business across its entire customer life cycle. The CLV covers the past sales of a customer, as well as those that can be expected in the future due to its purchasing behavior. Tailored content and offerings can be provided and cross-linked or up-sold to maximize revenue. By increasing the CLV, companies promote their own economic growth.

Marketing Automation affects all business sectors

Marketing Automation is much more than just software. The introduction of such a system is a strategic decision that affects all divisions. However, this also means that marketing and sales must rethink and align tried and tested processes completely, which is a good thing as both then work together to achieve defined revenue targets. Tying marketing and sales together should be the first big step - even before you even think about what technology you could use - because the processes must be defined first before the technology can properly support them. Not to mention that decision-makers can no longer afford to scare off customers with annoying advertising emails or neglect the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Only those who segment their target groups and provide them with the right offers at every touchpoint get appreciated by their customers, measurable in a high CLV, beyond the conclusion of a purchase or contract. Marketing automation software helps companies to create transparency between departments and provide prerequisites for a consistent accompanying of their customer throughout the customer lifecycle. Features, such as purchases or responses to content, can be used to define target groups and develop appropriate campaigns, which in turn are needed to explore cross and up-selling potential.

An enterprise could e.g. define two target groups: the first one, which responded to the content, the second, which did not. The first was contacted directly by the sales department to determine whether the customer is satisfied or needs support. Those who have responded to the emails can qualify for further deals. They will therefore receive emails promoting the premium version, for instance, through checklists. If the reading and clicking behavior speak in favor of a purchase interest, there is a possibility for a follow-up business and the first step to the long-term customer lifecycle is accomplished.

By Daniela La Marca