The rise of COVID-19 caught everyone off guard. Even large companies and world leaders were taken aback and were unprepared to handle the gradual consequences of the virus. One of the harshest impacts of the pandemic is the economic recession multiple countries must face. Nations struggled to thrive while adjusting to the conditions and demands of the new normal, with businesses and companies having to compromise their operations to comply with the circumstances of the lockdown.
While many regions remain under lockdown, others are already working on recovery and continuing in the new normal. Technology played a major role in many transitions as every sector tries its best to adjust to the pandemic. With it already incorporated into so many aspects of our society, it is safe to assume that it would be nearly impossible to survive without it in the years to come, even in a COVID-free world.
As the pandemic continued, adapting to it became less of a struggle. The economy slowly reopened, and businesses have eased into doing operations online. Marketing automation has had one of its most significant breakthroughs in this time. While automated marketing was specifically helpful during the global lockdown, it will also be vital in the coming years since it is becoming the industry standard for businesses and consumers. Here’s why.
Convenience and Efficiency
Marketing Automation Solutions take care of the business and enterprise segment of operations. They make tasks such as sales emails and enablement, campaigns, and data analytics manageable under one platform in an automated process. The convenience of singular management lets businesses reduce employee costs and maximize their most important resource: time. Marketing teams will have more freed-up hours to work on other ventures and strategies, not to mention the speed in operations with the efficiency of this technology.
Marketing automation solutions are so effective that recent surveys stated a 14.5% rise in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead. Its technology also lowers human error and increases the accuracy of data and tasks, improving the overall performance of businesses.
Research conducted by the Demand Gen Report states that 74% of marketers assert that the time efficiency of marketing automation is its best contribution. Automated marketing is gradually overtaking other forms of marketing and will become a must-have for businesses in the long run.
Customer Retention And Accessibility
The panic brought about by the pandemic caused a change in consumer behavior and trends. Nowadays, people want to get products and services instantly, and they expect businesses to have them on hand and ready to go. Pardot found that 77% of buyers look for specific, targeted content.
MAS tools make the journey of a product to the customer quicker. Automated marketing helps companies gain customer retention and relationship. The artificial intelligence the technology uses gathers helpful information to profile customers and their preferences. With these generated reports of your buyer demographic, you can make smarter, guided decisions with your marketing strategy.
Marketing automation partnered with Customer Relationship Management advances your tactics and uses real-time data to track detailed consumer activity. The analysis gives marketers crucial information about buyers that will determine leads into what will sell. By customizing your platform accordingly, you are granting more accessibility to the target market. These efforts will bring companies closer to their clients, building substantial relationships, making customers inclined to support them even more.
Data collected by MAS will also help you create a personalized shopping experience for your clients, prompting them to trust and rely on your brand. Automated Marketing keeps consumers engaged and accommodated as they make transactions. Demand Gen Report states that marketing automation users had a 77% increase in customer conversions and an 80% increase in sales leads.
Profit and Growth
While Marketing Automation Solutions are costly, they yield a high ROI. Paired with CRM, there is an average of 25% increase in ROI, according to Salesforce customers. A study conducted in 2020 by Venture Harbour also found that companies that have used automated marketing for at least three or more years are now high-performing. Not only does MAS generate profit for businesses who use it, but it is also a profitable industry in itself, with experts believing that by 2025, MAS will earn £5.5 billion. Expenses on automated marketing tools are estimated to be $25.1 billion by 2023, claims Martech Today.
Not only does automated marketing entail profits for businesses, but it also helps in adjusting to the ever-changing scales of the market. The number of consumers will likely grow, and trends and behaviors will change as well. MAS assists companies to respond better to these transitions and prepares them to handle these foreseen changes better.
The information and reports generated by MAS, when utilized correctly, can help businesses and companies be more dynamic and expand their market, therefore adding sales. By increasing their target demographic and exploring other possibilities, firms and enterprises can venture out and grow immensely.
Businesses using MAS can expect upgrades in their operations with continued utilization. A 2020 study by Salesforce showed that among marketing leaders today, 68% use marketing automation platforms, to which they credited most of their successes. It is already clear that things will never go completely back to normal, so the only way for businesses to thrive is to adapt to current technology and anticipate future scenarios.
Preparedness and Innovation
The onslaught of the virus left us all in difficult conditions. The prolonged period of the pandemic brought about a new way of living that everyone must accept. For businesses and enterprises to survive in the coming years, adapting to automated marketing is the key. Being fully equipped to manage operations in person and online will guarantee smooth transactions to keep up with the times. It will also help companies avoid the trouble of sudden adjustment if something similar to the emergence of COVID-19 happens again.
The gradual advancement and evolution of technology are bound to continue. The current developments in MAS today will serve as a foundation and steppingstone to its possible improvements in the years ahead. Maximizing marketing automation tools and developing them further will contribute to their innovations that will benefit us more in the future.
