After getting an enormous amount of feedback and questions from you guys about the recently launched GetResponse Marketing Automation tool, we decided to show it in action. If you haven’t had the chance to join us live (shame on you!) don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll see the webinar recap, answers to the most popular questions, and of course – the video recording!
And for those of you who were there with us live…
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So what did our speakers, Magdalena Ciszewska – GetResponse Marketing Strategist, and Abby Hehemann – GetResponse Community Manager talk about during the webinar?
Marketing Automation Myths
Magdalena started off the presentation by debunking common misconceptions we’ve all been hearing about about marketing automation over the years. Among those were:
Marketing Automation is only for the big fish.
In the past – sure. At the moment – not so much. Until recently, only the biggest companies with extensive marketing budgets could afford to run automated campaigns. They had to learn everything through trial and error, and build their own solutions to create true 1-to-1 communication.
This is no longer the case. With the rise of Marketing Automation Platforms (MAP) virtually any company can find their favorite easy, intuitive, and affordable tool. With available integrations you won’t even spend that much time to plug it into your existing system. On top of that, in most cases you can just sign up, pay monthly, and quit anytime you want.
…Or only for marketing gurus.
Again, that’s a thing of the past. When Marketing Automation first appeared on the market, that may have been the case. Marketing gurus had to figure complex communication strategies themselves, coming up with various conditions and appropriate actions.
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As for now, you still need to think a lot. Marketing Automation scales with you, which means you can create very complex communication scenarios. However, it’s also much easier to get ideas from others. Marketers often share their tried and tested workflow with others. And you can simply start with smaller, less complex workflows, then to move forward as you gain more experience and learn more things about your audience.
It’s all set it and forget it.
This is a common misconception. Marketers often think that Marketing Automation systems will take away their workload and leave them to relax and stretch out on their sofa. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Sure, once you come up with a series of messages you can just launch them and watch the results. However, just as with regular newsletters, to achieve great results you’ll need to constantly optimize your campaigns. Observe what your audience likes, reacts to, and adjust the communication to meet their ever changing needs – they’ll be grateful for that!
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It’s impersonal.
The exact opposite it if you ask me! Only thanks to automation can you achieve a real 1-to-1 communication and messages that take into account each individual’s preferences. Although it helps to decide on the best time and content to pass on, it doesn’t make your communication impersonal in anyway.
It’s only about email.
Email is just the beginning. Although it often is at the very center of your marketing campaigns, you need to sync it with your existing promotional channels. Plug it in with social media, sms, landing pages, webinars, search, and display ads… the more the merrier! Just as long as you can monitor and manage them well ;).
So is Marketing Automation f00lproof?
As the presenters pointed out, Marketing Automation adaptation hasn’t always gone so smoothly either:
- 79% of top-performing companies have been using marketing automation for more than 2 years (Gleanster, Marketing Automation Benchmark)
- 70% of businesses are already using a marketing automation platform (Aberdeen Group, State of Marketing Automation)
- 85% of marketers feel that they’re not using marketing automation platforms to their full potential (SiriusDecisions.com, Increasing Adoption of Marketing Automation Platforms)
- 17% say marketing automation has been very beneficial for their company (B2Bmarketing.net and Circle Research, Benchmarking Report Marketing automation)
- 8% of companies see increased revenues within 6 months of adopting marketing automation (B2Bmarketing.net and Circle Research, Benchmarking Report Marketing automation)
Why do companies struggle with Marketing Automation?
Here are some of the main reasons:
1. Complexity of the system
More often than not, marketing automation systems are very powerful, but at the same time difficult to comprehend. Marketers wanted to use them (having jumped on the bandwagon), but had tough time understanding the way it’s meant to be used. Thinking it’s too complex they’ve given up on the whole concept altogether.
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2. Lack of marketing automation strategy
It’s best not to just jump into a complex MA system without planning out your communication beforehand. Especially if it’s an expensive and one that requires a lot of effort to be synced with your existing solutions. If you can implement swiftly, and scale it as you go, then it’s a safe bet that this won’t be a struggle for you.
3. Inadequate data quality
Still using old paper and pen forms to collect your leads? No CRM in place or an old database that hasn’t been used for some time? That’s when you should act quickly and reengage your audience. Before you go full-on with marketing automation, do make sure that your data is of best quality, so that you can focus on users that are truly interested in your offer.
4. Lack of employee skills
This is a burden, especially in companies where the person responsible for communication changes frequently. Do make sure to attend this issue and train your employees to make use of the new system. Gather them all together, think of ideas how you can make use of Marketing Automation for your projects, and help each other out. This way you’ll make full use of it, and you won’t feel you’re missing out on something.
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5. Budget constraints
This is going to be quick. Until now, the automation systems were really expensive. And on top of the monthly cost, you had to devote more resources to the data analysis and communication strategy. Not everyone could afford that, and some only found out about the real costs after having signed the contract. This is no longer the case, thanks to affordable SaaS solutions (like ours, *hint* *hint* ;)).
So what did the attendees ask about the most?
Some of you had the chance to play around GetResponse Marketing Automation beta. Others only saw it just now. Here’s what we’ve been asked aboud.
1. Where do I find more details on how to use it myself?
We’ve got you covered. You’ll find everything you’ll need about GetResponse Marketing Automation and more:
And if you need more help, just reach out to our Team of Experts!
2. Will this make autoresponders obsolete?
We’re keeping autoresponders and marketing automation separate. It is on our list to merge them, however we’ll first implement all the necessary features until we’ll move on this project :).
3. Can I set up a sequence so that it’s launched after someone doesn’t click?
Sure you can! You can set up your workflows so that one sequence of actions will take place if a click happens, and another one, if the click isn’t observed within a specified period of time. This way you can tag, score, and send an appropriate message to the users that e.g. don’t fill out the survey in your welcome message.
4. What’s the difference in the colored lines in my workflow?
There are three different types of colored nodes in your workflows.:
- Green indicating a positive path, i.e. when a condition is met
- Red indicating a negative path, i.e. when a condition isn’t met
- Gray indicating an action or filter that isn’t related to any condition
5. Can a workflow end with someone being moved to another campaign?
Why of course! At the end of the workflow you can do one of the following:
- Assign someone a tag
- Assign someone a score
- Send someone a message
- Copy them to another campaign, i.e. the subscriber will remain in two campaigns
- Move them to another campaign, i.e. the subscriber will be removed from current campaign, and be moved to your target campaign
Also, you can mix and match the conditions, so that you can end the workflow with a combination of the abovementioned elements.
6. Do I need to create my messages in advance?
Yes, you do. All messages that will be used in your Marketing Automation workflow need to be created in advance. Once you enter the workflow, you can choose them from existing drafts, newsletters, A/B tests, autoresponders or automation messages. When you do so, your selected message will then be copied as an entirely new, marketing automation message.
Word of advice – if you want to make any edits to this email, you’ll need to edit the original one and select it in the workflow again. There it will be copied as a new automation type message.
7. Can I use workflows to reengage dormant or inactive subscribers?
Sure you can! Once you’ve located your inactive subscribers, simply assign them a tag that will launch the workflow. In the workflow, send them a win-back message (or a series of) and based on their actions: assign score, tag, and either copy or move them to another campaign. It can even be your original campaign, where you’re sending your regular content digest or promotional newsletters.
8. Can I search for users based on tags, scores, or ranges?
In the Search Contacts menu, you can find subscribers that have specific tags or scores. You can’t however select ranges, but there’s a way around it. When building your workflow, simply assign a new tag for those that fall into one of your ranges, and you’ll be able to easily find them afterwards in the Search Contacts menu. Alternatively, if you send them a particular message or copy them into another campaign, you’ll also be able to locate them with ease.
9. Can I use a condition e.g. X days before something do Y
This is a wonderful idea and you can bet that it is on our to-do list ;). So stay tuned! All of you hoping to create a workflow prior a particular date takes place (e.g. wedding date, birthday, final sale) will soon be able to make use of all your creative building complex workflows.
10. What about website tracking? When’s the next release taking place?
Did I just hear Marketing Automation for E-commerce? Oh yeah, that’s coming soon too :). Not going to spoil the fun, so just visit our blog and sign-up to our updates!
What you’ve been waiting for
So now you have it. Sit back, relax, and re-watch it at your own pace. And if you want to jump quickly to the moment when Abby was building workflows live, skip to the 14:09.
Feeling a bit excited? I know for sure that we are! Join the conversation by tweeting using #GRautomationhub hashtag or in the comments section below!
The post Getting Started With Marketing Automation: Webinar Recap + Recording appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Email Marketing Tips.
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