7 tips for using marketing automations to drive leads

You want to capture more leads. But your marketing team is already running on fumes,  attempting to drive results with limited resources. How can you use software to build a lead-generation engine that delivers big results? 

Marketing automations can help you streamline processes, increase productivity, and yes, capture more leads. Are you ready to shift your team into high gear? 

When building automations, you’re attempting to automate repetitive processes and create more customer connections. However, delivering big results goes far beyond streamlining efficiencies and expanding your reach.  

Dig deeper: How to keep your marketing automation campaigns from ruining your week

The key is creating automation sequences that adapt to your audience’s behavior. As prospects engage with your brand across different touchpoints your marketing automation software delivers different messages. 

With the right approach, you can use automation software to deepen connections,  deliver value and deliver qualified leads to the sales team. As you embark on your  marketing automation journey, consider the following tips to get the most from your solution: 

1. Create micro-segments 

Micro-segmentation extends beyond traditional audience segments. As such you’re looking to create segments based on various shared demographic, psychographic  and behavioral characteristics. Once you identify your micro-segments, you can build automations that deliver content that resonates with each audience on a more granular level. 

2. Build adaptive automations 

The most important criterion is that your automation sequences change when your audience’s behavior changes. When different customers in your micro-segments take different actions, your automations must adapt without intervention. This requires forethought because you must build targeted workflows that take different paths depending on audience behavior. 

Example: If you’re creating an email lead nurturing campaign, you can create triggers that send a different sequence of e-mails based on what links users click within each e-mail. As a result, different prospective customers entering the same automation might start with the same e-mail, but end up with different content. 

3. Personalize the experience 

When you build your automations, you want your potential customers to feel your message is meant specifically for them. Since you’re creating micro-segments and adapting each engagement based on behavior, you can take the next step and tailor the conversation to the individual. As a result, you want your bots to adopt a conversational tone while focusing on what’s most interesting to each prospect. 

Example: Imagine you’re engaging with the chat software on your product page.  Depending on how you set up the automation, enrichment data can identify the names of users and zip code targeting criteria to identify their location. Using these data, the bot can send a personalized message that feels like it’s coming from a human with a personalized approach such as: “Hey Michelle, did you know that we have a store nearby, right off the 10 freeway? Do you want me to send you directions?” 

4. Deepen the connection 

Use automation software to deepen a connection with your potential customers. Adopt a modus operandi centered on delivering value. The reciprocity principle suggests people want to reciprocate good deeds. Providing value, such as delivering white papers or videos helpful to your audience, increases the probability they’ll want to connect with your brand in the future. And yes, you can automate all of this because you’re creating conditions (think “if this, then that” scenarios) that trigger the delivery of behaviorally driven content. 

5. Qualify leads automatically  

Your sales team can’t give equal time to every potential customer.  And why should they? That’s your job. Automation technology allows you to identify customers most likely to make a purchase. With the right software and appropriately created automated sequences, you can categorize and qualify leads so you’re only passing prospects with a high probability of making a purchase. 

6. Incorporate optimization science  

When adopting automation software, approach it with optimization science in mind. Optimization science is focused on extracting the maximum potential of customer-facing technology. You can read more about optimization science here. By using your automation software to trigger brain responses at the right time, you’re able to deliver optimal results.  

7. Conduct A/B testing

Once the automations are running you must be sure they are optimized. Use A/B testing to assess the effectiveness of your workflows. Remember, just because you’re succeeding doesn’t mean you can’t improve. 

As a marketing leader, you can orchestrate a symphony of automations to help your business connect with customers across multiple channels, delivering results 24/7. Is that music to your ears? If so, turn up the volume and step on the gas. A cornucopia of leads is right over the horizon.