What is Automation and How can you Use it?

by Paiton McDuffie | Jun 7, 2022

Automated workflows can increase efficiency, nurture leads, increase your business’s revenue, and aid in your reporting. In marketing, automation is used in many ways. Two of the most impactful use cases are to make your life as a marketer easier through process improvements and by providing your prospects and customers with the best possible experience in their interactions with your brand. We’ll cover a couple of ways that automation can accomplish both of these things.

Automation makes your life easier

Let’s start by focusing on how automation can make your life easier and assist in making you a more efficient marketer. The easiest way to think about automation is from the “if, then” mindset. For instance, if my prospect downloads a white paper on a lead generation form, then they need an email that delivers the white paper and I need to receive a notification alerting me of their action. By implementing automation, you are removing the manual task of sending the prospect the white paper and ensuring you’re aware of who is converting on your ads.

Automation can be used to shorten your manual to-do list in a variety of ways – by creating tasks for yourself, sending internal email notifications, or even automatically creating deals or other contact records depending on the criteria that best suits your sales cycle and buyer journey. By utilizing automation to complete these steps, you ensure that nothing falls through the cracks on your end and that your prospect (or client) is having the expected experience after taking action. 

Automation provides the best experience

We need to also think about the ways that automation can make a prospect’s interaction with your marketing efforts streamlined and simple. Have you ever submitted a form on a website and not received a confirmation email or some sort of follow-up that let you know your submission was received? I have, and it was a confusing experience that left me wondering if anyone would actually get in touch with me. Automation could’ve been utilized to deliver an email that confirmed my submission went through and help to set expectations on the next steps. Setting expectations and using automation to deliver the expected outcome each time a prospect takes an action helps to build trust. What are ways you can help build trust with your prospects through automation?

These methodologies can be adapted for a variety of uses but will depend on the capabilities of your CRM or email sending platform. Most major CRM or email platform providers have resources to help you get started, and some may even have templated workflows to help you create automation that makes the most sense for you.

How are you using automation to increase your efficiency and ensure your prospects have the best experience with your company’s marketing efforts?