Essential Tips to Enable You to Nurture Relationships through Marketing Automation

Marketing automation tools allows you to achieve so much more than would otherwise be possible. It saves time and money. It allows you to reach additional customers and leads. However, perhaps the most essential benefit of these tools is their ability to enable you to nurture strong relationships well beyond the conversion point. Of course, it can be challenging to do that, particularly if you’re new to the whole concept. Below, we’ll explore some of the tips you’ll need to know.

Use a CRM

Marketing automation platforms should offer native integration for the tools that you already use. One of those should be a customer relationship management platform. There are tons of options out there, and many work in a similar way. However, you need to make sure that you’re using one. They provide you with the means to store personal and demographic information, sort and parse that data, automate manual processes, and even gain insight into each of your customers, their challenges and pain points, to build a stronger rapport and grow your relationship from touchpoint to touchpoint.

Focus on Retention

Too often, companies focus on new customer acquisition. That makes sense – you want to grow your customer base. However, it often comes at the cost of your existing customers. What good does bringing in a new customer if you’re going to lose an existing one along the way? New customer acquisition is more time consuming and costly than keeping those you already have, as well. Focus on retaining your existing customers, and you’ll get more referral business, experience significantly higher profitability, and reduce marketing costs all at the same time. Marketing automation tools allow you to segment your audience and create personalised content for your existing customers including loyalty programs, rewards, incentives, and more.

Interact Often

Yes, some customers will balk at receiving too many emails or other marketing messages from your brand, but others will not. The answer is to allow them to set the frequency they prefer – daily, weekly, or even monthly digests are all possible. Interact with your customers often so that they know you haven’t forgotten about them. It could be something as simple as surfacing a deal based on a previous purchase or interest, or it could be as in-depth as providing them with tips and tricks to get the most out of a recent purchase.

Segment, Segment, Segment

We’ve mentioned this in multiple posts, but it bears repeating. You cannot afford to send out one-size-fits-all messages. There’s no such thing any longer (if there ever was). Today’s consumers value personalisation. They want the companies they patronise to be alert to their unique needs and experience. You can do that through audience segmentation and by creating accurate, robust buyer personas. Then, using marketing automation, you can deliver custom, personalised content right to each customer.

Create a Sense of Community

Your customers don’t want to be just, well…customers! To them, this is more than a financial transaction. They want to be part of something more substantial – a community. Marketing automation tools can help you achieve that. Share content that has value to each customer at each stage of their relationship. No matter what your industry might be, there is a way to make each of your customers feel like they’re part of the wider community.

Solve Customer Problems

Solving your customers’ problems is what your product or service should be all about, but you need to look beyond that. What other problems are they experiencing? Are they unsure which product is right for them? Are they struggling with finding a replacement product under warranty? Did the product arrive late due to a problem with the shipper? Step in and find a way to solve these problems for your customers, even if they’re not technically your responsibility.

In Conclusion

In the end, marketing automation tools provide you with numerous ways to nurture relationships with your customers. However, it begins with you and your team, not your software. You need to understand the value of building strong, long-lasting relationships that go far beyond the sale. Once that realisation has set in, you can begin creating content to achieve your goal. If you’re not sure how to proceed, we’re happy to help. Contact us today to schedule an in-depth consultation.