Marketing automation workflows 101: Everything you need to know to boost lead generation and nurturing

What is a marketing automation workflow? 

Marketing automation has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline their marketing efforts and increase ROI. One of the most powerful features of marketing automation is the ability to create and implement complex workflows that automate repetitive tasks and target specific audiences. 

Marketing automation workflows are a series of automated actions triggered by specific events, such as a website visitor filling out a form or an email being opened. These workflows can be used for a variety of purposes, such as lead generation, email marketing, and lead nurturing.

The use of marketing automation trends allows businesses to create highly targeted and personalized campaigns, which results in better engagement and conversion rates. It also allows for more efficient use of resources, as tasks that would normally require manual effort can be automated. This frees up time for marketers to focus on other important tasks, such as analyzing data and developing new strategies.

How to create marketing automation workflows? 

Creating marketing automation workflows can seem like a challenging task, but by following these few key steps, you'll be able to create workflows that are tailored to your specific needs and goals.

Define your goals and objectives 

Before you start building your workflows, it's important to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve. Are you looking to generate leads, nurture existing leads, or increase sales? Once you know your goals, you can create workflows that are tailored to your specific needs.

Segment your audience 

One of the key benefits of marketing automation workflows is the ability to target specific groups of people. To do this, you'll need to segment your audience based on factors such as demographics, behavior, and interests. This will ensure that your workflows are reaching the right people at the right time.

Choose your marketing automation software

There are many different marketing automation platforms available, so it's important to choose one that meets your needs and fits your budget. 

Build your workflows

Once you have your goals, audience segments, and software in place, you can start building your workflows. This typically involves creating a series of triggers (such as a form submission) and actions (such as sending an email). You can also include decision points (such as a lead score) to determine which actions should be taken next.

Test and optimize

After you've built your workflows, it's important to test them to ensure they're working correctly. You can also use analytics to see how your workflows are performing and make adjustments as needed. For example, you may need to change the timing of your emails or adjust your lead scoring criteria.

Key elements of any marketing automation workflow:

To get marketing automation best practices, you should know these four elements:

Triggers: Workflows are initiated by certain events, such as form submissions, email openings, or website visits. A trigger determines when and for whom a workflow should be launched.

Actions: These are the tasks that are performed as part of the workflow, such as sending an email, adding a contact to a list, or updating a CRM. Actions are typically based on the trigger that initiated the workflow.

Conditions: Certain rules must be met before certain actions can be taken. Adding conditions to a workflow allows you to create more complex workflows, in which certain actions are only taken when certain criteria are met. For example, you could have a condition that only sends an email to a lead if they have opened more than 3 emails in the last week.

Flow control: A workflow can be directed based on certain conditions or criteria. Marketers can create workflows that branch off in different directions based on the actions of leads and customers. For example, if a lead fills out a form on a website, the workflow could direct them down one path if they are a new lead and another path if they are a returning customer. This allows for more personalized and targeted communication with leads and customers.

‍

‍

10 marketing automation workflows to help you boost your revenue

Lead Generation

Forms, landing pages, and calls-to-action are used throughout this workflow to capture leads from your website and social media channels. Once a lead is captured, the workflow can automatically send them an email, add them to a list, and trigger a follow-up sequence.

Lead Nurturing

By providing valuable content like blog posts and ebooks, this workflow nurtures leads who aren't ready to buy yet. Additionally, the workflow can send targeted emails and track lead behavior to determine when they are ready to purchase.

Cart Abandonment

This workflow is designed to recover lost sales by triggering an email to shoppers who have abandoned their cart on your website. The email can include a special offer or a reminder of the items left in the cart.

Win-back

The goal of this workflow is to re-engage customers who haven't purchased from you in a while. To encourage them to make a purchase, the workflow can send targeted emails and offers.

Cross-selling/Upselling

In this workflow, existing customers are recommended complementary products or services to increase revenue. It can be triggered by a customer's purchase history or browsing behavior.

‍

Account-based Marketing

With this workflow, you can target specific accounts or companies with personalized communications and offers. Depending on the company size, the job title, or other attributes of a lead, it can be triggered.

Personalization 

Based on behavior and attributes, this workflow provides relevant content, offers, and messaging that provide a personalized experience for website visitors.

Lead Scoring

Leads are prioritized according to their level of engagement and likelihood of conversion in this workflow. Lead behavior, such as website visits and email opens, can trigger it, and it can be used to send leads to sales.

Lead Qualification

The workflow gathers additional information and determines whether a lead is ready to buy by gathering additional information. Leads can be triggered by their behavior or their response to an email or form.

Event-based Marketing

With this workflow, leads and customers are targeted with special offers, promotions, and communications based on specific events, such as holidays, product launches, and conferences.

Common challenges marketers face when implementing marketing automation workflows

1. Lack of understanding or knowledge of marketing automation: Some marketers may not have the necessary knowledge or experience to effectively implement and utilize marketing automation strategies. Investing in training and education for the marketing team is one solution to this challenge. Attending workshops, webinars, and online courses, or hiring a marketing automation success expert, can help.

2. Integration challenges: It can be challenging and time-consuming to integrate marketing automation workflows with existing systems such as CRM and email marketing platforms. Marketing automation tools should be chosen carefully and planned for integration with other systems in advance to overcome this challenge.

3. Having difficulty segmenting and targeting the audience: If the data is inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date, segmenting and targeting the audience can be difficult.Make sure data is accurate, complete, and up-to-date, and use marketing automation's advanced segmentation and targeting features.

4. Difficulty in creating and maintaining the workflows: Building and maintaining the workflows can be complex and time-consuming, especially for those who are not familiar with the platform or the process. The solution is to start small, build incrementally and test and optimize the workflows as you go. You can also use pre-built templates and workflows provided by the platform.

5. Inability to measure and analyze results: Analyzing and measuring workflow performance can be challenging and require specific skills. Using marketing automation tools, you can monitor and analyze the performance of workflows.

6. Keeping data private and secure: Ensuring data privacy and security when implementing marketing automation workflows is a critical and complex task that requires specialized knowledge and tools. Use best practices such as encryption, authentication, and access control to overcome this challenge.

7. Scaling issues: As the business and audience grow, it can be difficult to scale the workflows to match the increased volume and complexity. Plan ahead for scalability, and use cloud-based solutions that can handle large volumes of data.

8. Adapting to changes: Market trends and technology are constantly changing, making it difficult to adapt workflows. Be open to testing and experimenting with new features and strategies to overcome this challenge.

Benefits of Automating marketing workflows

Marketing automation workflows can have a significant impact on your business in a number of ways:

Increased Efficiency: Marketing automation workflows automate repetitive tasks, such as sending emails and updating CRM records. This frees up time for marketers to focus on other important tasks, such as analyzing data and developing new strategies.

Improved ROI: 

Through automated marketing campaigns, campaigns can be targeted and personalized, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates. This can lead to a higher return on investment for your marketing efforts.

Better Lead Management: 

Lead nurturing and sales funnel optimization can be accomplished more efficiently with marketing automation workflows. As a result, more qualified leads can be generated and conversion rates can be improved.

Increased Sales: 

Automation workflows are used to automate sales processes (Sales automation), such as tracking customer behavior and sending follow-up emails. Your business can increase sales and revenue as a result.

Better Customer Experience: 

The use of marketing automation workflows can enable customers to receive personalized content and offers based on their behavior. As a result, repeat customers and positive word-of-mouth will increase.

Better Data Analysis:

Tracking and analyzing customer behavior, such as website visits and email opens, can be accomplished using marketing automation workflows. The information can be used to improve marketing and sales strategies by providing valuable insight into your customers' needs and preferences.

Conclusion

The benefits of using marketing automation are clear: it can lead to improvements in engagement, conversions, sales, productivity, and other areas of business operations.

This creates a win-win situation for all involved. Additionally, automation can increase a company's return on investment and allow the sales team to focus on nurturing relationships and navigating the customer journey. 

When choosing a solution, it's important to ensure that it aligns with the specific needs of your business. By doing so, companies can effectively implement automation software and adopt an engagement-focused approach to customer relationships.

‍