Aberdeen research shows that in 91% of best performing companies marketing and sales connect well. Marketing automation helps with fine-tuning between marketing and sales, email systems as they are don’t. As marketing automation consultant at spotONvision I regularly get questions about what the differences are between email software and marketing automation software. In this blog I will answer this question and also what the added value is of marketing automation with fine-tuning marketing and sales.
Difference between email software and marketing automation
I often talk to clients looking for email systems. Email marketing is still a powerful tool to reach leads and contacts. When I then ask what the target is of that email marketing, B2B marketers usually always say that lead generation is the primary target.
The possibilities regarding lead generation and lead nurturing (placing leads with relevant content at the right time) are much bigger with marketing automation systems then just email systems like Mail Chimp and Aweber. That’s why marketing automation systems create a better bridge between marketing and sales than email systems.
Please find below in the chart the main differences between email systems and marketing automation systems.
As you can see in the chart, both systems can send emails and collect matching data. The three main differences between the systems are:
- The possibility to create multi touch campaigns
- Apply lead scoring
- Closed Loop Reporting
1. Multi touch campaigns
Contrary to email software, marketing automation software enables the user to arrange multi touch campaigns. You can set the system that as soon as a user downloads something on the website, that person gets an email from the system automatically. In that email is then more information than in the download.
Furthermore, it is possible to integrate webinar software in the campaign. Visitors of a webinar automatically get emails with a “thank you for visiting the webinar”. Or people who have missed the webinar can automatically get an email with the recording of the webinar. Like this you integrate the different touch points in your marketing campaigns.
Another possibility is having a conversation with your lead based on behavior and interest. With this, conversations will be more relevant and the conversion percentage will increase.
2. Lead scoring
Lead scoring is categorizing ‘cold’, ‘warm’ and ‘hot’ leads. This happens based on the profile of the lead and shown engagement of the lead with the company.
In a marketing automation system you can sh
ow which criteria the lead must meet. Like this for instance you can show that you want to focus on financial managers working with companies with more than 100 employees in the oil industry. If this type of lead gets into the system it will be shown as ‘hot’ immediately. If a lead gets into the system that is not exactly meeting the criteria for a perfect lead, then the system puts it on a ‘warm’ or ‘cold’ lead automatically.
Furthermore, the system can consider the engagement of a lead on the website of in emails in the categorizing. For instance if a lead has downloaded four whitepapers and has visited the website six times, then this person is probably quite interested in that company. The system can automatically put this lead on ‘hot’. Obviously, it is also possible to link the engagement criteria and profile criteria. This way you focus on the right profiles and information needs and you get a better tuning between marketing and sales. The result is a higher efficiency with acting on leads.
3. Closed Loop Reporting
One of the main differences between email software and marketing automation software is the so-called ‘Closed Loop Reporting’ possibility. This means that marketing automation can follow the data about a lead in every phase of the buyers process. This is how the system can come up with reports from website visits up to the moment they become clients.
The advantage of Closed Loop Reporting is the insight in the whole pipeline and the possibility to increase the efficiency of your marketing activities and sales activities. That way you can increase the ROI of marketing campaigns in a structural way. With this type of reports you can show management what the impact is of marketing on the turnover. Because of this Closed Loop Reporting is a must-have and it will insure the influence of marketing into the boardroom.
Conclusion
The distinctive power of marketing automation systems is the possibility to integrate data from various channels and systems into one system. Because of this marketing automation has a key role for all marketing activities and reporting.
Do you want to learn more about marketing automation and what it could mean for your organization? Please contact us and ask for a demo.