How Marketing Automation Is Revolutionizing the Retail Industry

August 31, 2018 / GuidesFor Team

Digital technology has stiffened competition with retail being arguably being the most affected industry. From changes in human resource trends to alternative modes of commerce, businesses must keep abreast and flexible in their operations.

Retail establishments cannot continue to proceed using only traditional tools – tried and tested will not always win the battle. Not only has the brick-and-mortar retail industry taken a big hit in the recent years but giants in the ecommerce  sphere have ventured into physical retail shops as well. To compete effectively, businesses need to understand the digital and in-store experience customers look for.

Customers want a connection when they shop – they want to be understood and customers generally want ease as well as assistance but do not want to be bombarded. This is where marketing automation provides organizations with great opportunities to provide those expectations.

At its most fundamental level, automation is all about optimization which is, in turn, the key to business sustainability. Marketing automation is all about optimizing your customer’s time, your staff’s time, targeted efforts, and elimination of repetitive and mundane tasks.

To be honest, keeping up with social media and developing and disseminating email newsletters can be tough and very tedious. This is where automation comes in. Marketing automation entails a highly effective and efficient process of systematically automating various tasks and functions of human marketers. In addition, it also aids in tracking customer engagement which can be used as insights in prospective client conversion.

It also tracks down customers who engage with the clients, acquires their consumer behavior information, and analyzes them for the marketing team who might wish to use them for the next campaign. Marketing Automation is also a powerful instrument that converts leads into actionable prospects and provides visibility and scrutiny to digital interactions.

Through automation, your team will be able to focus on vital tasks while customers feel important and understood.

Retail Automation: The Best Route for Businesses

Marketing automation platforms act as a channel for the creation and execution of digital campaigns. With its monitoring and analysis capabilities, it will then provide insights on how engagements are influencing your market pipeline.

Aside from internal efficiency, marketing automation offers a slew of macro-level benefits that will elevate your business to greater heights. According to the 2016 Marketing Automation Trends survey of Ascend2, 71 percent of surveyed companies indicated they use marketing automation and those who were not currently utilizing the platform have plans to do so in the foreseeable future. Supporting this finding, Adestra’s Marketer vs. Machine report found that per marketers, the top four benefits of automation include time savings, increased customer engagement, timely communications, and an increase in up-selling opportunities.

Below are some of the technologies you can maximize using marketing automation:

  1.    Email Strategy: Optimize your email automation strategy – be it a standard drip campaign or a targeted market blast – and pave the way to better conversions. Automation services can send thank you responses with suggested related content and proactively provide your customers with relevant information.
  2.    Social Media Engagement: Brands can automate their social media platforms and schedule posts for the week. Marketers can link all social media accounts to a single location and plan for timed social media engagements. This leaves your marketers with more time to focus on what really matters.

Marketing automation offers company-wide benefits which include reducing staffing costs, increasing revenue for better ROI, enhancing accountability of marketing and sales teams and allowing for more creativity, to name a few.

As business managers, it is paramount that leaders are aware of the technological opportunities because in and of itself, technology is only an enabler – there must be decision and support to maximize the available tools. Marketing automation is here to stay. Jump on the bandwagon and maximize the competitive advantage it has to offer before you get left behind.

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