How is Marketing Automation related to the Customer Journey?

In Marketing Automation the sequence and conditions to follow are defined to guide a potential customer along their customer journey. Let’s remember that the stages of the customer journey—commonly represented as a conversion funnel—vary depending on the lifecycle and nature of each service or product; however, four main stages can usually be identified in most cases.

• In the discovery stage, the person becomes aware of the existence of the product or service. Suppose Antonio is considering buying a mountain bike. The moment he discovers MegaBike is not necessarily the same moment he decides to purchase his bike there.

• MegaBike has a Marketing Automation campaign in place, and once Antonio shares details about his interests, MegaBike will begin sending him relevant and personalized information for his consideration.

• The consideration stage is perhaps the most complicated—and often overlooked. A lot of effort goes into acquiring new customers, and even more into closing sales at the decision stage. But in between, this consideration stage is the best opportunity to provide valuable content about the product or service we know our potential customer is looking for.

• Continuing with the MegaBike example, the more Antonio learns about MegaBike’s models and features, the easier it will be for him to decide to buy from them.

• The decision stage is when, after analyzing, the potential customer finally chooses one of their alternatives and decides to buy. If there’s a critical step, this is it. Here, the consumer places their trust and expects a satisfying buying experience in return. In Antonio’s case, that means a clear order confirmation if he bought online, shipping updates with a tracking number, and finally, once he receives the bike, an invitation to rate the service and share his experience.

• The Customer Journey is cyclical. Depending on the industry, it may involve maintenance or further sales—whether recurring (like service contracts), cross-sells (like accessories), or upsells (like upgrades).

• Antonio will also want to buy a helmet, knee pads, a hydration backpack, and special shoes to practice his sport now that he has his new bike. If MegaBike repeats the cycle of the Journey and continues nurturing Antonio with valuable product information, timely maintenance reminders, and service offers, his relationship with MegaBike will become long-term—worth several times the original price of the bike.

¿How does Marketing Automation Work?

Depending on the strategy, we define what data we need from our contacts, and once it has been collected through their interactions at the point of sale or through digital channels, we use it to generate segmented audiences—that is, groups of contacts with similar characteristics or attributes. When planning a piece of content to distribute, it is determined which segment or group it should go to and what conditions must be met for the automation sequence to be triggered automatically.

Let’s continue with the MegaBike example. We start with two clearly distinct audiences: those contacts who already own a bike and those who do not yet have one.

Of course, the first goal would be to sell a bike to someone who doesn’t own one, or to upgrade to a better bike for someone who does. But if that’s the only focus, for every sale we’d need a new contact to sell to.

That’s why once we acquire a new customer, a Marketing Automation strategy helps us maintain the business relationship for longer, get more value from each contact, and consequently grow.

Statistics on Customer Retention

According to a study on customer behavior:

• 91% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands they recognize, remember, and that provide them with relevant offers and recommendations.

• 65% of a company’s business comes from previous customers.

• 86% of customers with excellent purchase experiences are likely to buy again from the same company.

• A 5% increase in customer retention boosts profits by 25% to 95%.

• 82% of consumers in the United States stop doing business with a brand if they are dissatisfied with customer service.

• Companies lose $1.6 trillion due to customers leaving for a competitor.

• Acquiring new customers costs 5 times more than retaining existing ones.

• It costs 16 times more to build a long-term relationship with a new customer compared to maintaining an existing one.

• 50% of customers shift their loyalty to another business within 5 years.

Nurturing the Lead Throughout Their Customer Journey

Correctly segmenting contacts allows for delivering personalized content, which significantly increases sales opportunities. As we saw earlier, these sequences can consist of sending emails, SMS text messages, WhatsApp messages, or notifications, among others. They are defined based on real information about each type of customer or buyer persona identified by the marketing departments.

Nurturing campaigns, as their name suggests, involve nurturing and drip-feeding content to leads. This works for consumers who are still in the discovery and consideration stages but are not yet ready to make a purchase.

According to a Demand Gen Report, sales opportunities increase by 20% when leads have received this type of personalized content.

In conclusion...

Some people may have the ability to always remember birthdays and send greetings, or be the salesperson who never misses a follow-up call. However, managing business communication with many contacts—each with different needs, expectations, and on their own terms—is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible.

Marketing Automation is the ideal tool to turn an idea or key strategy into something that, once the sequence is defined, will happen automatically—for everyone, without errors, without exceptions.

Perhaps it’s time for marketing departments or agencies to focus more on communication strategies aligned with the customer journey, and leave the heavy lifting of execution to Marketing Automation.