11 examples of B2C marketing automation

Marketing automation is proven to increase leads, conversions, and therefore revenue. It can also boost sales productivity by 14.5% and reduce marketing overheads by 12.2%. It’s no wonder B2C technology investment is going through the roof. However, it’s still not always used to its full potential and maximum revenue potential is often not reached.Here are eleven examples of how you can use automation technology to best engage your customers. Welcome ProgramsAutomate your customer onboarding after registration. After a customer signs up for your newsletter or creates an account, send them a welcome email. Let them know what they can expect to receive from you, show them more about who you are, and or course, let them start shopping.  Repurchase ProgramsPost-purchase programs help automatically gather customer feedback and cross-sell. Ask your customers how they would rate their purchase and give them an opportunity to leave a review, share a photo, or purchase personalized suggestions based on their previous order. Reminder ProgramsSend reminders to people who didn’t click your email. If someone opened your first email but didn’t click through, send a reminder and include an offer if you want to help sweeten the deal. If someone hasn’t shopped your sale yet send them a reminder to take advantage of you free shipping or exclusive offer before it ends.  Multichannel ProgramsCreate programs that combine email, text messages, and social ads. Don’t blast the same message at the same time across all your channels. Plan and time your different campaigns together to maximize your reach without spamming your customers. Winback ProgramsTarget customers after a set period of inactivity to win them back. If someone hasn’t visited your site, logged in, or purchased recently, send them an email saying you miss them and recommend some products they’d love or fill them in on what’s new since their last visit. If they’ve left something in the cart, send a reminder. Include other product recomendations in case that wasn’t exactly what they were looking for. Treatment ProgramsConstruct multiple branches within the same program to engage with individuals based on their buyer status. Share exclusive offers with your most frequent buyers first or give a bigger discount to someone who may be on the fence about buying. A/B Split TestingUse control groups to experiment with new ideas and continuously improve the quality of your campaigns. Test different free shipping thresholds or other offers to find the best for your customers and your business. Just remember to only test one thing at a time. One-off, Multistep CampaignsFor example, set up a one-time mailing series during the build-up to a big event. Is your biggest sale of the year coming up? Is something exclusive coming soon and you want to build the excitement? Let your customers know it’s around the corner. You can even ask them to opt into your SMS program or follow you on Twitter for more announcements. Transactional ProgramsAutomatically send communications triggered by customer activities such as registrations, purchases or any external API call. In your purchase confirmation emails you can include links to personalized suggestions, share buttons, or other call to actions to get feedback, have them share, or have them purchase more. Use that email to keep them interacting. Retargeting ProgramsCreate retargeting programs triggered by abandoned carts and sessions. If someone leaves your site without purchasing, retarget them with social ads to bring them back to your site. Measure SuccessBuild in key success metrics to the program, then analyze the performanceby looking at conversion rates. Before you even start a new campaign or program, set the objective you want to achieve and make some measurable goals.The article first appeared on Emarsys' blog. Read Also: Marketing automation climbing up priority list in Southeast AsiaWhy marketing automation needs your attention3 ways marketing automation can make your job much easier