What Is Marketing Automation & How to Get Started?

Marketing automation is a must for any marketer, no matter the size of their company. It doesn’t matter whether you sell products or services. Those who ignore marketing automation are missing out on powerful resources.

According to EmailMonday, around 56% of companies use some form of marketing automation, and 40% of B2C companies plan to adopt the technology.

But marketing automation can be overwhelming, with so many different platforms, integrations, and services available. How do you know what works best for your business?

Don’t worry. You’re not alone.

In this guide, we’ll go through the following:

Let’s start by defining marketing automation.

Marketing automation uses software, tools, or processes to automate repetitive tasks. This frees up time for more important tasks or increases efficiency. Automation can be used as part of an overall marketing strategy or for standalone tactics, such as email marketing, lead generation, sales, social media management, alerts, analytics, and reporting.

There are five main benefits of marketing automation. Here’s how it helps marketers and businesses.

1. Save time and money

The main benefit of marketing automation is it can save time and money because it automates repetitive tasks, such as sending emails or social media posting, which can reduce marketing expenditure.

For example, the University of Buenos Aires saved 28 employee salaries and $100,000 per annum by automating its student communication.

Except of article about University of Buenos Aires increasing efficiency by 500% using automations

2. Increased sales

Marketing automation can increase sales, as it allows companies to scale their marketing efforts across multiple touchpoints, campaigns, and channels at the right time.

This sports nutritionist generated $50,000 in eight weeks by adding exit-intent automation.

Excerpt of article about Rudy, the sports nutritionist, generating $50K in eight weeks

3. Higher lead conversion

Drift reported that 58% of B2B companies don’t respond to sales leads. To combat this issue, marketers can improve sales funnels by automating initial and follow-up touches with prospects and customers, leading to higher revenue.

Pie chart showing 58% "no response" rate of companies

4. Improved engagement or customer service

Automation helps customer service by handling many customer requests or issues in real-time. It is possible to create automated responses to common questions, such as “What is my order status?” or “How do I use Ahrefs’ Content Explorer?”

5. Better analysis and reporting

Automation can provide marketing teams access to data, information, or insights that are easier to interpret.

For example, Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker contains information that integrates with this Google Data Studio report that lets you monitor your Google rankings and competitors.

Now let’s take a look at examples of marketing automation.

Here are some examples from marketers who use automation to help them improve different aspects of their businesses.

Drip campaigns

Drip campaigns are a series of emails automatically delivered over time that tell a story or educate prospects about a solution or problem.

Here’s an example: Blair Enns, who helps marketing agencies with pricing strategies, created a drip campaign to persuade people to buy his book.

Page showing picture of Blair; in bottom-right corner, visitors can enter contact details to get the first chapter of his book

After you opt in to get a free sample of his book, he sends you a series of emails based on his core message: “Charge more, buy my book.”

Email inbox; on right, Win Without Pitching's email

Outreach campaigns

Link building agencies use automation to follow up on prospects and earn more links from their outreach campaigns.

Here are the typical steps in an outreach campaign:

Find prospects’ contact details
Craft your pitch
Outreach to prospects
Secure links

According to Postaga, the average response rate for an initial email is 16%, and sending at least one follow-up will get a response rate of 27% on average.

So if you send 1,000 outreach emails and include one automated follow-up, that’s 110 more replies and link possibilities.

Sales conversion campaigns

I spoke to Adam Watson, the co-founder of Hollywood Mirrors, about automation.

Here’s his reply:

We automate emails depending on the customer behavior on the site.
The customer gets the right email at the right time with the right offer.
We sent over one million automated emails last year from a small list, and they produce 25% of our total revenue.
One of five automated campaigns is triggered if the website captures an email address depending on on-site behavior.
Welcome series — for subscribers who recently subscribed.
Cart abandonment — those who add to the cart but don’t complete the purchase.
Browse abandonment — subscribers who browse products but don’t purchase.
Win back campaign — dormant customers who haven’t purchased recently.
VIP automation — aimed at high or frequent spenders.
Automation helps with all KPIs such as conversion, sales, repeat orders, and customer lifetime value. The more a customer sees your brand over time, the more likely they will buy.

Another sales conversion automation example

Automation can also notify customers and staff about sales promotions, orders, shipping, and deliveries.

At the Nike.com shop, I added this product to my basket and then received this automated “Complete your purchase before we run out of your size” message.

Nike's pop-up message when item is added to cart

I most certainly do not wish to miss out on this garment.

Chatbots

A website chatbot is an automated tool that can interact with visitors in real-time via text messages, emails, or phone calls. It can also automatically answer questions from visitors.

The Ahrefs chatbot provides visitors easy access to the Ahrefs Academy, help information, and chat with support staff.

When you click “send us a message,” the chatbot interprets your message and proposes relevant help pages.