{"id":29442,"date":"2021-10-20T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/?p=29442"},"modified":"2023-12-15T21:19:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T04:19:40","slug":"customer-led-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/blog\/customer-led-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"Trigger Happy: Why You Should Embrace Customer-Led Automation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Reasons to Embrace Marketing Automation Software<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Marketing automation, the (heaven-sent) tech that gives marketers sweet relief from mundane busywork, has a place in many modern businesses. With such a time-saving asset on your side, you might think <em>all is well.<\/em> Unfortunately, having the latest software doesn\u2019t guarantee you\u2019re maximizing its use.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s take a closer look at this technology to make sure it\u2019s growing your business like the marketing gods intended.<\/p>\n<h3>The Flaw in Standard Marketing Automation<\/h3>\n<p>When designing a campaign strategy, many marketers start with a proposed timeline:<\/p>\n<p>Customers X and Y will receive correspondence A. Then, when said customers take actions B or C, we will do F.<\/p>\n<p>The built-in flaw with this approach is it begins with the marketer, not the customer. The business decides what materials and information the prospect receives and when. The customer journey becomes a map of speculation and contrived interactions instead of an organic path.<\/p>\n<p>But if you think on it, you can admit things are rarely that straightforward. Sometimes prospects see a social media post, which leads them to a blog, after which they ask for a demo, then make a purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Other times, someone stumbles on a blog, then waits months to poke around the website before experimenting with a small purchase. In real life, you can\u2019t control what customers do or what order they do it in.<\/p>\n<p>But you can control how you respond to their behaviors\u2026which is where trigger marketing steps in.<\/p>\n<h3>Why Trigger Marketing Gets It Right<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/marketing-automation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trigger-based marketing<\/a> involves using automation software to perform a task after a customer event or action. Meaning, marketers do<strong> nothing<\/strong> until the customer prompts it. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This strategy puts things in deliberate order, allowing the customer\u2019s behaviors and preferences to lead the way. As such, marketing messages create a more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/blog\/the-psychology-behind-why-personalized-marketing-works\/\">personalized experience<\/a>, leading to more conversions and a heartier bottom line.<\/p>\n<h3>The Basics of Customer-Led (Trigger) Automation<\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps the easiest way to think about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbesagencycouncil\/2021\/01\/13\/how-trigger-based-direct-mailwill-supercharge-marketing-in-2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trigger-based marketing<\/a> is in <em>ifs<\/em> and <em>thens<\/em>. Because the tech is beautifully simple.<\/p>\n<p>If x happens, then do y.<\/p>\n<p>And there are approximately fifty bajillion combinations you can create. If someone fills out this form, send this email. If someone abandons an empty cart, send this postcard with an offer for 20% off. You can even set up triggers for non-action items, like birthdays or customer anniversaries.<\/p>\n<p>Part of what makes this software universally beloved is its ability to scale. Your triggers and corresponding actions can be as simple or sophisticated as your master plan allows. More importantly, your customer-led automation journey demands only 3 steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Define a trigger.<\/li>\n<li>Determine what action your system will perform.<\/li>\n<li>Create personalized messaging.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Examples and Use Cases<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This tech supports a variety of messaging mediums. You can use it to send emails, direct mail, or even alert customer service agents to reach out directly. If you\u2019re particularly savvy, you might make use of multiple channels, depending on the situation.<\/p>\n<p>This is where it helps to know your customer.<\/p>\n<p>If someone spent time viewing certain content on your website (industry case studies, blogs, etc.), you can tailor follow-up messages accordingly. You could also analyze your CRM data to see if there\u2019s a point in your pipeline where communication drops off.<\/p>\n<p>Is there a form someone fails to complete or a web page they get stuck on? Maybe shoot them an email asking how you can help. You\u2019d be surprised how often people respond to an offer for guidance.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the most popular triggers businesses use:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Special occasions<\/strong> \u2013 Send emails or direct mail goodies to celebrate customer birthdays or service anniversaries.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Abandoned shopping carts<\/strong> \u2013 Use this opportunity for email retargeting or promotional discounts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Live or digital events<\/strong> \u2013 Have a webinar coming up? Send a reminder beforehand or a follow-up afterward (with a downloadable PDF summary or recording).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transactions <\/strong>\u2013 Whether someone downloaded an ebook or made a purchase, use the moment to say thank you and encourage further engagement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Inactivity <\/strong>\u2013 Has it been a while since a customer made a purchase? Maybe they spent significant time on your website but didn\u2019t take the final step. Whatever the case, you can determine the best way to reach out and nudge them along.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reminders<\/strong> \u2013 Life gets busy, and sometimes people forget about upcoming appointments or scheduled services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bottom line\u2014research and planning must happen before you can set up effective action plans. But if you put in the hours and effort, few strategies work better than trigger marketing.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, you\u2019ll want to make sure to send relevant, personalized messages. It would be a shame to set up perfect triggers but have the communication fall flat.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"658\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-29524 aligncenter\" title=\"Marketing-Automation-Showdown\" src=\"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-13-1024x658.png\" alt=\"Marketing-Automation-Showdown\"><\/p>\n<p>So don\u2019t get burned by low-response campaigns or <em>meh <\/em>printing quality. At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/brand-management-platform\/products\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Xpressdocs<\/a>, we not only have top-tier marketing automation software, but we can help you design eye-catching direct mail, print your goods on state-of-the-art presses, AND mail them for you. Because friends don\u2019t let friends wait in line at the post office.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-flat fasc-rounded-medium\" style=\"background-color: #123161; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/contacts\/\">Contact Us<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reasons to Embrace Marketing Automation Software Marketing automation, the (heaven-sent) tech that gives marketers sweet relief from mundane busywork, has (&#8230;)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":29443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,344],"tags":[378,324,326],"class_list":["post-29442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kb","category-marketing-automation","tag-adm-automated-direct-mail","tag-marketing-automation","tag-personalized-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29442"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30096,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29442\/revisions\/30096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xpressdocs.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}