Common Mistakes Made in Marketing Automation That Could Drive Away Business!
The online world of commerce is constantly evolving and traditional marketing methods are not able to keep up with the new global business structure. Marketing automation was developed so that marketing campaigns could mimic the speed and efficiency of the internet and online business commerce.
It can be an incredibly valuable tool for generating and converting leads, if it is done correctly. Unfortunately, common mistakes made in marketing automation can have the exact opposite effect. Marketing automation can either convince a lead to trust in a business or lose the lead’s trust completely.
Here are seven common mistakes made in marketing automation that can drive away business:
1. Strong Sales Pitches and Aggressive Calls-to-Action
One of the most common mistakes made in marketing automation that could drive away business is overly aggressive calls-to-action. Today’s consumers know they have plenty of options and they will not be bullied into rushing a decision. Coming on too strong can permanently turn off a customer.
2. Not Involving Sales Dept. in the Process
Marketing and sales should combine their knowledge and experience to create the best lead scoring criteria and lead nurturing content possible. The sales department has in depth information about what leads want and need. They can help make sure the criteria and content is suitable for a typical buyer.
3. Monitoring Only a Lead’s Activity
Too many businesses only focus on a lead’s current activity and they tend to stop monitoring leads that are not active. A lead’s inactivity should be tracked as well. If someone was on your site daily for four days in a row and they haven’t been back for weeks, they may be too busy investigating alternative options. This is the perfect time to reach out to them with some pertinent guidance or purchasing incentive.
4. Getting Too Personal
A very common mistake made in marketing automation that could drive away business is asking too many questions. Questionnaires or surveys are great for gathering more data on potential leads, but too much of it will become overwhelming and annoying. Limit each questionnaire or survey to only 5 to 10 questions and don’t attach an online registry to all the quality content on your site.
5. Not Focusing on the Consumer’s Needs
Every aspect of marketing automation should have the consumer’s needs at the forefront of the decision making process. What does the lead really need to know? How can I help the lead make an informed decision? What can I do to offer the lead greater value? These are all great consumer-focused questions, but it all boils down to what does the consumer really need? For example, if you sell fitness equipment, don’t focus on the equipment itself. Instead, focus on the lead’s need to get healthier and/or lose weight.
6. Not providing Valuable Content
Articles, ebooks, and tutorials are meant to help potential leads make their decision. It is not an opportunity to brag about your product or service. Free online content should offer the reader real value as a method for building a trusting and lasting relationship. Useless or poorly written content can quickly drive business away.
7. Not striving to Improve on the Marketing Automation Strategy
Not every lead nurturing campaign is going to work. Marketing automation strategies are based on solid research, but until they are implemented, it is hard to be certain about the response you will receive. The same goes for the relevancy of lead scoring criteria. As a company analyzes their conversion rate against their lead scoring profiles, they will notice different components that are not properly rated. A common mistake in marketing automation that will drive away business is not striving to improve on your current strategies.
