What can you expect from marketing automation software?

In short: what is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to software that automates certain marketing tasks. One of the best-known components of this is email marketing. For online stores, a lot more can be automated, think for example of retargeting customers via social ads or personalization options on the online store itself.

There are two major advantages to marketing automation:

You have time left for other tasks, while the automations continue
Your campaigns are more effective (read: generate more revenue) thanks to the extensive personalization options

What can marketing automation do for your online store?

When you are considering marketing automation, you first need to know what it can mean for your online store. With this information, you will make the right choice for appropriate software later on.

Marketing automation can mean at least three things for every online store:

It helps you save money on marketing
You build a strong brand
You get more overview in the customer database

1: Save money on marketing and more revenue

Marketing automation is known for its high ROI (Return On Investment). In other words: you get more out of it than you put into it.

Why is the ROI of marketing automation so high? With marketing automation, you set up targeted campaigns, based on data from your own online store. Think of an up- or cross-sell email to customers who have bought a specific brand, or an ad aimed at shopping cart abandoners with products from a certain category. The targeted targeting increases the chance of success of campaigns.

Because you automate a large part of the work, you save a lot of time. The sum is simple: targeted targeting + automation = lower costs and therefore more profit.

2: Building a strong brand

Attracting new customers is one thing. Retaining this group is a lot more difficult. How do you stop losing customers?

It all starts with a strong brand. You can't always be visible. But you can ensure that you always stay top of mind. Marketing automation contributes to this. For example, you appear at the right moment in the inbox of the sleeping customer, or you share interesting content in a retargeting campaign via a social ad. Thanks to the segmentation possibilities in marketing automation you know exactly what customers want to see. With omnichannel marketing, you respond to these insights. And that's how you create a strong brand, with which consumers can identify.

3: More overview in customer database

Every online store possesses a lot of data. Customer data such as demographic data and purchase history, but also product data such as stock and images. Without an overview of this data, it is of little use to you.

The lack of an overview is one of the challenges of marketing automation. That's why some marketing automation software, including Reloadify, also serves as a Customer Data Platform. That means: all data from your online store is collected and made clear. You can view customer profiles, where information such as order history and viewed pages come together.

The complete customer journey becomes clear in a CDP. This enables you to easily set up effective marketing automations.

More overview thanks to marketing automation

The best-known components of marketing automation

Marketing automation is a collective term for marketing activities that can be automated. So it covers different features/activities/components. Below you can read about some of the best-known components of marketing automation.

1: Email marketing

Email marketing goes hand in hand with marketing automation. This is due to the many ready-to-use automations that email has to offer. Think of an abandoned shopping cart email and the win-back emails for sleeping customers.

In addition to automations, email also has a major advantage: you can personalize it. Because the more personal marketing automation is, the higher the chance of success. With email, you can reach customers at exactly the right moment.

2: Recommendations

Many webshop platforms offer the possibility to add blocks with recommendations to product pages. Think of cross-sell products ("These products match this" and "Customers also bought"). A disadvantage of this is that the blocks are set per product. What if the customer already bought the recommended product last week? The recommendation takes up valuable space from your online store, without yielding anything.

Marketing automation uses various smart algorithms, such as the customer's own purchasing behavior but also similar customers. This saves you a lot of time and you always show relevant products. Despite the product feeds being generated automatically, you still have a lot of influence over the displayed products. For example, give products with a high margin a boost or sell out your warehouse.

Another advantage of recommendations via marketing automation is that you see extensive statistics. For each block with recommendations, you can see how many visitors have seen the block and how many sales the block has led to. Are results lacking? Tweak the recommendations and see your revenue increase.

3: Customer Data Platform

As mentioned above, an overview in your database is a must for marketing automation. With a Customer Data Platform, you have insight into the right data, with which you can personalize contact moments at the right time. In a CDP, data from different sources comes together, such as email systems, cash register systems, and other Data Management Platforms (DMPs).

A CDP brings together various first-party customer data, such as:

Demographic data
Behavioral data
Event data (clicks, downloads, opens)
Browsing data (on the website itself)
Optional: data from partners and third parties

In most marketing automation software, you can link various sources to each other, resulting in a CDP. Some software goes a step further by adding an activation layer to the CDP. In this way, it becomes a CDXP: Customer Data eXperience Platform.

4: SMS

SMS, does that still exist? Absolutely! Many online stores ask for the customer's phone number during the ordering process. Purely to be able to contact the customer if necessary. But, SMS is also perfect for direct marketing.

Where emails these days end up in special advertising folders, with SMS you can appear directly in your customer's notifications. Ideal for example sale announcements. That's why SMS is still part of many marketing automation software in 2024.

5: Ads syncing

Within various advertising platforms, it is possible to create custom audiences for advertisements. This way, you have influence on the users who get to see your advertisement. But, manually uploading or selecting custom target groups often takes time or is complicated.

Make use of all the data you collect with your online store. Automatically and live synchronize target groups from a CDP with Meta and Google Ads. This way, you always reach the right people, at the right time with your ads. Stay relevant to your customers with Ads syncing.

How do I choose marketing automation software for my online store?

There is a lot of choice in the field of marketing automation software. And every online store has its own needs and finds different things important. How do you make the right choice now? Consider the following seven points when choosing marketing automation software:

1: Features and channels. Marketing automation is a collective term for different marketing activities. Well-known parts are email marketing, SMS, and segmenting target groups. First determine which channels you want to use. You can then choose to use separate tooling for each channel. Nowadays, there are more and more all-in-one platforms. With software in which different channels come together (such as a CDXP) you can work more efficiently. If you prefer separate tooling, keep in mind that the different tools can be linked to each other.
2: Execution. What does your marketing automation look like - in an ideal world? What do you want to achieve and how do you want to achieve that? Do you only want to set up ready-to-use email automations like abandoned shopping carts, or do you want to map the entire customer journey omnichannel? Base the answers to these questions on the knowledge and time you have at your disposal.
3: Connections and integrations. For effective marketing automation, you need sufficient customer and product data. A link with the webshop platform is indispensable. Perhaps you also collect data via analysis tools or plugins. Always check whether the marketing automation software offers sufficient connections and integrations. Preferably plug-and-play integrations, so you don't need developers to forward information.
4: Privacy and GDPR legislation. How does the automation software you have in mind deal with the GDPR legislation? An (important) point of discussion within the GDPR is the location of the storage of personal data. The rules for data storage outside the EU are strict and not every marketing automation tool complies with this. In the past, the GDPR legislation has been tightened up so that American servers did not comply with the rules. So find out well whether the tooling complies with the GDPR, or choose safe with a tooling with servers within the EU.
5: Support and assistance. What customer service is available from the software? In what language can you go, and how quickly are you helped further? Not unimportant questions when it comes to choosing the best marketing automation software for an online store.
6: Maintenance and further development. Always check whether a tool is still actively maintained and is further developed. Look for news articles from the software, for example, or ask if there are projects running. Also pay attention to whether these developments fit the roadmap of your own online store. It is a waste to put a lot of time into switching to new software that is no longer being developed or is not future-proof for your online store.
7: Costs and budget. Finally, the cost picture. How much budget do you have for an automation tooling? Each tool comes with its own payment method. Some software immediately use a fixed annual subscription while other packages offer the possibility of a flexible monthly subscription. Do you pay a fixed amount or a subscription that grows with you? Choose what suits you best.

How do I get the most results with marketing automation for my online store?

With marketing automation, you get the most results with personalization. And to be able to personalize well, you have to know your customer. This requires an important shift from responding to your own needs, to putting customers at the center. Map the entire customer journey. How does a customer make the decision to order from you and how does he move after the purchase?

Use all the data you have when analyzing the customer journey. But also collaborate with customer service colleagues. What kind of questions do they often get, and how can you support them? At each stage in the customer journey, you come across different contact moments. Each with its own suitable marketing automation channel. Respond accurately to these contact moments. Exactly how you do this depends entirely on your marketing strategy. Only then will you get the most out of marketing automation for an online store.

The right choice for your online store

In this article, you have received many handles to choose a marketing automation platform. Curious if Reloadify is the marketing automation tool for your online store? Schedule a demo or try it directly. The first 14 days are free and without obligation.