Meaningful Marketing Automation Along the Customer Journey

1. In a nutshell: The phases of the Customer Journey
2. How do Customer Journey and Marketing Automation fit together?
3. Meaningful Marketing Automations in the Customer Journey
4. Practice tips for marketing automations
5. The best ideas come by themselves
6. Tools for your Marketing Automation of the Customer Journey

Let's start with a small case study on Oatly and their billboard advertising in New York City.

Why would you promote a free newsletter via two large billboard ads? The answer is: customer data - the more, the better.

Because with customer data, targeted, relevant and customer situation-specific communication can be designed. If you then also automate this, you've already arrived at the topic of today's article: Marketing Automation along the Customer Journey.

Let's take a first look at the topic Customer Journey.

In a nutshell: The phases of the Customer Journey

The Customer Journey can be represented either as a sequence or as a cycle. The different representations help to look at it from different perspectives.

The Customer Journey as a sequence

The Customer Journey as a cycle

The goal of a Customer Journey is for the target group to go through it to the end (and ideally many more times afterwards). For this purpose, it is divided into different phases in order to be able to consider the individual behavior of the target group per phase. Only in this way can it be derived what, how, and at what time of the Customer Journey should be communicated to the target group. The duration of the Customer Journey of your potential customers can vary.

The definitions of the phases

1. Awareness: The target group is made aware of the offer using a suitable message (e.g. welcome offer).
2. Consideration: The offer should convince in comparison to the competition.
3. Purchase: The purchase takes place.
4. Retention: The customers should be kept and the brand should be anchored in their memory.
5. Loyalty: The customer loyalty as well as the probability of repurchase should be increased and the customers further developed into fans/multipliers.

How do Customer Journey and Marketing Automation fit together?

Your Customer Journey is set up. Your derivations are well thought out. You know exactly what you want to communicate to the target group at what time. The question now is:

• Do you want to distribute your messages on a large scale, prepare them individually and design them so that they fit each phase of your Customer Journey?

• Or should your message be as personal as possible, fully automated and appropriate to the current phase of the Customer Journey?

If you choose the latter, you are in the right place in this article and will receive the following 7 automations introduced, with which you are well positioned for (almost) every phase of the Customer Journey.

Almost? One thing in advance: In phase 1 (Awareness) there is usually no internal customer data available yet. And without customer data, such as the email address, no (or only limited) marketing automation is possible. Of course, you can fall back on customer data from Google or Facebook and conduct Paid Search or Paid Social (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Inbox Ads etc.), but since CRM and not SEA, SEO or social media are covered in this article, I am linking you to the following articles for deeper insights into these areas: The 7 best SEA tools, 10 measures for more website traffic.

Ready for a few useful automations? Then let's get started.

Meaningful Marketing Automations in the Customer Journey

There are numerous meaningful Marketing Automations in the Customer Journey. You will find these below divided by the individual phases of the Customer Journey.

Phase 2: Consideration

1. Leads

Segmentation

Users who have only recently agreed to your promotional communication, but have not yet bought from you.

Goals

• Driving the conversion from prospects to customers
• Not to lose any leads

Touchpoints

Here I would suggest a multi-level approach (at least 3-4 touchpoints, spread over up to 6-12 months) with improving offers. E.g. "5/10/15/20% discount on your next order". This way you can make sure that as many new users as possible also take the next step in your Customer Journey and are developed into actual buyers.

Example of a Leads Automation. Created in Salesforce Marketing Cloud Journey Builder. In the further course, the journeys created there for illustration purposes will be referred to as automations for simplification.

2. Abandoned Cart

Segmentation

Users who have visited your website and filled their shopping cart, but then left the website again without completing a purchase.

Goals

• Give the last push
• Initiate purchase completion

Touchpoints

Two touchpoints. One immediately after closing the website and one with a larger time delay (approx. 1 week) as a reminder.

Phase 3: Purchase

1. After Sale

Segmentation

Users who have recently made a purchase.

Goals

• Further sales
• Long-term customer retention through positive follow-up
• Improving the company's rating.

Touchpoints

The basic components of your After-Sale automation could be 4 touchpoints with the following topics:

1. Congratulations on the purchase / Thank you for the trust

2. Cross-Sell (10% discount on accessory items related to the product)

3. Up-Sell (Also makes sense only in terms of quantity: 10 % discount if you buy 1 more product)

4. Request for review

If there is more than one day between the order and the product handover, it is usually advisable to do Up-Selling and Cross-Selling in the meantime. After all, the customer is already convinced of your offer in principle, which can make the rest easier.

Example of an After-Sale Automation

Phase 4: Retention

1. Winback

Segmentation

Users who have not bought anything since point X.

I would recommend that you choose the usual repurchase time of your target group as point X. This way you ensure that you annoy the fewest users too early with your Winback Automation, but also that you write to almost no user too late. Ideally, you should divide your target group into 3-4 personas and have the usual repurchase times per persona given to you. This way you get the most out of the "right timing" and can also design your touchpoints more individually.

Goals

• Preventing early customer churn

• Re-activation of inactive customers.

Touchpoints

Here I would recommend that you work with at least 4, if not more, touchpoints. It is much more expensive to acquire a new customer than to convince an existing customer to buy again. Offers that improve with each touchpoint help in this regard. 

Example of a Winback Automation with Persona Split according to repurchase times. #1

Example of a Winback Automation with Persona Split according to repurchase times. #2

Example of a Winback Automation with Persona Split according to repurchase times. #3

Phase 5: Loyalty

1. Welcome

Segmentation

Users who have given you their contact details and have agreed to promotional communication. E.g. when signing up for a newsletter or an app.

Goal

• Building customer loyalty through personal greeting
• Presenting the company and the products
• Leaving a lasting and positive first impression

Touchpoints

It's legitimate if you work with one touchpoint here that only aims at the presentation. If you want to expand your Welcome Automation a bit, I recommend adding a second or third touchpoint. Depending on how long ago the user's last purchase date was, these should show different content. This way you can ensure that you address users who have never bought anything differently than users who have already bought, but only agreed to promotional communication later. Whether you do this with dynamic content within one touchpoint or with simply more touchpoints is up to you. I usually choose the latter, as shown in the following example.

Example of a Welcome Automation

2. Birthday

Segmentation

User has a birthday.

Goal

• Building customer loyalty

Touchpoints

One touchpoint is enough. Possibly with a birthday voucher. Simple, but effective and invaluable for customer loyalty.

3. Customer development

Segmentation

User has been registered for X years and has made > X purchases.

Goal

• Development of loyal customers towards multipliers

Touchpoints

Potentially also possible with several stages and thus several touchpoints, but you also take away most of the added value with just one touchpoint. A "thank you for your loyalty" together with a request for a review and a reference to your own social channels can work wonders. And if you really want to get the most out of it: Link this touchpoint with a "refer friends" campaign and a special price, then you not only generate extra sales, but also growth for the start of your Customer Journey.

Practice tips for marketing automations

Following the automations themselves, I would like to give you my top 10 practical experiences for marketing automations.

1. Keep a database of all your automations

Above each automation tool there should be the structure. The moment will come when it will be difficult to keep track of your Marketing Automations in the Customer Journey. I recommend using a ticket system with a definable briefing template. Here you define 4-5 points that are important to you for each automation (e.g. title, status, segmentation, picture, etc.) and enter each of your automations. This not only gives you more overview, but also your direct colleagues, your superiors and your successor will thank you. I have been working with Podio.com across multiple employers, which I can recommend as a tool for this purpose.

Example of a database for automations using Podio.com

2. Use control groups

Automations have the advantage over large ATL advertising media of being much easier to measure. Take advantage of this and integrate a 5 % control group for each touchpoint, consisting of the same users who would otherwise receive the touchpoint, and exclude it from shipping. This way you can check after a while how well the automation really works. E.g., you look at the "proportion of users with purchase in period X" in both groups. If the value for the users who actually received the email is not significantly higher, you need to tweak this email again.

3. Integrate reminders

Another header image, another subject line, and the reminder mailing is done. Especially in the case of time-limited special offers, such a "2 weeks before expiration of validity" often works wonders. Whether you work with "hard" (user has not yet bought) or "soft" (user has not opened the touchpoint) reminders is often situation-dependent. I usually recommend "soft" reminder emails for a successful Customer Journey.

Example of an integrated "hard" reminder mailing

4. Mix your channels

If the 5th Winback-Newsletter-Touchpoint has not yet led to success, the 6th one will most likely not do it either. What often pays off in this case: Mix the channels available to you or introduce new ones. Successful automation can be anything, whether it's a re-targeting campaign via social, a touchpoint as a physical greeting card, or a free McDonald's app coupon with accompanying push notification that you only receive if you haven't redeemed a coupon for 6 months.

5. Define the right exclusions for each automation

Clearly define for each automation which users should not receive it. For example, it is usually advisable to exclude users who are currently in the Welcome Automation from other automations. This prevents over-communication right at the beginning and thus reduces the likelihood of an early opt-out.

6. Establish and monitor a frequency capping

More than three pushes per week rarely make sense and provoke opt-outs. As part of a frequency capping, you define a maximum number of pushes per user per week and also define which touchpoint should get the priority in case of doubt (e.g. Winback vs. Birthday - What's more important?). The monitoring can e.g. take place in the form of a Tableau dashboard, which shows you the potential number of users with > 3 touchpoints per week and the mailings responsible for it. Based on this information, you can continuously improve and coordinate your Marketing Automation afterwards.

7. Define an inactivity rule as automation

Constantly contacting heavily inactive users damages your reputation with providers (spam risk) and obscures your own insight into how many active users are really in your database. Flagging a user as "inactive" after e.g. 5 years without interaction with a touchpoint and without purchase and excluding them from shipping can be helpful in this case.

8. Prioritize your automations

A Birthday or Abandoned-Cart-Automation is useful, but not fundamental. The basic building blocks with the highest effect are usually the same:

1. Winback

2. Welcome

3. After Sale

Start with one of these automations to benefit early from the advantages of Marketing Automation.

9. Think in stretches

I've often encountered really good automations that were only thought of as a single touchpoint. Wherever it makes sense, I recommend you use several touchpoints to give the goal of the automation multiple chances to be successful. Integrate a reminder, improve the offer, or play the same theme with new, varied content.

10. Use AI

By now, there are many providers of send-out tools on the market, such as HubSpot Marketing Hub, Optimizely Campaignor Brevo (ehemals Sendinblue). Many of them offer helpful AI tools such as STO (Send Time Optimization). A tool that allows you to simply specify a shipping time period (e.g. next 72 hours) and have the mail automatically sent at the best possible time. This puts the discussion about the sending time in the past and you can be sure that the user receives the mail exactly when the probability of opening is highest. With little effort, you can easily get 3-4 % extra opening rate and 1-2 % CTOR.

Example of a Welcome Automation that uses STO

The best ideas come by themselves

At the end of the article, I hope that some of the mentioned Marketing Automation along the Customer Journey can serve as a thought or orientation guide for you.

What I would like to add, however, is that you don't necessarily have to derive your automations from the Customer Journey. This can serve as a guide, but should not limit you. Therefore, my tip: Orientate yourself on the basic business subject of your company and ask yourself what would make sense:

• You sell cars? How about an automation for the start of winter for promoting winter tires?

• You sell glasses? Remind your customers after 1.5 years to take an eye test again.

• You are a supermarket with a loyalty program and point collection system? Write to your customers as soon as the points are about to expire to convert occasional buyers to regular customers.

If you are interested in marketing automation, I can recommend the OMR articles on Marketing Automation. This collection of articles is suitable for both newcomers to the industry and experienced CRM experts.

I wish you much success in brainstorming new marketing automations and boosting your business success.

Tools for your Marketing Automation of the Customer Journey

For your Marketing Automation in the Customer Journey, various automation tools are available. You can find all the software listed with us on our category page OMR Reviews about Marketing Automation.

Here is a small list for you:

• Brevo (ehemals Sendinblue)
• HubSpot Marketing Hub
• Salesforce Sales Cloud
• Klaviyo
• Mailchimp
• ActiveCampaign
• Mailingwork
• socialPALS
• Bloomreach