Page 14 - index

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Delightful recipe

of a marketing

automation

application

Just as the quality of a good meal depends on the quali- Individual steps, that are triggered by a form (e.g. the
ty of the food used, the right ingredients are crucial to sending of confirmation emails or the notification of the
build a successful lead management strategy. Even competent salesperson), can be automated.
simple dishes can meet the expectations of a gourmet,
if prepared with quality ingredients. Hence, when build- In personalized landing pages (PURLs), the salutation
ing an integrated lead management with the involve- or other profile information can be shown, similar to an
ment of marketing automation, the components are vital email. The identification of the person is carried out by
for the quality of the leads and eventual success. means of upstream forms that ask, for instance, for the
email address. However, it can also display interest-
So, let’s take a closer look at the most important ingre- dependent product-or industry-specific information dy-
dient of a marketing automation solution and how we namically.
should deal with them:
A little tip regarding forms: Do not ask for too much in-
Web tracking – monitor prospective activities formation at once as that scares off your prospects
more than it helps: For instance, ask a visitor first to fill
The web tracking is realized via JAVA script and cookie in an email address as well as name and surname and
technology: The Java script triggers a transaction that only in the next step - when he fills out another form -
logs the access to a particular website. In subsequent he must state his company’s name or phone number.
visits, a cookie identifies the potential customer as That way you enrich that person's profile gradually with
"return visitor". By entering an email address in a form, information, without bombarding him with questions
for example, the unknown visitor is becoming an identifi- right from the beginning.
able lead and by linking the cookie information and the
email address, all information is consolidated and the Email marketing – those who write will be recog-
website activities assigned to the lead. nized

With the help of the collected data, a targeted and Via an integrated email function, complex communica-
above all personally customized communication can tions with visitors can usually be implemented easily. It
start and the lead can be evaluated with scores and is recommended to carry-out not only email campaigns,
ratings, which requires, however, a registration in the such as sending newsletters, the invitation to events,
form of an opt-in first. and other general campaigns, since the real strength of
a marketing automation platform is rather to come into
In case your cookie gets deleted in the meantime, you contact with the prospects on a behavior-dependent
don’t have to fret, as a new profile can be created, basis (e.g. after filling in a web form or as a confirma-
which can be reconnected to the "old" profile later on tion email to register for an event).
when a form is filled out. However, practical experienc-
es show that in the B2B environment more than 85% of The lead nurturing makes use of these functions, so
all visitors do not delete their cookies. Fact is, that the that the classic "batch & blast" becomes an intelligent
tracking measures not only the website site visits, but 1:1 email marketing solution. That way, people receive
the triggering of links as well, which allows seeing how information that matches their interests or needs pre-
buyers move around on the site and what downloads cisely, to the point at which they are relevant for them.
they make. Unlike with simple newsletters or emails sent to the
entire database, it ensures that your content is read
Forms & landing pages - making contact and not immediately caught by spam filters or lead di-
rectly to the trash.
A marketing automation platform can also host forms on

websites and landing pages.
14 Asian eMarketing October 2014 - Marketing Automation