Marketing automation software is an advanced platform that helps businesses to capture and nurture leads down the sales funnel. It not only helps marketing teams to analyze lead behaviour but also measures the performance of the marketing campaigns. The software harnesses customer data from multiple sources and helps in the development of digital marketing strategies for different mediums.

Marketing automation software has become an essential tool for marketing departments. According to Statista, the global marketing automation software industry is projected to be worth $25.1 billion by 2023.

Basic Marketing Automation Software Features

Marketing automation software is often confused with customer relationship management (CRM) software. But besides their overlapping functionalities, they aren’t the same thing. Marketing automation platforms are built to accelerate marketing efforts through focused and personalized marketing campaigns. Basic features of marketing automation software include:

• Email marketing: Email marketing is the oldest, and still the most effective, digital marketing strategy. Email marketing functionality allows marketers to build quality mailing lists and send personalized email campaigns to segmented audiences.
• Lead nurturing: The lead nurturing feature enables businesses to track, segment, and communicate with leads in order to help them through the sales funnel. It helps the business to build buyer personas and conduct drip campaigns.
• Social media integration: Marketing automation software not only allows you to schedule posts across various social media platforms but also offers analytics tools for tracking their performance. In addition to that, social media integration helps to drive interaction between the brand and its audiences.
• SEO and paid advertising: The software provides a centralized platform for managing search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and paid social media advertising.
• Analytics and reporting: Marketing automation software gives you access to in-depth analytics for measuring the ROI of your marketing efforts. This includes website analytics, conversion rates, and PPC campaigns among others.

Marketing automation software combines the power of various digital marketing tools into a single centralized location to create an extremely powerful platform for reaching out to a brand’s audiences.

Benefits Of Marketing Automation Software

How effective is marketing automation software to a business’s marketing needs? Some of the benefits a business stands to gain from using marketing automation software include:

• Personalized marketing campaigns: Marketing automation software allows you to create personalized and customer-centred marketing campaigns that are guaranteed to get their attention. At least 79% of consumers prefer when offers are personalized based on previous interactions with the brand.
• Access to insightful data: By using marketing automation software, you can be able to collect and organize customer data. You can use this data to create better buyer personas and offer top-notch customer experience by providing exactly what your customers need.
• Effective lead nurturing: Generating high-quality leads counts for nothing if you don’t perform lead nurturing. Your conversion rates should be up to par with your lead generation efforts. One of the ways in which marketing automation software allows you to nurture your leads is by allowing you to customize your content depending on the prospect’s stage in the sales funnel.
• Increased workflow efficiency: If you want your marketing efforts to be more efficient, then marketing automation software should be one of your top priorities. It enables you to streamline your marketing campaigns and get better results with fewer resources.

According to Adobe, marketing automation software will reduce your marketing overheads by 12% while increasing your sales by up to 14%.

Marketing automation software allows you to direct your marketing efforts to the wider online community while also keeping it personal. It ensures a seamless workflow, increases your efficiency, and saves you time so you can focus on the other aspects of running a business. But it’s important to first consider your business needs and goals when shopping for the best marketing automation software. This will enable you to look out for features that serve your purpose and enable you to get the best out of it.