ESPs (Email service providers) had their time in the spotlight, but as digital transformations became widespread, their limitations become clear. Because of its lack of personalization, basic measurement tools, and general inefficiency, marketing automation has proven to be a better option.
While many martech solutions are lacking, email service providers (ESPs) are frequently the most out-of-date when it comes to providing marketers with the tools they require to optimize data, automate time-consuming processes, and implement multichannel campaigns. This type of destined-for-the-spam-folder, impersonal email can do more harm than good, causing email fatigue and alienating the target audience.
Businesses frequently utilize ESPs because they are a cost-effective approach to reach a large audience and disseminate content on a regular basis. Unfortunately, ESPs are simple and cannot be customized. In a landscape where personalization and segmentation is king, many firms are turning to a more sophisticated option: marketing automation.
Marketing automation offers all of the capabilities of an ESP plus more to help organizations better understand consumer behavior, enhance messaging strategy, and nurture leads into long-term clients. So, here are three reasons to move away from ESPs and into marketing automation.
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The need for marketing automation
While ESP KPIs are simple to track, the indicators are very limited. The fact that users opened an email or clicked a link is often the only indicators of success. These metrics can be valuable for determining a campaign’s overall success, but marketers will lack a real understanding of the consumer experience, what happened “beyond the click,” and what factors best spurred interaction.
A lead’s behaviour can be tracked using marketing automation to see where and how they connect with a company online throughout their journey. The sophisticated software gives users a clear picture of their behavior, preferences, and interests by providing deep insights into what motivates them to interact. It can track response metrics like unsubscribes, open rates, and click throughs, just like ESPs, but it goes a step further by integrating with CRM systems to track prospects, develop and deploy landing pages, track conversions, and much more.
In addition to marketing dashboards, data filters, and campaign performance statistics, marketing automation platforms usually incorporate insightful tracking capabilities. These analytics assist marketers in deciphering their users’ behavior data and determining which actions and assets are responsible for conversions and sales, resulting in useful insights that can be used to improve the customer experience over time. As firms make the conversion to this cutting-edge, accessible technology, marketing automation’s excellent analytic capabilities are a significant driver of the platform’s rising appeal.
Personalization is key
In an era when customers hold companies to a higher standard than ever before, marketers must focus on connecting with customers on a personal level, showing products that are relevant to their lives and interests. Because not all clients are at the same stage in the life cycle, a one-size-fits-all email strategy is doomed to fail.
This type of impersonal email marketing fails since it demonstrates to customers that a company isn’t interested in learning about who they are and what they require. Personalization is no longer a choice, but rather a requirement.
By utilizing behavior analytics, marketing automation goes above the limitations of ESPs to provide a superior brand experience. The software leverages metrics and user data to send individualised, targeted messages that not only resonate, but also arrive at the optimal time for each individual, thereby increasing engagement.
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Increased efficiency
Because of limited measurement tools, ESPs can be inefficient and often fail to maximize resources and make it challenging for marketers to know if the time spent creating and sending emails is really worth it. As a result, adopting a marketing automation solution can be a good option for marketers trying to gain a better understanding of their expenditure, consumer behaviours, and ROI.
Businesses can also better track the success of their messaging depending on the customer journey with automated marketing campaigns, giving them a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Measurement is crucial in marketing, as it is in every other business today. Companies are frequently required to respond to their stakeholders and board members in order to demonstrate prudent financial management, upping the stakes and requiring marketers to verify the ROI of their campaigns. Marketing automation can help achieve this transparency by giving highly precise analytics and insights, leaving the powers that be with no choice but to continue allocating the appropriate funding to marketers.
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