6 Mini Automation Projects to Grow Your Business
We’re big fans of marketing automation and using it to grow businesses.
But sometimes half the challenge of getting them done is finding the time; and the other half knowing exactly what to do to get them done in the first place!
That’s why we put together this list – 6 of our highest converting automation projects. They are bite-sized but potentially big on ROI if you’re interested in firing up your marketing to grow your business aka get more leads and sales.
You can complete each of these mini automation projects in 10 minutes or less so none of those ‘no time’ excuses apply.
Let’s go!
1. Import and Follow-up with Old Prospect
There are prospects your business has interacted with that would not have instantly become customers. But, you can create a funnel through your email marketing platform to follow up on these prospects and convert them to a customer through email marketing.
Most email marketing platforms will allow you to import contacts in various ways, namely:
- Upload a CSV file
- Manually copy and paste a list of names and contact details
- Move contacts with third party integration, e.g. Facebook leads into your CRM
The easiest way to import contacts is with a CSV file. But make sure you are also doing the following to keep your contacts organised like:
- Mapping custom fields
- Adding a tag to those imported contacts
It’s more important than ever to stay relevant, so these little nuances will help you segment your imported list to customise your follow up accordingly. According to Mailchimp segmented email campaigns see 14.31% higher open rates as compared to non-segmented email campaigns (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
I can’t even begin to tell you how much more streamlined your marketing will be when you have your follow up system and CRM in one.
If you don’t there are ways to ensure that both of these systems talk to one another so nothing is falling through the cracks.
Contact us here to discuss what your perfect follow up system might look like.
2. Re-engage past customers who haven’t purchased recently
Each contact on your list is different based on their level of interest when they signed up, whether they have purchased from you or not, and how frequently or recently they have purchased.
Some customers who may have purchased previously need a little nudge to reignite their interest or you may need to provide an incentive.
- Send a simple reminder
- Provide an incentive
- Ask for feedback on a past purchase
- Recommend new products to enhance the customer experience based on their previous purchasing experience
- Remind them to re-purchase an updated product or replenish supplies
- Request a company or product review
You can set up an automation like this Repurchase Reminder – we use Active Campaign so you will see examples of their automation recipes*. There’s flexibility to change both the time delay or the number of reminders you need to send.
*Automation workflows or recipes such as these make life so much easier for you as the automation template is directly uploaded into your email marketing platform / autoresponder for you to customise.
3. Positioning for the referrals you want
We love referrals!
It’s great as a form of lead generation but the 2 big issues with referrals are usually
(1) they can be unpredictable and
(2) oftentimes result in non-ideal clients referred to your business.
It can be really difficult to say no to referrals especially when you’re forging new network connections or if you haven’t yet mastered any other avenue for lead generation such as paid search or social media / content marketing.
The wrong type of clients can literally wear you down and/or erode the profits in your business. (Ask me how I know!)
You can fix these issues in one swoop with this mini automation project.
- First an email is sent out – to current customers preferably – asking whether they would be open to referring a friend, business partner or colleague? This is a simple yes-no link they can select.
- If they select ‘yes’ they get sent the referral guidelines which you get to outline, like details about your referral program including the clients you love working with and how to identify those that might get the most value from your product or service.
PRO TIP: This can be a natural add-on to other automations like your NPS survey.
Works particularly well at positive points in your customer journey as they are more likely to refer at these times:
- When they have just purchased your product or if it’s a physical product when they have received it
- When they have had a win or a good experience using your product or service
4. Event Follow up
The importance of following up after an event can’t be overstated. According to Hubstaff, an analysis of more than 2,200 American companies found those who attempted to reach leads within an hour were nearly seven times likelier to have meaningful conversations with decision makers than those who waited even 60 minutes.
Yes you can make the calls, but if you don’t get through, here’s your plan B which is a simple tag and activate…
- Once the contacts are entered into your CRM, you can tag them and send them a ‘nice to meet you’ email
- Depending on your offer or solution, you can send a follow up with the intention of booking them into a consult or appointment with you or
- simply let them know about the urgency of picking up your call when you do call them back
5. Use a website popup to offer a time-boxed offer on your homepage
Your website’s main page is the very first and most common place for you to get a new lead.
You can use a website popup to offer a time-boxed offer on your homepage – and you can get leads here with the email marketing platform you are using.
Admittedly most businesses think of this as the last option because pop-ups can feel annoying and invasive. And yes, that is true especially if it is not done properly.
As the chart shows, even the shabbiest jobs still see a conversion rate of 3.1% (Source: SumoMe). Pop ups work!
A time-boxed pop-up form on your homepage can help fuel lead generation and grow conversion for your business.
There are 4 regular optin forms available in most email marketing platforms.
Create a pop-up form that doesn’t disrupt the customer experience. For instance, you can set them to appear based on certain conditions, like:
- You can set a time limit to trigger a pop-up appearance.
- You can set pop-ups to appear after someone scrolls down 50% of the page.
Give your business growth a little *pop*.
6. Add a sign-up button to your Facebook business page
Adding a sign-up button to your Facebook business page is a no-brainer.
Social platforms are only getting more popular. Your Facebook page is your new online store front. Take advantage of this by giving your business visibility.
Pro Tip: You can change out the buttons depending on the promotions you’re running at the time. And integrate this directly with your email marketing system to deliver the promotion and follow up with your new lead.
But can your email marketing system handle all that traffic?
Transition to a better automation platform
We get a lot of requests from clients who are dissatisfied with the lack of automation ability from their current provider and that is understandable as we outgrow the capabilities of what we started out using.
For the most part, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best marketing automation platform will depend on your specific needs. Finding the right one for your business can be challenging if you don’t know where to look.
Here are some key factors we use when considering what’s best for our clients’ needs:
- Business size and type
- Automation set up and capability to scale
- CRM and email automation in one
- Features that align with business goals
- Price point and budget
It can be an overwhelming exercise. If you’re considering making the transition, let’s have a chat about what’s going to work for you and your business.
Want to leverage automation to grow your business but don’t want the tech headaches?
We can help. Let’s chat about how marketing and sales automations is going to work for your business with someone else doing the heavy lifting for you!
