One of the most celebrated benefits of marketing automation is that you can ‘set it and forget it’.

Leave them to run in the background with no manual intervention. Watch your leads flood in, your sales increase, and your customer retention rate skyrocket.

Unfortunately, that isn’t 100% true.

As much as marketing automation saves considerable time and resource. It does require occasional human input.

And with 77% of marketers reporting an increase in conversions due to automation, there is clearly a huge marketing opportunity. And one that warrants regular attention.

For those who aren’t convinced. We’re here to break the bad habit of ignoring your marketing automations.

And here are three more reasons why:

Alignment with business changes

Whether it’s a change in focus from lead generation to lead nurturing. Or a promotional push for a new product or service. Businesses change regularly.

And of course, many of these changes are also led by audience behaviour. If audiences are shifting their buying behaviour, businesses need to account for this and adapt accordingly.

Of course, this all needs to be reflected in your marketing automations.

Notably, we would recommend updating the following: 

Types of automations and workflows

If your business priorities change, so may the types of automations and workflows you want to focus on.

As mentioned, this could be a shift from lead generation to lead nurturing. Or nurturing to retention.

This may mean pausing certain automations, or creating new ones. Or it could simply mean a change to messaging, as mentioned below.

Branding and positioning

Even the slightest update to branding and positioning can be a big job for a marketing team. Involving updates to the website, social media channels, paid ads, and of course automations.

Outdated logos and designs look incredibly unprofessional. Similarly, if your positioning doesn’t reflect your business goals, then your automations are sending out the wrong message and potentially generating the wrong results.

So ensure ongoing continuity and consistency is a priority.

Products, services, and content

Chances are, as time goes by your business is launching new products, services, and content.

While some of your automations may use dynamic content which automatically populates your emails and website with your latest offering. Others may be more static.

So make sure these automations are updated with your latest offerings.

This is also important if you have products that are discontinued, or content which is outdated. 

Improved performance and experience

If you don’t regularly check in with your marketing automations, how do you know that they’re actually working?

After all, businesses should want to identify any issues with marketing automations before their customers do.

By regularly checking in with your marketing automations, you can maintain a positive experience for your prospects and customers. And ensure excellent performance for you and your business.

Here are some elements to look out for:

Formatting

Do your emails and web pages look good? Do they format correctly on mobile devices? Are all images displaying correctly? Are any links broken?

Forms

Are your forms working? Do they direct to the correct follow on page, or trigger the correct emails?

Tracking codes

Are you tracking codes collecting the correct data and updating on your analytics platform?

Data

60% of customer data degenerates after two years. So review your data to ensure that it is up to date and integrated correctly with your automations.

Execution and workflow

Is the workflow executing correctly? Are recipients receiving all of the correct emails? In the correct order?

Better results

Arguably most importantly, are your automations actually producing results?

Without regularly checking in on your automations, they could be running in the background, generating little to no benefits.

And sometimes you just need to make a small change or tweak to see a big difference in results.

Open rates

Are all emails in a sequence generating positive open rates? Or do they tail off?

For emails that aren’t receiving positive open rates, consider refreshing your subject line for something catchier and more engaging.

Or, if open rates tail off, consider adjusting the length of the sequence so recipients don’t get bored.

Click through rate (CTR)

If your recipients aren’t clicking through, chances are you’re not speaking to their needs.

In this case, try reviewing your personas and ensure your messaging and CTA relates to them. Consider A/B testing different options to see what produces the best engagement.

Conversion rate

This can be analysed at various levels. Firstly, you can compare your overall marketing conversion rates pre- and post- marketing automation. Or, with the help of marketing automation tools, you could compare before and after conversion rates at specific stages of your marketing funnel.

This could include leads generated, leads turned into opportunities, and opportunities won.

Return on investment (ROI)

There are two approaches you can take to measuring ROI. Firstly, compare revenue generated directly from your automations. Or secondly, you can take a higher-level approach and identity if revenue has grown since you have implemented your marketing automations.

Are your marketing automations not generating results?

If you haven’t worked with your marketing automations for a while, making changes and updates to get the best results may seem overwhelming.

At Pure360, we specialise in helping brands get the most from their automations. So why not get in touch with our friendly team for a chat?