HubSpot Marketing Automation: Beginner to Advance Guide

Would you like to generate more leads, engage and retain your customers, and save time simultaneously? Then, you need to use marketing automation workflows.  It’s no wonder that automated messages drove over 29% of all email marketing orders in 2022. Workflows help to increase sales and engagement. For example, a welcome automation workflow would be sent to new subscribers, whereas a cart abandonment workflow would be sent to visitors who added items to their cart and left without purchasing (something 85% of consumers did in 2022!). In these instances, the recipients would need very different messages. What is marketing automation workflow? A marketing automation workflow is a series of automated actions that are executed based on predefined triggers and rules. It is designed to streamline and optimize marketing tasks.  These workflows can include sending emails, scoring leads, posting on social media, and more, all aimed at nurturing leads, engaging customers, and driving conversions. By automating repetitive tasks, businesses can ensure consistent and personalized communication with their audience, improving efficiency and effectiveness in their marketing strategies.  An automated email workflow frees up your time, contacting your subscribers while allowing you to focus on other tasks with the help of marketing automation services. What do you need to know about marketing automation workflows? McKinsey research has even demonstrated a 40% revenue increase for companies that have mastered personalization.  Before you create your first marketing workflows, here are a few things that can help to improve their performance: Segmentation: Segmenting your audience ensures you send the right message to the right person at the right time and allows you to create much more personalized campaigns. Instead of sending the same email to everyone, you can tailor your communication based on the recipients’: Location Demographics (e.g., age, gender, occupation) Browsing or purchasing history The amount of money they spend with you The likelihood of them unsubscribing from your list Automation Triggers: Once your marketing automation workflow has been created, the next question is, what will trigger it? Triggers will vary based on the workflows, such as: Filling out the sign-up form, triggering the welcome email Visiting a specific product page, triggering a product abandonment workflow Adding an item to the cart and leaving, triggering a cart abandonment workflow A/B Testing: Creating messages is only step one. Next, you need to check that they resonate with your audience. The best way to do this is A/B testing—having at least two communication versions running simultaneously and comparing results to learn which performs better. You can test several variables to see which drives the most open, click, or order rates, including the following for emails: CTAs Subject lines Body Content Personalization, such as mentioning the recipient’s name SMS Campaigns: You could monitor open and click rates for SMS campaigns. It’s even possible to see which channels drove the highest overall amount of completed orders on your store pages. One option would be to send an email with an offer and follow up with an SMS if the recipient hasn’t opened it within two hours. Some brands use SMS to alert people to time-sensitive emails or push notifications to boost site traffic. Communication Channels: The evidence is conclusive: using multiple channels in your marketing workflows increases sales. The increase is not small: marketers that used three or more channels in a campaign had an order rate 494% higher than those using single-channel campaigns, and incorporating push messages drove a 614% higher order rate. Want to reduce your CAC to half? Book a strategy call How to create marketing automation workflows? Marketing automation can seem daunting, but it's easier than you might think. Let's break down the key elements of an efficient marketing automation workflow to help you get started. Triggers A trigger is an action or event that prompts your technology to move to the next step in the workflow. Triggers are usually based on user actions or periods of inaction. For example, in ActiveCampaign, you can set up triggers like submitting a form, clicking a link in an email, making a purchase, and more. Actions Actions are what your marketing automation platform will do in response to a trigger. If the trigger is the "if," the action is the "then." For instance, if someone opens an email (the trigger), your system might send them a follow-up email (the action) 48 hours later. Conditions Conditions must be met for the system to complete the triggered action. For example, you might set up a workflow where the trigger is a customer making a purchase, and the action is to send them a discount code for their next purchase. However, this action will only occur if the initial purchase was $50 or more. Conditions ensure that actions are only triggered under the right circumstances and can also guide different paths for users based on whether conditions are met. Time Controls Time controls, or flow controls, determine exactly when an action is taken. Most automated marketing tasks happen on a delay, ranging from a few minutes to several days or weeks later. When building a marketing automation workflow for your sales funnel, remember: The trigger tells your system that an action must be taken. Conditions provide guardrails to ensure the action is appropriate for the contact and situation. Time controls determine when the action is taken. The action engages with the contact to deepen and continue the relationship. Putting It All Together What makes marketing automation workflows so powerful is that, after an action is taken, the user can set off a new trigger, starting the next step of their customer journey. This cycle of engagement leads to an improved customer experience, higher retention rates, and increased revenue. By understanding and implementing triggers, actions, conditions, and time controls, you can create effective marketing automation workflows that streamline your email marketing automation efforts and enhance customer relationships. This approach ensures your strategies are optimized for success. Top 10 marketing automation workflow examples Let’s explore the following 10 growth marketing automation workflows for growth: Welcome Automation Workflow Trigger: Subscribe to or purchase a product/service Description: A welcome email is the first message a new contact receives after signing up with you, and they have an average open rate of 30.69%—more than 202% higher than usual email campaigns. They can be individual messages or a series of messages, and we usually see a series of three emails generate better results. Browse Abandonment Automation Workflow Trigger: When browsers leave important pages Description: Browse abandonment automation workflows help you to re-engage visitors who look around your website but leave without taking action. The goal is to return them to your site to recapture lost conversions. Product Abandonment Automation Workflow Trigger: When the visitor lands on a specific product page only Description: A product abandonment workflow is similar to browsing abandonment emails but with one key difference: they’re sent to view only specific products. In comparison, a browse abandonment email is broader and more general. Cart Abandonment Automation Workflow Trigger: When visitors add a product to their cart but don’t finish the purchase Description: Cart abandonment is one of the most popular marketing automation workflows. It’s also highly effective—using this workflow, Snatcher Online generated over $120,000 in under one year. Order Confirmation Automation Workflow Trigger: When visitors complete the transaction Description: Order confirmation emails are among the most effective in terms of open and click-through rates. That’s largely because the person has made a purchase and is expecting the email, which typically includes details of the order and an estimated delivery date. Shipping Confirmation Automation Workflow Trigger: When the order has been shipped Description: A shipping confirmation automation workflow is usually short, consisting of a single message informing a buyer that their order has shipped. Upselling/Cross-Selling Automation Workflow Trigger: Segmentation rules of customers based on purchase behavior Description: Upselling is when you encourage a customer to buy a similar but higher-end version of a product they’re considering. Cross-selling is when the customer purchases something to complement their original item. Product Review Marketing Automation Workflow Trigger: Product purchase or another customer’s interaction with your store Description: Reviews are powerful—they tell potential customers they can trust you and your products, which can help boost sales. Not all customers leave reviews; manually asking every buyer can be very time-consuming. Birthday Marketing Automation Workflow Trigger: The date that matches your subscribers’ birthdays Description: Let your audience know you care by sending them a message on their birthday. These messages can be highly personalized—or at least, they should be if you’re following best practices. Custom Automation Workflows Trigger: Various triggers that your needs could customize Description: The beauty of an automated email workflow is that it can be whatever you want. So, if you’ve looked at the previous nine examples and thought you have a scenario we haven’t covered, don’t worry—that’s where custom automation workflows come in. How does Saffron Edge help in marketing automation? SaffronEdge specializes in creating personalized marketing automation workflows to enhance your business's engagement and conversion rates.  By leveraging advanced segmentation, personalized communication, and multi-channel strategies, we ensure your messages reach the right audience at the right time.  Our team also conducts thorough A/B testing to optimize your campaigns and maximize results.  Partner with SaffronEdge to streamline your marketing efforts and drive sustainable growth through effective automation, highlighting the importance of marketing automation. ...

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With online businesses becoming more and more popular, it is more important than ever to have a plan when bringing your law firm into the online sector of the market. Most people usually think that the hardest part of creating an online business is the site-building and hosting process, but the real work starts long before you even get your website online for viewers to see. There are a variety of legal marketing strategies to keep in mind, as well as a faux pas to avoid as early as the planning stages for your website. Here are five of the most common and most detrimental mistakes people make when transitioning their business to the web. A Lack of Research --> The biggest mistake beginners tend to make when building a website is that they don't do proper research on both the focus of their site, as well as on the competition. When making an online business in general, finding a niche topic that has a potential interest is key. While this mostly relates to subscription or ad-based sites that draw in revenue per click or subscription, many of the basic principles can apply to your law firm's website. Finding a niche approach or direction for your site can help increase your odds of being discovered organically online. On the flip side, you also don't want something that's completely over-saturated to the point where you're doomed from the start. Finding a creative spin on how you advertise your firm and landing in that sweet spot between totally obscure and overly saturated is key. Poor Quality Content This is a big issue for almost any site, regardless of model or purpose. Many sites just use SEO services to find keywords and then just cram their content full of them with little regard for the actual content quality. This results in a barely readable mess that, while it might get the initial click, won't retain customers, and actually drive them away pretty quickly. If you were just looking for clicks, this technique might have been fine in the past. Unfortunately, Google and other search engines have started picking up on these shady digital marketing practices. Google's Panda update has completely revised portions of their search engine to target such pages and drop them back down to the bottom of the search results list, promoting quality content that people actually would want to read. With that in mind, plan out your content, and put as many keywords in as you can get naturally in the article. Once the keywords start getting in the way of readability, you've overdone it. Improper Marketing While overstuffing your pages and creating duplicate pages just for more keywords is definitely a bad thing, that's not to say you should ignore page optimization altogether. The key is to find a happy medium between keywords and readability. Using keyword search and SEO service tools, find the keywords that best fit your content, and use only the ones you can fit naturally into said content. For example, if you specialize in criminal law, don't try to stuff the words criminal and law into every available opening on your main page. It will make the content clunky to read, and at the same time come off as obvious keyword stuffing. Just mention criminal law in key places where it makes sense to empha it, such as when introducing your firm and your services. Doing this will ensure you have quality content while still maintaining enough keywords to keep your listing high on the search engines. Using more keywords that are geared towards your target audience is also a great way to get traffic from people who are looking for specific content. Getting viewers like these is more likely to result in repeat visitors, as they already have an interest in your content, and if the content you provide is of high quality, they are more likely to have a positive experience and either look at other articles on your site or bookmark it to explore later. While SEO and keywords can take some time to build traction in terms of increasing hits, and it can take a lot of effort to cater your site to Google's new standards, but the payoff is cost-effective marketing and visibility through achieving pole positions on Google SERP. Start a Law Blog While having a website is a great way to let people know about your firm and the services you offer, setting up a law category blog is a great way to demonstrate your expertise. While you'll want to avoid blogging about specific cases you are working on so as not to break confidentiality and client privilege, commenting on major cases in current events, as well as general law topics such as things to keep in mind or checklists for what to do in certain legal situations (such as steps to take in a divorce, how to best respond to a civil lawsuit, auto insurance law, etc.) is perfectly fine. The rewards of setting up a law blog are multifaceted. First, as stated before, it lets you demonstrate your expertise in your field, proving that your firm is a solid investment for customers looking for legal aid. Second, blogs allow for open discussion, allowing you to answer questions directly and give general legal advice where possible to readers of your blog. The final benefit, though not as beneficial to the firm and customer growth, is that you can garner an income based on ads run on the blog itself. When it comes to topics, stick to what you know best, as well as what you find most interesting. For example, if you are an injury and liability attorney who primarily handles auto accident cases and the like, consider writing an article that breaks down liability law into layman's terms. This will provide your potential clients as well as anyone with a general interest in liability law the groundwork they need to assess whether or not they even have a valid case before coming in for a consultation. This also means less time spent with clients who refuse to believe they have no case for one reason or another. You'll still get a few who can't be reasoned with, but having an article that clearly explains the nuances of liability laws in your state will cut down on those cases considerably. The same kind of article can be written for most disciplines of law, breaking down the basic foundations of building a case and when the best time to get a lawyer involved would be. Lazy Visual Design The last piece of the puzzle is how your site actually looks, and the first impressions users get from using your website. One big mistake people make starting out is thinking that being original means shattering the mold when it comes to conventional design standards and concepts. While it's okay to experiment a little bit, adding a slightly unique twist to make your website engaging, you should try to stick within the fundamental rules of web design. Have a logo in the header of each page that links back to your homepage, put the navigation bar along the left side column or along the bottom of the page header, and keep your design simple and streamlined. The last thing you want is your page to be so flooded with images and clip art that it ends up looking like those old Geocities pages from back in the mid-90s. On the topic of images, it's also good to have a solid legal marketing strategy when it comes to assets and site design. Just because it pops up in a Google image search doesn't mean it's free to use. If you use a lot of visual elements such as product photos or stock imagery, consider either contracting a photographer for product photos or purchasing an account for a stock image website where you can purchase images for use. The last thing you want is to be hit with a copyright lawsuit for using images you didn't know weren't royalty-free. This mistake is especially embarrassing considering you're likely advertising your law firm, so you'll likely take a bit of a blow to your reputation on top of all those fines and legal fees from the DMCA and copyright suits. While these tips give a general idea of what pitfalls to avoid when bringing your business to the online sector, they only scratch the tip of the iceberg. If you're just starting out, do some research on SEO services and optimization, Google's Panda updates, along with some basic web design principles before you even start working on your site digitally. Work out a basic theme on paper, including a brief content map with the different content ideas you are interested in, and a rough layout of a page draft and web map going over the core pages that will make up the framework of your website. Once that's done, start your research, and after you have a marketing strategy and focus points for your content, begin site-building. ...

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Contentful CMS is a leading headless CMS that is well-known for its strong customization capabilities and scalability. However, some users have faced challenges, such as a not-so-user-friendly interface, significant developer resource requirements, and unpredictable pricing models. You are in the right place if you seek an alternative to Contentful that better suits your needs. This blog will give you the top 10 Contentful alternatives for 2024 to help you find the ideal content management solution. How to Choose the Right Contentful Alternative? The best Contentful alternative for you depends on your specific requirements, such as: Features: Consider the features offered by each CMS, including content modeling, API flexibility, and integrations. Scalability: If you anticipate significant growth, ensure the CMS can handle your future needs. Cost: Evaluate pricing models and consider factors like usage-based pricing or upfront licensing fees. Ease of Use: Consider the learning curve and user-friendliness of the CMS. Community and Support: Look for a CMS with a strong community and active support forums. By carefully evaluating these factors, you can select the Contentful alternative that best aligns with your organization's goals and requirements. The Only Contentful Alternatives You’ll Ever Need 1. Storyblok Storyblok is a great alternative to Contentful, offering an easy-to-use, cloud-based content management system (CMS) that works well with any website design tool or software. Its main advantage is that it lets users easily put together and change their website's layout without needing to start over. Due to its simple drag-and-drop editor, it's perfect for people who need to be tech-savvy. One of its unique features is its ability to handle multiple languages easily, making it an excellent choice for global businesses. Furthermore, its transparent pricing model helps companies better plan their budgets. Storyblok has earned significant recognition for being user-friendly and offering a great return on investment, especially for small businesses. Users also rank it highly in industry reports, positioning it as a leading contentful services platform. 2. Hygraph Hygraph is a headless GraphQL content platform that offers a seamless experience. Hygraph's intuitive interface and efficient data retrieval through GraphQL make it a strong contender in the headless CMS space. Hygraph's versioning system ensures that content management is organized and efficient, while its flexible architecture allows for easy integration with various technologies. However, users unfamiliar with GraphQL may face a learning curve, and pricing can vary based on usage rates and included features. Despite these challenges, Hygraph is a powerful tool for prioritizing a streamlined content management experience without sacrificing flexibility. Set up triggers to identify abandoned carts and initiate a recovery sequence. Create a series of reminder emails, starting with a gentle nudge and potentially escalating to a special offer. Experiment with different channels like email, SMS, or web push notifications to determine which works best for your audience. Use dynamic content to display the abandoned items and make it easy for customers to complete their purchases. A/B tests different message styles, timings, and incentives to optimize your recovery rate. 3. WordPress WordPress is a well-known open-source CMS that offers an accessible alternative to Contentful. While WordPress is traditionally a monolithic system rather than headless, it still provides a high level of customization through its vast plugins. This makes WordPress, a great contentful alternative, as a versatile option for users who want to maintain control over their content while benefiting from a user-friendly interface. WordPress is an open-source platform, and this is one of its major strengths because developers can modify it significantly. However, this can also introduce security concerns, as users must rely on third-party plugins that may not always be up to date. While WordPress is free, users must set a budget for hosting and other associated costs. WordPress is widely used by businesses, especially those that require flexibility and simplicity in their content management systems. 4. Ghost Ghost is a CMS designed with simplicity in mind. It offers a clutter-free interface and powerful blogging capabilities, making it ideal for content creators who want a straightforward platform without unnecessary complexity. While Ghost excels at blogging, it may not best fit more complex content management needs. Achieving advanced functionality may require integrating additional tools, which could increase the platform's overall cost and complexity. Nevertheless, Ghost is an excellent choice for users who prioritize a clean, user-friendly interface and a focus on content creation. 5. Typo3 Typo3 is a powerful and scalable alternative to Contentful. It offers a highly flexible CMS that caters to a wide range of needs. Its multilingual support and customizable architecture make it a powerful tool for companies operating in diverse markets. However, Typo3 is a contentful alternative with flexibility that comes with a steep learning curve, particularly for new platform users. In addition, it requires more server resources than some of its simpler counterparts, which could be a consideration for smaller businesses with limited technical resources. Despite these challenges, Typo3 remains popular for enterprises requiring a highly customizable and scalable CMS solution. 6. Umbraco Umbraco is an open-source CMS built on the .NET framework that offers a flexible and scalable alternative to Contentful. It is a developer-first platform that provides extensive customization options for businesses that require a tailored content management solution. Umbraco's open-source nature allows for extensive customization, but it also means that non-technical users may need help navigating the platform. This makes Umbraco a better fit for companies with dedicated developer resources than those requiring frequent updates from non-technical staff. For businesses prioritizing flexibility and scalability, Umbraco is a strong contentful alternative that offers a high degree of control over content management. 7. Kontent.ai Kontent.ai is a cloud-based headless Content-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform that excels in omnichannel content delivery. Kontent.ai's flexible pricing and established partner program make it a compelling alternative to Contentful for businesses that need a scalable and adaptable CMS. Kontent.ai's architecture supports multi-environment setups, making it ideal for enterprises with complex content delivery needs. However, similar to Contentful, the pricing structure can become unpredictable depending on the project's scope. Despite these considerations, Kontent.ai is a powerful platform for businesses that require a robust and scalable content management solution. 8. Strapi Strapi is a headless CMS powered by JavaScript that prioritizes a developer-first approach. As an open-source platform, Strapi offers a high degree of customization, making it an attractive alternative to Contentful for businesses with specific technical requirements. Strapi's flexible architecture and active developer community make it a versatile platform for building custom content solutions. While it may not offer as many plugins and extensions as some competitors, Strapi's user-friendly interface and ease of use make it a popular choice for developers who want a balance between customization and simplicity. For businesses that value a developer-friendly CMS that focuses on JavaScript, Strapi is a solid alternative to Contentful. 9. Joomla Joomla is another open-source CMS that offers a user-friendly alternative to Contentful. Joomla's active user community and extensive library of extensions make it a versatile platform for businesses of all sizes. While Joomla is more accessible than some of its open-source counterparts, it still presents a learning curve for new users., as with all open-source CMS platforms, security vulnerabilities can be a concern, mainly when relying on third-party extensions. Despite these challenges, Joomla remains a popular choice for businesses seeking a flexible and customizable CMS accessible to technical and non-technical users. 10. Contentstack Contentstack is a headless CMS designed for enterprise-level projects. It offers multi-environment support, flexible content modeling, and scalable architecture, making it a powerful alternative to Contentful for large-scale content management needs. However, Contentstack's complexity means that users may need to invest in developer resources to fully leverage the platform's capabilities. Contentstack is a top choice for enterprises that require an advanced and scalable content management solution. Conclusion: What's the Best Contentful Alternative? Choosing the best Contentful alternative depends on your specific needs, whether that’s ease of use, scalability, pricing, or a particular feature set. Each platform listed above offers unique strengths that make them suitable alternatives to Contentful for different use cases. Take advantage of free trials and demos to find the CMS that best aligns with your business goals. ...

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