Learn how to do marketing automation for financial services

Source: Pixabay There are numerous ways in which businesses can reach their consumers. Some companies have completed shifted their business to online mode for the ease of their customers. On the contrary, some still feel that traditional brick-and-mortar stores are more beneficial. Sometimes it depends upon the type of business and the products & services a company offers whether they should rely on online commerce or offline business models. For instance, you can choose and buy a smartphone online, but you might want to take a test drive before purchasing a car. Similarly, like the modes of commerce, there are different ways in which your customers can connect with you and get your products. The conventional method is to have a proper supply chain management consisting of suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, and distributors. The products have to go through all these touchpoints before reaching a customer. However, the scene is different in the contemporary world. Today, the producers run the business landscape, as they are their distributors and reach customers directly. Yes, I’m talking about Direct to consumer (D2C) marketing and how it completely reshaped the business world. It can be understood by the fact that today, over 55% of the shoppers prefer buying their favorite products directly from the brand rather than retailers dealing in multiple brands. And that’s not it. According to Statista, the estimated D2C eCommerce sales in the United States by 2023 is $175 billion. But as mentioned earlier, different companies have distinguished businesses that call for a specific D2C business model for better results. So, let’s closely look at these and understand what D2C brands need to focus on while picking up one. Assessing the Perfect D2C Model for Your Business In general, there are five kinds of D2C models based on a scale of increasing technological and business complexities. Now, the thing is, each of these model archetypes delivers a specific profile of value potential across the consumers and drives used to generate the business value. The type of value returned by each archetype can help the D2C brands to analyze and pick the perfect fit for their business. Let’s discuss each of them one by one. Knowledge Hubs The first model in the list is knowledge hubs that focus on content customer engagement. Its primary purpose is to engage consumers through unique, brand-centric, and customer-oriented engagement that inspires and educates them without any eCommerce infrastructure. Knowledge hubs are primarily used to gather customer information regarding their interaction with content, learning about their preferences and purchase intent while delivering personalized customer experiences. For instance, Patron’s Cocktail Lab is an intelligent, data-driven cocktail recommendation engine that offers innovative cocktail recipes based on individual preferences and encourages buyers to try new things. Digital Stores Source: Pixabay This D2C model consists of a well-functioning eCommerce website through which direct sales of the company’s products and services can occur, keeping in mind that the customers get interactive content experiences. This model is an excellent option for those consumers who wish to purchase directly from the manufacturers and emerges as a new source of online revenue stream. For example, Nespresso, an operating coffee unit of Nestle Group, got a branded eCommerce website that offers customers an interactive coffee shopping experience under a single digital roof. The customers can get an entire range of coffee items, machines, equipment, and related accessories on the website. Apart from that, they also get customized deals, offers, and collections specially designed for their interests. The company has also provided some supplementary resources to teach customers about the basics of taking care of the Nespresso products. Curated Subscription Model Subscriptions models have a slight risk compared to other D2C models as they impose challenges to the business regarding customer engagement, retention, acquisition, and loyalty. However, if implemented correctly, they are a pretty good direct source of revenue generation that works on recurring shipments of products and services customized as per consumer needs. Curated subscription models help businesses know more about the customers’ preferences, the items they frequently buy, and the products they might want to purchase. Companies can curate personalized deals for their customers with all this information, deepening the roots of brand loyalty and customer engagement. For instance, companies such as Daily Harvest and DollarShaveClub leverage the benefits of subscription models, which provide customers with the products and services they regularly want as per their dependable schedule. Personalized D2C Model Well, this one might be clear with the name itself. Adding a touch of personalization in a D2C business develops a one-to-one relationship with the customers and makes things pretty smooth. This model focuses on the more profound insights into the customers’ interests, preferences, and needs to enhance consumer engagement and increase sales. According to a report by Epsilon, 80% of customers prefer shopping from brands that offer them customized experiences. Personalized D2C models require back-end technologies and advanced features such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data to analyze the customer data to understand their needs better. When you offer customers the things they have always wanted at their convenience, they will keep returning to your brand and get everything directly from you. For example, a personalized dog food company named Just Right Pet Food (owned by Nestle Purina, a pet food subsidiary of Nestle) ensures a fully personalized experience to dog lovers. The company asks all of its customers to create a profile of their dogs. The profile includes their age, needs, and taste preferences. After that, Purina offers their own recommendations based on the information they get from their customers along with the nutrition guidelines in the products they suggest. The company then delivers the personalized pet food, nutrition, and feeding plan directly to the buyers’ doorstep - ensuring an authentic one-to-one customer experience. Touchpoint Commerce Source: Pixabay The last but not the least model in this list is Touchpoint commerce which builds new ways to buy products and services by implanting D2C business in non-commerce digital areas or touchpoints, such as social networks, games, etc. This D2C model focuses on finding advanced and innovative paths to connect with the customer base as they evolve in the future. Touchpoint Commerce can be a good option for businesses that want to enhance brand awareness and attract consumers from various channels. For instance, a famous cereal brand Mymuesli offers their customers an option to develop their own tailored blend of hot and cold cereals, which they can later order, too. The company attaches a QR code at the back of the packaging. With this code, customers can save their preferred mixes and reorder them simply by scanning them using their mobile device. Choose the Right D2C Model for Your Brand And why not? Of course, you have a lot of opportunities to set up your D2C business, but what’s the harm in choosing the one that suits you the best? As a business owner (or just as a learner), it is crucial to understand that all the companies out there are using some tactics to deliver an unmatched customer experience. In that competitive scenario, you have to choose the right path and implement the apt D2C business model to boost your business growth and engage as many customers as possible. Get in touch with our experts to know how your business can achieve D2C growth. We over comprehensive direct-to-consumer marketing services that are growth-oriented and result-driven. Feel free to reach out to us! ...

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Rand Fishkin coined the term "10x" in one of his Whiteboard Friday videos, and soon, the already abuzz digital marketing world had a benchmark for what makes content stand out of the crowd. An exceptionally well-written piece of content recognized for the quality and service it provides is termed as a 10x content. But what do we mean when we say content needs to have quality? What are the elements that define quality content? It can be a tricky question to answer. After all, quality is subjective, and everyone has a different way of viewing and analyzing a piece of content. But there are specific parameters, identifying and working on which will be beneficial in developing quality content. And with Smartinsights statistical data revealing the enormous quantity at which content is being produced in a minute, no content creator and marketer can afford to overlook them. Quality content should be based on proper research based on what the target audience is looking for, currently in the industry. It should address and resolve the concern of the prospective customers; There is no room for language, spelling, or grammar mistakes. A quality content follows a consistent style guide, has catchy yet concise heading and subheadings. A content that does not deter from its topic, no matter the length, would keep its readers engaged. Focused content is quality content. The content should encourage people to engage with the business, leading them to take the desired action. A content with facts, statistics, and data adds to the credibility by reassuring people into believing the effectiveness of your products or services. High-quality content is available in a format preferred by the audience, whether it is long-form posts, videos, or images. This will vary with the platform it is being published on. Talking about the platform, good quality content is optimized, not just for search engines but social media as well- attractive, recent, shareable. While imbibing the characteristics mentioned above, you can produce quality content. The gravity of the impact it creates ultimately boils down to whether or not it is searchable on the prominent search engines like Google. With 93% of online experiences starting with a search engine, it should not come as a shock to you that your prospective consumers rely heavily on the search engines to find the products and the services they need. Do you want high organic traffic? For that, you need to have a good search engine ranking, which a quality content can assure you. But this is possible only when you understand how the particular search engines recognize quality content. We are going to focus on what Google defines as high-quality content. (a) Google sends you the most traffic; (b) Google has been consistently dominating 90% of the search market. With the latest Penguin and Panda update, it is clear that Google aims only to deliver high-quality content to the seekers. Google now has all it's ranking algorithms focused on indexing, crawling, and ranking quality content from every possible rabbit hole on the internet. With the goal to further enhance the quality of the search engine, this update's foundation is a calculation or filter which determines whether the content is of high quality of low-quality. The low-quality content is then rearranged to be pushed further back to the SERP's. The formula or Panda Filter, as it is commonly called, look for signals to identify and differentiate between the varying degree of content quality. So, what makes Google's quality content? For Google, EAT defines the quality of content. What is EAT, you ask? E-A-T stands for Expertise-Authority-Trust. Let's elaborate on them: Expertise You know how, for any business-related trouble, there are certain leaders or digital gurus whose advice you trust for its results? You need to be that for the products and services your area offering and in that industry. You are aiming at a high rank in the search engine results; you need to put out such content that establishes you as an expert in the particular field. What will define your online expertise? Your credentials, the author's biography, time visitors spent on each page, shares, etc. Authority How does one establish their authority online? Your well-crafted content pieces should focus only on niche topics and have informational keywords. Backlinks from reputable websites, reviews, awards make for a benchmark that establish authoritativeness. Trust: You need to be the first name that strikes their mind when they are looking for a reliable source of information. A well-researched and adequately quoted content will make it credible. Your content and the website should make people trust it and feel comfortable sharing their personal data, aka high grade of security. They should feel confident enough to invest in your products or services. Indicators of trustworthiness are testimonials, signs of community, social media presence, website security, etc. While the aforementioned forms the foundation of high-quality content per Google standards, it's webmaster guidelines clearly lays down the difference between low and high-quality content. High-quality content would have: Authentic information backed by research and data- adding value for the readers; Images and videos in abundance- to enhance the presentation; No spelling, factual or stylistic errors; Search Intent- were they created for ranking or to resolve customer's queries? Well-researched and engaging information- Making it shareable, or worth bookmarking; Comprehensive information- does it leave out anything of importance?; Sensitivity- can it enrage users for leaving negative comments?; A low-quality content, on the other hand, would: Serve no purpose with their inadequate or no website information; Be stuffed with the keyword for the sake of SEO; Have deceptive designs or doorway pages with plagiarized or automatically generated content; Have inadequate website information and little to no sub-content; Have hidden texts or links Be a website that lacks maintenance and updates; So, how to develop high-quality content? Know and understand your audience; Focus on search intent; Go for a new approach; Conduct thorough research; Answer the latest questions with abundant information Your content needs validation, for which it needs to be shared, for which it needs to be read, for which it needs disability, which only quality content gets. Your SEO-centered content lacking quality might be coming in the way of your goal of achieving higher search engine ranking. Enhance the value of your website by creating high-quality content, because while the SEO strategies keep evolving, high-quality content will always command the marketing world. ...

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A lack of email automation means your marketing team could miss important opportunities to nurture and engage your target audience and contacts. One of the most impactful tools available to marketers today is email automation. According to Radicati , the global email user base totals 2.6 billion, with Facebook accounting for about two-thirds of that number. Adobe's research indicates that we're dedicating 17% more time to our inboxes this year than last year. Automating email workflows can significantly enhance your email marketing strategy by delivering personalized, timely, and relevant messages to your subscribers. This blog post will explore email workflows, their benefits, how to set them up, and some examples of automated email workflows that can boost your marketing efforts. What is an Email Marketing Automation Workflow? An email marketing automation workflow consists of emails automatically sent out based on specific actions or conditions a marketer determines.  Essentially, it’s a predefined set of emails designed to nurture leads, engage customers, or drive specific actions based on user’s interactions with your brand. This email marketing workflow is tailored to guide subscribers through their customer journey, maximizing engagement and conversion rates.  For example, suppose customers sign up for your newsletter. In that case, they might receive a welcome email as the first step in a workflow, followed by emails providing value, promoting products, or encouraging further engagement. Unlike traditional email marketing, where each email is sent manually, email workflow automation enables you to schedule emails automatically according to user behavior, preferences, or other predetermined criteria. This ensures that every email is relevant to the recipient, boosting engagement and conversions. Incorporating marketing automation services can help streamline the process of personalizing content and segmenting audiences effectively. The Benefits of an Automated Email Workflow Automated email workflows offer numerous advantages for businesses seeking to streamline communication with their audience and optimize their marketing efforts. By leveraging the power of automation, companies can deliver timely, personalized messages while nurturing leads and driving conversions. Let's see how email automation can benefit marketers: 1. More Seamless Workflow Email automation enables marketers to efficiently send emails to their customer base, freeing up time for other responsibilities while meeting customer needs. According to 49% of sales and marketing professionals , time saved on repetitive tasks is one of the top three benefits of automation. Additionally, 45% listed enhanced efficiency and return on investment as another advantage. 2. Better Customer Experience 43% of marketing professionals believe that the primary benefit of employing marketing automation is improving customer experience. Automated emails efficiently send customers engaging content, including incentives, useful reminders, and introductory information A well-structured customer onboarding workflow can further enhance this process by ensuring new customers are effectively welcomed and educated through automated email sequences. Consistently engaging with your customers fosters improved relationships, enhances retention rates, and generates additional leads. 3. Improved Email Segmentation Email marketing automation simplifies categorizing recipients according to their characteristics, actions, and interaction levels. This boosts engagement, the rate at which emails are opened, the conversion rate, and the rate at which recipients click through the content. 4. Fewer Errors Mistakes can still happen even when using copy-pasting or templates for your emails. Email automation allows you to map unique user variables to appropriate template sections and instantly dispatch personalized emails. 5. Improved Personalization Automated workflows enable businesses to deliver targeted and relevant content to segmented audiences based on their behavior and interactions, enhancing customer engagement and driving higher conversion rates. 6. Enhanced Efficiency Email automation workflows save time and resources by streamlining repetitive tasks such as sending welcome emails, follow-ups, and personalized messages, allowing businesses to focus on more strategic aspects of their marketing campaigns. 7. Enhanced Lead Nurturing Automated email workflows are pivotal in lead nurturing automation by intelligently delivering personalized content based on subscriber actions and interests. Businesses can effectively guide leads through the sales funnel by automating the delivery of relevant information at various stages of the customer journey and by maintaining ongoing communication with existing customers through targeted email campaigns, ultimately increasing the likelihood of conversions. 8. Data-Driven Insights Automated email workflows provide businesses valuable data and analytics regarding email performance, subscriber behavior, and overall campaign effectiveness. By leveraging these insights, businesses can make informed decisions, optimize their email marketing strategies, and tailor their content to better resonate with their audience. Want to reduce your CAC to half? Book a strategy call How to Automate Email Workflows? Setting up automated email workflows might seem daunting initially, but with the right tools and a strategic approach, you can easily automate your email marketing. Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up an email workflow automation: 1. Select Email Automation Software Choosing the right email automation software is the process's first and most crucial step. Numerous email marketing automation tools are available, each offering unique features and capabilities. For this example, we’ll focus on HubSpot’s Marketing Automation tool, but depending on your needs, other options, such as Moosend, Versium Reach, and Mailchimp, are also worth considering. 2. Identify Your Audience Before setting up your email workflow automation, define who you want to target. Segmentation is key here—you might segment your audience based on lifecycle stages, behaviors, or specific actions they’ve taken on your site. Conduct market research to understand industry trends, competitors, demographics, and behavior patterns. Define your ideal customer by creating a detailed profile including age, gender, location, interests, priorities, and challenges. Analyze customer data to identify demographics, purchasing behavior, and interest patterns. Refine your ICP (ideal customer profile) based on analysis and develop targeted messaging and outreach strategies. Utilize segmentation and personalization for more effective communication. Marketing automation tools such as HubSpot enable audience segmentation so that each recipient receives the most appropriate content. 3. Define Your Email Campaign’s Goals Understanding your campaign goals is essential for creating an effective workflow. Defining your goal helps craft messages that guide your audience toward the desired action. Also, ensure your automation setup can adjust when a goal is achieved—for example, unenrolling a customer who has already purchased. Here are the key questions to ask yourself to define your email campaign's goals, informed by the information retrieved from the search results: What do you want to achieve from your email campaign? How does the email campaign align with your marketing goals and business objectives? What are the appropriate metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your email campaign? How can you personalize your messaging and segment your audience to align with your campaign goals? What past performance data can be used to inform your email campaign goals? Determining the goals and objectives of emails with the help of a marketing automation specialist is essential for success. 4. Set Enrollment Criteria Enrollment criteria determine which contacts enter a specific workflow. Depending on your tool, you might set criteria for new subscribers, abandoned cart users, or customers who have clicked on specific links. For example, HubSpot allows for multiple triggers, including form submissions, page views, and contact properties. Leveraging the best email marketing automation tools can significantly enhance marketing automation strategies . 5. Choose Which Processes to Automate Sales process workflows can be highly customizable. Decide which actions you want the software to automate, such as sending follow-up emails, updating customer information in your CRM, setting reminders, and more. These automated processes ensure seamless and consistent communication with your audience. 6. Create Your Email Campaign Assets Now that you have a plan, it’s time to create your email assets—this includes drafting the emails, creating compelling subject lines, designing templates, and adding CTAs. Ensure all content is aligned with your campaign goals and provides value to the recipients. 7. Test Your Email Workflow Before going live, always test your workflow. This can assist you in identifying some of the mistakes or inconsistencies that may impact the campaign's success. Test everything, from the content and links to the sequence of emails and triggers, to ensure it works as expected. 8. Launch and Monitor Your Workflow Once you’re satisfied with the setup, make your workflow live. Monitor its performance closely, looking for any anomalies or areas for improvement. Email automation is not a one-time setup—it requires continuous optimization based on performance data. Working on these steps in marketing automation integration is essential for maximizing the potential of SaaS marketing automation tools. 10 Email Marketing Automation Workflow Examples Here are a few practical examples of automated email workflows that can help you achieve different marketing goals: 1. Welcome Email Workflow Trigger: When a new subscriber joins your email list. Objective: To introduce your brand and set expectations. Details: Send emails that welcome the subscriber, share your brand story, and highlight key products or services. You can also include a special offer to encourage a first purchase. 2. Lead Magnet Delivery Workflow Trigger: When a user signs up to download a lead magnet (e.g., eBook, whitepaper). Objective: To deliver the promised content and nurture the lead. Details: After delivering the lead magnet, follow up with educational emails that provide additional value and guide the lead toward the next step, such as booking a demo or consultation. 3. Free Trial Sign-Up Workflow Trigger: When a user subscribes to your website or downloads your product or service for a free trial. Objective: To guide the user through the trial period and encourage conversion to a paid plan. Details: Send onboarding emails with tips and tutorials, followed by emails highlighting the benefits of upgrading to a paid plan before the trial expires. 4. Re-Engagement Workflow Trigger: When a subscriber has been inactive for a specific period (e.g., 3 months). Objective: To re-engage inactive subscribers and prevent churn. Details: Email a compelling offer, such as a discount or exclusive content, to reignite interest. If there’s no response, follow up with additional emails to re-engage or gracefully unsubscribe the inactive user. 5. Abandoned Cart Workflow Trigger: When a customer has selected products but doesn’t complete the purchase. Objective: To recover potentially lost sales. Details: Send a reminder email shortly after the cart is abandoned, offering assistance or a discount code to encourage completion of the purchase. Follow up with additional reminders if necessary. 6. Replenishment Workflow Trigger: When a customer’s product is likely to run out based on purchase history. Objective: To encourage repeat purchases. Details: Send an email reminding customers to reorder their products before they run out. Include a convenient “one-click” reorder button and a special offer for loyal customers. 7. Lead Nurturing Workflow Trigger: When a lead engages with specific content, such as visiting a pricing page or downloading multiple resources. Objective: To nurture leads through the sales funnel. Details: Create emails that provide additional information, case studies, and testimonials relevant to the lead’s interests, gradually guiding them toward a sales conversation. 8. Onboarding Workflow Trigger: When a new customer makes their first purchase or signs up for a service. Objective: To ensure a smooth and successful onboarding experience. Details: Send emails introducing the customer to your product or service, providing training resources, and offering support. This helps reduce churn and increases the likelihood of long-term customer retention. 9. Upsell/Cross-Sell Workflow Trigger: When a customer completes a purchase. Objective: To encourage additional purchases. Details: Based on the customer's purchase history, send personalized recommendations for complementary products or upgrades. Highlight how these additional products/services can enhance the customer’s experience. 10. Post-Purchase Follow-Up Workflow Trigger: After a customer makes a purchase. Objective: To build customer loyalty and encourage repeat business. Details: Send a thank-you email and a feedback or review request. Later, send emails with related product recommendations, loyalty program invitations, or special offers for repeat customers. Conclusion Automated email workflows can greatly benefit businesses aiming to enhance their email marketing strategies By leveraging email workflow automation, you can deliver highly personalized and timely messages to your subscribers, improving engagement and driving conversions. At Saffron Edge , we offer customized marketing solutions that meet your business requirements, including setting up effective email marketing automation workflows. Our team will help you develop and enhance the procedures that align with your business goals and create tangible outcomes. ...

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