7 Myths of Marketing Automation

There are many marketing automation myths, we came across these 7 myths of marketing automation which we thought were very accurate. The Ellipsis team believe a ‘jobs to be done’ approach increases your chances of a successful platform selection. Carefully determine what ‘job’ you are trying to achieve for you and your customers, then rent the marketing platform that best does the job. But in that sequence.

Myths

1. All systems are the same
   You do need to define requirements first; unsatisfied marketers often have purchased a shiny new system that didn’t meet their needs; conversely, the most satisfied users did select based on specific features
   
   
2. Integration is easy
   All marketing automation products integrate with CRM, so people assume they do not have to look into the details; Integration is the single most commonly cited obstacle to success and is linked to the most dissatisfied users
   
   
3. Failure is the user’s fault, not the system’s
   If all systems are the same, then failure must be fault of the user; but all systems aren’t the same and many failures result from a system that doesn’t meet the user’s needs
   
   
4. New users should crawl, walk, run
   Marketers who used more features from the start were happier; successful marketers took the time to plan and train before deployment, marketers who didn’t prepare in advance never found the time to learn what they needed
   
   
5. Bigger companies do it better
   They do select more wisely, paying more attention to features and integration; but they also face more non-technical obstacles such as training and staffing, so over-all satisfaction level is no higher than smaller firms
   
   
6. Marketing automation creates prospects and saves money
   Marketers who expect to generate more prospects with less effort are usually disappointed; marketing automation is about nurturing existing leads, not finding new ones, and most companies add staff and budget
   
   
7. Marketing automation has stopped evolving
   There is plenty of change: new vendors, existing vendors being bought and/or expanding scope to include display ads, external data, better databases, x-channel identity resolution, mobile & social, advanced attribution

So… prepare carefully, define, and select against actual requirements, test integration in advance, deploy quickly, and expect the unexpected. If you focus on the customers’ jobs to be done – easier search, save money, convenience, relevance etc. your chance of successfully enhancing your customer relationships with automation will increase.

We are Ellipsis, the Customer Loyalty Experts. We help businesses thrive through solving complex customer problems. Please get in touch, we’d love to talk.

Source: David Raab, Raab Associates Inc. https://customerthink.com/seven-marketing-automation-myths-to-ignore-illustrated-edition/