Marketing automation has been used as a business practice to help increase efficiency in marketing practices, reduce overhead costs, and increase net profits. It has proven to be an effective method to help increase CLV or Customer Lifetime Value. Before we explain how it does so, it is important to understand exactly what marketing automation is and how it positively affects CLV.

First and foremost, it is the technology that automates marketing processes across multiple digital channels, such as email, social media, and text messaging. It is utilized to increase revenue because it streamlines and simplifies some of the more time-consuming tasks of sales roles.

In addition, it enables a business to connect with their consumer base and tailor their advertisements towards the customer. Through marketing automation, data is collected to create a comprehensive view of each customer. The company can then use this data to send advertisements to the customers according to how they’ve interacted with media in the past. This practice enables the company to connect on a deeper level with the customer. As a result, the customer may feel greater satisfaction with the business and will thus continue to utilize its services.

During this process, it is imperative for a business to tailor the advertisement towards what the customer would purchase; and secondly, after the initial transaction with the customer has been completed, there must be follow-up informational support through relevant channels. That means that if a customer has demonstrated a habit of utilizing Facebook over email or any other medium, the company should provide additional information that will eventually lead to the customer to making another transaction.

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Now that the process has been explained, we can elaborate on the various ways that marketing automation will help increase CLV.

1. Abandonment Emails 

One method of utilizing marketing automation is through cart abandonment emails. When customers abandon their carts while shopping online, companies will send them customized emails to remind them to purchase their favorite products.

One company, Zachys, used this method to increase its e-commerce by 53%. In addition to regular cart-abandonment emails, Zachys sent browse and search abandonment emails when a customer searched a specific product or browsed a particular webpage.

2. Informative Emails 

Marketing automation also involves utilizing informative methods to encourage customers to make transactions with a company. Businesses do this by educating customers about their service. For example, they teach customers how to interact with their product so they can get to know it and stay with it long enough to continuously use the service.

Businesses may show the customer how easy it is to purchase the product and have it delivered. They may also send promotions or present convenient ways to return the product. Companies often email special discount codes to customers who have signed up for emails but have not yet purchased anything. This automated method of customer service effectively entices the customer to engage in purchases with a sense of efficiency and convenience.

3. Cross-Selling and Up-selling

Two additional methods of marketing automation that are utilized are up-selling and cross-selling. Customers are often presented with other options while they browse for one product. Up-selling encourages the customer to buy a comparable higher-end product, whereas cross-selling invites the customer to buy related or complementary items.

For example, while shopping for a laptop, a customer may be cross-sold a headset; or in this same scenario, the customer may be up-sold a more expensive laptop. In both cases, if the company is successful, the purchase will generate more revenue than what the customer originally intended to buy.

4. Encouraging Reviews

Some customers tend to do research before they buy a product by reading reviews. Marketing automation can urge customers to write a review for a product they buy, so that future customers trust its value. Marketing automation presents customers with an option to review shortly after they have bought a product. They can review the product itself and the customer service representative who helped them with the purchase.

When a service acquires enough positive reviews, it is likely that more people will solicit it. The business may also take the extra step by asking customers to promote their products or make recommendations to their friends and family, which serves to create even more business. Finally, because marketing automation facilitates the very first step of generating customer reviews, it plays a key role in fomenting lifetime CLV.

Conclusion

As you can see, marketing automation can be used in various ways to increase customer lifetime value. It is also an effective way to streamline marketing processes and facilitate the type of customer service that will develop customer loyalty for a lifetime and encourage customers to promote the services of a business to ensure its growth and prosperity.