THE MAROPOST GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION PLATFORMS

Transcription

1 THE MAROPOST GUIDE TO MARKETING AUTOMATION PLATFORMS 1

2 HOW DO YOU START YOUR SEARCH FOR THE BEST MARKETING AUTOMATION PLATFORM? Marketing Automation Platforms (MAP) today are not what they were 5 or even 2 years ago. No longer focused on alone, modern MAPs are the bedrock of many cross-channel marketing strategies. Despite their recent advancements, most MAPs can t keep up with the companies using them. Organizations typically only use a platform for 2 years before moving and, while moving platforms doesn t need to be complicated, it takes time. Which means you need to choose a platform that suits your company s current needs, while also offering the tools you ll need as your business grows. Selecting the right Marketing Automation Platform isn t just about investing in new technology it s also about creating a strategic relationship with your vendor. With this in mind, how do you decide which MAP is right for your business? After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we ve developed a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria to get you started. 2

3 SIZE OF THE PLATFORM To start narrowing your search for the perfect MAP, you need to determine the number and complexity of campaigns you plan to run usually, the bigger the MAP, the more complexity you can build into your campaigns. MAPs can be categorized into three main sizes: SMB, mid-market, and enterprise-level. SMB This MAP usually comes with a free trial and a low cost perfect for small businesses. However, limited capabilities and little technical support mean this MAP can t handle much more than simple campaigns. MID-MARKET The mid-market MAP category is evolving rapidly, with new capabilities emerging constantly. Although vertical focus and features vary, most mid-market MAPs can handle a large volume, meaning these MAPs can accommodate larger clients as well. ENTERPRISE Top-of-the-line MAPs differentiate themselves with complex campaign capabilities and a high-degree of data integration. These platforms easily operate across multiple channels and integrate with other platforms, using sophisticated reporting to create a 360-degree view customers out of data from across sources. 3

4 PLATFORM INNOVATION SCALABILITY AND PRODUCT ROADMAP The most common reason for organizations to switch MAPs is that they ve simply outgrown the platform. To make sure your MAP can scale with your company, start by asking vendors these questions: If How large is your average client? Have any clients successfully scaled with your solution? What does your product roadmap look like? Will new features be included in the cost, or will they be extra? we need a new feature, how will you accommodate our request? 4

5 EASE-OF-USE Extensive features in your MAP don t mean much if you can t use them. To ensure you choose a platform that suits your staff s skillset, here are some items to ask or test: How long does onboarding typically take? Does design come with templates and are there modular design options? Is the interface intuitive, or does it take you a while to find each module? PERSONALIZATION, SEGMENTATION, AND AUTOMATION By now, you ve probably heard all about the importance of personalized customer experiences. Data-driven personalization needs to leverage all available information to deliver customer-specific content and the right MAP will include all the tools you need to do so. One of the most important areas of a MAP for this endeavor is segmentation the more complex your segmentation capabilities, the more personalized your customer experiences. But manual segmentation just isn t practical, which is why you also need a healthy mix of automation in your MAP. Here are some questions you can ask to ensure a MAP has the tools you need to create seamless customer experiences. 5

6 Personalization Does the platform allow for dynamic content? What are the platform s campaign automation capabilities? Can you easily create and modify customer journeys? Segmentation What segmentation capabilities does the platform come with? Can you build custom segments? Automation 14. Can the MAP use machine learning to deliver custom content? 15. Does the platform allow for persona tracking and predictive analytics? 6

7 CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT It s not enough to create personalized experiences you also need to create consistent experiences across channels. The greater the integration between your channels, the easier it is to run effective cross-channel campaigns Is it easy to create custom landing pages? What kind and complexity of forms can you create? Here are some social media-specific questions you ll also want to ask: Can you create social media posts from inside the platform? Can you track social media engagement? 7

8 20. Which social media platforms are integrate with the platform? Your MAP should also be optimized for mobile marketing Does the MAP facilitate responsive design? Can you automatically generate mobile versions of HTML s? Is SMS marketing supported? Is there tracking and reporting for SMS marketing? Is it possible to segment SMS lists? 8

9 ADVANCED ANALYTICS In your search for the perfect MAP, analytics should be a top priority. Your MAP should be able to present all the data you have on hand in a way that makes sense to you so you can make more informed decisions. Here s what you need to know: Can you create custom reports? Is it possible to export data with other tools such as Google Analytics or a CRM? Are there any third-party analytics integrations? TECHNICAL SUPPORT One of the main benefits of investing in an enterprise-level MAP is the technical support but not all customer support is created equal. Start by determining the resources your team has and the resources they need to achieve their goals, to ensure you have the level of support you need when you need it. 29. What does the ticketing system look like? 9

10 Is there any online help, such as in-app chat or a knowledge base? What are customer support s access hours like? While onboarding support is vital to your success on any MAP, you ll also want access to continual training as new features are added to your MAP Is Do new feature releases include training? Is training available online and live? there a cost for additional training? DATA, API & SECURITY For smarter marketing decisions, you need to take a data-driven approach to do this, your MAP should be able to centralize and analyze data from across channels and between integrations. It s only by integrating your data that you can gain a 360-degree of your customers and start creating the personalized experiences they expect. 10

11 Relational Databases One of the main ways marketers make sense of data is through relational databases. However, not all MAPs provide complete relational database capabilities. You want to make sure that you ll be able to keep data in different tables and then relate them to customers for use in targeted campaigns. Here, the one question you need to ask is: 35. Does your platform support true relational databases? Application Programming Interface Data integration requires your MAP to connect to external systems like CRMs, content management systems, and ecommerce platforms and for custom integrations you ll need access to the MAP s Application Programming Interface (API). There are various API types, so you ll need to ensure your technical team is up to speed on your platform s particular API. Here are the questions you can ask to ensure your team will be able to handle your MAP s API: 36. Is there any integration support from the vendor? 37. What programming language is the API written in? 38. Is there access to written documentation? 39. Are there testing environments to work with? 11

12 Data Security Just like data integration, data security is an important area to explore in any MAP. Before moving critical (and personal) customer data to a new MAP, you need to ensure the platform adheres to all relevant data security regulations. There are two main ways MAPs protect your data: encryption and tokenization. With encryption, you store your data within the MAP s database, but in an encrypted form. Using tokenization, you keep your data in your own database. The MAP then holds a database of tokens instead of the actual data and an API call with the token is submitted to collect the data from the client when needed. To do your due diligence on data security, start with these questions: 40. Has 41. What there ever been a data breach? types of security measures are in place to prevent a breach? 42. Is there monitoring and alerts? 43. What kind of encryption is used? 12

13 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING AI s biggest advantage lies in its ability to sort through bulk data efficiently and pick up patterns. To make sure your new marketing automation platform has the artificial intelligence capabilities you need to make deeper data insights, ask the following questions: Does your solution have any predictive analytic capabilities? Is there any support to set it up? Does the AI come included or are there extra fees? With these questions in hand, you re ready to explore the MAP market and find the perfect fit for your organization. If you re looking for somewhere to start your search, Maropost Marketing Cloud might just be the right MAP for you. Learn how Maropost Marketing Cloud can drive revenue, improve customer relationships, and power efficiency for your business on one easy-to-use platform. See It In Action 13