I know that this blog will upset those drinking the marketing automation / nurturing Kool Aid but I think we need to be honest about this subject. Are there any benefits marketing automation can provide? Absolutely, the matter of fact we address most generally known benefits in a recent webinar called “Intelligent Email Marketing AKA Marketing Automation”. You can get the recorded version of this webinar here http://budurl.com/SmartEmailMarketing. However, is it really such an instant life saver as the industry is making it out to be? Not by my opinion. I come across more and more frustrated marketers who are disappointed with their marketing automation system and nurturing successes. I thought that since there are a lot of disappointments and even more misinformation out there perhaps we should start separating the facts from fiction and view this subject in a different light. Lets review the most commonly given reasons to implement a marketing automation system.

ROI
Several marketing automation system providers, analysts, and even industry organizations are reporting ROIs but it is hard to master a conclusion. Currently it is virtually impossible to have a correct reporting system no matter what the marketing automation system can do. Actually many of these systems have surprisingly limited capabilities and no customizable reports so they can’t provide much insight regarding returns, but even those that have a great reporting module can’t give you a correct ROI and closed loop reporting. This is because in addition to time, the numbers are also dependent on internal processes, decisions, and other systems connected to the marketing automation system.

Thus, my suggestion would be that when you sell these tools to your upper management you don’t give this as one of your reasons to buy, rather explain that these systems are becoming necessary like webex, salesforce.com, peopleimport, etc. It is a necessary tool for marketers in getting all the marketing data organized and monitored so that you can base your decisions on some facts. In addition, you can add that if it would help increase closing deals even in just a small percentage then that can translate into revenue.

Valuable Collected Information
While I agree that a lot of great information can be gathered through a Marketing Automation System since it tracks visitors on your website, landing pages, forms, clicks, opens, etc. I am less and less inclined to believe that marketers can or are doing anything at all with all of this collected information. Most industry experts say this is because of lack of education. Marketers are just simply not aware of what they could accomplish and those who are using the systems have difficulties embracing the systems. Have these experts been on the web lately? There is no shortage of information about marketing automation and there is certainly no shortage of marketers gathering information and attending webinars, trainings, and events to learn more about it. And as to embracing the technology, while many system providers would like to think that marketers just don’t get it because they are not technical enough perhaps marketers aren’t the problem. Even if that was true and all marketers would be technically challenged, wouldn’t it be the system providers’ job to create a user friendly system marketers could use? If they created it for us to use and we can’t use it, then wouldn’t it make more sense that perhaps they weren’t developed correctly? Marketers are able to use other technical devices thus I would imagine that if the marketing automation system was designed differently then the marketers who supposedly are having problems would not have those problems.

The truth is that the valuable information most of the time is not used because marketers are short on time! There is no time to plan, to wait, to analyze, to compare, to adjust, to do anything other than trying to keep our heads above the water. In addition, marketers are smart and are cautious of magic solutions. What sounds too good to be true often is too good to be true.

I am sorry to burst any bubbles but marketing automation does and will not solve all the problems marketers are facing or what some of the system providers claiming it can solve with an array of collected information. The industry made marketing automation to be automagic that will instantly change everything for marketers and the qualified leads that will make sales happy, will just fly in. This is not the case. It is not automagic. What you need to think of instead is that this is a tool that if set up correctly, used and managed correctly, can speed up and automate many of your marketing processes. It can help you track and translate collected information that can get you CLOSER knowing which of the thousands of people in your database MAY BE interested in your products or services.

Qualified Leads
Marketers who drank the Kool Aid and sold the “miracle” to sales and upper management are now facing a very difficult time. Why? Because there is no guarantee that leads who open two emails instead of one will be more qualified. There are no guarantees that a lead with a collected lead score of 99 is any better than a lead with a score of 42. And there are no guarantees that your company’s sales people can make the most of what you have collected and be able to close more deals. It is all based on assumptions and most marketers will not get the chance to make changes based on collected information and turn the assumptions into something more. Marketers are told that they will be up and running with their marketing automation in a week, they are told that they will be able to swift through their database quickly, score everything and provide qualified leads to sales. So marketers figure that in a month or so they would be able to provide qualified leads to their sales department. But when marketers present this magic solution and tell sales that they will be receiving qualified leads, sales is thinking of leads that are ready to buy, which are actually opportunities. However, when sales make those calls they do not feel the huge difference scoring or nurturing up till that point have made and the “Marketing Qualified Lead” battle will start immediately and when it does, most marketers know, that it is their war to lose. Thus, a word of caution to those who think that by implementing a marketing automation system, they will be able to provide instant qualified leads to their sales people.

In addition, even systems marketers are able to use will have issues. Some are better than others, some are a better fit for your organization than others, but even a perfect system could not satisfy the expectations that the industry had painted. I am saying this because these systems are not stand alone solutions and what you can do with them depends on many things the systems have no control over but people tend to attribute it to these systems anyway.

Am I saying that nurturing is irrelevant? No. We all know that it is becoming harder and harder to get to people whether it is through phone, text, email or any other marketing channel. We can agree that Email is still one of the best ways to get your message in front of leads and it continues to be necessary. I am saying that the result this technology has the capability to create is not instant and in some cases never achievable because of things that are above the system’s control.

Should you still consider them? Absolutely! Just keep in mind that it will not give you all of the results it reportedly can give you, what it will give you will not be instant, and you may not be able to provide your sales people with opportunities. However, since more and more companies are using sophisticated technologies and those who adopt them earlier than later can rip the benefits for the time being it is working, you should lead rather than follow. Marketing Automation is one of these technologies. It is relatively new since reportedly only about 5% of companies are using it, which means that you don’t have such stiff competition just yet but that will change in the next decade as MA will become the norm and most companies will be nurturing their leads. Then you will have to implement it anyway since you will have to compete with your competition but by then the benefits will be less substantial. So what I am saying is that Marketing Automation is becoming a necessary evil and most likely you need to consider it but you need to know what and how much to expect from it immediately and perhaps sell it differently to upper management than how they sold it to you.

Industry and Market Conditions
The industry and the market conditions are also changing. The list of system providers is becoming endless and some have started to merge or be acquired. Email open and click rates are steadily declining since as more companies implement marketing automation the more saturated those inboxes are getting. Recipients are less and less forgiving of received emails and reporting senders in a much higher rate. Even educational materials, which is the backbone of nurturing, are starting to be looked at as spam. Not to mention that the idea behind “nurturing” is to “create a relationship” with a lead, but many of today’s leads are not looking for a relationship, nor do they stay with companies long enough to be nurtured. Again, am I saying that you should not utilize a marketing automation system? No, I am saying that perhaps you want to look at the reasons of getting one differently. Today you have to keep in mind that email marketing and nurturing is a numbers game and you will need more email addresses, send less frequent emails, and be prepared that it will not be easy and no system can change the rocky road we, marketers, are all in for. I am saying that when you look at these systems do not buy them simply for “lead nurturing” or in the hope of getting “instant qualified leads” because you will be disappointed. Get it because currently you can still rip some of the benefits email marketing can offer, get it because it can speed up and automate many marketing processes, get it because in time you can use the collected information it documents for you, get it because it is a tool for you to have your data organized, monitored and help you make decisions.

Conclusion
Before you buy, know what you will use the system for. If you need leads and that is your main focus than you would be better off with a cost per lead program where someone else is doing all the work and you pay only for leads delivered to you. See our program description here http://generationomarketing.com/leadgen.pdf . If you decide to get a system you may want explore options in outsourcing its management, see such options here http://generationomarketing.com/OutsourcedTurnkeyPrograms.pdf If you only need to be able to send large number of emails, then look for the cheapest email blaster that can support that function. If you have trouble justifying these systems to upper management start with an inexpensive marketing automation solution. There are some smaller companies like NetResults, Acton, or Pardot that offer most of the features as the bigger organizations but cost much less than the systems offered by the leaders in the industry. You can find more systems here http://generationomarketing.com/sponsors.html .

If you are looking for more, have the time, and a management who understand that this is a long term investment, if you have a large database, the means to keep it updated, and with whom it make sense to keep in touch, and you want a system that can track and collect activities, a system that can send large number of emails, and provide you with information you can use a year from now, then buying a more expensive and more capable marketing automation system is a good fit for you.

In that case, do not look at the ROI based on reporting but look for other benefits discussed earlier. The collected information is nice to have but keep in mind that you will not be able to make decisions for a while. A sufficient amount of time will need to pass in order to collect enough information to test and analyze in order to make changes. Do not promise qualified leads to sales! Call it a new lead assignment process if you have to, so the only difference they will know is how they will be getting the leads and what to look for on the records. Be aware of the market changes and if you buy a system buy it for more than just for the “relationship building”. Brace for system issues, and know that not all the things you see during a demo will be achievable in your particular instance because your instance will depend on your organization, its processes, other systems, and people. But most of all do not take everything you hear on a demo for face value. When you are making a selection, it is good to involve a third party consultant who can paint a more realistic picture for you so you will know what to expect. When selecting a consultant, look for one who is not only working with one or two providers or too involved with system providers in general. When a consultant or agency’s business is solely reliant on the marketing automation system providers you will less likely get an objective suggestion. Feel free to contact us with any questions at info@generationomarketing.com .

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Learn how to spend more time on selling and less time on managing prospect communications. Webinar June 30, 2010 9:30am Mountain Time. First 50 registrants will be entered into an Opportunity drawing to win an Apple 15” MacBook Pro. http://www.generationomarketing.com/SalesROEForm.html