Using Workflows to Engage with Your Customers
When someone fills out a form on your website, that information is immensely useful. The lead leaves tracking information: how she got to your site. The marketing system also tags each visitor with a unique cookie to follow that lead as that person clicks around your website. Your forms can also initiate other kinds of automated tasks, such as send emails and schedule follow-ups for your sales staff.
A business that relies on workflows benefits from automation
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The important part of this engagement, particularly at these early stages, is
consistency. Your message to leads and clients must reflect your brand and what you stand for at every stage. To this end, you must understand what all those touchpoints are, so leads and customers get the information they need when they need it.
Creating Story Arcs and Buyer Journeys with CRM
Knowing when and how to communicate with leads and clients
build a model of your customer journey. This journey begins at the first mention of your brand to a potential customer. Whenever possible, automate those communication methods so your team can focus on the critical personal touch when and where it matters most.
• Customer fills out lead capture form.
• Automatic sequence of emails is sent every day for three days (also known as an auto-responder).
• A customized brochure created by a print shop using a variable print-on- demand template is sent to the customer.
• Salesperson has a follow-up activity created in the CRM for the following day.
• Customer calls in for support.
• Conversation is automatically recorded and attached to CRM record.
• Customer is sent an email with a satisfaction survey.
. If the survey is returned with a score below a minimum threshold, create a CRM activity for the support manager to follow up with the customer,
• Newsletter is sent to email list with an important call to action
. Customer clicks a button.
. Customer visits a page with a video on it.
. If the customer watches more than 120 seconds of the video, an email is sent to the customer, and a follow-up activity is created in the CRM.
Sending automated and transactional messages
Workflows can be used to set up CRM activities for your sales team. When you need to ensure a human does something, setting up CRM activities is the best way to do it. These activities can be to make a follow-up call, write a personalized email, or accomplish another offline task.
It can be tempting to set up activities for every possible scenario, but be careful to not overwhelm your staff. Be sure that when creating a CRM activity, the person you’re assigning the activity to won’t be given meaningless or too many tasks.