Most companies continuously gather an enormous amount of data about their customers. Despite the amount of information, the big picture is often hazy – not to mention that all this data would be taken advantage of in marketing actions.

Valuable information often stays unused because data is gathered with several systems that are maintained by different departments and people that don't communicate with each other. The understanding about the customer is divided into small pieces: customer service knows one part, marketing another, sales perhaps the third. Data lies in the systems without its hidden potential being used.

How existing customer data could be taken advantage of in marketing actions? In our article we go through concrete examples where data from different systems is combined with marketing automation to be used for marketing purposes.

CRM + marketing automation

Combining the customer relationship management system (CRM) to the marketing automation system helps the sales and marketing teams to collaborate more efficiently.

Examples of automated messages that use the data from the CRM system:

• Send targeted newsletters automatically for different segments based on the stage of customership or activity
• Send an automatic offer/meeting proposal for customers that haven't made a purchase in a year
• Send an event invitation for all the prospects that have already had one meeting
• Send an automatic reminder about the renewal of a contract well in advance before the contract expires
• Send an automatic welcoming campaign to customers that have just signed a contract
• Gather feedback automatically from customers that have discontinued their contract or from former customers

Webstore + marketing automation

Combining the customer data from a webstore to marketing automation works especially well in up-selling or cross-selling, but also offers other possibilities.

• Segment customers according to their purchases and send targeted newsletters to different groups
• Send an automatic newsletter to the buyers of a certain product where you recommend other suitable products
• Send an order renewal reminder to the buyer of a product that is ordered regularly
• Send an automatic info package of the best ways to benefit from a certain product to the buyer of the product 
• Send a shopping cart reminder and offer assistence if needed.

Booking system + marketing automation

Different kinds of booking systems offer wonderful opportunities to take advantage of automation in a creative way. Whether it's a hotel room booking, a visit to the dentist or a vehicle inspection, the opportunities for up-selling or cross-selling are numerous.

• Offer a better price for someone who has booked a room from an international booking service if they book a room from the hotel's own system the next time. This way you avoid commissions.
• Send an automatic drip campaign to someone who has booked a holiday to provide information about the destination and at the same time market chargeable additional services
• Send an offer about a dental checkup or a vehicle inspection to someone whose last appointment was a year ago
• Offer an upgrade to a better cabin for someone who has booked a cruise and encourage making the restaurant bookings in advance
• Ask for feedback automatically after an event and market the next event.

Existing customer data as the starting point for automation

Existing customer data and it being up-to-date are great starting points for personalized communication and marketing automation. While composing the first automated messages, it pays off to start from putting the already gathered customer data into use. By doing this, automation can be tested out in practice from the get-go, knowing what data already exists and what data is needed to further develop communications.

Contact our experts if you want to further discuss marketing automation and taking advantage of customer data. LianaCEM is an agile tool that enables you to quickly implement and test marketing automation in practice.

See the previous parts of the article series

• Marketing automation in practice, part 1: from small streams to customer experience – important everyday automation
• Marketing automation in practice, part 2: how to identify a visitor
• Marketing automation in practice, part 3: Drip campaigns – step by step towards a goal