How the right automation platform can reduce human error and unlock new customer insights

What are touchpoints in marketing?

Any effective automated marketing campaign begins with identifying customer touchpoints. But what do we mean by “touchpoints” in marketing? Touchpoints are the places where current and potential customers interact with your company, and in so doing, they leave telling fingerprints about what they are looking for.

Leveraging automation across the buyer’s journey

We firmly believe data leads to better business decisions, particularly when it comes to customer acquisition and retention strategies. Knowing customers’ various touchpoints before, during, and after the purchase process helps you engage with them in meaningful ways, strengthening their relationship with your brand.

Leveraging automation before a purchase

Before a purchase, offering a variety of channels through which customers can learn more about products and services is key. Do they prefer to engage via SMS, a phone call, Facebook, or Google Messenger? Offering more channels not only creates more entry points for customers but also serves as more ways to collect data that you can use to move them along the buyer’s journey.

One of the best current examples of this is cart abandonment in an e-commerce environment. When a potential customer leaves something in their cart without making a purchase, the right automation software can ping them a day later, prompting them to complete the purchase. According to one survey, this tactic can reduce abandonment and boost sales by up to 30%.

Leveraging automation during a purchase

During the buying process, automation tools can provide support functions such as a chat message where the customer can ask pre-sales questions about the product or service. Depending on the commonality and complexity of their questions, the inquiries can either be answered by a chatbot or a live agent. It’s even possible for live agents to offer video chat with services like Twilio Flex to review different product features and provide an experience akin to an in-store visit.

Leveraging automation after a purchase

The most successful brands know that customer retention is just as important as customer acquisition. Automating personalized care after a purchase can be immensely helpful for both your customers and support agents. According to our partner Twilio’s latest report on customer engagement, 98% of companies believe personalization increases customer engagement, to which 83% of consumers agree.

One of the biggest frustrations customers have when engaging with a brand’s support team is having to answer questions the company should already know. Effective automation software can immediately provide this information to any available support agent, allowing the customer to address their issue faster. This also frees up support teams to work on more nuanced, complex cases rather than assisting with repetitive issues day after day.

Finding the right automation platform

Gleaning the data from those touchpoints, of course, is most efficiently accomplished through automation. That means leveraging the right technology in ways that don't require a lot of hands-on involvement from your team. In our experience, few platforms offer more automation capabilities than Twilio Segment, Twilio’s customer data platform, which collects, standardizes, and unifies customer data to create automated campaigns to drive sales and customer experience.

A big reason why Segment can be so effective is its ability to pull in data from all sources, such as mobile and web, and even third-party services. For example, let’s say you run a landscaping service; Segment can pull in third-party weather data and send automated messages to customers prompting them to schedule service ahead of nasty weather. It’s a specific example but also one that shows just how customized – and, therefore, effective – marketing automation can be when using the right platform.

Automation enhances, not eliminates, jobs

Progress on the backs of automation has a history of disruption, and some question whether leveraging technology in marketing will ultimately become a job killer. But that’s not likely to happen with the kind of automation that we are contemplating here. This category of automation is all about accomplishing defined tasks and efficiently, giving marketers the tools and information they need to make informed decisions.

Automation is not going to replace strategy. It’s not a substitute for creativity or a proxy for critical thinking. Those discerning human qualities are critical in making sense of data, of unearthing the applicable value of your findings to your maximum advantage. Your team’s nuanced understanding of your brand and your customers will never be eclipsed by automation.

Think of automation as a strategic partner, one with a key that can quickly unlock secrets about your customers. It will relieve the burden of repetitive tasks, reduce human error, improve consistency, and lighten your team’s workload. That’s the kind of partner that everyone would want on their team.

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