DIGITAL STRATEGY BLOG

One of the biggest marketing buzz (pun totally intended) words right now is "marketing automation". Everyone is starting to realize the benefits of getting things done without having to think about it - plus the elimination of human error is a nice benefit as well. 

That's where one of HubSpot's most powerful tools comes into play - workflows. First, I want to start off by saying that I absolutely love workflows and love trying new things with workflows. We're all busy and any advantage we can give ourselves or anything that we can get off our plates is big.

The problem is that most HubSpot users that we meet aren't actually using HubSpot workflows to their full potential. So, let's take a look at six mistakes that many of you might be making with your workflows and how to correct them.

HubSpot is one of the best tools in any marketing or sales team's arsenal, but a tool is really only as good as the person using it. Our CAM (Channel Account Manager) at HubSpot, Jacob (@jacobin617), loves to use the analogy of a helicopter. It goes something like this -

If someone asked you if you wanted a helicopter, what would you say? You'd say heck yeah!

Then they'd drop the helicopter off in your backyard and you'd have no idea what to do with it. Where do you get gas for the helicopter? How do you fly it (hint: that's not how!)? Who does helicopter maintenance? There are so many questions to go along with your cool new toy.

In a previous blog post titled Why You Can't Afford NOT to Have a Lead Nurturing Campaign, I talked about the importance of capturing leads and staying in front of them. If you've read that post, you might remember that 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance. 

We know that staying in front of our leads is a crucial component of moving them through the sales cycle and eventually converting them into customers. We also know that email is the major tactic that we use for lead nurturing. But keeping up with regular email marketing to your database can be incredibly time consuming, especially if you're sending targeted emails to different lists based on their behaviors. This is where email workflows come into play. Let's examine what an email workflow is and how it can help your business.  

As those of you who have consistently read our blog posts or have chatted with us about inbound marketing likely know, inbound marketing does not stop once a visitor has become a lead. Instead, inbound marketing is all about touching potential buyers at every stage of the buyer's journey and helping move them through the sales cycle to become customers (and eventually promoters). One way we do this in inbound marketing is by implementing lead nurturing campaigns. Let's look at what lead nurturing is and why you can't afford to ignore it. 

A common marketing goal for most companies is to find new customers and increase the size of their database. Touching more people and gaining new customers is a great goal but, while this is something that every company should be reaching towards, many companies end up focusing so heavily on this goal that they overlook the opportunity they have to nurture their relationships with current customers and encourage repeat business. 

The relationship with current customers is something no one can't afford to ignore. These people have already bought into your company and product, you've already sold them and taken them through your entire sales funnel. They believe in your company. Don't let that be the end of your interaction with them! Turning your current customers into repeat customers can be huge for your business. In fact, did you know that the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60–70% and the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%; (that’s up to 14 times more, or 5 on average). In addition, returning customers spend on average 67% more than first-time customers. You already have an established relationship with these people and you cannot and should not let that relationship fall by they wayside.

While there are a lot of inbound marketing tactics you can (and should) use to communicate with your current customers and help encourage repeat business, today I want to address one of most direct touch points: email. So, why is email marketing important for growing return business? Let's take a look...