Marketing Automation: When It Works… and When It Doesn’t

Marketing automation has become a key tool for streamlining communication and improving efficiency. It’s a game-changer when used right, allowing businesses to engage with their customers at scale. But automation isn’t foolproof, and it’s important to design your flows to work not just in the best-case scenario, but in all possible situations.

Recently, I experienced a situation that highlighted the importance of considering exceptions in automation. I had a call scheduled with someone and but they never dialed in. A few hours later, I received a follow-up email thanking me for my time—an appreciated gesture… if only we had actually connected.

This simple incident is a great example of how automation can go wrong if it’s not designed to handle exceptions. The email felt disconnected and out of sync with the situation—it didn’t acknowledge the missed call and came across as tone-deaf to the reality of the interaction.

This experience serves as a reminder that marketing automation should be built with the customer’s full journey in mind, not just the ideal path.

Empathy in Automation: Walking in Your Customer’s Shoes

As marketers, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to optimize processes, but it’s just as important to consider how those processes affect the people on the receiving end. Walking in your customer’s shoes—thinking through their potential frustrations and challenges—can reveal gaps in your automation that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Automated messages that don’t acknowledge a missed interaction or fail to address an unexpected scenario can make your brand feel disconnected, even if the message itself is well-crafted. Customers don’t want to feel like they’re talking to a robot that’s only following a script. They want to know that they’re being listened to, that their time and experience matter.

To truly understand your customers’ experience, walk through the same steps they do. Sign up for your own newsletter, place an order on your website, or schedule a call with your team. By experiencing these touchpoints firsthand, you’ll uncover potential friction points in your automation flows and can make improvements to ensure every interaction feels seamless, even when things don’t go as planned.

Posted: 12/1/2024