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New research questions the effects of marketing automation

While many marketing companies were quick to adopt the new technology in hopes of quick results, new research suggests that marketing automation may actually be more harmful than helpful.

As Hubspot reports, marketers find automation ineffective considering the effort it requires. In regards to their return on investment (ROI), traditional inbound methods, such as blogging and search engine optimization still yield better results.

How is this possible?

Many companies seem to be unable to avoid the most common marketing automation mistakes. They do not spend enough time planning their automation strategy, they’re overly optimistic and they expect instant results.

On top of that, companies often prioritize quantity over quantity and resort to shady tactics, such as buying email lists and leads. This naturally leads to lower conversion rates and poorer results.

More worryingly, it seems that most businesses do not know how to properly use the automation software that they purchased. They either forget about certain features, overly rely on email campaigns or just completely forget about the automation system once it’s set up for the first time.

Daniel Raab’s research confirms this – companies only implement basic email functions and forget about the more advanced options that most automation platforms offer.

In addition to that, most organizations do not research the software that they’re purchasing properly.  Instead of informing themselves about all the available options on the market, companies like to stick with the most popular automation platforms. While this may work for some companies, a surprisingly high number of businesses quickly stop using their preferred automation software.

In fact, the adoption rate in the automation and CRM industry is abysmal, with estimates saying that more than 65 percent of companies fail to adopt the new platform and then continue using it in their everyday work.

Does this mean that you should stop using marketing automation?

No, far from it.

However, if you’re planning to implement automation in your company, you should carefully evaluate all the potential downsides and benefits. Don’t expect automation to solve all your problems and magically improve your revenue.

Nothing will happen overnight.

Marketing automation requires a lot of effort and if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to acquire more customers, you may find that automaton doesn’t live up to your high expectations.

In case your company is already using automation software, we recommend that you carefully evaluate its effectiveness in light of this new research. Your business may actually be losing money because your automation software isn’t used to its full extent.

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What do you think?

Written by Daniel Richards