Top 5 Questions You Should Ask Before Selecting A Marketing Automation Platform

As businesses turn their focus on automating their marketing campaigns, many enterprises are still unable to identify what they need to leverage the benefits of marketing automation.

With the rate of adoption exceeding 50%, numerous surveys highlight the idea that the growth rate will be even greater as new market automation vendors enter the market. Today, markers have many options when it comes to choosing marketing automation platforms.

Clearly, expanding the number of viable leads and accelerating sales cycles are crucial processes that require you to take caution when choosing the right solutions.

Therefore, business owners must do a thorough analysis of their needs before turning to vendors to buy marketing automation solutions. To get you started, here are the top 5 questions you should resolve before choosing an automated marketing platform.

1. What are your main lead sources?

This is a fundamental question that perhaps many marketers do not answer as they should. As a marketer, you should not let yourself get away with an answer to this question if you have to be on the right track.

While marketing automation platforms will be essential when comparing the effectiveness of various marketing channels, starting your journey with some understanding of what is a suitable for you can give you an upper hand when choosing from a list of qualifying vendors.

For example, you should ask whether Tweeter is offering you the right leads. If so, you should begin by choosing a vendor who is capable of delivering more leads from Tweeter and other viable social media platforms.

2. What do you consider a “good lead”?

There is a lot of talk out there about how many marketers are reaping from automation marketing, which is true. However, before buying, you will need to converse with the sales figures in mind with a view of measuring and tracking your criteria effectively. You may need to wind up knowing that sales are not increasing as expected. A good lead is one which is measurable, predictable and one against which you can measure your success.

3. How long does it take to close a lead?

Again, business marketers might say they require marketing automation to learn rate behavior. The truth is that it is not necessary. If you have installed a CRM system, you should be able to perform a funnel conversion analysis on your leads to close. You want to know this before you begin talking to your vendors since it is one of the key metrics you will need to improve your marketing performance.

4. Who Will Manage Your System?

Of course, this is a basic question, but one that receives the least attention whenever one talks about automation marketing. It is cost-effective to run the system on your own, but this can be a daunting task. You can choose to outsource an expert to run your system. Answering this question will lead you to a list of vendors who are qualified to do the job.

5. What Are the Essential Things That Define the Future Performance of Your Marketing Campaigns?

When searching for that perfect automated marketing system, you must have feature requirements in mind. For example, my target audience responds well to emails, therefore I would want an automated marketing software that organizes and can send emails easily to my customers and support base.