Why Marketing Automation Picked Up the Phone…

Recently, it was reported that marketing automation platform provider Act-On, and the call tracking company Ifbyphone, had announced a partnership that would bring the two technologies together – thereby expanding the reach of marketing automation beyond strictly digital channels. Considering how rapidly marketing technologies have been evolving, it was only a matter of time until marketing automation assimilated phone tracking technology as well – it makes perfect sense in terms of measuring and optimizing every part of the buyer’s journey. Nevertheless, what was inevitable is now happening, and behind this specific technology partnership are a few trends, advantages, and best practices that, in general, have been separating Best-in-Class marketers for some time now.

Connecting Business Development / Inside Sales & Marketing:

Traditionally, business development or inside sales teams have fallen almost entirely under the purview of sales management. Functionally speaking, however, as business development and inside sales primarily use phone-based outreach to qualify marketing-generated leads and verify sales-readiness, these teams actually serve as liaisons between marketing and sales. By integrating phone-tracking data into marketing automation data, business development and inside sales teams can have a stronger connection, and even report directly into marketing along with their normal sales functions. In fact, we’re increasingly seeing these teams report to the marketing function as a way to hack sales-acceptance of marketing leads. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Best-in-Class companies in Aberdeen’s State of Marketing Automation 2014: Processes that Produce report are taking this approach, compared with 39% of all other companies. As marketing-sales alignment research shows, 73% of Best-in-Class firms have already empowered their sales teams with access to marketing automation data (vs. 61% of Average firms, and 56% of Laggards), so extending this best practice to phone-based activities is both a logical and valuable progression.

Omni-Channel Advantages:

On the customer experience front, one of the most differentiating trends between top performers and their peers is the implementation of an omni-channel strategy – whereby all market or customer-facing interactions across all channels are not only measured, but optimized to be consistent, relevant and insightful to customers. Companies with omni-channel customer experience management (CEM) programs, for example, increase customer lifetime value at an average rate of 4% year-over-year while non-onmni-channel organizations are hemorrhaging in their customer lifetime value at a 23.3% average decline year-over-year. With digital channels managed by marketing automation integrated with data from phone interactions, organizations have the ability to achieve an even higher competitive advantage through omni-channel strategies.

Phone Tracking Informed Lead Scores:

In my recent marketing automation report, the research revealed that the use of lead scoring was a key differentiator in effective marketing automation platform (MAP) adoption with 68% of Best-in-Class organizations reporting usage, while only 45% of Average firms and 28% of Laggards were able to follow suit for lead scoring. With phone-tracking functionality added to the marketing automation data pool, even richer lead scores can be developed based on call and call attempt metrics.

Overall, however, these are just a few of the pressures and possibilities at play behind the integration of marketing automation and phone tracking capabilities. Only time will tell how such integrations will actually play out, but what’s your take on this recent news? Please share your own insights, opinions or predictions of how you think this partnership will impact the marketing space in the comments below.

Why Marketing Automation Picked Up the Phone…