Imagine you’ve got several leads in your pipeline. Some are just inquisitive, others have shown genuine interest and others are ready to buy. This is where marketing automation needs to be done right. With a good marketing automation system sorted, you can convert these inquisitors into connections and pass these buyers onto sales with just the click of a button.

Although converting prospects into customers is the main goal, many marketers still manage to miss the target. Forrester Research states that companies that excel at lead nurturing, generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% less the cost. This means that getting your marketing automation right is really worth it.

Here are five marketing automation things that you may be doing wrong that are affecting your results.

Targeting with the wrong content

It’s all about sending the right content to trigger the right conversation. With the right email sent at the right time, you can deliver a message that will relate to your recipients’ needs. In order to do this, you need to first understand what the customer wants. This is where the content is key as the message is what triggers the conversation.

One thing that many businesses do wrong, is sending their customers the wrong information. You need to show your customers that you’re the leader within this field and that you know exactly what you’re talking about. You need a content marketing strategy that will reach customers through every marketing channel.

Inaccurately nurturing your leads

You need to be able to employ the kind of lead nurturing techniques that aid customers through their buying process from start to finish. It is important to give the lead time to grow and make various touch points. Don’t pass the leads on until they are ready. Responding effectively and accurately to leads to ensure that only the most qualified leads are passed on to your sales reps is really valuable.

Sending too much irrelevant content in your drip campaigns

A classic rookie error is sending content too frequently. You want to be the first business customers think of when they want to purchase, but you don’t want to over-do it, to the point where customers ignore your emails. Your drip campaigns need to be relevant and delivered in sequence to guarantee the best effect.

Using the wrong channel of communication

Social media is big business these days and it can be a beneficial way to target your audience. Lots of people now use social media like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Each social media channel has something different to offer so it’s important to target the right one with the right information. LinkedIn can be used to promote blogs, whereas twitter is a great platform for people to ask you questions. It’s important to have the right attitude to each channel.

Impersonal Emails

Personalisation is extremely important. A human element will much more likely convince someone to reply rather than make them feel as if they’re just talking to a robot. This will increase your reply rate as well as get a conversation going that will establish what the buyer wants and how you can work with them. You can try simple things like using a customer’s name rather than addressing them generally or use a human email address rather than a company address.

There’s a lot to consider with marketing automation. However, by employing a few little techniques you can be sure to see improvements in leads-to-sales-conversations. This is just the start, for more information see if you are employing the right practices in your marketing endeavours?