Send Email1, Email2 or Email3...how do you choose?
You probably recognize the fields noted above from your CRM system. They represent three separate email addresses that your sales team may capture in the course of having conversations with customers. The IT most likely has given them a generic name since it's really limiting to give them specific names and usually inaccurate over the course of time.
When you're automating your sales and marketing processes - which email do you use? Email1? Email2? or Email3? Or perhaps you're capturing 4 or more?
It can be hard to tell which one to use and in reality it's frequently a gradual learning experience for the entire company - sales, marketing and IT team together.
To illustrate why this is even an issue, I presently capture two email addresses in my CRM system. Yet, my automated business rules only use the field known as Email1. I know that whenever I capture a new email address, the only way it will receive my next automated delivery is if it is in the field known as Email1.
I also know that from past systems, I want event triggered emails based on product shipment alerts sent to one contact, collections notices sent to another contact and follow-up emails to quotes sent to my sales contact.
Hopefully, you can see the immediate opportunity for failure and control when trying to automate. If I fail to capture the email address in the correct field, my automated series will break down and fail to reach my intended recipients. At the same time, if my sale team understand how the system is put together, they can intentionally "opt-out" of the automated marketing process by putting a bogus email address in the field Email1 and put their customer's real email in field Email2 where it is not going to receive the automated series. In this way they maintain control over the relationship. "They can protect their customer from the marketing team."
The situations described above are not necessarily bad. It is simply a matter of working together to make good choices. This is exactly what technology and automated marketing is intended to do - enable choices. Choices for the customer, and choices for you, the company. Sales don't just happen all by themselves - and automated marketing processes don't just get setup by themselves. Automated marketing requires a series of choices that build out the relationship with the customer over a span of time.
When you're automating your sales and marketing processes - which email do you use? Email1? Email2? or Email3? Or perhaps you're capturing 4 or more?
It can be hard to tell which one to use and in reality it's frequently a gradual learning experience for the entire company - sales, marketing and IT team together.
To illustrate why this is even an issue, I presently capture two email addresses in my CRM system. Yet, my automated business rules only use the field known as Email1. I know that whenever I capture a new email address, the only way it will receive my next automated delivery is if it is in the field known as Email1.
I also know that from past systems, I want event triggered emails based on product shipment alerts sent to one contact, collections notices sent to another contact and follow-up emails to quotes sent to my sales contact.
Hopefully, you can see the immediate opportunity for failure and control when trying to automate. If I fail to capture the email address in the correct field, my automated series will break down and fail to reach my intended recipients. At the same time, if my sale team understand how the system is put together, they can intentionally "opt-out" of the automated marketing process by putting a bogus email address in the field Email1 and put their customer's real email in field Email2 where it is not going to receive the automated series. In this way they maintain control over the relationship. "They can protect their customer from the marketing team."
The situations described above are not necessarily bad. It is simply a matter of working together to make good choices. This is exactly what technology and automated marketing is intended to do - enable choices. Choices for the customer, and choices for you, the company. Sales don't just happen all by themselves - and automated marketing processes don't just get setup by themselves. Automated marketing requires a series of choices that build out the relationship with the customer over a span of time.
Comments