“Automation is good, so long as you know exactly where to put the machine.” – Eliyahu Goldratt

Marketing automation has come a long way. Every year, it becomes more enhanced and sophisticated. Your marketing automation tool helps you build and execute campaigns that influence your customers, effectively and efficiently. Marketing automation technology, today, is more cutting-edge than ever that not only keeps your customers engaged, but also delivers great ROI. Now that 2018 is over, it’s time to focus on the marketing automation trends we expect to see in 2019. Let’s get predicting, shall we?

1. Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots: AI is truly the next big thing in marketing automation. The purpose of the inception of AI was not to replace marketers, but to augment them and to automate their manual tasks. According to a report by Tech Republic, AI use has increased two-fold from 61% of business implementation in 2017 as compared to 38% in 2016. The artificial brain now plays the most significant role in marketing automation. Chatbots creating content, AI-powered PPC advertising, personalized website experience, push notifications, AI churn predictors enhancing customer engagement, AI-driven customer insights to determine customer’s behavioral patterns, and automated image recognition, are just a few ways in which marketers make use of the artificial brain. Considering how AI has taken our world by storm, it is here to stay. Its growth is rapid and would continue to pace in 2019. AI service providers are, now, offering AI-driven enterprise adoption solutions.

2. Content: Lee Odden said, “Content isn’t king, it’s the kingdom.”, and we couldn’t agree more. 2018 was the year of content and we discovered that it’s the center of the online realm. You already have the ability to show personalized and localized content to your website visitors, through marketing automation. Your marketing automation tool lets you distribute your content on the basis of the IP addresses of your website visitors. This trend would only proliferate in 2019 because marketing automation platforms make the distribution of personalized content more effortless and efficient.

3. Hyper-personalization: Personalization is a thing of the past and isn’t special anymore. Customers no longer pay attention if emails use their first name. Enter – hyper-personalization. Personalization calls for an up-to-date customer database with as many attributes as you’re able to obtain. Hyper-personalization goes beyond that by using real-time and discernible data to fashion supremely contextual communication relevant to the customer. According to Evergage 2018 Trends in Personalization, 98% marketers overwhelmingly agree that personalization helps advance customer relationships, with 74% claiming it has a “strong” or “extreme” impact. Nearly 9 out 10 (88%) state that their customers and prospects expect a personalized experience. Marketing automation already excels at fashioning personalized experience for leads. It enables you to connect with your ideal customer and foster their connection with your brand. 2019 strategies would focus more on what communication the customer wants to receive as opposed to what the business wants to create.

4. Predictive Lead Scoring: Marketers can grade the customer’s buying potential and intent through their past purchasing behavior. Marketing automation helps you determine your prospects from your customers through predictive lead scoring. You can accumulate details like the customer’s past purchases and also the purchases that the customer didn’t complete leveraging your marketing automation tools. You could map these patterns to get a clearer picture of your target audience so as to market your product/service to those who are directly looking for what you offer. Through predictive lead scoring, you can save a lot of time and effort, and see a better lead-to-sale conversion rate. Therefore, this is a trend that’s here to stay.

5. Voice Search: Search Engine Marketing has already gone next-level in 2018. Voice Search has gained momentum swiftly. The introduction of Siri, Google, and Alexa has spoilt us and verbal interaction with devices is only going to rise in 2019. Voice search helps you multi-task and handle several other high-priority things that you may have on your plate. According to Gartner, 30% of web browsing sessions will be done without a screen. 2019 is when we’d see better voice search technology unravel.

In the marketing automation realm, 2019 seems more promising and self-assured to bring about new and improved tectonic shifts. It’s safe to say that the perfect time to put a solid marketing automation strategy in action is now! Now, get strategizing!

Want to achieve your highest ROI through your marketing automation platform in 2019?