Encouraging marketers to automate their digital communications is a big part of what we do at Everlytic, and we’re excited to add a powerful new Zapier integration tool to our platform. Why? Because it gives first-time communication automators a simple way to maximise their omni-channel messaging while allowing seasoned operators to level up their digital strategy. But what exactly is communication automation, and what are tried-and-tested ways to implement it in your business?
In this piece, we’ll give you an overview of what techniques you can implement, point out key benefits of using communication automation, and motivate you to take one step closer to becoming an expert communication automator.
What is Communication Automation?
We previously defined communication automation as the third and final step in your Everlytic Growth Journey, where you use workflows and transactional messaging to enhance value throughout the customer lifecycle. Our offering has now grown, and we have three automation techniques that can help you create value in different ways:
- Traditional Workflows: These are pre-built communication journeys you send prospects or customers on when they choose to enrol by taking a specific action, like completing a subscription form. Workflows are ideal for nurturing leads or educating participants on a specific topic.
- Transactional Messaging: This is ultra-secure, high-speed messaging you only send people who already do business with you. Transactional messaging is highly personalised and only sent when someone takes a given action online. This mode of automation is ideal for business-critical communications like customer support, and for sharing account-related information like OTPs and invoices.
- Transactional Workflows: This is the next evolution of transactional messaging that spans the gaps between thousands of online apps and our platform, giving the same advantages of transactional messaging but triggered on an almost infinite number of in-app actions.
It’s in this last mode of communication that our Zapier integration makes its value felt most. Imagine being able to send high-speed, reliable, and ultra-secure transactional email and SMS in response to actions taken by any customer on any major online app, anywhere. For example, this new integration can help you to:
- Seamlessly integrate with your CRM
- Effortlessly sync with your social platforms
- Harvest data with all popular form apps
- Easily create omni-channel workflows
If you’re new to communication automation, don’t fear. Our new Zapier integration gives you a user-friendly workflow composition experience similar to what our customers have come to enjoy on our traditional workflow builder. The actual integration is handled by Zapier, so no need to learn new coding skills either.
Want to learn more about the differences between traditional and transactional workflows? Have a look at our blog piece titled, Supercharge Your Customer Support with Transactional Workflows.
Ready to Start Automating Your Comms?
At this point you’re probably keen to start integrating with the major online apps you use daily to support your customers. Three important benefits of using automation include:
- Boosting Your Productivity: If you send thousands of business-critical emails every month, especially recurring ones relating to customer accounts, then doing so manually isn’t practical. Automating your comms helps you to free up your teams so they can focus on more strategic tasks.
- Keeping Your Customers Happy: Customer retention depends on multiple variables, including effective, relevant, and timely communications. Automated messaging is more likely to meet your customers’ urgent support needs since it can make them feel heard (via personalisation) while providing perfectly-timed responses to queries.
- Strengthening Your Brand: Maintaining a consistent brand voice on all your digital touchpoints is hard work. Automation helps you cover all angles of the customer journey with appropriate messaging, from initial engagement to nurturing brand advocacy. This is especially true when using classic and transactional workflows to support your brand voice.
Our new Zapier integration makes automation a breeze, but we recommend you pursue proficiency in all areas of communication automation to get a full idea of what’s possible. Learn more by reading our Everlytic Growth Journey page.
Become a Communication Automator
Our new Zapier integration makes communication automation even simpler, helping you to enhance your digital strategy and boost value for customers at any point in their journey. That said, it’s but one addition to a range of proven automation tools that includes traditional workflows and transactional messaging. When used on their own, or as part of a wider strategy, each of these techniques can help you maximise productivity, nurture satisfied customers, and maintain a strong brand presence across all your digital channels.
