Why Integrate Marketing Automation With ERP?

Ever considered what the data inside your ERP might have to offer your marketing team? You may be surprised by the dynamic and powerful results that can be achieved by linking these two powerful tools. By bringing together your ERP and marketing automation platform you have the ability to effectively share data around sales history, shipping data, and project information.

Expert marketers immediately recognize the value of integrating and utilizing this kind of information. Imagine the ability to engage customers in new ways while exponentially growing your automated marketing opportunities. In our video above, and in the content below, we will outline 3 distinct use cases that describe why you should strongly consider integrating your marketing automation platform with your ERP.

3 Use Cases: Integrate Marketing Automation with ERP

#1). Integrate Marketing Automation with Sales History

The data you get: A complete sales and order history of your customers. Marketers will be able to understand things like what customers bought, when they bought it, and how much they spent.

What you can do with it: A smart marketing team could strategically and effectively tailor content based on customer buying habits. This might look like specific web content that these users would be exposed to, or possibly e-mail campaigns targeting very specific messages to these same users. This information also allows marketers to make additional offers or suggestions based on things customers have just bought, or entice customers that haven’t made a purchase in a while to come back. These are easy wins for marketing departments, and a proven way to increase sales, and dollars-per-order. Marketing departments won’t have this information if the decision isn’t made to integrate the marketing automation platform with the sales data that exists in an ERP.

Example Use Case: An automotive supply company has noticed a trend in which customers that order a particular part often re-order again in a short time period or buy other parts in combination with that purchase. That company has decided to a integrate marketing automation platform – let’s say Silver Pop – with their current ERP. The marketing team decided that they want to tailor web and e-mail content to the customers ordering this part informing them of the benefits of ordering larger quantities to avoid out-of-stocks. The marketers also decided to send customers purchasing this part special offers on the other parts commonly purchased in conglomeration with that part. Finally, the marketing department has automated reminder e-mails when customers haven’t ordered their regular products within a reasonable time frame. All of these strategies are directly designed to increase sales and improve dollars-per-order.

#2). Integrate Marketing Automation with Shipping Data

The data you get: A comprehensive understanding of shipping and return information. Marketing departments will be able to understand shipping and order return history in real-time.

What you can do with it: The marketing department can use shipping information to trigger follow-up responses to orders throughout the shipping history. This would allow marketers to automate testimonial requests, coupons, or feedback surveys upon delivery or shipment. The ability to track returns also provides marketing with a customer retention opportunity by allowing them to send out coupons, special requests, or additional offers based on a recent returns.

Example Use Case: A plastic container manufacturer recently rolled out a new series of highly durable, reusable containers. The company decided to integrate marketing automation – ExactTarget – with their Epicor 9.05 ERP. Part of the company’s objective is to retrieve feedback and customer testimonials regarding this new product. Their marketing department created an automated feedback and testimonial campaign to these new product customers that engages them at different points throughout the shipping process to collect feedback (order, delivery, product experience). This provides the organization an easily retrievable pool of customer feedback and testimonials on the new product. In addition to that information, the organization deemed that customer service be improved to ensure the success of this new products line. With the ability to track returns, marketing has automated special response e-mails to all returns of the new product that includes feedback surveys and coupons for future purchase. Both strategies are effective ways to improve customer service and streamline product feedback.

#3). Integrate Marketing Automation with Project Information

The data you get: A complete view of project status for service providers. Marketers will be able to see all current projects and at what stage each is in.

What you can do with it: Marketing departments can trigger e-mails and campaigns based on project milestones. This could include surveys, testimonial requests, or tailored content.

Example Use Case: A custom hardware developer recently decided to integrate marketing automation by connecting their Marketo platform with their Epicor 10 ERP system. The marketing department can now see all ongoing customer projects. They have have designed automated e-mails, web content, and graphic materials that are sent out to each customer based on their project status. Companies at the beginning of projects receive resource materials that help with project launch or kickoff. Projects that are currently underway receive feedback surveys to determine how things are going. And, projects nearing completion trigger automated requests for testimonials that can be shared online to create positive PR for both organizations. Additionally, marketing has decided to automate additional training reminders to clients that underwent training in a particular stage of their project. This helps continue to build brand loyalty, and establish the professionalism of the hardware developer.

These three use cases in combination with the video above should give you a really good idea of why integrating your marketing automation platform with an ERP is a dynamic way to increase revenue and improve customer service. If you have additional questions about ERP or how to integrate marketing automation please feel free to leave a comment below. Our team monitors our comments section daily and responds to questions

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Let’s do it: Interested in integrating the systems discussed above? Datix provides an affordable seamless connector that is pre-built and requires no code for installation. It’s less than what you might think.

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Suggested:

More information about Epicor ERP – https://datixinc.com/solutions/epicor/

Learn about our ERP consulting services – https://datixinc.com/services/erp-consulting/

Read our Epicor training tips – https://datixinc.com/category/epicor/epicor-tips-training/

Marketing automation case studies – http://www.b2bmarketing.net/knowledgebank/marketing-automation/case-studies