In the ever-competitive digital business landscape, accuracy and speed are the two factors that determine whether you can generate enough leads and drive them to conversion. You must be the first to connect to potential customers and hit them with the right message at the right time.
And you can't do it manually, at least not when processing dozens of leads daily – you need marketing automation software.
Whether you generate leads from organic traffic sources, paid advertising, or affiliate marketing, marketing software can handle most of your routines, automating your lead acquisition and conversion while speeding up the sale process and dissecting leads on the fly. By the way, did you know that 4% of affiliates earn more than $150 thousand annually?
Now, the real question is: what marketing software do you need?
Here are some software solutions that can grow your business:
- lead generation software
- call-tracking software
- conversion rate optimisation software
- affiliate marketing software
- marketing project management software
Without any further ado, let's review them one by one so you can make an informed choice about which is right for you.
Lead generation software
Keeping the sales pipeline full is paramount for every business, and lead generation software can effectively tackle the task, especially if synergised with lead distribution and analytics tools (sometimes, these come together as a single suite).
Here's what lead generation software can do:
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Collect customer data across touchpoints |
Lead generation software can collect information from landing pages, forms, emails, chatbots, and almost every other touchpoint including phone calls. The collected data can be used for strategic marketing decisions and be delivered to the operator in real time. |
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Identify complex data patterns |
Lead gen software can interpret complex data patterns into profitable marketing strategies or adjustments. It can help with customer segmentation, targeting, and fraud detection, optimising your marketing campaigns all around. |
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Score leads |
Lead generation software can score leads based on demographics, psychographics, history of interactions, and more, so you can focus on high-intent leads while minimising your exposure to those unlikely to convert. |
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Nurture leads |
Lead generation software can automate things that can be automated: email sequences, targeted follow-ups, scheduling, and more. Hitting the right timings will help deliver resonating messages more often. |
However, not all lead management software suites factor in phone calls, which account for a gigantic share of revenues for many businesses. So, if you're taking customer calls daily, you might consider using special call-tracking software.
Call-tracking software
Unlike web leads, which can be contacted later, callers are much more urgent. Whether you generate inbound calls using organic traffic channels or buy live transfer leads, time is of the essence.
Here's what call-tracking software can do:
- Track inbound calls.Equipped with systems like an interactive voice response (IVR), call tracking software can collect essential personal data as the caller moves down the sales funnel. Callers don't mind choosing between offered answers when talking to an IVR and you still get marketable insights.
- Direct callers to the best live operator. Technologies like automatic call distribution allow you to create a sophisticated call distribution tree when all callers are routed to the best sales or customer support rep. You can customise the routing system by demographics, psychographics, agent performance, specific marketing metrics, and more.
- Deliver real-time insights on the caller. Call tracking software can transfer real-time data to live operators before they pick up the phone. As a result, the agent answering the call knows who the caller is, what they want, and how to convert them.
Finally, call-tracking software can have extra marketing value if integrated with the right call-tracking numbers. Depending on whether you're generating customers locally or globally – or you want to imprint your brand name in their minds – you can use local, international, or vanity phone numbers.
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) software
Designed to maximise conversion rates, CRO software may come standalone or as a part of lead generation software. In both cases, it collects data about user's on-site interactions and interprets them into patterns that answer important questions like which specific website elements convert customers or what is hindering conversions.
For example, you can use CRO software for website form analysis, identifying where and why sales prospects drop off. Whether the form is too long or the questions are irrelevant, CRO software will unlock these insights.
Affiliate marketing software
Affiliate marketing software is a must for businesses buying or selling affiliate traffic, especially if you're in a high-ticket affiliate marketing niche like finance, insurance, mortgage, or home services and have multiple publishers on a contract or trade with several affiliate networks.
From affiliate link tracking to attribution to commission management, affiliate marketing software can automate your traffic acquisition while ensuring you've got the leads you've paid for and/or paid affiliate partners on time and in full. Likewise, affiliate marketing software can prevent fraud like cookie stuffing, brand bidding, domain spoofing, or click fraud.
Marketing project management software
Marketing project management software is the largest software group, spanning planning, task management, budgeting, in-house collaborations, and more. It can automate many marketing routines, from goal setting to performance analysis.
Here's what marketing project management software can do:
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Task management |
No matter the number and complexity of your tasks, marketing project management software can organise the process so that every team member has specific KPIs and deadlines to follow. With minimum manual management, you can allocate more resources for strategic decisions. |
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Budgeting |
Eligible team members can track budgets for specific campaigns, maximising the cost-effectiveness of your marketing. On the same note, you can minimise risks when funding new initiatives, whether you're tapping into untapped markets, conducting A/B tests, or something else. Pair your project management tools with business budgeting software to optimise spending and keep track of expenses. |
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In-house collaboration |
Discussion boards and cross-team chats can ensure that all departments (for example, marketing and sales) are on the same page. Marketing project management software ensures everyone knows what to do next and their contribution to the overall progress. |
All things being equal, go for a comprehensive marketing software suite
With digital marketing developing at breakneck speed, it's best to have a complete marketing toolkit covering your campaigns from A to Z. You may go way beyond the software we have covered here, expanding into anything that can help you generate and convert more customers. For example, you might add video marketing software, mobile marketing software, customer engagement software or any other marketing software to your armoury.
Copyright 2024. Featured post made possible by Oleksandr Rohovnin of Phonexa, a single operating solution for partner and performance marketing helping businesses close the loop between leads, calls, clicks, and revenue.