Marketing automation is a category of software and practice that has become increasingly accessible to businesses of all sizes, enabling personalised, timely communications to be delivered at scale without requiring manual effort for each interaction. Understanding what marketing automation is and what it can deliver helps founders use it appropriately rather than treating it as either a silver bullet or an unnecessarily complex investment.
Marketing automation refers to the use of software to automate marketing tasks and workflows — particularly those that benefit from being triggered by customer behaviour or a defined sequence of time-based actions. Common examples include welcome email sequences triggered when someone joins a mailing list, lead nurturing workflows that send different content depending on how a prospect has engaged, and re-engagement campaigns triggered after a period of inactivity.
Marketing automation is most effective when built on a clear understanding of the customer journey — poorly designed automation sending irrelevant messages can damage customer relationships. Starting with one or two well-designed automations and building from there is more effective than attempting to automate everything at once. Our guide to marketing automation for UK founders covers where to start and what good automation looks like.