The importance of marketing automation for cross-selling

Three cross-selling strategies where marketing automation can make a difference

In every industry companies are developing their digital marketing practices to appeal to and communicate with their customers more effectively. But each industry is different, with different priorities requiring different techniques.

Take the insurance industry, for example. Customers are increasingly researching their own policies online and expect personalised, relevant information before engaging. The number of channels and paths they can now take means there's no longer a one-size-fits-all approach or tested format insurers can rely on, which is one of the main reasons why we've started to see marketing automation come to the forefront.

There's a number of different ways automation can work, but for insurers one way to put it to good use is targeting the low-hanging fruit: existing customers. According to the book Marketing Metrics by Farris et al., the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70 per cent, compared with just 5-20 per cent for new prospects. In other words, never underestimate the power of cross-selling and upselling.

Sticking with insurers, here are three cross-selling strategies where marketing automation can make a difference.

Target the right customers for the right products

A growing family has different insurance needs than a retired couple, so insurers should provide tailored recommendations for each household depending on their lifestyle needs. Customers will value relevant policy promotions at their current stage in life, as opposed to cluttering their inbox when they have no need.

Tailored, targeted messaging can be achieved through segmentation — using collective data and customer information to personalise their experience and the communications they receive. Marketing automation allows insurers to utilise customer data (such as demographics, households, current policies, and account history) to develop effective strategies to guide them along the buyer's journey.

Shorten the conversion cycle

By integrating marketing automation into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, insurers can get real-time feedback on where customers are in the sales funnel. Engaged customers can be identified through behavioural analytics, giving a measure of their likely interest in an additional policy before they're even approached by the insurer and complementing the lead management and segmented marketing efforts.

Marketing automation can also help insurers identify which additional policies are best suited for their circumstances and why. Lead management then lets insurers identify warm leads that may, ultimately, convert to a sale. By itself, marketing automation helps sell 10 per cent more policies per household, while lead management is the number one driver of policies sold per household at 13 per cent.

Use content marketing to trigger automated campaigns

Customers viewing an insurer's website and learning about policies they don't already have represent a prime opportunity to execute an email drip campaign containing relevant information based off of their preferences and behaviour.

For instance, an automated cross-selling campaign could trigger when a customer downloads a whitepaper on life insurance, gradually delivering valuable information about life insurance and how to choose the right policy. A webinar about umbrella policies could present an opportunity to segmenting existing customers to receive separate follow-up campaigns tailored using pre-collected data for further personalisation.

Informative content is one of the most valuable resources for marketers. Marketing automation can help give an insurer's content more purpose, providing an opportunity to understand and act on what customers are looking into while maintaining their interest and attention.

In summary, promotion by an insurer of an additional policy can go one of two ways. It can either be considered a self-serving sale sent via a mass email blast, or it can show customers that the insurer is meeting customers where they're at in their lives, looking out for their best interests, and anticipating how to provide all of their insurance needs. Insurance businesses that are able to communicate in a more personalised way will always rise above their competition because they understand their customers' unique needs and provide the right messaging at the right time.

A similar approach, suitably customised, can help many other sectors looking to boost relations with existing customers too.

Katie Jameson is the Head of EMEA Marketing at Act-On Software.