B2B e-commerce – 5 Marketing Automation flows with SAP Emarsys

In recent years, the e-commerce industry has experienced tremendous growth, partly accelerated by the corona pandemic. While many B2C companies were already using a marketing automation system, more and more B2B companies are also taking the strategic step of automating their marketing activities. This is where the customer engagement platform SAP Emarsys comes into the picture. The platform offers valuable insights and opportunities on how to reach and connect with your (potential) customers.

Below, we discuss five best inspiring marketing automation flows that contribute to a more effective approach and growth within your B2B e-commerce organisation.

Marketing automation flow 1: Newsletter subscription and follow-up e-mail

Would you like to receive more newsletter subscriptions to ultimately strengthen your customer relationship? With SAP Emarsys, this is very easy. Because the marketing automation system is linked to your website, it will only show a pop-up to anonymous, unknown users who exhibit specific behaviour to subscribe to your newsletter. When the website visitor signs up, the pop-up disappears and the newsletter flow starts automatically. You start with a confirmation e-mail, explain your organisation and ask about the new subscriber’s interests. By each time asking a new question in the content of your automation flow, you not only create interest but also a customer profile, which in the end enables better segmentation and personalisation.

Marketing automation flow 2: Webinar registration

Do you regularly organise webinars? Save valuable time, don’t send invite mails and reminders manually every time, but set up an automated webinar flow instead. This way, you ensure that attendees stay well-informed without extra effort. If it is possible for attendees to sign up for the webinar in advance, send reminder emails from time to time. Make sure consumers who signed up last-minute are excluded from the reminder email. After the webinar, you can continue the flow to provide even more value and gauge if participants have any questions. This way, you get the most out of your webinar and stay in touch with your target audience. 

Marketing automation flow 3: Abandonment shopping cart

A well-known automation from the B2C world is the abandoned cart flow: you add products to the shopping cart and after a short period of time, you receive an e-mail to complete your order. An abandoned cart flow has a proven positive effect on conversion rates. B2B companies often also see that not all orders are completed. The most common reason is not having the right payment methods, shipping options and/or onboarding process available (properly). In the automation flow, it is therefore important to ask whether these facilities meet customer expectations. In addition, it is interesting to dynamically display the products from the shopping cart in the marketing content of the flow. Also offering the option to get in touch with, for example, an account manager or your customer service, makes this option approachable and communicate personally.

Tip: Include customer feedback to improve your online sales proposition.

Marketing automation flow 4: From first purchase to frequent buyer

Using machine learning, SAP Emarsys looks at how customers behave after buying something for the first time, and how likely they are to convert again within the next 30 days. Send an email to the customer segment most likely to make another purchase, containing a unique discount code and/or a recommendation with products other customers bought. After a few days, check the relevance of the selection criteria, and send a follow-up e-mail if necessary. In the automation flow, also trigger Digital Ads and Web Channel to target customers on any channel. This flow is a good basis to use with customers who have bought something more than once to increase customer lifetime value (CLV). Again, make sure your content is personalised and appropriate to the stage customers are in.

Marketing automation flow 5: Proactively asking for feedback

We discussed the importance of asking for feedback earlier in the second marketing automation flow, but we like to pay some extra attention to it. Proactively asking for feedback provides valuable insights to improve customer experience and loyalty. How often do you ask a customer for feedback and what do you do with it? Research the touch points in your buyer journey and put a feedback flow behind the most important touch points. For example, after purchasing a product, after customers have been customers for a year or when reading the newsletter. Based on their feedback, you further optimise the flow. In case of a positive review, you send a thank-you e-mail and ask the customer in question to leave a review. In case of a less positive review, you ask them to get in touch with your support team or responsible account manager.

What can SAP Emarsys do?

SAP Emarsys is an omnichannel customer engagement system that has a comprehensive set of tools and features to help B2B organisations optimise and automate their e-commerce activities. These include:

• Real-time visibility into your orders, order size, sales and customer lifecycle status.
• The ability to send personalised content across multiple online and offline channels.
• Machine learning logic to send the right content to the right channel at the right time.

Curious about what the above marketing automation flows look like in SAP Emarsys? Download our brochure in which we guide you step by step in seting up the flows. Questions or need help? We are happy to help!