20 Marketing Automation Workflows to Scale Your Efforts

Managing marketing data involves juggling numerous tasks simultaneously. You need to plan and execute campaigns, monitor performance, and report results. The sheer volume of the data generated is complex to handle manually, often leading to inefficiencies and errors.

Global marketing automation is projected to reach $13.71 billion by 2030, and 76% of companies already use it. This shift underlines how automation is transforming marketing practices. Despite this growth, only 10% of customer journeys are fully automated, highlighting a significant opportunity for further optimization. 

By embracing automation workflows to handle repetitive tasks, you can alleviate the burden of manual data management. This helps you focus on strategic initiatives that drive ROI, enhance customer engagement, and improve marketing efforts. 

In this article, you will explore 20 marketing automation workflows that can help you scale efforts, streamline operations, and achieve better results.

What Is Marketing Automation Workflow?

Marketing automation workflow is a set of rules that are used to automate steps within a marketing process. These workflows utilize technologies like CRM systems to streamline your marketing efforts, making them more effective. 

Marketing automation can include sending emails, segmenting contacts, scoring leads, and personalizing content. By automating these tasks, you can nurture leads and engage customers more prominently, freeing time to focus on strategic initiatives.

20 Marketing Automation Workflows

Here’s a detailed overview of 20 marketing automation workflows that can help you enhance various aspects of the marketing process.

1. Lead Nurturing

The lead nurturing workflow allows you to develop relationships with potential customers throughout their buying journey. It engages those customers who have shown interest but are yet to buy your products. By providing the leads with relevant information, you can encourage their progression towards a purchase.

How Lead Nurturing Workflows Enhances Marketing Efforts

• The workflows tailor content to individual interests and behaviors using data and automation tools to track preferences, increasing engagement. 
• It helps guide leads through the buying process, improving conversion rates. 

For example, a software company uses a marketing automation tool to set up a lead nurturing sequence. When a prospect downloads a whitepaper, the system triggers a follow-up email thanking them for the download.

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery

Abandoned cart recovery workflow helps you engage customers who add items but still need to complete the purchase. It involves reminding customers about their abandoned items and offering incentives to complete the purchase. 

How Abandoned Cart Recovery Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Recover potential lost sales by encouraging completion of purchases. 
• Engage customers who showed initial interest but did not finalize the purchase.

For example, an e-commerce store can configure its platform to track abandoned carts. When customers add items to the carts and leave without purchasing them, the system can trigger an email reminder after 24 hours. 

3. Customer Onboarding

Customer onboarding is welcoming and guiding new customers through their initial interactions. This workflow aims to educate new users about the products, services, and brand values to ensure a smooth start.

How Customer Onboarding Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Provide clear instructions and resources, encouraging early and effective product use.
• Well-guided onboarding reduces churns by ensuring users find value quickly.

For example, a SaaS company can set up an onboarding workflow that triggers when a new user signs up. The first email welcomes the user and provides login details. The second email can contain a link to a tutorial on getting started, and the other email could include tips and best practices.

4. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Workflows

ABM workflows focus on high-value accounts with personalized marketing strategies. These workflows involve creating customized marketing content and interactions for each account, addressing their unique challenges and needs. 

How ABM Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Concentrates resources on accounts with the most revenue potential. 
• Deliver relevant messages to high-value prospects, building deeper connections.

For example, a B2B software company can use an automation tool for ABM workflow by targeting high-value finance sector accounts. The system sends personalized emails to key decision-makers featuring content tailored to their industry, such as case studies or whitepapers.

5. Event Promotion 

Event promotion workflows allow you to automate the promotion of upcoming events, like conferences or product launches. They ensure your customers are informed about the events well and reminded as the date approaches. 

How Event Promotion Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Builds anticipation and interest through pre-event content. 
• Automates multiple stages of event marketing, including scheduling a series of promotional emails, reminders, and follow-ups, saving time and effort.

For example, a marketing agency in NYC can create an event promotion workflow for an upcoming webinar. The automation system sends an initial invitation email before the event, followed by reminders before the event day.

6. Re-engagement Campaign

A workflow designed to re-engage inactive subscribers or customers. These workflows focus on individuals who have yet to interact with your brand for a specific period, aiming to reignite their interest. 

How Re-engagement Campaign Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Offers fresh content and incentives to reignite interest in customers. 
• Maintain a healthy subscriber list and reduce attrition. 

For example, a fitness app can use an automation tool to identify users who haven’t logged in for 30 days. The system then triggers a re-engagement email offering a specific promotion or highlighting new features. 

7. Birthday or Anniversary Messages 

These workflows allow you to send automated messages to customers on their birthdays or anniversaries. Celebrating special occasions can add a personal touch to customer interactions.

How Birthday or Anniversary Messages Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Showing appreciation helps to build strong relationships with your customers. 
• Provide special offers that encourage repeat business. 

For example, a restaurant can use an automation system to send personalized birthday emails to customers. The system triggers an email with a particular discount or free dessert offer on the customer's birthday. The email can include a personalized greeting and a call to action to make a reservation.

8. Loyalty Program Updates 

The workflow communicates with customers, informing them about their loyalty program status and rewards. This workflow ensures customers know the points, bonuses, and special offers. 

How Loyalty Program Updates Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Keeps customers informed and motivated to participate in the loyalty program. 
• Provides relevant updates tailored to each customer’s activity and status. 

For example, a beauty brand can automate emails to loyalty program members, sending monthly updates on their point balance and available rewards. The system can also trigger special emails for milestones, such as reaching a new tier in the program or redeeming a reward.

9. Seasonal and Holiday Campaigns 

Seasonal and holiday campaigns are marketing strategies that capitalize on specific seasons or holidays. These workflows enable you to schedule automated emails and social media posts with holiday-themed promotions and discounts, helping you increase sales during peak shopping times.

How Seasonal and Holiday Campaign Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Leverage seasonal opportunities to increase revenue. 
• Connects with customers when they are most receptive to holiday offers. 

For example, a home décor store can set up a series of holiday-themed emails leading up to Christmas. The automation system allows you to send a ‘holiday preview’ email showcasing new holiday decorations, followed by sales emails with special discounts.

10. Product Launch Campaigns 

Product launch campaigns are automated marketing workflows that promote a new product or service. They involve a series of coordinated activities that build awareness, generate excitement, and drive sales upon the product’s release, propelling you to maximize the launch's impact. 

How Product Launch Campaign Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Create buzz and anticipation for new products. 
• Driving initial sales through well-time promotional activities.

For example, a tech company can create a product launch campaign using an automation tool. The system sends a teaser email a month before launch, followed by a series of countdown emails highlighting key features and benefits of the product.

11. 360-degree Customer Targeting with Multichannel

A 360-degree multichannel marketing approach engages customers across various channels, such as social media, email, and messages. You can automate marketing messages from a single platform and schedule responses based on customer actions.

How 360-degree Customer Targeting Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Engages customers through their preferred channels, improving interactions. 
• Centralizes customer data to personalize and optimize marketing strategies.

For example, a retail brand can implement a 360-degree multichannel marketing program using automation tools to coordinate efforts. When a customer interacts with a brand’s social media for a product, the system can trigger an email and SMS with related offers.

12. Transactional Emails 

Transactional emails are automated messages triggered by specific actions or transactions such as order confirmations, shipping notifications, or password resets. They provide essential information about customer interaction with a service or a product and keep the customer informed and reassured throughout the process.

How Transactional Emails Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Provide immediate and relevant transaction information, ensuring customers feel informed and supported. 
• Automates routine messages, freeing up resources for other tasks.

For example, an e-commerce store sends an order confirmation email immediately after a purchase, followed by shipped updates.

13. Feedback and Review Request 

Feedback and review requests are automated messages sent to customers after a purchase or interaction asking for their feedback or reviews. This workflow helps gather valuable insights from customers and improves products and services.  

How Feedback and Review Request Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Gather customer opinions through forms and review requests to improve products and services. 
• Encouraging customers to share their experiences about the service or product fosters a sense of involvement.

For example, an online retailer sends an email requesting customers to review their recent purchase a week after delivery. This approach collects feedback efficiently and helps improve customer satisfaction.

14. Lead Scoring and Qualification

Lead scoring and qualification workflows automatically evaluate and rank leads based on their behavior. This helps prioritize high-quality leads for sales follow-ups.

How Lead Scoring and Qualification Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Identifies and nurtures leads that are more likely to convert into customers.
• Tailor communication and offers based on lead scoring metrics. 

For example, a Saas company can use lead scoring to automatically assign leads to sales representatives based on their engagement level and potential values.

15. Customer Segmentation 

Customer segmentation workflow helps you automatically categorize customers into segments based on demographics, behaviors, or purchasing history. Focusing on specific segments increases the relevance and impact of marketing campaigns. 

How Customer Segmentation Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Allow for more precise targeting of marketing efforts based on customer segments. 
• Deliver tailored content and offers to different customer groups.
  

For example, a retail brand can use customer segmentation to enhance marketing efforts. When a customer frequently purchases athletic wear, the system can automatically trigger a targeted email featuring exclusive discounts on new sports apparel.

16. A/B Testing 

A/B testing is an automated workflow that allows you to compare different versions of a particular marketing element to determine which performs better. This can be applied to various aspects of marketing, including emails, landing pages, ads, and more.

How A/B Testing Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Identifies the most effective messaging, design, or layout to optimize performance.
• Ensure the best-performing version is used to maximize customer engagement. 

For example, an e-commerce company might run an A/B test on email subject lines to see which ones yield a higher open rate. The company can use the more successful subject line in future email campaigns based on the results.

17. Upsells and Cross-sells 

Upsells and cross-sell workflows aim to encourage customers to purchase additional or complementary products. Upselling suggests a higher-end version of a product, while cross-selling promotes related products. 

How Upsells and Cross-sells Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• It helps to increase the average order value by encouraging customers to make additional purchases. 
• Provides relevant suggestions that add value to customer’s purchases.

For example, after a customer buys a camera, an automated workflow sends an email recommending camera accessories like lenses or tripods. 

18. Testimonial Emails 

Testimonial emails are automated messages that share customer success stories and positive feedback to potential or existing customers. 

How Testimonial Emails Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Provides social proof that can build trust with prospects and increase credibility. 
• Reinforces the value of products and services to support sales.

For example, an automobile company optimizes its automation workflow tools to send potential customers emails containing successful case studies of existing products. These testimonial emails help to back up their sales by providing real-world evidence of the product’s effectiveness.  

19. Customer Journey Mapping 

Customer journey mapping involves creating automated workflows that align with various stages of a customer’s journey, from awareness to purchase and beyond. These workflows ensure that relevant messaging and content are delivered based on where the customer is in their journey. 

How Customer Journey Mapping Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Delivers targeted messages that match customer’s current stage in their purchase journey. 
• Keeps customers engaged with relevant content and offers tailored to their needs. 

For example, a travel agency uses customer journey mapping to send automated emails to users who have shown interest in vacation packages. The triggered email may include destination images, travel tips, special offers, and booking reminders.

20. Authority-Driven Topic 

This workflow helps you organize content into predefined topics, delivering targeted information based on user interactions. It sets up triggers when users view specific pages or download related content. An automated email workflow tailored to the topics is initiated when these triggers are activated. 

How Authority-Driven Topic Workflow Enhances Marketing Efforts

• Show users that their interests are recognized, resulting in more relevant content. 
• Demonstrate expertise on specific topics by delivering tailored information, which can strengthen brand credibility.

For example, if a user clicks on the organic fertilizers section on a gardening supply company's website, the system triggers an email sequence featuring tips on organic gardening.

Implementing these marketing automation workflows will help you optimize marketing efforts for better performance and results.

Benefits of Marketing Automation Workflows

There are several benefits of automated marketing workflow. Here are a few of them:

Better Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process that enables you to build better relationships with customers by providing relevant information and engagement. By automating follow-ups, educational content, and product recommendations, you can consistently engage leads and provide them with personalized experiences.

Increased Conversions

Higher conversion rates indicate a successful marketing strategy. Automated marketing allows you to send targeted messages to leads at the right time, such as after they show interest in a product. Timely engagement increases the chances of conversions by addressing the lead’s immediate needs and interests.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Providing a positive customer experience boosts both customer satisfaction and loyalty. Marketing automation workflows enable you to automatically send order updates, special offers, and helpful information related to customer preferences. This creates a smooth, personalized experience that enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Improved Customer Retention

Marketing automation helps retain customers by automating post-purchase follow-ups, sending loyalty program offers, and requesting feedback. These interactions maintain a connection with your customers, encouraging them to stay and fostering long-term relationships.

Improved Efficiency

Efficiency in marketing involves saving time and resources while maximizing output. Automated workflow helps streamline tasks such as email campaigns, audience segmentation, and campaign performance tracking. This enables you to focus on strategy and creativity while automating routine processes.

Key Components of Marketing Automation Workflows

An ideal marketing automation workflow consists of several vital components that work together to ensure effective communication with customers. Here are three main components: 

Triggers

Triggers are specific events or conditions that initiate a marketing automation workflow. They act as a starting point for actions designed to engage and nurture customers. There are many triggers, each initiating a workflow based on specific user actions. 

For instance, an event trigger could activate a workflow when users abandon their shopping cart, prompting an automatic reminder or offer to encourage purchase. An enter/exit segment trigger might also be used when a user enters a segment of recent buyers, enabling timely notification for restocking needs.

Actions

Actions are the steps or responses that occur once a workflow is triggered. They define how the system will engage with the user and include various communication methods and interactions that move users further along their customer journey. 

For instance, if any user subscribes to a newsletter, the system triggers a welcome email series that introduces key features of your services. Actions might also involve sending push notifications for app updates, in-app messages for user engagement, and SMS for immediate alerts.

Conditions

Conditions are the criteria within a workflow that determine how the automation process will proceed. They help segment and personalize the user experience by setting specific rules or thresholds that guide the next steps in the workflow. 

For example, a condition could be set to trigger a personalized recommendation email if the user has previously purchased related products. The email can include information such as suggesting new arrivals that complement their past purchases.

Marketing Automation Tools to Help With Workflows

The marketing automation tools help streamline workflows, enhance customer engagement, and improve efficiency. 

HubSpot

HubSpot is an AI-powered complete customer platform that offers comprehensive software, integrations, and resources to connect your marketing services seamlessly. By leveraging HubSpot’s connected platform, you can grow your business faster, focusing on the most important aspect, customers. 

Key Features 

• User-Friendly: The HubSpot CRM platform is simple and easy to use. Its intuitive interface simplifies the process of creating contacts and deals, logging tasks, and editing reports.
• Integrates Customer, Sales, and Marketing Services: HubSpot helps you centralize all customer information in one place by making it visible to all team members. This centralization makes it easy to fetch data and improve customer interaction.
• Flexibility: HubSpot lets you automate tasks across sales, marketing, and customer services. This automation streamlines workflows and enhances productivity.

ActiveCampaign 

ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based marketing tool that integrates email marketing, automation, and CRM capabilities into one platform. The platform helps boost customer engagement by delivering personalized emails, SMS, and digital campaigns through intelligent marketing automation.

Key Features 

• Marketing Automation: ActiveCampaign’s marketing automation allows you to customize the entire automation process using its drag-and-drop interface. You can create condition-based sequences that trigger actions based on used behavior, making it easy to manage complex workflows.
• Data Collection in CRM: The ActiveCampaign CRM lets you collect social and behavioral data such as age, interest, location, and interaction. This data helps you personalize marking efforts and refine automation workflows to target leads better.
• Live Chat Conversations: This feature allows you to engage with website visitors in real-time, helping you to convert them into subscribers and customers. Once visitors share their email via LiveChat, ActiveCampaign creates their profile and adds them to your email list so that relevant information can be sent later.

Marketo Engage

Marketo is a marketing automation platform that streamlines, automates, and measures marketing workflow and tasks to increase operational efficiency and grow revenue. This solution enables you to attract, segment, and nurture potential leads, supporting detailed workflow automation. 

Key Features 

• Cross-Channel Marketing: Marketo allows you to coordinate customer engagement across different channels, ensuring relevant interactions at every stage of their journey.
• Content Intelligence: The platform utilizes real-time behaviors, enriched profiles, and AI to deliver personalized content to your customers, enhancing their experience. 
• Integrate Sales and Marketing: Marketo enables you to integrate sales and marketing efforts by providing sales teams with prioritized leads, customer insights, and effective content. This improves collaboration and increases conversion rates.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a popular marketing automation tool designed to help businesses manage and optimize email marketing campaigns. It provides a suite of comprehensive tools to create, send, and analyze marketing emails and offers a range of features for streamlining and enhancing marketing workflow. 

Key Features 

• Automated Email Campaigns: Mailchimp helps you set up automated email workflow based on customer behaviors. This automation facilitates timely and relevant communication with customers, improving engagement. 
• Segmentation and Personalization: Mailchimp allows you to target specific groups based on criteria like purchase history, engagement level, and demographic information. This feature helps deliver personalized content and optimize campaign performance. 
• Analytics and Reporting: Mailchimp enables you to track the performance of email campaigns. It helps you measure your campaign's effectiveness through metrics such as open link rates and click-through rates. 

How Airbyte Supports Marketing Automation

Managing and integrating information from diverse marketing sources, such as CRM systems, email marketing platforms, and data warehouses, can be complex and challenging. 

Airbyte simplifies this process by streamlining data integration through automated data pipelines. You can access Airbyte’s library of 350+ pre-built connectors. It includes a wide array of databases and marketing tools, such as LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads, Braze, and more. These pipelines allow you to extract, transform, and load data between different systems, ensuring marketing tools can operate on up-to-date customer data for optimized performance.

Here is how Airbyte’s robust features help with marketing automation: 

• Customizable Connectors: Airbyte's Connector Development Kit (CDK) helps you to create and customize connectors for unique marketing tools or processes. This enables quick data flow between your CRM, email marketing platforms, and other vital tools. ‍
• Change Data Capture (CDC): With CDC, your marketing data between source and destination stays synchronized. If you add new client data to your marketing tool, such as Braze, Amazon Ads, or Google Ads, it will automatically sync with destination databases. This feature ensures all relevant information, like recent interactions, is available for creating effective marketing strategies.‍
• Gen AI Workflows: Airbyte supports popular vector stores such as Pinecone, helping marketing automation systems adapt to evolving data requirements. It allows you to load your unstructured marketing data, such as feedback forms or chat logs, directly into a vector database. This allows you to simplify data management in your marketing automation workflow. 

Conclusion

Marketing automation workflows enhance lead management, customer engagement, and personalized interactions, optimizing your marketing efforts and producing better results. You can use various tools to streamline the automation of various marketing routine tasks, such as lead nurturing, customer segmentation, and email marketing. The automation helps drive business growth and improve overall marketing efficiency.

FAQs 

What Are the Best Practices for Implementing Marketing Automation Workflows?

Some of the best steps in implementing a marketing automation workflow include collecting the correct data and implementing a good marketing automation strategy. Knowing your customers and tracking the performance metrics helps to tailor campaigns more effectively.

How to Measure Marketing Automation Workflow Success?

There are many ways to measure the success of your marketing automation workflow. Some measures include tracking KPIs such as conversion rates, customer engagement levels, and campaign ROI. Additionally, analyzing metrics like email open and click-through rates, customer retention metrics, and overall sales growth.

What Are the Challenges with Implementing Marketing Automation Workflows?

Common challenges in implementing marketing automation workflows include a lack of strategic planning, poor-quality data integration, and overemphasizing automation. Other issues include insufficient monitoring and compliance, as well as privacy concerns.