The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: 4 Pros and Cons of Marketing Automation

marketing automation

Automation is a buzzword when discussing the future of the workplace. We’ve already seen the creation of self-driving vehicles and AI customer service, and the potential for a lot more automation is ever-present.

People are widely divided on whether automation will be a good or bad thing, and there are definitely a lot of factors to consider. Today, we’re going to look at automation relating to marketing and break down some of the pros and cons of these products.

Pro: Frees Up Employee Time

The first obvious benefit is that with automation, your employees can focus their attention where it’s most needed. This helps to boost the efficiency of your workforce because each salesperson is focused on the job, which takes advantage of their skills. Meanwhile, the gathering of data and performance statistics is done automatically, as are any menial tasks such as customer feedback requests.

This is also true with customer service AI, as it allows your workers to focus on tasks that actually require human attention, whilst the AI deals with any menial tasks which can be automated. That means you’re getting a better return on your investment from your employees.

Related: Chatbox 101: Understanding the Revolutionary Technology Behind the Conversational Revolution

Con: Lacks a Personal Touch

Whilst automated software does a great job of dealing with situations quickly and effectively, it lacks the personal touch which a human provides. This means that small details might be overlooked, and there’s no option to individualize an approach either.

Being able to add personal touches to your marketing and other areas of your business allows you to be more effective at marketing. Having a personality when interacting with customers is also likely to drive up loyalty and engagement from those same customers.

Pro: Automation Does a Quick & Easy Job of Split Testing

Split testing without automation can be incredibly draining. Those who have tried this will know how much data gathering and analysis it involves. All of this must be done manually if you don’t have AI automation available, eating up massive amounts of time and requiring you to be totally on top of the stats at all times.

With automation, you can simply set the program up complete with alternative approaches to test and allow it to run through. It will do the testing and tracking for you, giving you feedback on whichever metrics you have chosen to track and allowing you to quickly & easily make the best decision for your business.

Con: Automation is an Investment

Automation is done by a program, so of course, it frees up employee time. With that said, it does require an initial investment to purchase the AI and may also require subscription/maintenance fees as well as an initial time investment to get the AI running correctly.

Look on these as long-term investments. Over time you can see great returns on time/money invested in AI automation – after all, this is why so many people are concerned about job losses to AI!