Having integrated and managed multiple marketing automation software solutions, the following features were not part of any of them.
1) Generate a prospect list report with last email correspondence topic and date.
Why?
I want to know when people were last contacted to make sure everyone is getting nurtured appropriately, and no one has fallen out of drip program cycles unnecessarily.
Feature Note: The ability to select prospects by last correspondence date and select a next action, e.g. send an email, would be extremely useful.
2) Profile and score prospects via social channels that are not opted into my database, yet.
Why?
If I can connect with someone directly outside of my marketing automation database, I should be able to get a gauge whether he/she is a potential customer for my business without needing him/her to be cookied on my particular site.
Feature Note: A database within the marketing automation software of all social connections/fans of multiple social pages and company representatives would be a revolutionary addition.
3) A recommended call-to-action engine based on matching the following: 1) a registered database of my content (that my marketing automation software understands the contents of) 2) content consumption patterns by my prospects.
Why?
When viewing a prospect, I’d like my marketing automation software to prompt me for some recommended actions/next-steps to take for that particular prospect, e.g. finding an interest pattern and prompting me to send a piece of related content they he/she has not yet consumed.
Feature Note: Having a one-click “Execute this Action” button would be supreme for this feature.
4) ‘Emails sent’ check and suppress/delay automation.
Why?
The ability to suppress or delay emails would be helpful in not overbearing prospects with too many emails.
Feature Note: The ability to override the delay/suppress should be available in case a critical announcement needs to be sent.
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