Marketing Automation: What Is It? And Do You Really Need It?

What comes to mind when you think of “marketing automation”? Expensive? Complicated? Inaccessible? “Yeah… not for me”?

A production line of robots doing graphic design for an advertising campaign. Image generated by DALL-E, AI.

While “marketing automation” sounds like something reserved for global restaurant chains with deep pockets, it is actually incredibly accessible and easy to set up for any business, big or small. 

It doesn’t need to be expensive, over-engineered, or complicated. It can look, feel and sound like your brand. And you can invest as much or as little time in it as you want—the simplest automations can be set up in a few clicks.

• What is marketing automation?
• What marketing automation does for hospitality businesses
• Is marketing automation worth it?
• Getting started with automation
• Drive repeat business with Lightspeed Marketing & Loyalty

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation is the use of software to automate simple, repetitive marketing tasks such as sending out emails or SMS campaigns. It usually refers to personalised responses to customer actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for your newsletter.

Using product data, customer details, customer behaviour and more, your marketing messages can be highly relevant and targeted. All this ensures you’re giving customers a customer experience that feels as though it’s been crafted just for them.

If you’re using any kind of software to manage your customer experience, you’re probably already doing automated marketing without even realising it!

What marketing automation does for hospitality businesses

As a hospitality business owner, you want more regulars, more revenue and more positive reviews. But running a business (and often being between back and front-of-house yourself) means you’re always short of time. You’ve got lots of ideas for marketing campaigns that could get more people through the door, there’s just never a spare day to put those thoughts in motion.

If that’s sounding familiar, here are some simple examples of how marketing automation can help.

Get more regulars by incentivising repeat purchases

Sometimes people just need a little incentive to come back. After a customer signs up for Taco Medic’s Mates Program, an email automatically sends them an offer of a free taco on their next visit. This helps to establish both

1.  a repeat purchase, and
2. a relationship with the customer
   
   

In another example, Pinjarra Bakery use marketing automation to bring back customers that haven’t visited in a while. After 90 days without a tracked purchase, an email automatically goes out with a $10 voucher. This automation has generated over $100,000 in revenue they would have missed otherwise.

By automating these simple tasks, you’re bringing in additional revenue that’s typically worth the effort. Setting up these emails takes no time at all, and the cost is minimal. After that, they run in the background, working for you 24/7 to bring in sales.

Increase revenue with personalised offers

Use your customer data to send them marketing that’s just for them. Birthday offers are a fantastic example of this. If you send an automated email with a $25 birthday voucher, your average meal value is $25 and your average drink order is $10, that’s a $10 total sale.

But here’s where it gets good. People rarely dine alone, and if it’s for their birthday they may even make an event of it. If customers bring 3 other patrons, say, your total sale jumps to $140. All just from an email that you didn’t have to manually send!

• Discount – $25
• Average customer order – $35
• Total sale with 4 patrons – $140
• Less discount (excludes COGS) – $115 

By automating this simple task, optimising the timing and relevance of your marketing message, you’ve delivered a tasty offer that’s hard to resist.

Get more 5-star Google Reviews

Obviously, the best reviews will come from your happiest customers. But Google has strict rules about how you are and aren’t allowed to ask for a review. You can’t offer an incentive for a 5-star review, for instance, but you can be selective about who you ask for a review.

Using marketing automation, you can send out Google Review requests to customers who are the most likely to give you a 5-star review. For example:

• Send out private feedback surveys after people dine in, then have a Google Review request send to people who give the most positive feedback.
• Send a Google Review request automatically after someone reaches a certain number of points (if you have a loyalty program).
• Send automatic Google Review requests to customers who have visited more than 10 times.

By automating this simple task, you’re reaching people when they are most primed to give you a positive Google Review.

Is marketing automation worth it?

To get started with marketing automation, you do need the right tools. Most email or marketing software will offer simple automation functionality. Lightspeed Marketing & Loyalty has the added benefit of being seamlessly integrated with your sales data, and you can access the automation tools right from with your POS.

From there, the time involved in setting up automations is minimal. Marketing & Loyalty has a library of pre-built email and SMS automations designed to drive repeat business and revenue growth. You can get even more granular and set up custom triggers and offers to suit your business and customer needs. 

In return, you’ll unlock powerful tools that deliver more personal, timely marketing messages.

[Automation is] really great because it kind of just churns in the background. Once you set it up correctly, it just goes and it looks after itself” – Daniel Pantaleo, Pinjarra Bakery.

Key benefits of marketing automation

• Bring in revenue you’d otherwise miss
  One of the biggest benefits is being able to capture revenue from marketing that would be almost impossible (and definitely inefficient) to replicate manually.
• Set-and-forget it
  Automations just tick away in the background bringing in sales and keeping customers engaged.
• Get the timing right
  You’ll reach customers at those critical moments (for example, when they’re most likely to leave a positive review) without having to think about it.
• Track results and see the return
• See how your automations are contributing to overall revenue and see the return you’re getting on your investment.

Getting started with automation

By automating tasks like those above, you’ll have more time to focus on strategy, operations and all your day-to-day priorities.

1. Find a platform that works for you
   Use the marketing or email software you’ve already got, or simply add Marketing & Loyalty to your Lightspeed account. 
2. Connect your sales channels and customer data
   Marketing automation relies on your customer and sales data, so make sure you’ve got data that your software can work with.
3. Build your automations
   Choose your triggers and set up your automation templates with your branding. If you’re using Marketing & Loyalty, choose from a range of automations and customise them to match your brand.
4. Track and measure!
   Start seeing the results. Marketing & Loyalty measures the return on each automation, so you can see what works best for your business.

Ready to dive in now? Connect up Marketing & Loyalty in Lightspeed and activate some of the pre-built automations to see them in action. Alternatively, book a call with one of our marketing experts. Together, you’ll discuss your goals and how automation could fit your specific business needs.

Drive repeat business with Lightspeed Marketing & Loyalty.

Lightspeed Marketing & Loyalty gives you all the tools you need to increase repeat business, increase average order value, and drive revenue:

• Build a customer database
• Send email and SMS campaigns to customers
• Create set and forget marketing automations
• Set up loyalty, reward and membership programs
• Capture feedback and generate Google Reviews
• Offer loyalty points in-store and online

Don’t have Lightspeed Marketing & Loyalty yet?

Watch what Lightspeed Marketing & Loyalty can do for you in this 5-minute demo video.