Some things last forever, but the wrong marketing automation software is not one of them.
Switching to a new system is a big deal for your business and you don’t want to do it prematurely if it’s not necessary.
In this blog, we’ll walk through the top four things that signal it’s time for you to ditch your current marketing automation software and find a new one that fits your current business needs. Let’s dive in!
Growing Pains
This first sign is usually the earliest tell-tale indicator that it’s time to upgrade your marketing automation system, and it has to do with outgrowing your software.
The software you chose earlier on may not be the one you and your team need now. As you know, when your business grows, your needs change, too.
If you’ve been scaling, you might be experiencing some growing pains when it comes to your software. Oftentimes, this looks like:
- Need for more complex automations
- Reaching your maximum number of contacts
- System lagging
These are just a few of the symptoms that prove you’ve outgrown your current software. Instead of trying to make a limited software work for your growing business, start looking for one that’s scalable for the future.
Poor Integration
When the rest of your tech stack seamlessly integrates with your marketing automation software, you unlock additional capabilities and a new level of efficiency. More specifically, integrations lead you to craft complex automations, automate more manual tasks, enhance personalization in your campaigns, provide a more streamlined customer experience, and so much more.
In summary, integrations are a big deal, and if you’re creating annoying workarounds to get apps to communicate, then you need new marketing automation software.
The ideal platform will have an extensive integrations library where you can browse, connect existing apps together, and find additional apps that boost your marketing efforts even more.
Limited Reporting Abilities
When you first started your automation journey, creating campaigns and getting repetitive tasks off your plate might’ve been your primary concern.
But as small business teams continue automating and streamlining, they often start caring more about monitoring campaign performance and audience engagement.
That’s why you need marketing automation software with a built-in reporting feature that dives deep into campaign metrics.
If you find yourself frustrated at limited (or even nonexistent) reporting insights, take this as your sign to seek out a new marketing automation platform. When you find one with a robust reporting center, you will:
- Know exactly which automated campaigns are performing the best
- Correct automations that your audience isn’t responding to
- Stop wasting time guessing what will work and build more automations that you know will benefit your business
The benefits go on and on, but the point is that a solid reporting feature can only benefit your automations and your business overall, so why not switch to a platform that has one?
Declining Deliverability
This last warning sign has to do with your emails, more specifically your email deliverability rate.
Deliverability is important because it determines if your emails land in your contact’s inboxes or in the dreaded spam folder. What many businesses don’t realize is if they’re sending emails with their marketing automation platform, that platform’s reputation is directly impacting their business’s deliverability rate.
Here’s how it works: Each marketing automation software that sends emails is considered an Email Service Provider (ESP). Each ESP has a deliverability rating that impacts all of their users. This means if your platform’s rate is poor or decreases, so will the chance of your emails ending up in the inbox.
Don’t let this information worry you. Instead, keep an eye on your email performance in your marketing automation platform. If you notice a consistent decrease despite following email deliverability best practices, it could be time to investigate your ESP’s rating and switch.
Shopping for Marketing Automation Software: Start With This Free Resource
If you’re experiencing some or all of these symptoms, add “find a new marketing automation platform” to your to-do list.
But listen, we know that the software shopping experience isn’t always fun. It can get overwhelming and frustrating when you’re flying blind. Fortunately, you don’t have to because our Marketing Automation Buyers’ Guide was designed to guide you through the shopping experience and help you find your ideal software fit with ease and efficiency.
Download it for free, and get excited because a better platform is right around the corner.
