Welcome to the first edition of our brand new weekly blog series, Marketing Myths. Each week’s installment of Marketing Myths will aim to bust a commonly held belief about marketing. Last week, we busted the “Customers Don’t Shop Around” myth.
This week’s myth = Automation is Always Better
2016 has become the year of automation. Technologies have advanced so much in recent years that the cost of automation has dropped significantly, putting it into the hands of marketers at companies of all sizes.
We automate emails, mailings, advertisements, website testing, phone calls, etc.
The argument for automation is a good one:
- It saves time
- It saves money
- It’s more accurate
When we automate certain processes, we expect to get better results for less money. Who can say no to that?
Here’s why you should second guess the rush to automate everything. The human touch is still important to most customers. People don’t buy from emails, they don’t buy from websites, they don’t buy from machines. People buy from people.
Not in every case, but in some cases…
- A phone call from a real person will outperform a pre-recorded message
- An email from a human being will outperform a mass email blast
- An automated message will go out when you don’t want it to because of some technology flaw or a change in business conditions
In our rush to automate everything, it can be tempting to ignore the devil’s advocate who we see as afraid of change. But I’m here to tell you that there are some things that should not be automated. The companies that find the right balance of automation and human touch will win out.
Stay tuned next week for another myth. If you have a marketing myth you’d like me to bust, add it in the comments below.