Automation in a time of crisis can be a great way to streamline operations and boost productivity. It saves a lot of time and efforts of the employees."/>
It is a strange world we live in- full of uncertainties. And when a crisis comes, it is turned upside down in a blink of an eye. There is a disruption in the businesses, lack of sufficient manpower, and discontinuity of operations. In this scenario, the only thing that can come to the rescue is automation. Even now, we see people working from home and trying their best to do their tasks. Automation, in a crisis like these, can be a great way to streamline operations and boost productivity. It saves a lot of time and efforts of the employees. You are no more dependent on the human workforce for the continuity of the business.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence together will change the way we do our business. On the other hand, there is hardly anything that can go wrong. With the right set of processes and programming, automation can be a game-changer in times of crisis. Remember the robot does not work properly only if the programming is done incorrectly. As far as marketing is concerned, consumers are confused; financials are volatile and uncertain in times of crisis. It is important to be proactive, self-aware, and tactical in our strategies.
The world is changing every moment. In this extremely uncertain scenario, we need to be alert and plan smartly to ensure survival and success. And to ensure all this automation can give us appropriate inputs, but we should carefully evaluate our business as each situation and challenge is different and unique. We must act fast. The following are a few measures that can be adopted and adjusted to ensure success through automation in times of crisis.
Advertising through messaging and videos ensures brand safety
Online ads help you address the target group of clients in unique ways which are otherwise not possible through traditional media, and the results are also remarkable. With the correct set of tools and technology, brand owners can place their ads wherever they get the best response. It is okay to be on news sites unless it isn’t controversial. At times you may fail to abide by the timeline of delivery of your goods or services may be due to shifting in shipping times because of the ongoing crisis. Besides, you may have to reduce to make in-person appointments. With the advent of responsive ads through email appending and videos, you will be able to stay connected to the target audience 24/7.
However, keep in mind that you communicate your reality through ads and do not just boost over. For instance, your advertisement claims to deliver a particular product the same day of buying this will attract more and more customers. Besides, automated tools view your CTR and conversion rate spike and will prioritize the advertisement. However, if you fail to keep up your commitment, then, this would portray a negative image of your brand plus that customer isn’t coming back in the future. Therefore, it is important to commit only what is possible, so analyze thoroughly and then, design the ads.
Advertising through email marketing list ensuring access to target customers
When advertising through email, you must reach your target client. This can be done by email validation. This is usually done before branding the products. Email verification plays a vital role in ensuring the deliverability of any marketing email. The process of validation before sending emails and advertisements to the email clients reduces the bounce rate as well as the spam count. At the same time, validation helps attain a high sender score and open rate that leads to successful email marketing. Email data and address validation is yet another step to weed out a lot of invalid email addresses. Sophisticated algorithms, set of tests, and web services are executed to eliminate invalid email addresses. Another important step to filter your email marketing list is data mining. The data mining procedure allows you to extract relevant information from the given data set or list. It helps you extract patterns and desired information from the huge marketing list of clients and use them for future campaigns.
Proper mail will enhance your email sender reputation, which is a rating assigned by Internet Service Provider (ISP). It directly impacts your deliverability. A high email sender score implies your ISP is likely to deliver your marketing emails straight to the inbox of your target recipients.
Also Read: 4-ways to amaze your Clients with Interactive Emails and Increase Engagement
Alter the automation process due to delay or slower approval of promotional ads
The crisis affects everything, so it is obvious that the reactions get affected too. It is possible that the Search Engines’ resources get strained, and there is a delay in the reaction time. Search Engines such as Google and Bing have 48-hour ad approval windows. However, in this particular phase of crisis where even the support teams are affected, there may be a delay or slow down in the approval time of videos and advertisements.
Therefore, it is advised that one should modify the automation process of advertisements such that the promotional ads are given the highest priority and are launched first. Many advertisers have the rule to put their general or evergreen ads on hold, launching a new set of promotional advertisements. During this period of crisis, delay the evergreen ads only after getting an absolute confirmation of the launch of new promotional advertisements.
Observe the pattern and learn from past crisis
Although every crisis is unique, you can always learn from past experiences. Observe the pattern of your business in the most volatile times. During such a phase, tackling the business is different as well as challenging. One can develop an algorithm based on previous crisis and how did it affect the campaigns and the work data. If you experience a spike or rise in your business, then, take necessary steps for publicity and advertisement else drop and keep things on hold for some time. Predicting the future based on experience is the safest way to handle business. Therefore, smart bidding keeps up and aids you to make correct decisions.
Analyze Dynamic Search ads
The Internet is flooded with marketing advertisements by several brands. Dynamic Search Ads or DSAs are displayed by the search engine (mostly Google) based on the content of the website. Dynamic Search Ads enhance existing keyword campaigns to obtain more clicks and conversions with minimum efforts. During the crisis, it is more likely that most companies place alerts on their websites to inform the world about the measures taken to cope up with the crisis. This will result in an obstacle to search queries generated by DSAs. To avoid this, observe the queries as they arise. In case you aim not to show any crisis-related queries, exclude crisis-related pages from dynamic search campaigns to achieve desirable results.
Notification through alert messages
Informing through alert messages is a time-sensitive way of communication from machine to person. An alert may be calendar-based or notification of a new message. This helps a business person discover how the target audience performs certain tasks to acquire, organize, maintain, and retrieve information relevant for getting business. Alert notification method helps clients stay updated about your business activity through your website in an automated manner. Electronic mails and short message services are the most primitive ways to provide notification services. Therefore, evaluate how your volatility alerts performed during the previous crisis, adjust and take measures in the present period and beyond accordingly.
Managing inventory and bidding tools efficiently
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In times of a crisis, there is a huge demand for supplies. Any news about the shortage of a product will see an even huge spike in demand. People will start hitting the search engines to find a particular product. This will create a huge impact on the short term and long term performance. There will be a huge increment in the conversion rate. But this high conversion rate can sustain only until your inventory remains. To keep up with the rising demand, you need to ensure your inventory management and tracking are topnotch. This will help you to cater to huge demand and also save money for orders that you cannot fulfil.
To get an idea of how the demand works in a time of crisis, you can go back and trace it how it worked in the past crisis or an extraordinary event. How did the demand curve behave in the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, or how the demand worked when a celebrity was spotted with your product. Scenarios like this give a great deal of insight into how the demand works and prepare you how to react. You will see that each scenario resembles a short term spike. You should review your inventory management systems and ensure they fulfil what is desired of them in times of a crisis. Also, it will guide you on how to react post-crisis as well.
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