Definition of Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation is the use of software to automate marketing processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration (CDI), and campaign management. The use of marketing automation makes processes that would otherwise have been performed manually much more efficient, and makes some new processes possible. Marketing automation is an integral component of customer relationship management (CRM) .

What is the meaning of (CDI) ?

Customer data integration (CDI) is the process of consolidating and managing customer information from all available sources, including contact details, customer valuation data, and information gathered through interactions such as direct marketing. Properly conducted, CDI ensures that all relevant departments in the company have constant access to the most current and complete view of customer information available. As such, CDI is an essential element of customer relationship management (CRM) .

Although many companies have been gathering customer data for a good number of years, it hasn't always been managed very effectively. As a result, companies may maintain outdated, redundant, and inconsistent customer data. According to a Forrester Research report, although 92% of companies surveyed believe having an integrated view of customer data is either "critical" or "very important," only 2% have actually managed to achieve that goal.

What is the meaning of (CRM) ?

CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a customer had purchased, and so forth.

Many organizations turn to CRM software to help them manage their customer relationships. CRM technology is offered on-premise, on-demand or through Software as a Service (SaaS) CRM, depending on the vendor. Recently, mobile CRM and the open source CRM software model have also become more popular.