If you treat your email marketing the same way you treat yourdirect-mail marketing— that is, if you blast out an email messageto all your members and hope for the best—you're missing out on thetrue potential of the medium. While basic email marketing softwareis fine for this “spray and pray” approach, marketing automationsoftware takes your digital marketing to the next level.

The key to effective marketing automation is tracking. Bothemail marketing (EM) software and marketing automation (MA)software can track who received your email, who opened it, and whoclicked on any given link, but that's typically where EM trackingends. MA software lets you build landing pages or microsites withinthe MA environment so that you can track the member's behavior asthey navigate around those pages.

What's more, you can create triggers within the MA software sothat the system automatically responds to specific member behavior.For example, if the member opens the email, but takes no furtheraction, the MA software can send one follow-up email. If the memberclicks through to the landing page and then takes no furtheraction, the MA software can send a different follow-up email. Thesetriggers don't need to be immediate, either. You can set thefollow-up email to go out, for example, in three days so you're notpestering the member.

At least in the credit union world, direct-mail marketing isn'tgoing away anytime soon. Fortunately, many (but not all) MA systemsoffer features that integrate direct mail. One way is through thegeneration of personal URLs, or PURLs (pronounced likepearls). Such an MA system will generate a PURL for eachmail recipient to be used as part of your mail-merge file. Forexample, it might generate www.xyzcreditunion.com/john_doe to beincluded on John Doe's postcard. As soon as Mr. Doe uses that URL,the MA system starts tracking him just as if he'd clicked a link inan email.

Some MA systems can also generate personalized QR codes to beincluded on direct-mail pieces. These function essentially the sameas PURLs, but are particularly handy for mobile users.

A robust marketing automation system not only tracks memberbehavior over the course of a campaign, but over the course ofmultiple campaigns. Over time, you can build a unique profile ofeach member – their presumed likes and dislikes, the types ofoffers they respond to, etc. You can then use this information tofurther segment your members for even more precisely targetedcampaigns in the future.

Marketo and Pardot are the two biggest names in marketingautomation. However, neither may be the right choice for yourcredit union. First, these are among the most expensive MAplatforms. Second, since they focus primarily on digital marketing,they may not offer everything you need to support your direct-mailefforts. For example, neither one currently generates personalizedQR codes.

If you're ready to get more from your email marketing efforts,you're well-advised to take a serious look at marketingautomation.