For some years now, automated marketing processes have been a matter of course for online companies. Software tools control lead generation, ensure continuous customer care, organize after-sales communication and analyze campaign results. In the meantime, numerous traditional companies are also using automated marketing tools, above all the large corporations. In doing so, they usually work with international providers such as Hubspot, Oracle, Salesforce or Salesmanago, who offer them fully conceptualized marketing automation solutions from a single source. The marketing software supports you on the way to a smooth customer journey and a personalized customer approach.
For some years now, however, the top dogs have been facing competition. Numerous open source solutions are offered on the market that are not supported by a large IT company, but by an active developer community. Your marketing automation software is accessible to everyone, which has a number of advantages for Dirk Spannaus, Managing Director of the digital agency twentyZen. You are independent of a commercial provider, have lower costs in most cases and also have better control over the use of the data. “Modeling the entire process in an external SaaS solution creates a high level of dependency on one provider,” says Spannaus. “An open source solution, on the other hand, gives you more freedom in ongoing operations and in the further expansion of the system.”
Mautic has achieved the best position among the various open source providers. According to the company, the solution is now used by around 200,000 companies for monitoring, lead management and social media. Around 1,000 developers are continuously working on optimizing the offer, which can be used free of charge in its basic version. Depending on the individual cut, this can be supplemented with almost any number of commercial solutions. Theoretically, every advertiser can work with a free marketing automation solution and then adapt the software to their very specific requirements.
Installation is technically demanding
However, everyday life looks different. Because the implementation and operation of an open source automation system require a certain amount of technical know-how. “Anyone can download the code and work with it,” explains Sarah Seyr, CCO and co-founder of Aivie. “Or get a ready-made setup from a professional hosting provider.” The installation is technically quite demanding, confirms Stefan Vetter, CEO and founder of the software company Friendly. To do this, you need advanced IT knowledge and a good IT infrastructure. The facility, in turn, can be completed in a few hours for employees with marketing experience. Vetter: “Tasks include importing existing contacts, creating emails and setting up automated campaigns or workflows.”
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In addition to Mautic, a number of special agencies have also been established that support advertisers in implementing the solution, training employees and making the necessary updates. With their know-how, they are part of the active community. They help to make the technology more user-friendly, to offer additional features and thus to make the offer more and more attractive. It is not uncommon for individual developments from customer projects to be made available to the community again.
Integration of print mailings into the Open Source MAS
One such additional feature is, for example, the integration of Print-Mailing into the Open Source MAS, as it is now possible at Mautic. “With print mailing we are creating another touchpoint that we can use with personalized messages,” says Sarah Seyr. “In addition to targeted ads, personalized e-mails and dynamic content on the website, we can now also automatically send individual messages by post, for example personalized invitations, birthday cards or upcoming ones Christmas mail. “A postcard or a letter could be used both at the beginning of the funnel and later in the customer journey, adds Dirk Spannaus. In many cases this is the only way to get in touch with potential customers, apart from display and search engine advertising. Spannaus : “A print mailing often makes it to the recipient’s desk and stays there for a while. This increases the chance of being noticed by the recipient again at the right moment. ”
Marketing automation remains a growing market
The example of print mailing shows how developable marketing automation via open source is. The future of such open solutions is viewed with corresponding optimism. Marketing automation is a rapidly growing market per se, which means that the popularity of Open Source MAS will continue to grow, says Stefan Vetter. Perhaps you will experience a development like in the area of content management systems, where the open source WordPress project has almost left all proprietary providers behind. “We expect Mautic to go through a development similar to that of WordPress,” confirms Sarah Seyr.
This thesis is supported by the fact that the community is working on further innovations. For example, a marketplace function will soon be introduced at Mautic. This should make it easier for users to offer and use their extensions. The community – it works tirelessly to further develop the open source software, which is why the solution to the well-known providers will remain an alternative in the long term. Spannaus: “In future, there will be a coexistence of commercial software solutions and open source in marketing automation systems.” Helmut van Rinsum
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