营销自动化软件市场发展加速

    没有人愿意被当成是其他人的“受众”，但是大多数人都能接受一些微妙的手势，比如电子商务网站根据你以往的消费记录显示的“推荐”。纳西认为：“五年内，顾客就会开始反感所谓的‘受众营销’。同样在五年内，如果你不能像亚马逊（Amazon）一样进行营销，你可能就不会再有任何顾客。我们现在仍处于这种转型的初期，但是顾客的心思非常善变。”

    营销自动化软件在过去五年里获得显著发展的另一个原因是“软件即服务”交付模式的涌现，这也是为什么IBM对Silverpop这么感兴趣的另一个原因。它的许多产品可以通过订阅的形式采购，因此，营销部门可以把这笔投资当成运营开支的一部分，而不是把它当成资本支出来管理。

    Frost & Sullivan公司的贾萨尼指出，营销自动化软件有三个定价层次，第一层是每年2万美元起，可以使用基本的潜在顾客管理、追踪、邮件营销，而且可以与客户关系管理平台进行整合；第二层是每年5万美元起，这一层可以使用一套全面的解决方案，包括一些更先进的分析功能，以及像潜在客户评分等功能，可以帮助销售团队对潜在客户根据重要性进行排序。

    Marketo公司共同创始人兼产品营销副总裁乔恩•米勒指出：“营销部门以前想让信息总监批准这笔投资相当不容易，但现实是，营销部门本来就已经花了很多钱。现在他们可以通过运营预算直接购买这些技术。Marketo公司的客户包括麦肯森（McKesson）、曲线国际（Curves International）、克莱斯勒（Chrysler）、佳能（Canon）、松下（Panasonic）、索尼（Sony）和SunRun等知名企业。

    但是这并不代表营销自动化软件用起来很简单。贾萨尼指出，虽然理论上使用营销自动化软件似乎是件简单的事，但是如果一家公司的潜在客户开发流程以及数据库和系统的效率不高，或者它没有正确的信息内容可以用来发送给客户，那么它也不会带来你所希望的效果。贾萨尼说：“如果没有所需要的人才和资源，就不要对这个软件抱有不切实际的期望。”

    这个行业也少不了小公司的身影，许多公司已经开始合纵连横，壮大力量，表明争夺市场份额的竞赛还远远没有结束。比如Marketo公司就在2013年12月末收购了从事个性化服务的Insightera，后者的技术可以使企业的网站根据访客的身份显示特定的内容。

    比方说，如果你之前访问了一个页面，并且浏览了和敞篷轿车有关的内容，网站就会重新安排有关图片以激发你的兴趣。米勒说：“我们的营销活动信息都是为了让你获得与你个人最相关的浏览体验。”

    另外一家值得密切关注的公司叫做Salesfusion，它刚在今年一月的第二轮融资中募集到了825万美元投资，领投方是Noro-Moseley Partners、BLH Venture Partners和Hallett Capital等公司。这轮投资使这家公司的总融资额达到1010万美元。

    这家公司的平台可以与微软的Dynamics CRM客户关系管理系统紧密整合，而且现在它还包含了预测评分功能，也就是说，用户只需根据“为我展示更多像这样的潜在客户”或“为我展示更少像这样的潜在客户”等短语，就可以要求系统提交报告。Salesfusion公司是通过今年2月收购LoopFuse公司得到这项技术的。

    Salesfusion公司CEO克里斯蒂安•纳哈斯在一份声明中说：“我们做市场调查的时候发现，传统的营销自动化系统在整合销售和市场方面做得不够好。智能的营销自动化系统将在减少销售与市场之间的摩擦上做得更多，甚至彻底消除这种摩擦。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    No one wants to be thought of as someone's "audience," but most people appreciate subtle gestures, such as the "recommendations" that are surfaced on e-commerce sites based on past purchases. "In five years, customers are going to reject audience marketing," Nussey said. "In five years, if you aren't marketing like Amazon, you're not going to have any customers. We are still at the beginning of that transition, but customers are fickle."

    Another reason marketing automation software adoption has accelerated dramatically in the past five years is the software as a service delivery model, which is another reason Silverpop was so interesting to IBM: many offerings can be paid for as a subscription, which helps chief marketing officers account for the investment as part of operational expenses instead of having to manage it as a capital expense.

    Frost & Sullivan 's Jasani suggests there are three pricing tiers for marketing automation software, starting at $20,000 annually for basic lead management, tracking, email marketing and integration with customer relationship management platforms; to $50,000 per year for comprehensive solutions that include more advanced analytics features and features such as lead scoring, which helps sales teams prioritize prospects.

    "Marketers have had a really hard time going to the CIO to get the investment money for this, but the reality is that marketers already spend a lot of money. Now, they can buy technology out of their operating budget," said Jon Miller, co-founder and vice president of product marketing for Marketo, which boasts customers including McKesson (MCK), Curves International, Chrysler, Canon (ADR), Panasonic, Sony (SNE) and SunRun.

    That's not to suggest this stuff is easy. On paper, the process of adding marketing automation might look simple but if a company's existing lead generation processes, databases or systems are inefficient or it doesn't have the right sort of messaging content to make things personal, it won't get the results it is seeking, Jasani said. "There is no point in having unrealistic expectations from the software, if you don't have the required talent and resources," he said.

    There also is no shortage of smaller companies in this space, which has already triggered consolidation and suggests the race for market share is far from over. Marketo, for example, snapped up personalization company Insightera in late December 2013. Companies using the technology can enable their websites to display specific content based on the identity of the visitor.

    For example, if you previously visited a page and browsed content about convertibles, the images can be rearranged to pique your interest. "We know the campaign history. It's all based on information we might use to present the most relevant experience for you, individually," Miller said.

    One company to watch closely is Salesfusion, which raised $8.25 million in Series B funding in January, led by Noro-Moseley Partners, BLH Venture Partners and Hallett Capital. That brings its total to around $10.1 million.

    The company's platform is integrated closely with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and now includes predictive scoring, which means users will be able to request reports based on phrases such as "show me more leads like this" or "show me fewer leads like that." It gained this technology through its acquisition of LoopFuse in February.

    "When we talk to the market, we hear that the traditional marketing automation systems haven't delivered on the promise of bringing sales and marketing together," said Christian Nahas, CEO at Salesfusion, in a statement. "Smart marketing automation is about doing more than reducing friction between sales and marketing, it's about removing it."