Guide · Marketing
Marketing Automation: What to Automate First for Small Teams
Marketing automation means software that sends messages and moves leads for you after a trigger, such as a form fill. A small team should automate three things first: the welcome email, lead routing and reminders. Leave anything that needs judgment or a warm voice to a person.
What marketing automation actually does
Most tools work the same way. Something happens, and the tool takes a step. A person fills in a form, and the tool sends an email. A deal sits for a week, and the tool makes a task for your team.
HubSpot calls this a workflow. In its help centre, it says you set enrollment criteria, and records that match are enrolled and acted on. Triggers can be filter-based, event-based or based on a schedule.
That is the whole idea. The tool does the same small job every time, on time. Your people keep the work that needs thought.
Start with the welcome email
The first thing to automate is the reply to a new sign-up. Someone joins your list or asks for a quote. They should hear from you within minutes, not days.
This is a good first job for three reasons. The message is almost the same for everyone. Speed matters most at the start. And a late reply is easy for a small team to miss on a busy day.
Keep it short. Say thanks, say what happens next, and give one useful link. Sign it with a real name from your team. The workflow actions in HubSpot include a plain Send email step, and you can add it first and fill in the details later.
Sources: HubSpot Knowledge Base, Choose your workflow actions
Route leads to the right person
The second job is lead routing. When a form comes in, the right person should see it without anyone sorting a shared inbox.
Some tools can hand out leads in turn. HubSpot has an action named Rotate record to owner, which assigns records equally within a team or between chosen users. It is limited to paid users on Sales Hub and Service Hub Professional and Enterprise plans, so check your own plan first.
A simple rule set is enough to start:
- New quote requests go to the next person in the rotation.
- Leads from one service go to the person who sells that service.
- Anything that mentions a big budget also pings the owner.
Test each rule with a dummy lead before you switch it on.
Sources: HubSpot Knowledge Base, Choose your workflow actions
Add reminders and pauses
The third job is follow-up. Most lost leads are not turned down. They are forgotten.
Workflows can create tasks for your team. They can also wait. HubSpot lists delays that run for a set amount of time, until a date, or until an event happens, such as the contact visiting a page or filling out a form.
Here is a simple follow-up plan:
- Day 0: send the welcome email.
- Day 3: if there was no reply, make a task for a person to call or write.
- Day 10: send one useful article, then stop.
Notice that the machine only nudges. A person does the real follow-up. That is the line between good automation and spam.
Sources: HubSpot Knowledge Base, Choose your workflow actions
What to leave to people
Some work should stay human, even if a tool can fake it. Price talks, upset customers, tricky scoping questions and thank-you notes after a big win all fit here.
A good test is to ask what happens if the message is wrong. If the cost is small, automate it. If a bad message could lose a client, have a person write it.
Also watch the volume. Five automated emails in a week to the same person feels like noise. Fewer, better messages work better for a small list.
Respect consent and unsubscribe rules
Automation sends fast, so mistakes spread fast too. Two rules matter in 2024.
First, Google now has new sender rules for Gmail. From 1 February 2024, senders must set up email authentication and keep spam rates low. Google also says marketing messages must support one-click unsubscribe and show a clear unsubscribe link. Its steps for the one-click setting are written for senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts, who face the stricter list.
Second, if you collect data in Singapore, the Personal Data Protection Act applies. PDPC says you may only use personal data for purposes the person agreed to. You must let people withdraw consent with reasonable notice, and then stop using their data. Build the opt-out into every workflow, and make sure your tool really stops the messages.
This is a starting point, not legal advice. Ask a lawyer if your case is unclear.
Sources: Google Workspace Admin Help, Email sender guidelines; PDPC, Data Protection Obligations
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