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Marketing Automation: 8 Hacks for Business Growth

Date: 2026-02-26 | Time of reading: 8 minutes (1484 words)
Background

The development of IT tools has transformed marketing management. In the past, collecting and processing data, as well as communicating with customers, were done manually, which took a lot of time and required significant resources. As data volumes grew, this approach became less effective and often even impossible. That’s when marketing automation emerged — delegating routine tasks to digital tools.

The method is gaining popularity. Today, 75% of businesses use at least one automation tool. 45% of marketers report that developing marketing strategies has become more effective.

In this article, we’ll explore how to use marketing automation to save time and retain customers.

What is Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is an approach where routine tasks are delegated to specialized IT tools, while the marketer oversees the campaign and focuses on strategy.

Different processes can be automated:

  • Data collection and processing. This involves CDP platforms or standalone tools that gather data from multiple sources, remove duplicates and errors, consolidate information, and prepare it for analytics.
  • Marketing communications. Email campaigns, push notifications, and SMS messages are sent automatically.
  • Data analytics. Systems process information and generate ready-made reports. This makes it easier to understand how campaigns are performing, identify problems, and determine which channels should be developed further.

How Digital Marketing Automation Increases Business Efficiency:

  • Resource savings. Marketers don’t spend time on repetitive tasks and can focus on strategy and analytics. Budgets are used more efficiently — tasks that previously required several people to handle data can now be managed by a single specialist with the right tools.
  • Faster response to changes. Automated reports and monitoring make it possible to quickly spot trends and adjust campaigns without losing time.
  • Accuracy of decisions. Data is collected and analyzed automatically, eliminating the errors that occur with manual work. As a result, forecasts and conclusions become more precise.

Automation Hacks: Tools and Techniques

How to Target the Right Audience

In traditional segmentation, customer groups are created manually and remain unchanged until someone adjusts them. Because of this, changes in age, audience composition, habits, and interests often go unnoticed.

Dynamic segmentation continuously updates customer groups based on new data, keeping the segments relevant.

Example. In the Uzum digital services ecosystem, segmentation was set up using the CDP Altcraft Platform. As a result, 23% fewer users disabled push notifications. More details were shared here.

How to Properly Introduce Customers to a Brand

Right after registration, a series of touchpoints is launched — emails, push notifications, messages in messengers (or all of them together). The scenario is set up once and then runs automatically, giving every new customer the same high-quality start.

Onboarding is not just “hello, here we are, please buy from us,” but a clear journey from the first contact to the purchase. The customer immediately gets access, instructions, and useful content, sees that everything works, and without hesitation takes the next step — testing the product or choosing a plan.

Warming up can also be triggered through nurture sequences: a stream of content that gradually builds interest and addresses objections. At the start — helpful materials and examples, then — demos and success stories, and finally — a personalized offer. The scenarios adapt depending on customer behavior: upsells for active users, reactivation with a bonus or consultation for those losing interest.

Source: reallygoodemails.com

With onboarding automation and analytics through Altcraft Platform, BNB Bank increased transactional activity by 36%. For each product, trigger-based sequences were introduced to explain how to use different features.

How Not to Miss the Right Moment

Trigger-based campaigns are automated messages sent to a customer in response to their actions — or inaction. For example: an email about an item left in the cart, a reminder about viewed products, an activation email after registration, or a reactivation email if the person stopped visiting the website.

Such campaigns bring attention back to the brand, encourage purchases, and help retain customers who have already shown interest.

According to research, more than 40% of recipients open abandoned cart emails. Of those, about one in five clicks the link, and half of those who click eventually return and make a purchase.

Source: reallygoodemails.com

How to Make a Customer Feel That You Know Them

Marketing automation systems collect a lot of data about customers — their interests, behavior, and purchases. Based on this information, you can create offers that truly matter to a specific person: personalized discounts, product selections, or content tailored to their tastes.

Without personalization, a brand loses its connection with the customer: emails and promotions seem random, and attention quickly shifts to competitors who “speak their language.”

Source: reallygoodemails.com

After implementing the CDP Altcraft Platform, the RuStore app marketplace increased downloads of apps and games by 235%. The company succeeded in developing a strategy of personalized automated direct communications.

How to Understand What Works and What Doesn’t

Automation relieves marketers from the headache of manually collecting and consolidating data. All metrics are delivered in real time and immediately presented in clear reports. There’s no need to dig through dozens of spreadsheets to figure out what’s working and what’s wasting the budget.

Campaigns are always under control: since data is updated in real time, you can quickly respond to changes and adjust settings. To test hypotheses — for example, a new audience, creative, or email sequence — it’s enough to launch a test and watch how the metrics shift as data accumulates.

Automation tools simplify A/B testing: traffic is automatically split into groups, and different versions of headlines, images, or offers are compared. Statistics update in real time, and as data builds up, you can see which option performs better. The speed of getting results depends on the audience size and the metrics selected.
Real-time analytics in Altcraft Platform boosted sales for a streaming service by 62%. The team quickly identified creatives that resonated with the audience and built communication that users actually enjoyed. The campaign was so successful that, instead of unsubscribing despite receiving four messages a day, customers kept making purchases.

How to Keep Customers Happy

Modern automation systems consolidate data on customer purchases and interactions from every channel into a single profile. This profile forms the basis of a loyalty program — not just a simple “earn and spend points” model, but a personalized system that takes customer behavior into account and delivers the right reward at the right time.

The system can automatically generate both personal and universal promo codes, insert them into messages through variables, and even pull them from external sources. Each code is stored in the customer’s profile with details on validity and usage.

Source: reallygoodemails.com

How to Stop Annoying Users

One of the constant headaches for marketers is figuring out the best time to send an email or push notification. Too early, and the message gets lost in the inbox clutter; too late, and the customer is already busy with something else. Send it at the wrong time — especially a push or SMS — and the person may not just ignore it, but also disable notifications or even unsubscribe altogether.

To remove the guesswork, automation platforms include modules that calculate the optimal send time based on each user’s behavior (for example, Altcraft’s Best Send Time module). The system analyzes when a person most often engages with messages and chooses the right hour for that specific day. As a result, emails and notifications arrive at the moment the recipient is most likely to read them, while marketers get predictable outcomes without unnecessary trial and error.

How to Motivate Customers to Buy Again

Milestone messages and greetings are communications tied to important customer dates: a birthday, registration anniversary, first purchase, or reaching a certain number of orders. These touchpoints create a sense of personal attention, strengthen the connection with the brand, and encourage repeat purchases.
Automation handles all the routine work: the system stores the dates and sends an email or push notification at the right time. It’s easy to add a personal discount, bonus, or even just a warm greeting to the scenario.

Summary

Marketing automation takes over routine tasks, freeing up time for strategy and creativity. Processes like segmentation, onboarding, triggered and personalized campaigns, loyalty programs, and audience nurturing can all be automated. Real-time analytics reveal campaign effectiveness and help make timely adjustments, while testing ideas becomes faster and more accurate.

To implement automation effectively, it’s crucial to choose the right tool. Here, we’ll walk you through CDP Altcraft and show how the platform can support your business specifically.
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We’ll show you the platform and find a solution tailored to your business goals

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