After having dealt with the e-mail marketing module in our last blog post, we will now take a look at the extent to which we can automate our marketing and sales activities in Odoo. For this purpose, Odoo offers us a separate module, Marketing Automation.
Similar to the Email Marketing module, we also have two access rights in the Marketing Automation module. A user without access rights does not have access to the module, so does not see the module in the dashboard. Users in the Users group have full access to the module, including campaigns and reporting.
Within the module we can also find only these two menu items. By means of the campaigns we control the automation of our activities. Reporting provides us with meaningful key figures on our activities or campaigns and displays them graphically as bar, line or pie charts or in a pivot view. The key figures are also available to us in each individual campaign. No further configuration or optional features are available to us at this point.
If we open the module from the dashboard, we are taken directly to the overview of our campaigns. These are displayed to us in a Kanban view, whereby it is possible to switch to the list view. Within the Kanban view, we have three levels at our disposal. The "New" level contains the campaigns that we are still working on. All campaigns that we have started we find in the level "Running". All finished campaigns can be found in the "Stopped" level.
In the overview of the campaigns we have the possibility to create new campaigns and to edit existing campaigns or to view their workflow and the corresponding KPIs. When we create a new campaign, we first define a name and select the data model to which our campaign refers. We can further narrow down this selection by using filters.
Now we start creating activities within our campaign. To do this, we click on the "Create activity" button. A pop-up will then open where we can select the type of activity as well as the name. We have the choice between e-mail and server action. If we have the SMS Marketing module installed, the SMS activity type is also available.
For the e-mail, we select an e-mail template. Finally, we define the trigger for sending the email. The available time units are hours, weeks, days and months. The trigger itself can be, for example, the start of the campaign or a completed activity. So, in the figure below, we see that the email is sent one hour after the start of the campaign. With the help of the definition of an expiration time, we can limit the time of the trigger. Additionally, Odoo shows us the previously defined filter on the data model.
Now we create another activity. This can be triggered independently of the first activity. Much more helpful, however, is the creation of activity chains. This way, the activities build on each other depending on previously defined conditions. Using the email created above as an example, we can trigger the follow-up activity after the email has been sent or opened, not opened, replied to, not replied to, clicked, not clicked or discarded within a certain period of time.
To create the follow-up activity, a pop-up opens again, where we select the name and type of the activity again. Using the server action we have countless possibilities, for example, creating an activity, moving an object to another stage, sending messages to internal users or creating a new object. Finally, we define the trigger described above. In the figure below, we see that the server action is triggered when the recipient of the previous email has clicked a link within the email. The time limit of the trigger as well as the display of the filters on the data model are of course also available to us here.
Once we have created all activities and follow-up activities, we save our details and Odoo presents us with the workflow including the key figures for the individual activities. Here we can see exactly which activity is triggered when and how successful our activities were within the campaign. With the button "Start a test" we have the possibility to test our campaign using an example data set. If the test is successful, we start our campaign by clicking the "Start" button.
This moves the campaign to the "Running" stage and the individual activities are carried out completely automatically on the basis of the triggers. According to the figure above, the following workflow results for the sales opportunity object in the customer relationship management (CRM): One hour after the start of the campaign, Odoo automatically sends an e-mail to all customers whose sales opportunity is in the "New" stage. One day after sending the first email, Odoo again automatically sends another email to all customers who opened the first email. One hour after the second email is sent, all the opportunities whose customers clicked a link within the second email are automatically moved to the "Qualified" stage.
This workflow can be extended at will, there are no limits to what we can do. It is conceivable that after the opportunity is moved to the "Qualified" stage, an activity is also created for the salesperson with a request to send an offer.
With the help of the smart buttons, Odoo also provides us with our own views within the campaign for the email templates used, SMS sent, number of clicks in the emails, tests performed, and the participants or recipients of the individual activities. The latter link in particular is helpful, as it takes us to the evaluation of the key figures for each individual participant or recipient and, if necessary, we can also trigger the activities there manually by clicking on the Start button.
The activities of our campaigns are carried out until we stop the campaign by clicking the "Stop" button. This moves the campaign to the "Stopped" stage.
We can say that Odoo's Marketing Automation module offers us a great opportunity to automate and control our marketing and sales activities. It is not only advisable to use it with regard to contacts or customer relationship management (CRM).
By selecting any data model for the campaigns and especially the execution of server actions, numerous application possibilities are conceivable. This can also be used, for example, to automate and track workflows in the areas of recruiting, emplyoees, customer service, project management, purchsing, sales, e-commerce or accounting.
Are you looking for an ERP system to automate your marketing and sales activities or do you have questions about the Marketing Automation module? No problem! Contact us now and we will be at your side as an experienced and reliable Odoo partner!
Sources: www.odoo.com