As the digitization of goods and services accelerates, customers have become more demanding than ever. The customer relations industry has evolved accordingly, digitizing, for example, some of its interactions with customers both before and after a sale. Email has driven this shift and is now a key part of the marketing toolbox. Many people, however, find creating and responding to emails to be quite time‑consuming. With an automation tool like Odoo, though, emails become less daunting and regain their efficiency in the workplace.
Email has long been a key tool used in pre‑sales, sales, and administrative follow‑ups. It is an efficient way to raise awareness of your services and offers, or to keep track of communications. It can also be used to assess a prospect’s readiness to buy and identify the right time to send a proposal and close the deal. Email is also traditionally used for sales administration tasks, such as sending reminders for unpaid invoices or unsigned quotations and purchase orders. Once a quote has been signed, or a product or service has been delivered, email becomes a great way to measure customer satisfaction and use their feedback to improve the overall customer experience.
Within the company itself, email is essential for improving collaboration on customer follow‑ups. But… because of course, there’s a “but”. Sending emails can be very time‑consuming.
Email: A powerful customer relations tool, but time‑consuming
Using email also has its downsides — take overflowing inboxes, for example. The sheer volume of emails keeps growing, making it difficult to follow up with clients in a timely manner, especially in large organizations. It’s estimated that in France, an executive receives an average of 88 messages per day, spending the equivalent of more than 5 hours per day on their email. And that doesn’t even include the time spent manually drafting and sending emails!
Add value with email automation
In this context, using an email automation solution is essential. An ERP like Odoo has many advantages for people working in customer relations, and is especially useful for sales managers. 92% of them consider customer satisfaction to be the ultimate goal of their job. However, 35% say they don’t have enough time to manage customer relationships, because so much of their day is taken up by manual tasks (orders, customer invoices, etc.).
One way Odoo saves time for sales teams is by automating pre-written reminders for unpaid invoices. These automatic reminders are fully customizable and can be tailored to each company’s specifications. The reminder method (email, mail, telephone) is customizable, and the frequency and time between each message can be adjusted as well.
Odoo automation: marketing, customer relationships and sales
Odoo's marketing automation module is very useful for sales teams. The workflow is automated based on pre-set configurations defined by the sales or marketing manager. Each workflow defines what email messages should be sent and to which target. The email workflow will also specify the calendar schedule and recurrence. Marketing automation helps familiarize prospects with company offerings and eventually converts them into leads. In addition, Odoo allows you to set up different alerts that prompt sales representatives to contact high-priority leads based on the settings entered in the marketing automation tool (for example, resource downloads or cart abandonment).
The automation provided by Odoo encourages companies to continue elevating customer experience even after the sale is made. For example, the signing of a sale can be a great time to send an automated thank you or welcome email. A few weeks later, this action can be followed up with a satisfaction survey to further strengthen the relationship or find areas for improvement.
Odoo automation: Greater financial ROI and happy customers
Odoo's email automation has multiple benefits, starting with its ability to improve payment rates, which contributes directly to cash flow quality and the overall financial health of the company. Beyond purely financial ROI, email automation also contributes to overall customer satisfaction. By multiplying the points of contact with customers, especially when these touchpoints provide added value, email automation plays an active role in building customer loyalty. Since each customer is also a potential advocate for your products or services, using email automation can help establish a powerful cycle that feeds your sales pipeline and improves conversion rates.
As powerful as Odoo is, it can't replace the value of human relationships. At the same time, it helps you reach out to active customers at the right time and in the most engaging ways.
In addition to being an Odoo Gold Partner Captivea has been integrating Odoo for several years and has in-depth knowledge of the software. This makes us the ideal partner to support your Odoo project.