As more goods and services go digital, customers have become more demanding than ever. The customer relations industry has evolved accordingly, digitising, 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 toolkit. Many people find creating and replying to emails quite time-consuming. However, with an automation tool like Odoo, emails become less daunting and regain their efficiency in the workplace.
Email has always been a key tool used in pre-sales, sales, and during administrative follow-ups. It is an efficient way to raise awareness of your services and offers, or to track communication. It can also be used to check a prospect's readiness and gauge the right time to send a commercial proposal and close the deal. It is also traditionally used for sales administration functions 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 assess customer satisfaction and use their feedback to improve the customer experience.
Within the company itself, email is essential for better collaboration on customer follow-ups. But... there is a catch. Sending emails can be quite 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 companies. In France, it is estimated that an executive receives an average of 88 messages per day, spending the equivalent of more than 5 hours a day on email. And this doesn’t even include the time spent manually drafting and sending emails!
Create more value with email automation
In this situation, using an email automation solution becomes essential. An ERP like Odoo offers many advantages for professionals in customer relations, and is particularly valuable for sales managers. 92% of them see customer satisfaction as the ultimate goal of their job, yet 35% say they simply don’t have the time to manage customer relationships, because they are occupied with 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 customisable and can be tailored to each company’s specifications. The reminder method (email, post, telephone) is customisable, and the frequency and interval between each message can also be adjusted.
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 familiarise 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 offers multiple benefits. First, it helps improve payment rates, which directly supports the company's cash flow quality and financial health. Beyond pure financial ROI, email automation also boosts overall customer satisfaction. By increasing the number of touchpoints with customers — especially when these contacts provide real added value — email automation actively strengthens customer loyalty. Since every customer is also a potential advocate for your products or services, using email automation can help build a powerful cycle that feeds your sales pipeline and improves conversion rates.
As powerful as Odoo is, it cannot replace the value of human relationships. At the same time, it helps you reach out to active customers at the right moment and in more engaging ways.
In addition to being an Odoo Gold Partner Captivea has been integrating Odoo for several years and has strong expertise in the software. This makes us the ideal partner to support your Odoo project.