One well-established Australian electrical goods wholesaler is using the power of personalisation and email marketing automation to enhance the customer experience and propel its industry sector into the digital age.

Salesforce has debuted fresh Google integrations along with machine learning-powered capabilities across its Marketing, Service and Commerce Clouds as part of efforts to improve the way brands build connected customer experiences through its platforms.

Customer retention and customer engagement are two key aims of AIA Australia’s Vitality program rewarding a consumer’s healthy lifestyle, according to digital CRM manager, Nathan Cole.

Marketing automation platform, ActiveCampaign, is set to open its first international office in Sydney in August. It plans to recruit up to 50 people in customer support and market development functions within the first year.

Shifting focus from direct customer response to retention, with the help of an artificial intelligence-enabled marketing platform, Emarsys, has seen Global Shop Direct obtain a 20 per cent uplift in revenue from automated product recommendations on its website.

​Data regulation is going to be key to marketing innovation, said Steve Lok, head of marketing technology and ops at The Economist.

There aren’t too many Aussie marketers right now who aren’t trying to connect the experience dots and turn their customer acquisition craftsmanship into retention and advocacy. To get there, however, there’s a growing complexity of digital channels to navigate, increasing swathes and types of data to stitch together, and ever-rising consumer expectations to contend with.

The decision to start small and gain quick email wins through AI-powered subject lines and content choices has given Virgin Holidays’ customer lifecycle leader the leadership buy-in to transform its entire communications approach.

Closing the loop between offline and online customer acquisition and conversion has become reality for the team at Australia-based Valiant Finance after deploying an integrated sales and marketing automation stack.

Red Rooster and Oporto owner, Craveable Brands, has driven more than $9 million in sales and lifted its customer loyalty proposition and satisfaction ratings over the past 12 months after deploying a marketing cloud solution.

Rolling out marketing automation and a more integrated customer management approach has not only delivered $5 million in acquisition revenue for ASX-listed financial services player, Silver Chef Group, it’s brought technology and marketing functions tightly together.

​Randstad Australia’s digital-first transformation program and new-look brand strategy are about tapping technology in order to give candidates a more human customer experience that’s severely currently lacking in the recruitment industry, its CMO says.

Tour operator, APT Travel Group, has struck a deal with Datarati to develop and manage its marketing automation strategy.

Like most online companies, Australian edible bouquet maker and ecommerce player, Edible Blooms, is seeing the cost of customer acquisition rising.

Flight Centre Travel Academy (FCTA) has ditched the use of ‘clunky, archaic systems’ in favour of automated marketing software in a bid to increase the number of leads and enrolments in its courses, and improve its overall customer experience.

Marketing wasn’t Alexis Denby’s first pick for a career. Cutting up dead bodies was.

Marketo’s CEO, Steve Lucas, has issued an apology to the vendor’s global customers after they were shut out of Marketo’s core application due to a failure to renew its main domain name registration.

Virgin Mobile has brought on digital transformation consultancy, Datarati, to implement and manage its marketing automation and CRM business as well as assist with ongoing campaign management.

When Cochlear’s first global leader of digital marketing operations, Divya Jumani, joined the ASX-listed organisation 12 months ago, she faced an all-too common quandary: A marketing automation platform largely being used as an email tool.

As the owner of Sydney-based digital engagement agency, Permission, Rick Merten said he eats his own dogfood. In doing so, the agency adopted the Act-On marketing automation platform in a bid to get cohesion across its internal sales and marketing functions, but to do the same for client businesses.

A marketing executive with a background in IT and sales can be strategically equipped with the right skills to bridge the gap between sales and marketing, aligning both towards a more dynamic vision for innovation, agility and digital transformation.