This is part 2 of our blog series Break Down Silos with Marketing Automation. Read the introduction here -and part 1 here.
It should be obvious: customer service and Marketing Automation bring out the best in each other. And yet, this combo is often overlooked. In many organizations, customer service is still an isolated function – a place where insights go to die. Kind of like Vegas: what happens in customer service stays in customer service.
But the truth is: customer service often knows the most about the customer. They deal with questions, frustrations and expectations – every single day, in every stage of the customer journey:
Customer service is a valuable touchpoint – and a stretched resource. That’s why there’s both insight value and efficiency gains to be had when Marketing Automation and customer service work together.
Membership organization with a broad age range
In an organization with members of all ages, many older members preferred picking up the phone instead of navigating digital self-service. By surfacing smart insights in the CRM – like churn risk, upgrade opportunities or recent service usage – customer service agents could instantly steer the conversation in the right direction.
The result?
Industrial company with limited customer service resources
Customer service was drowning in tickets and struggling to prioritize. Every request was treated the same – whether it was a basic question or a high-value client.
By combining Marketing Automation with better segmentation and digital self-service options, the company could reduce pressure from simple cases, automatically prioritize more important customers, and tailor the experience based on business value.
The result?
Airline with recurring check-in issues
Too heavy, too large, too late – baggage problems consumed huge amounts of time and caused frustration at check-in. The staff was often under pressure, leading to delays and unhappy travelers.
The solution? An automated SMS reminder was sent to travelers 24 hours before departure – with clear baggage rules, personalized to their booking and flight.
The result?
When customer service and Marketing Automation work together, the value goes both ways. Customer service brings valuable insights that make communication smarter – and automation helps lighten the load where it’s needed most.
This isn’t just about efficiency.
It’s about turning a too-often underused function into something truly strategic.
In the next part of the series, we’ll look at marketing’s role – and how automation can transform the marketing team "from campaign machine to insight engine".
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