Understanding AI Workflow Automation

What is it Exactly?

AI workflow automation is a process that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to launch and manage time-consuming or repetitive tasks. Data entry, processing, and analysis are examples of such projects.

The goal of AI workflow automation is to increase efficiency and productivity by allowing computers to handle these tasks rather than humans. This allows (human) workers to concentrate on more complex and strategic tasks.

In other words, AI workflow automation allows you and your team to spend more time on the aspects of your business that you enjoy and less time on those that you don’t.

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AI WORKFLOW AUTOMATION?

At the end of the day, every business wants to grow in a profitable, sustainable, and (hopefully) ethical manner. Even small teams can achieve big results by automating routine aspects of their workflows.

Here are some of the advantages of AI workflow automation for businesses:

• It is more effective. AI-powered workflows consistently complete tedious and manual tasks without the risk of burnout.

• It lowers human error. When it comes to having an eye for detail, monotonous projects are notorious for testing our patience. AI automation outperforms tired humans (harsh, but true).

• It is less expensive. While delivering the same quality results, AI software costs less than hiring teams of humans. This frees up your budget to hire people for more creative tasks, the kind of work that people actually enjoy doing.

• It can accommodate teams of any size. Sure, large corporations can use AI workflow automation on a large scale.

WHO BENEFITS FROM AI WORKFLOW AUTOMATION IN YOUR ORGANISATION?

AI workflow automation would benefit nearly every department in a company, including accounting, support, recruiting, and so on. However, leveraging AI-powered workflows would most likely have the greatest direct impact on two teams:

• Sales 
• Marketing

Once those departments begin automating their workflows, your company’s efficiency/output could potentially be 100x – and no, that’s not hyperbole.

SALES TEAMS

Over the last few decades, the role of a sales representative has evolved. Lead tracking and follow-up used to be done with a hand-written Rolodex.

Even entry-level sales representatives can now use powerful customer relationship management systems (CRMs) to keep everything organised and efficient.

Despite technological advancements to assist sales roles, much of the work remains tedious. This is true regardless of your specific responsibilities within a sales team:

Business Development Representative (BDR): This position is responsible for filling the sales pipeline through outbound campaigns and cold outreach.

Sales Development Representative (SDR): Identifies and qualifies new leads before advancing them through the sales funnel.

Account Executives (AE): These are responsible for closing deals by communicating with leads (product demos, 1:1 calls, in-depth pitching, etc.).

According to recent studies, 84.3% of SDRs fail to meet their monthly quotas, with 33.3% of high-growth companies citing SDR time management as one of their top three issues.

WORKFLOW AUTOMATION FOR SALES DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVES (SDRS)

Sales development representatives (SDRs) pick up where BDRs left off. When a cold lead interacts with your company’s messaging or content and becomes “warm,” an SDR will move that lead down the sales pipeline.

This can take many forms, but it usually necessitates a lot of follow-up messaging through various channels.

SDRs, on the other hand, work with inbound leads who have responded to a BDR’s cold outreach or a marketing campaign. That means they’ll need strong organisational skills to ensure their messages don’t get lost.

Using AI automation tools allows SDRs to send personalised and timely follow-ups to new prospects without losing any leads.

WORKFLOW AUTOMATION FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVES (BDRS)

A BDR’s job is to generate new leads and fill the sales funnel. While there are numerous methods for accomplishing this, cold outreach is the most common (phone calls, SMS, emails, or social media messages).

A BDR, for example, might spend their day on LinkedIn looking for leads. Once they’ve located that lead, they may attempt to obtain the phone number or email address in order to initiate contact and begin a conversation.

AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS FOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES (AES)

Account Executives (AEs) can benefit from automated workflows in the same way that SDRs do. AEs can use the right tool to automate tasks like email writing and scheduling appointments with prospective clients.

This can save time and allow your AEs to focus on higher-value tasks like relationship building and deal closing.

Automated workflows can also assist AEs in staying organised by ensuring leads are not forgotten or overlooked. You can automate personalised follow-ups to get clients on the phone by creating simple but effective sales funnels. You could then generate and test different versions of your sales pitch, product demo scripts, and so on.

MARKETING TEAMS

The term “marketing” can cover many areas, such as:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• Word-of-mouth marketing (WoM)

But the overall goal of digital marketing is the same: driving traffic to your company’s website and converting visitors into new leads or paying customers.

Social media Posting: Use tools like Lately or Emplifi to find the best times to post your content.

Email Marketing: Automate email sequences with action-based triggers.

Project Management: Stay organized with a tool like Asana or Monday.com to keep your team moving forward efficiently.

Landing Page Creation: Generate high-converting landing pages to capture emails, increase webinar attendance, generate direct sales, and more (available with Copy.ai).

Product Descriptions: Create product descriptions in bulk for all of the products in your eCommerce store.

WHAT CHARACTERISTICS ARE IMPORTANT FOR AI WORKFLOW AUTOMATION?

The features that are important for AI workflow automation are determined by the goals that your team is attempting to achieve.

That being said, there are three characteristics you should look for in any tool you decide to try:

1) It must be simple to use. You don’t want to waste time sifting through YouTube tutorials and support documentation when you’re learning a new tool. Find software with a simple user interface (UI) that each team member can quickly learn.

2) It should be within your budget (at scale). Examine the price increases for each tool as your business expands. This will assist you in selecting software that will support your long-term business objectives.

3) It should be compatible with other software. Choose the fewest tools possible to solve your business problems, and make sure those tools work well together. This allows you to create workflows to automate as much of the tedious work as possible.

WHY IS CANARY MAIL THE BEST AI WORKFLOW AUTOMATION SOLUTION?

Canary Mail distinguishes itself from other AI email workflow automation tools by handling not only operational processes but also email content. This is an important component of the equation because it is frequently the most difficult to deal with.