In B2B marketing automation, a large part of strategies still rely on a simplified view: a contact and a company. But in reality, your customers are not reduced to a single record. They have contracts, subscriptions, purchases, products in use… in short, a whole history that your standard data is not enough to reflect.
This is precisely where custom objects change the game. By adding a “multi-table” logic, they let you structure these complex data and, most importantly, activate them in your campaigns, aligning marketing actions with the real behaviors of your prospects and customers.
What are Custom Objects?
A custom object is simply an additional data table based on a key criterion, that can be attached to a contact or a company.
Practically speaking, where your contacts and companies contain “classic” information on demographic data (name, email, industry…) and behavioral data (click, page view), a custom object allows storing more specific and often multiple business data (for example: contracts, subscriptions, orders or projects).
The key difference between custom objects and a standard table is how the data is structured:
- A standard table works with a simple logic: one record = one person. Each contact has a single record, in which information is added (email, phone, etc.).
- In contrast, a custom object allows storing multiple pieces of information for the same contact or the same company. You create a dedicated table (e.g., “Orders”), where each row corresponds to an actual occurrence (an order, a subscription…), linked via a key criterion.
This provides a much cleaner, more flexible and easier-to-use structure, without overloading the software or complicating contact records.
Why use custom objects in your marketing automation strategy
By integrating custom objects, you fully exploit your business data. You are no longer limited to behaviors; you contextualize your actions according to each customer’s real situation. In other words, you can send the right message, at the right time.
You will be able to:
- Identify and target the most promising customers: easily spot high-potential contacts using concrete data (purchases, frequency, engagement) and focus your efforts where the impact is highest.
- Create personalized scenarios and a tailored experience: adapt your messages, automations and content based on behaviors (what, how much, when they buy). You segment your audiences more finely and offer truly relevant interactions, improving both engagement and conversions.
- Automate your entire sales funnel: don’t stop at the purchase. Your existing customers are your most valuable resource; they already know you and trust your products. You can continue to engage them with loyalty, upsell or cross-sell scenarios, maximizing their long-term value.
- Align marketing and sales: share structured, unified data between teams to better coordinate actions, automate more intelligently and speed up the sales cycle.
Where do custom object data come from?
Custom objects become the true receptacle of your digital ecosystem; they are automatically fed from your business tools, guaranteeing data that is always up to date and usable in your marketing scenarios.
- E-commerce / client portal feeds: data such as orders, subscriptions or carts are synchronized automatically. Every new client action enriches your custom object, without manual intervention.
- CRM / ERP feeds: you pull up key information like billing, client status, or the state of an asset fleet (machines, licenses…). This allows aligning your marketing actions with commercial and operational reality.
- File imports (Excel / CSV): for one-off data (partner sales, event attendees…), you can enrich your objects without overwriting your contacts. Each import creates new rows, letting you maintain a clean and structured history.
To go further, the CSV feed can be automated via regular deposits on an SFTP server, to continuously feed your data without manual intervention.
What to remember here is that with Webmecanik Automation, your custom objects can connect with all your data sources (via API, connectors or regular imports). This provides centralized data to activate your campaigns at the best time, without manual action.
Concrete B2B example
To concretely illustrate the advantages of custom objects, let’s take the case of a B2B car dealership that sells and rents vehicle fleets to companies.
In this kind of activity, the customer relationship is much more complex than it seems. A company does not own a single vehicle, but often several, with different contracts, varied expiration dates and specific uses depending on the teams.
The challenge for this company is therefore not only to know the contact, but to precisely track each vehicle and each contract.
What we will set up
The dealership will structure its database by creating a custom object “Contract”. This object contains key information such as:
- the type of vehicle (utility, sedan, electric…)
- the contract start date
- the end or renewal date
- the mode (purchase or rental)
- the contract status
Each contract is then linked to a company since it is the company that is truly the client. This allows precisely tracking each element of the vehicle fleet, not just an overall view of the client.
The marketing need
To support the sales team, marketing wants to launch a campaign dedicated to contract renewals, highlighting new vehicle models. Rather than communicating to its entire base, the goal is to target only the companies for which there is an immediate issue, for example those whose some contracts are soon expiring.
Thanks to custom objects, the marketing team can precisely identify contracts expiring in the next 3 to 6 months, then refine targeting by vehicle type, brand or engine type. It can thus adapt its messages and highlight the most relevant arguments for each company.
Concretely, this allows cross-referencing multiple levels of data: on one side, the classic information from contacts or companies (industry, size, location), and on the other, business data from the “Contracts” objects. This yields very precise segments that can be easily activated in your campaigns.
The result
This structuring enables much more relevant marketing by:
- Triggering campaigns at the right time, when the need actually exists.
- Adapting messages according to the type of vehicle or the contract concerned.
- Having better visibility on the accounts to activate, both for marketing and sales.
Concretely, it allows anticipating renewals rather than suffering them, increasing commercial opportunities and offering a much more coherent customer experience.
Conclusion
As you will have understood, custom objects are not simply a technical feature; they are a strategic lever to structure and activate your entire B2B funnel. By centralizing your business data and making it usable in your marketing automation tool, you move from generic campaigns to an approach driven by concrete, actionable signals.
From acquisition to retention, you finally align your marketing actions with the business reality of your prospects and customers. It is this ability to structure, cross and activate data that makes all the difference and turns your marketing automation into a true growth engine.
Want to know more about Webmecanik custom objects? Click here!
