How did INES CRM grow its sales thanks to Marketing Automation?

With the advent of SaaS, software publishers now have two imperatives: the original one of scaling their business, and the new one of lowering the churn rate. Scalability relies on systematizing and automating the follow-up of new leads to convert them better. To reduce attrition, customer follow-up helps make them autonomous and extend the duration of their subscription to the service.










Marketing automation software synchronized with a CRM makes it possible to automate part of the sales cycle, onboarding, and software training. Thanks to precise segmentation and relevant scoring, it becomes easy to detect weak signals in a customer’s usage and provide them with the right service at the right time.













INES CRM is the French leader in SaaS/Cloud customer relationship management (CRM) software for B2B companies. Its CEO – Frédéric Naudin – explains what Marketing Automation brings to the growth of his company. He also explains why the integration of Webmecanik Automation and Ines CRM solutions is a key success factor in competitive bids that accelerates the growth of its customers. 









Stéphane Couleaud: For a software publisher like INES, what is the main benefit of using marketing automation in your business development?






Frédéric Naudin: Knowing that 67% of the buying journey is completed by prospects before they contact salespeople, the challenge for every company is to be the first to detect the need and start the conversation. In the context of a CRM project, the buying journey is becoming increasingly long and complex. The challenge for our sales and marketing team is to identify prospects who have reached a sufficient level of maturity to embark on a project. That is where the Marketing Automation tool really comes into its own! More than a growth lever, the Marketing Automation tool enables us to maintain continuous prospecting and put in place personalized and automated sales follow-up. We are thus able to engage in a conversational prospecting cycle with the lead and track the progress of their journey thanks to activity scoring. The conversation is taken over by the sales team at the right time, allowing them to be more responsive and focus their efforts on the conversion phase.









Stéphane: You offer a CRM solution for SMBs/mid-sized B2B companies; what proportion of new customers request CRM + Automation integration from the outset?






Frédéric: Today we see that 30% of our new customers integrate automation into their initial CRM project, and this trend is clearly increasing.









Stéphane: What main benefit do you see for your customers from such integration?






Frédéric: For us, it is obvious that the Marketing Automation and CRM duo is essential for optimizing sales strategy and building an effective conversion funnel. The power of a Marketing Automation tool allows our customers to automate and scale lead detection, while the CRM enables them to centralize and manage the established sales relationship. The CRM is thus fed with hot leads that enter personalized sales follow-up through a platform that provides them with all the tools essential to their business (history of interactions, quote management, reminders, etc.)









Stéphane: What key point do you bring to their attention to ensure the project’s success?






Frédéric: While a Marketing Automation solution offers many possibilities, the success of such a project requires the customer to clearly define their strategy beforehand. Indeed, it is essential to feed the tool with relevant content and clearly define the different stages of their “lead cycle” in order to align their marketing strategy with their market. We recommend starting with simple campaigns with a defined objective before generalizing the use of marketing automation across the entire customer lifecycle.












Interview between Frédéric Naudin (INES CRM) and Stéphane Couleaud conducted in July 2019.