When to supplement your investor CRM with a marketing automation tool

Getting your tech stack right can be the difference between a smooth experience where technology works for you and a frustrating one where you’re doing more manual work. A key decision often overlooked is when to supplement your investor CRM with a marketing automation tool.

A CRM is a system of record for a contact (e.g., an investor) to centralize and store communication to ensure alignment across internal teams and external communication. This is your source of truth for information such as their name, phone number, mailing address, and any other information you may have collected about them. CRMs often provide the basic tools to email investors but are primarily built for data storage & retrieval, not marketing.

On the other hand, a marketing automation tool is purpose-built to use CRM data to communicate information en masse, including platforms like Hubspot, Mailchimp, and Marketo. A marketing automation tool will pull data from a CRM (e.g., an investor's email address) to email investors, allowing you to set up elaborate email campaigns (e.g., drip campaigns) to reach your investors.

Managers often use these to:

• Automatically follow up with an investor if they haven’t opened your email in seven days

• Perform deep analytics on how investors interacted with your email (e.g., heatmap)

• Test different versions of the same content to maximize engagement

The best approach for you depends on your fundraising goals. If you’re a mass marketing fundraiser raising capital from many investors, you will likely benefit from a marketing automation tool. However, a CRM alone may be sufficient if your fundraising is targeted at a smaller number of investors, each of whom requires a white-glove outreach.

Mass marketing fundraiser

As a rule of thumb, mass marketers are managers raising from more than 1,000 investors. They may use a marketing automation tool to:

• Manage a lead capture form

• A/B test email campaign emails

• Execute complex email campaigns (e.g., resend an email in seven days if the email is unopened, or resend in three days if the recipient opened)

• Execute an SMS campaign

• View detailed metrics on campaign activity (e.g., recipient interaction with emails/SMS)

The graphic below shows a typical split in the sales pipeline.

These managers often use a marketing automation tool like HubSpot for top-of-funnel marketing. Once ready to subscribe, they are created as Prospects in Juniper Square and given access to a client portal. From there, the manager can track and report on subscription pipeline activity and eventually convert the prospect into an investor.

Once the prospect is an investor, managers can use Juniper Square to send capital call notices, distribution reports, and more. Suppose the manager wants to execute more complex nurture email campaigns with investors (e.g., quarterly newsletters). In that case, the investor’s information can be sent back to the marketing automation tool for additional outreach.

For these managers, a typical investor journey and manager tech stack might be to:

Non-mass marketing fundraiser

These managers market offerings to fewer investors and don’t need the mass marketing power of an automation tool. Their leads go through fewer stages, and typically, the capabilities of a CRM are sufficient and used to:

• Send one-off emails to investors about opportunities

• Manually track investors in the interest pipeline

• View basic metrics on prospective investor engagement

Typically, an investor’s information is manually put into the CRM and the CRM’s basic email tooling is used to share new opportunities or nurture campaigns (e.g., quarterly newsletters). The entire pipeline occurs within the CRM.

A typical investor journey and manager tech stack might be:

These managers can use Juniper Square for all their activities: from initial prospect outreach through investor communications.

Understanding the difference between a CRM and marketing automation tool can be the difference between a frustrating or smooth investor outreach campaign. It’s important to understand the ways these tools interact together, and choose the best approach for you. Juniper Square has helped many managers make the best decision and would be happy to do the same for you.