Why Participate?

Your participation will help us gather vital information to create an anonymized, aggregated report reflecting the current state of the Mautic business ecosystem. This report will guide the Mautic Council in making informed decisions to foster growth and innovation within the community.

Confidentiality Assured

We understand the importance of privacy and confidentiality. Rest assured, all responses will be kept strictly confidential. Any specific quotes or comments included in the report will be anonymized before publication. If you have any questions regarding data confidentiality, please reach out to us at council@mautic.org.

Survey Deadline and Results

The survey will close on 27th October 2024. We encourage you to participate at your earliest convenience to ensure your voice is heard. The highlights of the survey will be presented at the Mautic Conference Europe event in Lisbon, providing a platform to discuss the findings and their implications.

Get Involved

Your insights are invaluable to us. Join us in shaping the future of Mautic by participating in the survey. Click here to participate in the survey.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement with the Mautic community!

I’ve been in and around technology for nearly 20 years. Everything from IT administration/end-user support, software development and technology marketing/sales. In each one of these lines of work, there has been a consistent theme. Testing.

Why Testing?

If we’re honest, all end user support starts with a lot of questions. What was happening when that issue happened? Were you doing another task when that happened? What led up to the error? What showed up on screen when it happened? These questions are all designed to provide answers that lead to preventing that issue in the future.

Every operating system, mobile application or other software that we may use, operates in an environment that is unique to it. Trying to determine the source of these issues, often means understanding the environment as well as every unique element related to it. Once a possible source is discovered, we test to determine if our hypothesis is correct.

In a similar fashion, whether you are designing digital learning tools, or a robust marketing automation solution, each newly designed feature or added capability requires testing to ensure that it operates in a manner befitting its goal. And likewise with marketing messages, there are companies that primarily work on focus group testing messages with a variety of audiences to ensure that their message is resonating with it’s potential customers.

If we can find testing in so many environments, then it makes logical sense that we equip our own organizations with systems that provide us with the opportunity to test out new software that will impact our business. That’s why we are excited to share that we will be re-launching a beta-release program with the announcement of Mautic 2.9.0!

Beta-Release

For those who don’t adhere to a release management process, in its simplest form there is a test server and a production server. Each of these have their own purpose. The test server provides organizations with the ability to load and test pre-releases of software in an environment that doesn’t interrupt your day-to-day marketing automation (or other business) activities. The production server typically contains the most stable version of the software that enables you to continue gathering data on your audience as well as provide them with value at every interaction.

Mautic makes it simple to access and test beta-releases. To set up a test server, follow a similar process for a production server, with the most significant change occurring in the setup of Mautic. Follow the link below for more configuration details.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do not use beta releases in your production environment. There may be bugs still present in a beta release. Remember to always take a backup of your files and database prior to applying any updates, beta or otherwise.

Mautic 2.9.0 Beta-Release

For more detailed information on how you can access the Mautic 2.9.0 beta-release click here.

Now you are ready to test! Be sure to access Mautic’s Github Pre-release page to determine what features are being released and what issues are being resolved.

California Family Kicked Off Delta Flight After Argument Over Toddler’s Seat

American Airlines investigates after video shows mom in tears

Delta Employees Asked Man to Leave Flight After Using Restroom

United Airlines Passenger Is Dragged From an Overbooked Flight

I don’t share these incidents to bring judgement upon the airlines or its passengers. The reason I share this is because I think as marketers, we can learn a lot from these situations. We can learn from innovative successes and groundbreaking products, as well as communication breakdowns and errors in judgement. Each of these stories should cause us to reflect and have meaningful discussions in our businesses.

As we consider each of these incidents, what is one thing they have in common? They reflect a breakdown in the customer journey. You’re likely saying, “Yes, we know all about the customer journey, there’s no problem here. We understand the touchpoints, as well as how we engage customers along each step of that journey.” That’s great. However, have you put your customer journey in front of your customer? Would they agree with each touchpoint? Have you considered missing touchpoints that maybe only your customer sees? The director of marketing at each of these airlines likely did not see the journey that included unhappy customers that are asked to voluntarily leave their flights each and every day.

So what does this mean for our marketing automation efforts? We should consider this a wake up call to how we engage our customers at each and every step and with each and every interaction. And that includes the interactions we may not always see or acknowledge.

• Re-assess the Customer Journey:

  Your customer and marketplace are not, and should not be, static. If the way your customers find, access or engage you continues to evolve, then so should your customer journey.

  “A customer is never on a predetermined course – they are unpredictable! By ‘understanding the customer journey’ brands run the risk of pigeon holing their customers and losing them, by trying to control the process.” (source)

  This is significant. Don’t get lulled to sleep by believing that once you’ve outlined your customer journey that it is in “set it and forget” mode. There is a risk to not consistently evaluating each touchpoint. Even touchpoints you think don’t exist.

• Review the Data and Verify:

  One of the most valuable elements of marketing automation is the ability to segment and communicate directly to the needs of our audience. But how often are we reviewing the data and verifying that the value is meaningful?

  “If the enterprise does not augment the product experience with accurate, timely, and relevant information (according to the user’s location, channel and time of usage), users will be left dissatisfied, disoriented, and disengaged.” (source)

  Don’t forget to periodically monitor click throughs and open rates to ensure your content is adding value to your segments at each and every stage.

• Find the Gaps:

  As you reassess your customer journey, not only must you constantly be speaking with you customer facing team, but you must be speaking directly with customers at each stage of the customer journey. Why did that potential customer not place an order? Were there unmet needs? Are there touchpoints that we haven’t addressed?

  “As part of this 360-degree view of the customer, brands need to connect data from both physical and digital touchpoints in order to bridge the gap between the two.” (source)

  These gaps reside in our day-to-day interactions with customers, but also in the digital handoffs that occur as we provide our products and services.

• Add Value at Every Stage:

  Whether your customers are loyal or encounter an unforeseen roadblock, it is incumbent upon you to add value. We are in a sharing economy. The challenge we face as marketers is that every potential customer should be seen as a potential advocate for our business whether they are a customer or not.

  “The art of creating added value starts with the ability to see your business through the eyes of your customers.” (source)

  So walk in their shoes, talk with them directly. Sometimes the best data is not in a report, but directly interacting with the people you serve.

In summary, what can we learn from the challenges airlines have been experiencing over the past couple of weeks? That no matter how long you’ve been doing business, and what you think you know about your customers, there is always an opportunity to learn more and improve the customer journey before, during and after they interact with your business.

For more information about how to create your own custom journey in Mautic, check out our video on the subject.