MAM
GUEST COLUMN: Streamlining performance marketing via automation is must in post-pandemic era
Mumbai: The Covid-19 pandemic altered how we live and work in ways that will redefine our behavior even after its effects subside. As of today, businesses are still continuing to rapidly deploy digital and automation technologies which in turn are putting trends (previously progressing at a slower pace) on a fast-track mode. The marketing automation software market poised to grow at 8.55 per cent is slated to unlock a market capitalisation of $6.4 billion by 2024 (Source- Marketing Automation Market by Component-Software, Services). While over 51 per cent of businesses are already using marketing automation, over 58 per cent of companies have plans of adopting it (Source- Emailmonday).
Across advanced economies, the dynamics of these changes, whether in business models, operations or consumer behavior will continue this year but not with the same intensity as witnessed in 2020 or 2021. Against such a scenario, a lot of businesses are stretched for margins. Therefore, the best utilisation of resources for them is to focus on growing their businesses by having their employees focus on tasks that are oriented towards value-creation. Using automation to replace all the man-hours put into repetitive manual processes will be their arsenal!
This year marketers in India are channeling their energies towards generating distinct, value-added user experiences and making user engagement even more connected for consumers who are always online. Digital marketers in India should look to leverage automation in five important ways to make their performance marketing strategies more efficient and scalable.
Offer testing
Nobody wants to send traffic to an inactive offer or to spend money on users that are not going to yield any return. Offer testing can save both time and cost for advertisers and publishers. By identifying broken links, corrective measures can be taken in a timely manner to make the most of the efforts. This saves hours and hours of advertising operations along with manual back and forth communication to solve an issue, which can be identified by an automated tool within seconds. Some of the leading performance marketing management platforms offer testing as an inbuilt part, where all the actions from creating a new offer to promoting them to your partners can be validated by the system upon the user’s choice.
Data-driven campaign optimisation
The next key lever typically in the hands of marketers to pull when it comes to optimizing their digital marketing campaigns is audience targeting. They should focus on effectively targeting their audience based on geolocation, device, traffic type, carriers, interests, and other custom data. Performance marketing solutions with automated audience targeting can reduce the amount of manual work and cost based on rules set by the marketers. Additionally, they can set rules that determine which ads are distributed to the publisher partners to best match the audiences targeted using advanced machine learning algorithms. This means that companies can use granular targeting options manually and also use a platform’s recommendation tool, powered by machine learning, to suggest the right advert for the right user, thereby increasing the ROI for the advertiser and profitability for businesses.
Automated insights
While the first-generation campaign management tools only provide limited data insights and still require substantial manual work processes, the next-generation solutions are integrating more sophisticated data science tools. Digital marketers can partner with performance marketing management platforms which can lend them greater accessibility to performance metrics. This in turn will allow marketers and partners to see tracking and revenue numbers in real-time. Further, today’s data science tools can automatically discover patterns, trends, and business opportunities in the given data sets, so that marketers can further optimize their performance marketing efforts. Business users can query billions of real-time events in seconds with just drag and drop actions and marketers can identify patterns in traffic across a business with just a few clicks. Many global martech platforms are offering these directly with zero setup and no third-party fees and integration pains.
Automatic offer approval
Affiliate or partner marketing is unique from other digital advertising channels (like search or social media) in the way that the marketer must distribute and accept offers with the partner for referring potential customers. It’s a process that is until today manual and archaic in the digital marketing age. Fortunately, automation now enables importing, creating, and accepting offers from a vast number of integrated partners based on predefined rules, thereby saving tons of time and resources. When it comes to taking any action with automation, marketers should look at partnering with those martech platforms which allow them to configure the rule to their needs. Flexibility is a key ingredient for automation to succeed and their martech platforms should empower them to set up their processes with dos and don’ts and let the platform handle the rest while they can focus on other value-adding tasks.
Automated client notifications
Another big part of the partner marketing domain is keeping all partners informed of all the changes that might be happening on an offer. Communicating this information to the partner in real-time can be a bit of a challenge. With automation, all of this can be handled with a click of a button. An industry-wide innovation like ‘Smart Triggers’ helps identify your partners and the contacts, write an appropriate text for the update, and all marketers need to do is schedule it.
Performance marketing is made even more effective by automation. To really hit business goals, it’s important to build campaigns strategically—choose the right platforms, advertising formats, and optimisation goals, focus on the right audience, and, of course, create campaigns that will resonate with the target audience. Automation is the key to scaling and achieving these goals.
(About Author: Yogeeta Chainani co-founded Swaarm, in September 2020. As the CEO of Swaarm, Yogeeta drives product innovation and human resources along with spearheading business development in India and other global geographies for her company.)
When you buy a health insurance policy, you usually focus on hospital bills and treatment costs. But serious illnesses don’t just affect your medical expenses: they disrupt your income, lifestyle and long-term plans. That’s where a Critical Illness Rider becomes relevant. It works as an additional layer of financial protection when you are diagnosed with a major illness.
Instead of reimbursing hospital bills, this rider offers a lump-sum payout you can use as needed. Understanding its mechanism helps you decide if your coverage is truly complete.
What is a Critical Illness Rider?
It is an add-on benefit attached to your existing health insurance policy. It provides a fixed lump sum amount if you are diagnosed with any illness listed under the rider. You become eligible for a payout solely on the basis of diagnosis, not by hospitalisation or treatment expenses.
Unlike regular coverage, you are not required to submit medical bills to claim this benefit. Once the diagnosed illness meets the policy definition and criteria, the insurer releases the amount. This makes it different from standard critical health insurance plans, which are standalone policies rather than add-ons.
How a Critical Illness Rider Works
When you opt for this rider, you choose a predefined sum assured. If you are diagnosed with a covered illness, the insurer pays the full amount in one lump sum. The payout can be used for treatment, recovery, income replacement, debt repayment, or even lifestyle adjustments.
Most riders specify a waiting period and a survival period. The waiting period means the illness must be diagnosed after a certain number of days from the policy start date. The survival period requires you to survive for a specific number of days after diagnosis for the claim to be valid.
Key Features of a Critical Illness Rider
Here are some of the key features of a critical illness rider:
Lump Sum Benefit
The most important feature is the lump sum payout. You are not restricted to medical usage. This flexibility allows you to handle non-medical costs that often arise during long-term illness.
Coverage for Major Illnesses
Critical Illness Riders usually cover life-altering conditions such as cancer, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and major organ transplants. The exact list varies across insurers, so reviewing covered conditions is essential.
One-Time Claim Structure
In most cases, once a claim is paid, the rider terminates. This is because it is designed to address high-impact illnesses rather than recurring medical needs.
Affordable Premium
Since it is an add-on, the premium is lower than that of standalone critical health insurance plans. This makes it a cost-effective way to enhance your existing health insurance policy.
No Hospitalisation Requirement
You don’t need to be hospitalised to receive the benefit. Diagnosis alone is enough to avail the benefits. But ensure that all the policy conditions are met.
Income Protection Support
During critical illness, loss of income can be more damaging than medical bills. The rider helps bridge this gap by offering financial stability when you need it most.
Who Should Consider a Critical Illness Rider
If you have dependents, loans or limited savings, this rider adds meaningful protection. It is also relevant if your employer-provided health insurance policy focuses mainly on hospitalisation and lacks income replacement support.
Conclusion
A Critical Illness rider strengthens your health insurance policy by covering financial gaps that regular medical coverage often ignores. It gives you control, flexibility and immediate support during serious health events. Before choosing one, review the list of covered illnesses, waiting periods and claim conditions carefully. When structured correctly, this rider can protect not just your health expenses but also your financial stability during challenging times.
