Automate
We design and build marketing automation: journeys triggered by what customers actually do, segments computed from CRM and shop data, and nurturing sequences that stop the moment a person replies or buys. We use the platform you already pay for where it fits, and write custom services where it doesn't.
Marketing automation is a set of rules that sends a message or creates a task when a customer does something: fills in a form, goes silent after a quote, orders for the first time, or stops buying. For an SME with a small marketing team, it replaces exported lists and follow-ups that depend on someone remembering. Sensaria maps the journeys, connects the data sources (website, CRM, shop, ERP), builds the automation in your platform or as a custom service, and monitors it after launch. It pays off when you already have leads and customers but lose them between systems.
It pays off when the same moment repeats often enough that people can’t handle it reliably by hand. Typical signs: inquiries wait a day or more for a first reply, every contact gets the same newsletter, sales keep their own spreadsheets, and nobody can say which campaign brought in a customer. If you send five quotes a month, a clean CRM and a calendar reminder are enough. Automation earns back its setup through volume and repetition.
Here is a demo-request journey for a B2B company that sells in more than one language region:
Each step writes an event to the contact’s timeline, so sales can see what the person has already received.
Use the workflows of the CRM or email platform you already pay for, as long as the data they need lives there. Add connectors when important data sits in another system. Build a custom service when the rules depend on your own data model, when volume makes per-contact pricing expensive, or when data must stay on infrastructure you control.
| Option | Fits when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Native workflows (HubSpot, Brevo, ActiveCampaign, Zoho and similar) | The data is in the platform and marketing wants to edit content itself | Contact-based pricing tiers; dozens of undocumented workflows |
| Platform plus custom connectors | Orders, bookings or contracts live in a shop, ERP or booking system | Sync direction and field ownership must be agreed first |
| Custom automation service | Rules follow your own data model, volume is high, or hosting is constrained | You own the code and its maintenance |
For most SMEs the middle row is the realistic answer.
Automation multiplies whatever is in the CRM. A duplicate contact gets two welcome emails; a missing language field sends German copy to an Italian-speaking client. We deduplicate on email address and normalized company domain, make language and consent required fields, and flag incomplete records instead of guessing. In the reactivation system, missing activity dates are never filled in by assumption, and every profile carries a data-quality grade.
| Driver | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Number of journeys and branches | Each branch needs content, tests and a stop rule |
| Connected systems | A system without a usable API needs a workaround or a scheduled export |
| Data cleanup | Merging duplicates and fixing fields often takes longer than building workflows |
| Languages | Every template exists in each language you write to |
| Consent history | Contacts without proof of consent stay out of marketing until they opt in again |
| Platform or custom | Configuration is quicker to start; a custom service costs more upfront and less per contact |
After a short discovery we send a fixed-price or phased proposal. One journey on data already in the CRM takes weeks; a multi-system setup with cleanup takes longer.
Journeys depend on the CRM behind them (CRM and sales automation), on messages that arrive (email and SMS automation) and on data from other systems (API integrations). A chatbot can start a journey too. For the path from first click to signed deal, see lead generation, or start with our guide to marketing automation for SMEs.
We have built sequencing engines ourselves, with warm-up limits, reply detection, shared suppression lists and approval queues, so we know where configured platforms stop. Sensaria AG is a Swiss company based in Lugano, working in English, Italian, German and French. Each journey is handed over with its trigger, audience, exit rules and owner written down, so your team can change it without us.
What's included
Triggers, branches, wait times and exit conditions written down per journey before anything is built, including who owns each step.
Segments computed from CRM, shop and product data: language, region, lifecycle stage, last purchase, product interest.
Multi-step email sequences that stop on a reply, a booking or a purchase, and hand the contact to sales as a task instead of sending a fourth reminder.
Form submissions, orders, payments, sign-ups or inactivity windows, fed in by webhook or by scheduled sync.
Email, SMS and WhatsApp in one flow, each channel used only with matching consent and within its own rules.
Consent status, source and timestamp stored per contact and channel; unsubscribes, bounces and open support cases excluded at send time.
Workflows in your existing CRM or email tool, custom connectors to other systems, or a standalone automation service where the platform stops.
Alerts for stalled or runaway journeys, sync errors and bounce spikes, plus reporting per journey and per variant.
Typical scenarios
Form to CRM deal, a confirmation in the visitor's language, a reminder if no meeting is booked after three days, and a task for the owner after seven.
A sequence started by the first order or a signed contract, with guides timed to what the customer has actually done rather than to calendar days.
Customers without a purchase in a set period are shortlisted with a reason and receive a short sequence that ends if they buy again.
Registration, reminders, a follow-up with the recording, and a sales task for attendees who asked a question.
One newsletter split by language and interest instead of a single mailing to the whole list.
FAQ
Marketing automation is a set of rules that sends a message or creates a task when a customer does something: submits a form, buys, stops buying or leaves a quote unanswered. For a small business the useful core is small: follow-up for new inquiries, onboarding for new customers, a win-back for inactive ones and a segmented newsletter. It runs on CRM data, stops when a person replies and respects each contact's consent.
Usually, yes. If your CRM or email platform has workflow features and holds the data a journey needs, we build the journeys there and document them. We add custom connectors when orders, bookings or contracts live in another system, and suggest a custom service only when the platform can't express the rules or its pricing no longer fits your volume.
In most cases, yes. In Switzerland, the Unfair Competition Act (UCA Art. 3 para. 1 let. o) requires prior consent for mass advertising by email and SMS, a correct sender and a free, easy opt-out in every message, and EU countries apply similar rules. Existing customers may receive advertising for similar products without new consent if they were offered an opt-out when you collected their details. Order confirmations and other purely transactional messages are not advertising.
Yes, if the systems offer an API or at least a reliable export. Typical sources are website forms, the CRM, Shopify or WooCommerce orders and accounting tools such as bexio or Xero. We define which system owns each field, move events by webhook or scheduled sync, and make every sync idempotent, so a rerun never sends the same message twice.
A first journey on data already in your CRM, such as follow-up for demo requests, is usually live within a few weeks, including templates in your languages and a dry run. Projects that connect several systems, clean up duplicates or migrate contacts from an old tool take longer. We plan them in phases, so the first journey works before the rest is built.
Cost depends on the number of journeys, the systems to connect, how much data cleanup is needed, the number of languages and whether we configure a platform or build a custom service. Platform licenses are billed separately by the vendor. After a short discovery we send a fixed-price or phased proposal, so you know the budget before anything is built.
Your team can, if you prefer. Each journey is handed over with its trigger, audience, content, exit rules and owner written down, and the monitoring shows when something stalls. We can also run it for you: watch the alerts, update content, add journeys and review the results with you every month.
Technology we use
TechnologyTrigger-based journeys, segmentation and lead nurturing built on your CRM and shop data, with consent records, stop rules and monitoring, so follow-up happens on time without manual lists.