Essential Marketing Automation Interview Questions [101]

Marketing automation software is on the rise, with marketing resource Demand Sage reporting that 86 percent of marketers use it. This has precipitated the need for marketing automation specialists and related roles.

A marketing automation specialist creates automated email campaigns, publishes social media posts on autopilot, split-tests various elements of marketing content, brainstorms marketing campaign ideas, and masters analytics to glean insights for future campaigns.

This blog post will dig into a marketing automation specialist’s many roles and share marketing automation interview questions that matter.

Table of Contents

Understanding the Marketing Automation Role

Let’s begin by expanding on the job responsibilities of a marketing automation specialist.

Split-tests campaign assets and elements

Does that CTA button look better higher or lower on your landing page? Should the button be purple or red? Is this font for your blog copy too large or difficult to read?

An automation specialist must ponder all these details. There’s no element of a marketing campaign too small for them to debate over its placement.

They’ll test two versions of social media posts, emails, blog posts, landing pages, and other content to determine which will perform better among a client’s target audience.

Writes social media content

Connecting Social Media GIF by MasterClass — *Image courtesy of Giphy*

What does it take to create a social media post audiences pay attention to? That’s an answer a marketing automation specialist knows.

They will rely on automation tools to generate copy and finesse the message to suit your brand and marketing materials.

Schedules social media posts

One of the biggest advantages of automation software is helping businesses stay on top of social media posts.

Maintaining an active presence across social media platforms is important, but with so many platforms, the average small business owner doesn’t have time to keep up with it all.

They could hire a social media manager to tackle it or consider a marketing automation role. An automation specialist will create tailored workflows that ensure a business regularly posts on social media.

Crafts new marketing ideas

Businesses are always eager to gain an advantage over their competitors. That requires staying on the cutting edge of marketing ideas.

An automation specialist will brainstorm individually or with your team (or theirs) to devise new marketing strategies, tactics, and plans that will differentiate your brand.

Develops automation workflows

An automation specialist can also create advanced workflows and automation maps to execute the most complex tasks.

For example, if a client wishes to score a large group of leads, an automation specialist can build an automation workflow to take care of this task and continually produce results.

Creates email campaigns

Email automation is another significant time-saving measure for busy businesses, but it requires innate knowledge of how automation works to use it sufficiently. Automation professionals can spearhead an effective automated email campaign.

First, they’ll speak to the client to determine their email goals, including the types of emails they’re interested in sending. Next, they’ll build automation flows seamlessly integrating existing and upcoming email campaigns.

The emails will have the client’s branding, from the logo to a preferred color scheme and brand tone. The content will also be personalized according to the different audience segments the client is trying to reach.

Reviews analytics

As analytics begin to come in, the marketing automation specialist will review the KPIs with a fine-toothed comb. They’re eager to see how well the client’s customers responded to the marketing campaign and if it produced more website traffic, leads, conversions, and sales.

The automation specialist will review the lead quality to determine the percentage of qualified leads. They’ll also study the conversion rate to see if it matches the client’s expectations.

A specialist is always ready to change their approach if it’s underdelivering until providing the marketing outcomes a business needs.

Common Interview Questions for Marketing Automation Roles

person making a call — *Source: Unsplash*

Now that you better understand what a marketing automation role entails, let’s go over the interview questions for hiring one of these professionals.

Conceptual Questions

What is marketing automation, and why is it important?
How does marketing automation fit within a larger digital marketing strategy?
Can you explain the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?

Technical Questions

Can you describe your experience with [specific marketing automation tool]?
How do you approach creating a marketing automation strategy?
How do you measure the success of a marketing automation campaign?

Scenario-Based Questions

How would you segment our customer base for targeted email marketing campaigns?
If a campaign isn’t performing as expected, how would you troubleshoot the problem?
Describe a time when you used marketing automation to improve a company’s marketing efforts significantly.

Behavioral Questions

Can you tell me about a time you faced a significant challenge in a marketing automation project and how you handled it?
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in marketing automation?
Tell me about a time you took the initiative to improve a process or campaign related to marketing automation.

Tips for Answering Marketing Automation Interview Questions

What if you’re a marketing automation specialist receiving these questions during an interview? Here are some strategies for answering the questions adequately and succinctly.

Think, then speak

Awkward Season 9 GIF by The Office — *Image courtesy of Giphy*

When the client asks you a question, especially of the technical variety, pause for a moment after they stop speaking. You’ll have thousands of thoughts racing around, so collect them and ponder what points you’d like to share.

Thinking before you speak will help you answer questions more thoroughly and pointedly and prevent you from stammering as you try to get your thoughts in order. Your answers will sound more impressive.

Use layman’s terms

You know marketing automation like the back of your hand because you’re involved in it every single day. However, a business owner hiring an automation professional is nowhere near as experienced.

Explain everything to them as though they’re a complete beginner. Avoid using jargon or lingo; speak plainly.

Use real examples (if you can)

Before you sit down to the interview, ask past or current clients if you can use them as examples of how your automation services helped them.

You don’t have to name your clients, but you might share data like how your email marketing automation services increased the client’s email open rate by 48 percent or how another client’s conversion rate went up seven percent after they worked with you.

Focus on the benefits

As you explain your automation services, don’t solely focus on what you do. Instead, prioritize the benefits.

For example, be clear that automation can help clients save time that they can dedicate toward growing their team, creating new services, improving current products, or other tasks that have piled up.

Underscore that automation helps with productivity, as companies can send more emails and post more regularly on social media even when not in front of a computer.

After all, the clients you interview will already have some digital marketing measures they use, so they want a reason to add automation to their stack.

Make it clear that automation software will integrate with the tools they rely on in their everyday business lives.

Follow the STAR Method

This last tip is sure to help you ace your next job interview. Use the STAR method.

STAR is short for Situation, Task, Action, Result. It’s ideal for behavioral questions where the interviewer asks for specific moments or theoretical challenges and how you would handle them.

Situation or S is for setting up the situation you will elaborate on. Task or T is for the responsibility you were assigned in the situation. Action or A is for what you did to help your client. Result or R is for the outcomes your actions yielded.

Bottom Line

Preparing for a marketing automation interview will allow you to showcase your expertise, position yourself as a knowledgeable pro, and promote the importance of marketing automation software.

Do you have any experience with marketing automation interviews? Share them below!

Also, give this one a read too:

Cracking the Marketing Automation Process [A Guide for Beginners]

Mastering the Interview: Essential Marketing Automation Questions and How to Answer Them