customer

Customer journey orchestration with Mautic

Customer journey orchestration with Mautic is rapidly becoming a priority for South African marketers who need to do more with tighter budgets while staying compliant with POPIA and local data regulations. [1] As high‑intent search terms like “marketing…

Elula

— 4 min read
Customer journey orchestration with Mautic

Customer journey orchestration with Mautic

Introduction: Why “Customer journey orchestration with Mautic” matters in South Africa

Customer journey orchestration with Mautic is rapidly becoming a priority for South African marketers who need to do more with tighter budgets while staying compliant with POPIA and local data regulations.[1] As high‑intent search terms like “marketing automation platform” continue to trend globally, teams are looking for flexible, open‑source tools that can unify data across channels and personalise every interaction in real time.[1]

Mautic’s open‑source marketing automation, when combined with a South African‑friendly CRM like Mahala CRM, gives local businesses a powerful way to design, automate, and optimise end‑to‑end customer journeys — from first website visit to renewal and advocacy.[1][2]

What is customer journey orchestration?

Customer journey orchestration is the process of using real‑time data to deliver personalised experiences at every touchpoint and guide each customer to the next best action.[5][8] Instead of isolated campaigns, orchestration connects:

  • Website and landing page behaviour
  • Email, SMS, and WhatsApp engagement
  • CRM data (e.g. Mahala CRM deals, tickets, and contacts)
  • Customer feedback and service interactions

The goal is simple: understand where a customer is on their journey and respond with the right message, on the right channel, at the right time.[5][8]

How Mautic enables customer journey orchestration

Mapping the customer journey with Mautic

Mautic supports the classic five‑stage customer journey:

  1. Awareness
  2. Consideration
  3. Purchase
  4. Retention
  5. Advocacy[2]

Within Mautic, you connect these stages using:

  • Contacts – individual people, stored with all their profile and behavioural data.
  • Segments – smart groupings (e.g. “Abandoned cart”, “High‑value customers”).
  • Campaigns – automated workflows that send emails, apply tags, update scores, and push data back to systems like Mahala CRM.[1][2]

For South African businesses, this lets you build journeys that reflect local buying cycles, regional seasonality, and channel preferences (for example strong mobile and WhatsApp usage).

Key benefits for South African marketers

  • Data sovereignty and POPIA alignment – Self‑hosting Mautic or using South African hosting ensures customer data stays within chosen infrastructure and under your control.[1][6]
  • Lower total cost of ownership – Mautic’s open‑source model reduces licence costs compared to large SaaS suites, freeing budget for media spend and content.
  • API‑first orchestration – Mautic’s REST API allows you to connect CRM, eCommerce, WhatsApp, and other tools into one consistent journey.[1][3]
  • Omnichannel personalisation – Send email, trigger SMS or WhatsApp, and notify sales teams based on real‑time behaviour.[1][3]

Designing customer journey orchestration with Mautic

1. Start with your data model and source of truth

Before building any campaigns, define:

  • Which system is the source of truth for customer identity (often your CRM, such as Mahala CRM).[1]
  • Which behavioural events matter most (e.g. quote request, cart abandonment, contract renewal).
  • How these events map to contacts, segments, and campaign triggers in Mautic.[1][2]

A clear data model ensures every key action — from a website form submission to a call centre complaint — can be tracked and used to adjust the journey.

2. Build campaigns around real customer journeys

Instead of thinking “email blasts”, design campaigns around the five journey stages:

  • Awareness: Use landing pages and forms in Mautic to capture leads from paid search and social campaigns. Trigger a welcome series when a form is submitted.[2][7]
  • Consideration: Segment leads who download a brochure or e‑book and send them product comparisons, case studies, or pricing guides relevant to South African markets.[2]
  • Purchase: Create segments like “Ready to buy” or “Abandoned cart” and trigger timely nudges, reminders, or limited offers.[2]
  • Retention: Monitor logins, renewals, and product usage, then use Mautic to send onboarding tips, training invites, or renewal reminders.
  • Advocacy: Identify loyal customers (e.g. long tenure, high NPS, multiple purchases) and invite them to referrals, reviews, or loyalty programmes.

3. Orchestrate journeys across Mahala CRM and Mautic

In many South African businesses, Mahala CRM is the operational hub, while Mautic drives engagement and automation.[1] A typical orchestration pattern looks like this:

  1. New lead captured in Mautic (via form, event, or API) is pushed into Mahala CRM.
  2. Sales updates lead status and opportunity stage in Mahala CRM.
  3. Changes in the CRM trigger Mautic campaigns, such as nurturing sequences, re‑engagement flows, or cross‑sell offers.
  4. Important engagements (like high lead score or demo request) are pushed back to Mahala CRM so sales can react quickly.

This two‑way sync lets you orchestrate journeys that respect both marketing and sales context, improving close rates and customer experience.

4. Use an API‑first approach for advanced orchestration

For more complex use cases — such as integrating WhatsApp providers, eCommerce platforms, or support tools — an API‑first approach to Customer journey orchestration with Mautic is essential.[1][3]

// Example: Pseudocode for adding a contact to Mautic via API
POST /api/contacts/new
{
  "firstname": "Lerato",
  "lastname": "Nkosi",
  "email": "lerato@example.co.za",
  "tags": ["lead", "webinar-registration"],
  "ipAddress": "197.x.x.x"
}

With this pattern you can:

  • Push key events into Mautic in real time (orders, cancellations, ticket creation).
  • Trigger campaigns when specific events occur (e.g. “ticket closed” → send satisfaction survey).
  • Send webhooks from Mautic to other systems when a contact reaches a certain segment or score.[1]

Practical examples tailored for South African businesses

Example 1: Lead nurturing from opportunity events

Imagine a Johannesburg‑based B2B services company using Mahala CRM for sales and Mautic for marketing:

  1. A new opportunity is created in Mahala CRM when someone requests a quote.
  2. An integration posts this event to Mautic, which adds the contact to a “Quote requested” segment.
  3. Mautic launches a campaign with educational emails, pricing explainers, and local case studies.
  4. If the opportunity moves to “Won”, Mautic automatically shifts the contact into an onboarding and retention journey.

Example 2: POPIA‑friendly re‑engagement campaigns

For POPIA compliance and database hygiene, you can use Mautic to:

  • Identify inactive contacts (e.g. no engagement for 12 months).

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