Duration: 47:49
🧾 Analytical Summary
🎯 The Core Problem
Manuel and Charlene, business analysts on Odoo's marketing expertise team, open with a striking statistic: marketing agencies can lose up to 30% of their time chasing clients for approvals or missing information. Too many deadlines, emails, and tasks fall through the cracks — a pain point familiar to anyone managing client services. Their presentation demonstrates how their own agency, CNM Digital Marketing, implemented Odoo to streamline processes, automate customer journeys, and eliminate lost opportunities.
The concept of customer journey defines how contacts progress through relationship stages with a brand. Each stage represents critical touchpoints and communication opportunities. The goal: activate and automate the entire customer journey using Odoo's integrated applications including CRM, Sales, Project, Email Marketing, Survey, and the powerful Marketing Automation app that orchestrates everything.
🌐 Lead Generation Through Website
The automated journey begins with lead generation, powered by Odoo's Website application — the most powerful tool for attracting prospects. When customers have questions about services, they visit websites to understand offerings, verify trustworthiness, and evaluate fit. The CNM website showcases services with a critical "Ask for a Quote" button serving as a lead magnet, redirecting visitors to a contact form.
The contact form configuration creates opportunities automatically in the CRM. When configured, selecting a field triggers actions like creating opportunities, customers, or tasks. For CNM, form submissions automatically generate CRM opportunities. When a prospect named Vanessa submits a form inquiry ("Can you send me a quote, please?"), magic happens immediately.
⚡ Automatic Welcome & Activity Creation
Without any manual intervention, the new opportunity appears in CRM with two automatic actions already completed. First, a welcome email goes to the prospect: "Hi Charlene, thank you for reaching out. We will send you a quote shortly." Second, a reminder activity is created for the salesperson to call the lead and gather information needed for an accurate quotation.
This automation runs through the Marketing Automation application, where campaigns define workflows based on specific triggers and filters. The "welcome new lead" campaign targets opportunities in the CRM with filters on stage = "New" and medium = "Website" (ensuring only web-generated leads receive this particular welcome sequence). The workflow includes two activities: an email activity with a customized template, and a server action creating a call reminder for salespeople.
📝 AI-Enhanced Quotation Process
When the salesperson gathers sufficient information, they create and confirm a quotation for the prospect. Before sending, they can leverage Odoo's AI assistant to enhance communication. Selecting default email text and clicking the AI button allows prompts like "make it more friendly," instantly transforming formal language into warm, approachable messaging. The AI becomes a "new best friend" for crafting better client communications.
Once the quotation is confirmed and becomes a sales order, new smart buttons automatically appear showing linked projects and tasks — setting up the entire service delivery infrastructure without manual project creation.
🚀 Automatic Project & Task Creation
The automation stems from product configuration. The "Digital Marketing Service" product is set to type "Service" with configuration specifying: "Create on order: Project & Task" and "Project Template: [template name]." This means every confirmed sales order automatically generates a complete project with all predefined tasks, subtasks, and tags.
The project template defines CNM's standard service delivery workflow with stages including Kickoff, Research & Audit, Strategy Preparation, Strategy Presentation, Revision (if needed), Training, and Go Live. This structure accompanies customers through every phase, ensuring transparency about project status and clear internal accountability for deadlines and responsibilities.
📧 Project Kickoff Automation
When the project is created, the first task automatically sends a personalized welcome email to the client thanking them for choosing CNM and explaining next steps — specifically requesting completion of a "business overview file" before the kickoff meeting. Simultaneously, an internal reminder is set for two days later to check if the client submitted the required document.
This dual automation — client communication + internal reminders — runs through Marketing Automation campaigns targeting task objects with filters on stage = "New" and task name = "Digital Marketing Service." The workflow includes an email activity and a server action creating the check-in activity. This demonstrates Marketing Automation's power: it works with any Odoo application and any object type, not just leads or contacts.
📱 WhatsApp Integration for Reminders
When the kickoff meeting is scheduled, moving the task to the "Kickoff" stage triggers a WhatsApp reminder sent to the client on meeting day: "It's today! Don't forget to come to the kickoff." Marketing Automation integrates WhatsApp messaging alongside email, enabling multi-channel communication strategies. After the meeting completes and status changes to "Approved," an internal reminder automatically prompts staff to send meeting minutes by tomorrow.
🔍 Research & Audit Phase Activities
Moving tasks to "Research & Audit" stage triggers automatic creation of internal activities: check competitors, analyze website, review email marketing — all with three-day deadlines. The live demonstration showed creating this campaign from scratch. Starting with a new campaign named "Project Research and Audit," targeting task objects, filters narrow to stage = "Research & Audit" AND state = "In Progress" (excluding completed tasks to prevent unnecessary reminders).
Multiple server actions create individual activities for each required check. The server action configuration offers options to create activities, update records, and more. For this use case, "Create an activity" is selected with activity type "To-do," title "Check Email Marketing," due date "+3 days," and dynamic user assignment (assignee inherits from the task assignee field). This pattern repeats for website checks, competitor analysis, and other communication channel audits.
🤖 AI-Powered Task Assignment
During strategy preparation, different team members handle different deliverables — Charlene manages newsletter calendars while Manuel prepares customer journeys. Rather than manually assigning these tasks, AI-powered server actions automatically distribute work based on task titles.
The server action uses Odoo 19's new feature: "Update with AI." The configuration specifies updating the "Assignee" field with a prompt: "Update assignee to Charlene if task title = 'Newsletter Calendar'; update to Manuel if task title = 'Customer Journey.'" This AI-driven logic ensures proper task distribution automatically across every new project, preventing work from falling through organizational cracks.
🔄 Dynamic Stage Management
When strategy presentation requires revisions, changing task state to "Change Requested" automatically moves it to the "Strategy Update" stage. This workflow automation uses Marketing Automation targeting tasks where title contains "Strategy Preparation" AND state = "Change Requested." The server action updates the stage field to "Strategy Update."
Testing automations is critical — Marketing Automation provides a "Launch a Test" function. Running tests requires selecting records matching campaign criteria; otherwise tests fail. After launching, users can verify automation success by checking if the task moved to the expected stage, confirming logic works before going live.
🔕 Reactivating Inactive Tasks
Silence isn't always golden. When clients don't respond and tasks stagnate for extended periods, proactive reactivation becomes essential. The "Inactive Task Reactivation Flow" campaign targets tasks where last stage update was in the last month — indicating stalled progress requiring intervention.
The workflow sends a reactivation email to clients. Using child activities, the campaign responds to client behavior: if the email isn't opened within two days, a server action automatically adds an "Inactive Task" tag to the record, visually flagging stalled projects. This tag-based system enables filtering and prioritizing tasks requiring special attention or escalation.
⏰ Deadline Follow-Up Automation
Tasks with deadlines (e.g., client must submit documents by a specific date for project progression) trigger automatic follow-ups. The "Follow-Up Deadlines" campaign targets tasks where deadline = today, sending a final reminder email: "Your documents are still missing."
Child activities handle non-response scenarios. If the client doesn't open the email within one day, a server action creates a call activity for salespeople to personally contact the client and troubleshoot issues. If still no response after two days, another tag is added: "Documents Missing," maintaining clear visibility into blockers preventing project advancement.
💰 Cross-Sell Automation Strategy
Customer relationships shouldn't end after initial sales. CNM's cross-sell strategy promotes a new Event Management Service to existing clients. The campaign targets sales orders (not leads or contacts) with specific filters: order line product = "Digital Marketing Service" AND order date is in the last year (using Odoo 19's new dynamic date domains like "last 7 days," "last 30 days," "year to date").
This filtering ensures only actual customers who purchased within the relevant timeframe receive cross-sell messaging, avoiding spam to prospects who never converted or clients whose projects concluded too long ago. The initial email promotes the new service: "Discover our new service — your next event perfectly planned by us."
📬 Multi-Channel Cross-Sell Follow-Up
Based on prospect behavior, different communication channels activate. If recipients reply to the email, they receive a WhatsApp follow-up message one hour later (integrating CNM's WhatsApp Business account): "Thank you for your reply. You can book a demo at your convenience [link]."
If recipients do not click within the email, a follow-up email sends one week later: "Spots are filling fast. Let's plan your event together." This demonstrates sophisticated behavioral triggering — the automation responds dynamically to user actions (replied, clicked, opened, ignored), creating personalized experiences at scale.
📊 Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Service completion triggers satisfaction surveys. Using the Survey application, CNM creates multi-question surveys asking "What worked well?" and "What could be improved?" — capturing actionable feedback, testimonials, and insights for continuous improvement. Rather than manually distributing surveys, the survey link integrates into Marketing Automation.
The "Satisfaction Survey" campaign targets tasks at stage = "Go Live" (service complete, customer trained, ready for independent operation). An email activity includes the survey link embedded in personalized messaging. If clients don't open the survey email within one week, a child activity sends a gentle reminder: "Hey, just checking in and asking for feedback" — ensuring feedback collection without being overly aggressive.
🎉 Complete Customer Journey Automation
The comprehensive automation spans the entire customer journey from first website visit through post-service satisfaction. Every touchpoint is automated, connected, and tracked. CNM's 30% time waste chasing clients for approvals or missing information is eliminated. They don't wonder about project status, miss deadlines, or lose track of task ownership. Everything is automated, everything is connected, and it all happens within Odoo without switching between disparate tools.
💼 CNM's Dedicated Digital Marketing Service
Recognizing that many businesses need help defining marketing strategies and leveraging Odoo's marketing applications, CNM launched a dedicated Digital Marketing Service following the exact methodology demonstrated: kickoff, strategy preparation, customer journey definition, email marketing strategy, segment definition, and training. This service is available to Odoo users seeking expert guidance in marketing automation implementation.
🔧 Technical Implementation Details
Q&A revealed important implementation specifics. Marketing Automation is available from Odoo version 14 onward in all versions (Community, Enterprise, SaaS, on-premise). The application doesn't require Odoo Studio — server actions within Marketing Automation function independently, though Studio is needed for custom fields or report modifications.
Pre-built campaign templates exist in Marketing Automation for common scenarios (welcome flows, etc.) with pre-configured triggers and activities, providing starting points that users can customize. Email limits apply at the database level (typically 200-400 emails per day), which Marketing Automation respects since it uses the Email Marketing app infrastructure. Limits can be increased based on sending practices, or businesses can configure external SMTP servers for unlimited sending.
For archiving leads automatically, a campaign targeting leads with filters like "last stage update in last 12 months" can use a server action to update the "Active" field to False, automatically archiving stale leads. The key is defining appropriate trigger criteria to avoid accidentally archiving valuable prospects.
Marketing Automation campaigns can create server actions that call AI to perform tasks automatically, though the demonstration focused on manual AI button usage for text generation. Survey link lengths can be shortened by embedding them in buttons within emails rather than displaying full URLs, improving aesthetics and click rates.
🧠 Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
This presentation showcases what happens when we dogfood our own platform: CNM Digital Marketing runs entirely on Odoo, and their 30% time waste evaporated. That's not marketing hyperbole — that's operational reality. When every touchpoint from website form to satisfaction survey runs through automated workflows, teams focus on value creation instead of administrative follow-up.
What excites me most is the democratization of sophisticated marketing automation. These capabilities used to require expensive enterprise platforms like Marketo or HubSpot with steep learning curves and specialist requirements. Now businesses build complex behavioral workflows — email sequences responding to opens, clicks, replies; WhatsApp integration; AI-powered task assignment; cross-sell campaigns triggered by purchase history — all with standard Odoo tools available from version 14 onward. No Studio needed, no custom development, just intelligent configuration. The fact that Marketing Automation works with any object — leads, contacts, tasks, sales orders, project phases — means automation extends beyond marketing into operations, fulfillment, and customer success. This is the composable business architecture we envision: applications that integrate seamlessly, data that flows naturally, and automation that spans the entire customer lifecycle.
⚠️ Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
🏢 Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Odoo's marketing automation demonstration addresses real agency pain points with an impressive unified platform approach. The 30% time waste statistic resonates, and the solution — automating routine follow-ups, reminders, and status communications — is fundamentally sound. The integration across CRM, Projects, Sales, Email, Survey, and WhatsApp eliminates the tool-switching tax that burdens many organizations.
However, several considerations merit attention. The heavy reliance on manual workflow configuration via Marketing Automation campaigns requires significant upfront investment and ongoing maintenance. Every use case shown required building campaigns with filters, triggers, and server actions — accessible to power users but potentially overwhelming for typical marketing staff without technical backgrounds. The demonstration glossed over edge case handling: what happens when automation logic conflicts? How do you debug failed workflows? What visibility exists into automation execution history? The AI-powered task assignment is clever but brittle — it depends on exact string matching of task titles, which breaks if naming conventions aren't strictly enforced. The email limit constraints (200-400 per day on standard plans) severely restrict campaigns at scale; competitors like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Adobe Campaign handle millions of emails daily without throttling concerns. The behavioral triggers (opened/not opened, clicked/not clicked) are table stakes in modern marketing automation, not differentiators. More sophisticated platforms offer predictive send time optimization, AI-driven content personalization, and advanced lead scoring models. For agencies managing dozens of clients with complex, high-volume campaigns across multiple channels, dedicated marketing automation platforms with robust reporting, compliance tracking, and customer journey analytics may still prove superior despite higher costs. The value proposition is compelling for SMBs seeking good-enough automation bundled with ERP, but enterprises with sophisticated marketing operations may find gaps.
⚠️ Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.