How Personal Is Your Personalized Marketing?

Discover how automation can put the “personal” back in personalization

Is your personalized marketing really that personal?

The overwhelming majority of consumers prefer personalized experiences when engaging with their favorite brands (more than 70% of consumers in the US and UK!). Personalized experiences are not only very gratifying, but they satisfy two very important, and absolutely necessary, digital age value points: the consumer need for control, and information overload prevention.

The personalization trend has picked up steam in recent years as marketers and brands now recognize the great benefits of providing consumers a personalized experience, including: faster response times, improved engagement rates, and higher conversion rates. Yet, as the digital age has continued to advance, a troubling trend has developed… personalization no longer appears to be personal.

Contrary to what appears to be popular opinion, “Hello, <Insert Name>, we have a special offer!” is not personalization. Remember, today’s consumers are tech savvy, and well versed in the methods of digital marketing. They understand that the more times their name and contact information appears on a promotion or ad, the more likely it is that the engagement was anything but personal.

There are two pertinent questions that we must ask:

  1. How does this affect consumers?
  2. How have marketers arrived to this point?

Answering the first question is easy – they don’t like it.

While advances in data mining and analysis have granted marketers the ability to track consumer behaviors and preferences like never before, personalization doesn’t necessary equate to relevancy. For example, using a consumer’s name 10 times in the two paragraphs of a welcome email does not demonstrate that you know anything about them… it in fact conveys the opposite. Another important point to remember: digital age consumers want to know that brands and marketers understand them.

Moving on the to second question, in order to understand the current state of personalized marketing, and how marketers can develop a more “personal” relationship with consumers, we need to take a more indepth look at how our digital age reliance on technology has detrimentally influenced our creative ability to market.

Let’s quickly review!

Digital Age Tech & The “Personalization” Problem

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Across the entire spectrum of the diverse digital age, products and services are being infused with cutting edge tech to streamline the purchasing process. Consumers have become dependent on tech to fuel their need for convenience, and marketers have come to rely heavily on tech-infused processes for delivering content and value to consumers. Some of the most recent marketing advancements owed to technology include:

  • Mobile Technology: The consumer value paradigm has shifted towards small screen optimization and responsiveness. Today’s consumers research, purchase and connect all via mobile devices. Tech-infused omni channel solutions now provide consumers the ability to move between mobile applications and websites with fast loading times and responsive content. The next step in omni channel mobile solutions, and one that is on the cusp of being fully adopted, is that of wearable technology. In the future, mobile will mean wearable, and the omni channel will become a fully integrated part of the consumer and their experience.
  • Big Data: Data collection for marketing in the digital age means producers have the ability to optimize content and marketing solutions based on consumer information. Data in the digital age has allowed marketers to share relevant  content with customers, and has provided the ability to adapt to consumer demand in real time. In turn, this data responsiveness has improved the overall consumer perception of brand value, because consumers receive a more personalized experience.
  • Global Reach: The digital world is a global world, and perhaps the most important contribution of technology from the last 20 years is its ability to connect diverse consumers from diverse cultures. As today’s technology has brought fast and affordable internet to most of the world, omni channel marketing strategies must now accommodate a global audience and implement methods for the global transfer of value.

As we can see, the technology of today has provided both consumers and marketers alike with a wealth of advancements. Yet, for all it has given, it has also dulled one very important aspect of digital marketing:

Our ability to deliver consumer intimacy and personalize.

Consumers have become lost in an endless sea of technological noise, wandering between a multitude of similar brands that provide similar products, services, and first name “personalization.” Digital marketers have fallen into a predictable marketing pattern, and as a result, they are losing their ability to transfer value.

Remember, the goal of any omni channel marketing campaign is to provide consumers with value. Value is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:

“The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.”

As Forrester details in its 2015 study, “The Power of Personalization,” not only do consumers find importance, worth, and usefulness in receiving personalized and practical information, but it has come to define their digital age relationships with brands. Omni channel marketing meets this consumer need through a mutually beneficial exchange of value. Consumers receive a personalized experience with quality goods and services, and producers receive consumer loyalty and business. If we no longer have the ability to build intimate relationships, it is hard to satisfy consumers.

Recognizing that successful brands provide their consumers intuitive and personalized experiences, the natural solution to meet the needs of those consumers expecting “The Internet of Me” is nothing more than a new take on an old trick – automated personalization.

Let’s take a look!

The Solution – Automated Personalization

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The digital age focus of marketers when it comes to automated personalization should the efficient extraction of consumer insight from data.

It is the key to putting the “personal” back in personalization, as automation technology can seamlessly adapt to changes in consumer behavior and preferences. It is important to remember that the notion of personalized marketing in the digital age was founded upon email marketing. Back in the early beginnings of the digital age (2006/2007), marketers discovered that the clickthrough rates for emails significantly increased when a potential consumer’s first name was placed in the subject line. With this new weapon of marketing warfare the email was brought back from the dead, and the modern digital age developed.

There was just one problem – consumers caught on.

Consumers quickly realized that the “Hello, <Insert Name>” email subject lines were not true personalization, and that brands didn’t know them any better than they originally thought. It was gimmick marketing at its worst. Recalling this lesson from the past, it is easy to understand the importance of marketing automation technology today. Automated personalization leaves the heavy lifting to technology. It adapts to consumer preferences, provides relevance, and allows marketing teams to focus on understanding the consumer experience. By studying the path that digital age consumers take, and creating targeted messages for each phase, automation software can then decide when, where and how to best apply personalized consumer experiences.

Yet, many digital marketers are often overwhelmed by the immense volume of data that is involved with automated marketing. According to a recent study by Monetate, even though 94% of marketers understand how valuable personalization is to digital age success, and 91% of marketers believe successful brands market with data, the study found 95% of all data remained “untapped,” while 26% of organizations do not use real-time on-site behavior to personalize experiences.

The reality of automated personalization is that it unlocks new visitor data, efficiently uses pre-existing data, and consistently improves to make sure that content is put in the best possible position to be seen! Combined with omni channel solutions, marketers can leverage consumer interactions and create personalized and intimate experiences across multiple channels of consumer communication.

What are some digital age examples of putting the “personal” back in personalization?

Let’s take a look.

Automation Example #1 – ZURB (Welcome Emails)

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Silicon Valley based design company ZURB is creatively using email automation to connect with their subscribers by transferring a mixture of design knowledge and intimacy.

According to Daniel Codella, a marketer at ZURB, the company has a variety of newsletter templates that can be modified and personalized for different segmented consumers and target audiences. ZURB has implemented a variety of different email templates that will automatically send subscribers a highly unique welcome email that includes reading suggestions based on previously noted interests. According to the company, these emails now have around a 70-75% open rate and a 40-45% click through rate.

In the words of Codella himself:

“ZURB’s mantra as a company is “design for people.” People are at the center of everything we do. We think about who the user is, and what they need. The emails we send are going out to thousands of people. We don’t think of the members of our lists as numbers — we think of our users as people, and constantly consider what value we can provide them.”

In an age where consumers question how well their favorite brands know them, this type of automation and personalization creates a competitive edge. While ZURB is not going to win any awards for their email design (see picture above), this type of personalized automation is highly effective in transferring value. This basic approach can, and should, be implemented and improved upon through personalized creativity.

Potential strategies for improvement include:

  • Sending product recommendations based on purchase history
  • Inviting interaction via social media buzz campaigns
  • Offering promotions and discounts based on interests
  • Providing access to valuable information via webinars/tutorial videos

All of these options offer a degree of personalized value; how much so will depend on the consumer/potential consumer and their prior interactions.

Automation Example #2 – BuzzFeed (Subscriber Engagement)

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Typically recognized for its “top ten” lists focusing on need to know Game of Thrones facts, digital media/news master BuzzFeed does a lot more than set the agenda for Millennial pop culture. Recently, the company has put together a growing email marketing campaign focused on delivering valuable content to its readers via automated processes.

BuzzFeed has created more than 20 unique email newsletters that are specifically designed to meet the personalization needs of readers. From politics, to health, to sports, BuzzFeed has studied what their readers want, and they have engineered their emails to deliver value. In fact, one of the top five referrers to their website is email, with each visitor spending three minutes or longer on their website!

The picture above is an example of a knowledge course that BuzzFeed automatically personalizes and sends to subscribers via email. By leveraging browsing history and other data, BuzzFeed is able to send along multi-lesson courses that deliver value to their readers. These courses not only provide knowledge, but they automatically keep readers engaged over a number of weeks. BuzzFeed segments their actual and target audiences by interest, as consumers are more likely to opt out of emails when the content they receive is irrelevant. As a mass media publisher, BuzzFeed recognizes the need to send their dedicated readers content that is unique to their interests, and at strategic intervals.

BuzzFeed is a great digital age example that even the largest media sites can use automation to drive engagement and keep readers engaged.

Example #3 – Caribou Coffee (Organic Customization)

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Caribou Coffee is the nation’s second largest specialty coffee company, with close to 500 coffeehouses. The company is a great example of the digital age balance needed to successfully provide an automated and personalized consumer experience. Caribou takes the “wait and see” approach of allowing their consumers to shop without overwhelming opt-in noise, while simultaneously (and subtly) encouraging consumer / brand interaction.

By implementing a mix of standard and creative capture points, Caribou is able to take note of consumer preferences without altering the organic nature of the consumer experience. While the website does include the standard registration and email opt-in form, ecommerce customization is where Caribou’s personalization truly shines. From roast varieties to syrup flavors, Caribou is able to capture consumer preferences, and in turn, use this data to provide homepage suggestions for the consumer’s next visit.

Take note of the homepage pictured above… it does not exaggerate the need for email opt-ins and gimmicky subscriptions. What the homepage is actually doing is providing unique coffee suggestions based on the previous search, customization, and purchase history of the consumer. The suggestions by their very nature are organic, and not at all overwhelming. Through personalized content, imagery, and promotions, Caribou can continuously update individual user content for a fresh look, and a more intimate consumer relationship. With richer options, deeper content, and organic personalization, Caribou is a great example of automated personalization in the digital age.

As Mike Tattersfield, president and CEO, recently told Forbes:

“Our guests are extremely loyal and passionate about our product offerings, and so we are thrilled to be able to reward them for simply being our fans.”

In Conclusion….

Marketers can no longer survive by focusing on single channels and single solutions… the consumer journey will not support it. Today’s marketers must creatively integrate multiple channels while simultaneously providing an intimate, personal, and relevant consumer experience. In other words, marketers must put the “personal” back in personalization. For this task, there is no better solution than automation.

Exclusive Bonus: Download this Free Guide on personalization best practices for beginners!

Email Marketing Personalization

Omni Channel Communication – Why E-mail?

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In today’s digital age what is the purpose of omni channel communication?

Generally, it is to communicate and convert, to build relationships with the customer and to create more unified and relevant experiences for today’s value driven consumers.

Understanding this, we must ask: Is e-mail dead?

Ok, so the question may be a little dramatic, but it is necessary to answer in the digital age. With the advanced technology solutions now available, why do we still need e-mail?

Well … before we begin, let’s take a look at the numbers.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 64% of Americans now own a smartphone. This number has increased slightly from 58% in 2014. The Pew study found that while text messaging is the most widely-used smartphone feature, “e-mail continues to retain a place of prominence in the smartphone era.” According to the same study, around 88% of smartphone users accessed e-mail on their phone at least one time over the course of the study period … making e-mail a more widely-used smartphone feature than video, social media and navigation applications.

It seems that if the true calling of omni channel marketing is to provide a total customer experience, i.e., to meet the consumer where they want to be met and deliver the value that consumers demand, then the numbers prove that e-mail is still KING.

If e-mail isn’t dead, what is the omni channel challenge of the digital age?

Keeping information up-to-date.

With the intertwining and complex communication channels that exist today, this task can be tough. However, e-mail provides an ideal mechanism to meet and overcome this challenge.

What are some of the great benefits using e-mail in the omni channel? Let’s briefly review:

#1 Value Driven Updates

Why is e-mail marketing an ideal digital age omni channel strategy? Because with minimal effort and high-cost efficiency, marketers can see steadily increase revenue and build loyalty by implementing highly informative e-mail newsletters.

Newsletters are powerful marketing and communication tools that not only remind your users you exist, but they inform them of your products, services, social presence and promotions (i.e., your value). Newsletters are added value in the sense that customers and potential customers sign up because they want to build a relationship with your brand, not because they are forced to.

Recent survey figures reveal 95% of people who sign up for a newsletter from a known brand find it somewhat or very useful … i.e., 95% find value. Also, it is important to note that newsletters are a relatively low–cost method as compared to mainstream marketing channels.

#2 Vast Mobile Reach

In the digital age, customers are constantly checking their e-mail, social networks and shopping online. Ifact, a recent Forrester Research study estimates that 42% of retailer e-mails for the year 2014 were opened on smartphones, and 17% were opened on tablets.

This high frequency of mobile use translates into countless opportunities to target unique market segments and create a user experience engineered specifically for mobile use. Some marketers have argued SMS (texting) marketing is more appropriate in the digital age because it streamlines value via the most widely used communication channel today; however, it’s important to remember e-mail has its advantages. For example, e-mail works on all mobile devices (not only phones), it is free (carrier charges apply to text messages) and e-mail allow for longer messages with the addition of digital media (pictures, videos, etc.).

#3 Fulfilled Expectations

While receiving an e-mail in 2016 doesn’t quite equal the joy of hearing, “You’ve got mail!” in 1999, it is what customers and potential customers are expecting from retailers in the digital age. According to an August 2015,e-mail marketing study by Adobe, 63% of customers continue to prefer to receive marketing promotions and offers through e-mails. This means that 63% of customers not only desire e-mail interactions, they expect them! By meeting consumer expectations, e-mail assists digital age marketers with the never ending quest to align consumer and marketer values.

Yet, for all the great benefits listed above, the truth remains that the consumer inbox in the digital age is a crowded place….

How crowded?

Well, according to Microsoft, the average e-mail user has an inbox count consisting of around 50% newsletters and 20% social media updates… and each of these consists of countless businesses and multiple social media platforms. Want even more evidence? In 2015, over 205 billion e-mails were sent and received daily.

This large number of 205 billion e-mails tells us retailers and marketers must separate from the pack or risk losing conversion and leads. Two of the best value creation strategies for standing out in the digital age include:

Personalization and automation.

Without further adieu, let’s take a look at how you can float like a butterfly while you sting like a bee and one-two punch your way to higher conversion rates.

E-mail Personalization – The Loyalty Builder

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It should be well recognized that personalization and marketing are inseparable in the digital age. Consumers have a personalization preference from the brands they use and love, because not only does personalization relieve the information overload of today, but personalized information makes the shopping experience more relevant to consumers.

By applying personalization techniques to e-mail marketing campaigns, marketers are more likely to build long–term relationships with customersand increase conversion rates. In terms of tangible numbers, this could translate into 6x higher transaction rates for personalized e-mails when compared to non-personalized e-mails.

As stunning as this figure sounds, perhaps the most amazing number is that only 35% of marketers are using personalized e-mail subject lines! Since 60% of marketers say they struggle with personalization, here are several simple personalization methods to try to boost conversion rates:

#1 Ask Questions and Build Profiles

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Customer segmentation depends on data. Yet, marketers often fail to ask the necessary questions before opting-in and segmenting potential consumers. What are the “right” questions? Remember the who, the what and the why:

Who are your customers? Why are they visiting/using your product/joining your list? What do they value?

Exclusive Bonus: Download 5 Tips for Email Personalization to know how to personalize email marketing.

These three simple questions can go a long way in gaining detailed consumer insight and creating highly targeted e-mails. For reference, the multi-question opt-in form above (from Thrive Leads) is a perfect example of how marketers can immediately begin to build value by understanding the interests and wants of clients.

Based on the answer to the question above, consumers and potential consumers can be assigned to separate segments and then sent different e-mails focusing on their specific interests. How effective is this technique? Well, Paper Style, an invitation and paper supply company, saw their open rate increased by 244% and their click-through rate increase by 161%.

Effective indeed!

#2 Develop Opt-In Consistency

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A great and subtle technique to help align with consumer values is ensuring your opt-in copy matches your e-mail copy. Remember, someone opted in for a reason! Your landing page and CTA have already conveyed a certain degree of value. Use this to your advantage by syncing the look and copy of your opt-ins with your e-mails.

The picture above highlights the recent success story of Nuffield Health. Wanting to increase opt-ins and leads, they segmented their target market and then assigned personalized landing pages and an e-mail series to each segment. By pairing personalized e-mails and landing pages, they were able to increase their conversion rates from 1% to 8%.

#3 Encourage Consumer Responses

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Our last tip is perhaps the most important. Remember, the entire point of sending an e-mail or a series of e-mails is to engage clients and potential clients. “Engage” means provoking a response via value. Accepting this as true, what is wrong with the e-mail address below?

noreply@company.com

By using a “no reply” e-mail address, you are telling your target market not to respond! Having a reply address creates a dialog channel that plays to consumer value. Using a real person and a real name will go a long way in making an e-mail credible and in provoking a response or action on the part of the consumer.

Want further motivation? Most ISPs do not allow “no reply” e-mail addresses to be added to address books; therefore, they are more likely to be tagged as spam.

Remember, no reply means no customer.

E-mail Automation – The Value Optimizer

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The implementation of e-mail automation strategies has become one of the most effective ways to engage in e-mail marketing. Automation and CRM software streamlines the consumer engagement processes, saves time and money and helps marketers develop relationships via personalized and efficient communication.

When should e-mail automation be employed?It should be used when:

  • Sending an e-mail series for courses or segmented information
  • Welcoming a newly opted-in subscriber to your e-mail list
  • Personalizing special messages (i.e., birthday, Christmas, etc.)
  • Purchasing follow–up (i.e., thank you, feedback, etc.)
  • Completing questionnaires and surveys to gain valuable insight

Not one of the 82% of B2B and B2C companies using e-mail automation? Here are some basic steps to get you started:

  • Select Trigger: What is a trigger? It is a specific action that activates an e-mail solution of your choice. For example, let’s say you decide that the trigger should be the moment someone subscribes to an e-mail list. A “scribing trigger” means that whenever an individual opts-in to receive your weekly e-mail, they will receive a welcome and thank you e-mail. Other triggers could be those mentioned from above: purchases, birthdays, lack of customer activity, etc. While the activation reasons may vary from individual to individual, it is important to remember that specific activation triggers should be part of a larger personalization strategy.
  • Design E-mail(s): Depending on the trigger, goal and target audience, e-mails and e-mail series will vary. They could include welcome e-mails, “getting started with your product” e-mails and discount e-mails. The point is to keep the communication channels open between the retailer and customer while consistently encourage a response. Again, individual goals will vary from series to series, but the overall goal of these e-mails is to remind your consumer or potential consumer of the value you can deliver. Also, remember to personalize! For a great resource on current and successful e-mail design examples, check out this recent list by Hubspot.
  • Select and Optimize Timing: The scheduling and timing of e-mails is a neglected and overlooked part of the automation process. Marketers should never take for granted the impact of time and location. From LA to Shanghai to London, it is important to remember today’s consumers are global. Certain market segments will prefer times that others won’t. Whether it is 8 a.m. or 7:30 p.m., the only way marketers will discover the value of optimal delivery times is through testing. A model example is the case study of BustedTees. This e–commerce retailer was able to segment its e-mail list by time zone and they developed personalized delivery times by reviewing past data on individual open times. The results included an 8% lift in e-mail revenue, an 11% higher click–through rate and a 17% increase in total e-mail response rate.

In Conclusion….

As you can see from the numbers and case studies mentioned above, e-mail personalization works. It engages customers, opens communication channels and builds value. Automation strategies in the digital age help facilitate the process of personalization through data analysis and lead nurturing.

Put together, today’s marketers have a one-two punch for e-mail optimization and omni channel ROI.

Exclusive Bonus: Download 5 Tips for Email Personalization to know how to personalize email marketing.

6 Types of Data To Collect From Customers And How to Grow Your Marketing Strategy With It

Personalization has hit the mainstream as the best marketing strategy for growing your business. It’s used by niche companies and conglomerates alike in order to create an experience that entices customers to buy. There’s no denying it’s power.

Have you ever found yourself shopping for a new shirt online, only to be bombarded with matching ads later in the day. The ads may even be the exact products your were looking at from the same sites. They’re remarketing based off information you provided. Someone else who shopped for pants will see a completely different set of ads.

The idea is to use a one-on-one marketing strategy to develop a closer relationship with your customer. Omni-channel personalization, with a focus on these data points, can create a thorough approach to tailoring your recommendations based on what you know about the individual. Levels of use will vary, but the goal is clear:

Marketing is no longer about whose ad is seen the most. It’s about who can be more personal.

 

1. Name

Names have been called the ‘customer’s favorite word’ and for good reason. Would you rather I address you as “Appreciated Customer”, or can we take it to a more personal level? Well Greg, we’ve got a deal for you.

Businesses have been using customer names since people started peddling wares in Mesopotamian markets. When Greg bought that suit, the owner had already learned his name. The next time he walked in, he was welcomed with it. It made Greg feel more appreciated than when he visited other shops. It created a brand loyalty and he’s significantly less likely to take his business elsewhere.

Knowing your customer’s name is easy when you’re talking face to face with her, but how can you do it when thousands of people are browsing your digital store?

Web developers solved this problem long ago. Membership and e-mail sign ups require a name. Even websites that only share your username have begun using your real first name rather than the word ‘profile’ on your browser. It creates a more personalized experience when the web page displays your name in the corner, even if you know it’s an automated system.

By e-mail lists having this information, subject lines can be constructed to appear like personal messages. Seeing their own name elicits a reaction from the brain, forcing them to slow down and read the text. Campaign Monitor found that working personalization into an e-mail subject line increased open rates by 14.68%. With a list of 1,000, that translates to nearly 150 more people opening your message. That’s 150 more potential sales just because you directed the letter at Greg. Talk about a great ROI on personalization.

 

2. Location

Where using a name is great, MailChimp would argue that city names are even better.

Locations can be used to expose customers to events in a given area. Is there an expo or event that you want to share with your fans. Directed messages at their location can be the quickest way to do it.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the free cheat sheet on How to Improve the Consumer Journey

6 Types of Data to Collect from Customers and How to Grow Your Marketing Strategy With It nectarom

Sending e-mails about a race in Seattle to people who live in New York City will cause your open rate to drop drastically. Meanwhile, your audience in the greater Seattle area may now attend, increasing engagement with your brand.

Gathering this information can be done through two key methods. You can have customers provide their location when signing up for different features, or you can have them grant permission using a geo-location enabled app.

Marketing Land claims mobile brand ads are seeing a 20% increase in conversions when coupled with location data. Need more reasons? They also found that “69% of Google searches  include a specific location.” That’s more data you can use in your marketing strategy.

A study by White Horse Productions, Inc. showed that 8% of the users of social apps running geo-location systems believe “savings in discounts and merchant rewards” are the most important benefit. Though this number seems low, given the sheer volume of traffic that social media receives on a daily basis, this number is astounding. Since 60% of that poll thinks the social aspects are most important, it could be argued that discounts and deals would play a larger secondary role for most.

Businesses like Yelp allow their customers to ‘check-in’ to different establishments. Later, they’re reminded to review the places they visited. This creates more interaction with their site and app, as well as customer pride because they’ve contributed to the product. The ‘check-in’ strategy also brings more engagement on social media, showing up on the newsfeeds for everyone to see.

The largest battle with tracking a customer’s location is the concern for privacy. Many smartphone users will disable the GPS feature because of a fear that the information will be used inappropriately. Unfortunately for the honorable business, this leaves the ability to track location to user sign ups and invoices. Still, it’s better than comprising your integrity.

 

3. Gender

The purple elephant in the room, gender, has become a touchy subject in today’s social climate. Still, for a business, knowing someone’s gender can translate into better targeting and profit.

A study by G+ proved that targeting genders can be more than efficient. They found that females make more of the buying decisions, including everything home furnishings to cars. They also saw that women are more likely to use a specific brand if it supports a cause.

Using this information alone, you could develop a strategy to target your female customers with ads. Select the cause you’re most affiliated with, expressing a cause, and have better luck at winning them over. Even better is that if it’s a large purchase, you know to focus more attention on that gender.

Learning your customer’s gender also gives you the ability to tailor recommendations on page. If you’re a clothing company that sells to everyone, ads offering skirts will be better directed at women, while men’s products are better with them. This technique would still require a Facebook pixel or local account, but it could pay dividends in the long run.

 

4. Previous Purchases

Along with the gender focused advertising, many sites will tap your previous purchases to target you. Amazon is excellent at this strategy.

When you’re comparing items, say a sleeping bag, you can go through dozens of pages without making a purchase. Don’t worry, when you open your Facebook later, you’ll find that Amazon has a kindly reminder waiting for you. They’ll use sponsored posts to keep your mental shopping cart alive and even offer recommendations for some of the sleeping bags you were looking at earlier.

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You can follow this same approach, or target on a finer scale. When a customer purchases a sleeping bag from your site, launch an automated email chain that offers them related products, like lamps or walking sticks. The odds of a customer buying from you again are higher than the chances of that initial purchase. It’s marketing done easy.

On the other side of the spectrum is the abandoned shopping cart. Maybe a customer became distracted. Maybe they found your prices too steep. By knowing that they didn’t make a purchase, but had intended to, you can attempt to reengage the customer. Remind them of the cart or make new offers. There are a lot of possibilities just by identifying their cart status and it can all be crafted into an automated system.

In the same sense, send emails when discounts appear on items they’ve expressed interest in, be it from a wishlist or deleted cart items. Study everything about a customer’s purchase history and you can learn some specific ways to target the individual.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the free cheat sheet on How to Improve the Consumer Journey

 

5. Interests

If interests aren’t part of your personalization marketing strategy, you’re doing it wrong. They can tell us everything we need to know in order to interact with customers.

Interest marketing is especially effective on social media platforms. Sites like Facebook and Twitter build profiles on all of their users, including everything they like. These likes translate into marketing channels.

By applying ads to social media, you can automatically engage those who prefer the niche you’re addressing without having to sort them out. A billboard is a shot in the dark. Social media advertising, thanks to the ability to target interests, is a point blank shot.

 

6. Web Behavior

A customer’s behavior on the web can lead to a lot of profitable information. Everything from web content to e-mail interaction can be tracked in order to improve your marketing strategy. Using omni-channel personalization with knowledge of their trends can be even better.

To start, figure out what the most popular key words for your business are. Once you have them, develop landing pages for each. Highlight those keywords as many times as you can in the page to be sure that’s the one they find and let the personalized experience begin. Depending on how many keywords you want, you can continue to develop new pages, offering a deeper connection to your audience.

Those keywords can say a lot in themselves by defining where the customer is in the purchasing stages. If they’re searching for a specific knife review, odds are that they’re looking to purchase that knife. If they’re looking for the 7 best survival knives, they may be a little further away. Through personalization, you can recommend products and advertisements based off where they are in that process.

Tracking behavior is where your content marketing can pay off. Everyone who has run a business with an online presence understands that cookies can be pivotal in your marketing strategy. By tracking which pages your customers are viewing, you can tailor content specifically to their interest. This can be a recommendation to other articles and products based off the category or focused bonus material.

Content upgrades that are directly related to the topic of the page can provide a great window for opportunity. If a customer is reading about repairing chainsaws, a guide to felling trees with one may be enough to get his e-mail. From there, he’s entered your sales funnel, leaving him open to more e-mails and potentially other personalization tactics from you.

Along with getting those messages out, you need to pay attention to how your customers interact with your e-mails. Spot which links are getting the most use and place the customers into a segmented list. Send them more emails that focus on the topic they’re interested in. Reduce the size of your segments if you can, creating various targeted sub-lists while still sending them e-mails from the main subscription.

Collecting data to grow your marketing strategy is as simple as opening a few analytics accounts and paying attention to customer behavior. Run as many tests as you can to learn what works and what doesn’t to maximize your potential.

The information you gather can be the difference between a year of growth or another twelve months of your peers passing you by. Develop a strategy for personalization and take the lead.

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Omni Channel Personalization: The 2016 Trends

Why A Seamless Customer Experience Is More Important Than Ever

 

The good old days of customers coming from one channel are over. This is due, in part, to the rapid rise of mobile and social as marketing platforms, and with them, came omni channel marketing. They have created a shifting power dynamic allowing customers to experience and interact with brands in ways they were not able to just ten years ago. This could be visiting a store in person, the website, the social media presence, and any combination of using a laptop, tablet, wearable or mobile device. Nevertheless, the imperative question remains: What is the customer experience like on each platform and how can your brand take advantage of it?

nectarom personalization omnichannel trends

With multiple users coming from every channel, businesses need to shift their marketing strategies from a single channel approach to an omni channel approach and be able to accommodate as many people as possible.

Omni channel, as its name states, is a multichannel approach to the sales process, and its primary goal is to bring a seamless shopping experience to the user. The term “shopping experience” relates to mobile shopping, desktop, by telephone, or even in bricks and mortar stores.

 

Rather than telling customers where to go, you are meeting on their terms where they like to purchase. Not everyone has time to visit a store in person or is tech savvy enough to follow your twitter feed. A successful modern brand needs to be everywhere at once and deliver a consistent experience across the board.

 

That, however, is much easier said than done.

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To successfully carry out an omni channel strategy, you need to know as much about each customer as possible. Luckily, there are more and more data points available to corporate marketers allowing them to make informed decisions. Having a consistent experience is great, but at the end of the day it needs to translate into increased sales, and working with an experienced team can mean that your business can see ROI results in days, not years.

 

Omni Channels – Everywhere At Once

nectarom personalization omnichannel trends

It has always been important to know as much as possible about your customers, and it is even more important now. Whereas in the past you could rely on a survey or questionnaire done in a store about what customers thought, these days not as many people want or need to go into brick and mortar store. In fact, 71% of shoppers believe that they’ll get a better deal online, so why get up to drive to a store when a better price is available from the comfort of the couch. To compete in today’s market, businesses need to have some form of digital presence.

 

Why Consistency Is The New Black

 

A modern brand can be thought of like a mosaic, with each tile representing a different channel. If customers are told one thing from one channel, it is safe to assume they should be told the same from another.

 

As a marketer, it is imperative to keep your messaging consistent while adapting to the speed of digital society. People’s habits are changing faster than ever, and we need to understand where users are and consistently provide value for them no matter what channel. This will help cement a solid brand and a strong customer experience.

 

Channel Specific Customer Experience

 

Here is all you need to know: Customers act differently in each channel, and your brand needs to act differently as well.

 

Here is a quick rundown of general trends for each platform:

 

Mobile: It is not a question; it is not a fad; it is here to stay. Mobile is a legitimate platform, and you cannot overlook its importance. This is clearly displayed with this past year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, where mobile accounted for 49% of all visits.

 

An important thing to note is that while 49% of visits were mobile, only 35.3% of purchases were made on mobile. One-third is still a huge number, but on days other than Black Friday, mobile users prefer to browse rather than purchase. Make sure your content is mobile optimized to look great on any device.

 

Mobile Trends Summary

 

–   Users are mostly browsing, rather than purchasing

–   Customers do quick site visits while on the go

–   Tend to have high bounce rate for sites that aren’t mobile-friendly

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Laptop + Tablet: Buying something online on your computer is pretty commonplace these days, with even technically challenged baby boomers taking advantage of it. Brands know how important it is to have a smooth checkout process with close to 60% of online sales coming from laptops and tablets.

 

There are numerous challenges moving forward with an omni channel integration strategy with regards to the laptop and tablet segment. Some key tactics to keep in mind include serving location specific content which changes based on the customer’s location, equipping sales associates to help customers checkout anywhere, and integrating in store tools like QR codes, sensors or beacons to engage with customers.

 

Laptop + Tablet Trends Summary

 

–   This is where most of the shopping experience happens

–   Users will browse multiple sites/stores

–   Slow loading will increase bounce rate

 

Brick And Mortar: They are still the hallmark for many stores, but looking at industry trends, in-store sales have dropped by 10% over the last year. This does not mean that brick and mortar stores are dead, but it is a sign that retailers should start thinking about how to adapt moving forward.

The in-store experience is unique and gives marketers many options for how they want to interact with the customers. The problem is, most brands do not carry their online messaging over into the store. Sure, the logos and colors are still the same, but does the customer have the same experience? Smart brands are doing more than just asking for an email address on checkout. They are offering legitimately good deals if customers visit their website, and letting them order online and pickup in store.

 

Brick And Mortar Trends Summary

 

–   Large percentage of purchasing still done in-store

–   Customers may be browsing but will usually do so online and consequently buy in store

–   Brings an excellent opportunity to connect with customers

 

Social: Social media has quickly become a channel all marketers should have on their radar. Each social channel has it’s own type of content. It’s important to understand that traditional ads are not working like they use to, and now smart marketers are adapting to provide useful, shareable, and valuable content to people. Whether it comes in the form of videos, coupons, emails, or tweets, the messages must include compelling content for communication to resonate with the client.

 

Social Trends Summary

 

-Your content must be educational or entertaining

-Curate your content for the channel – i.e.: videos on Youtube, Images on Instagram, news on Twitter, etc…

-Find a your niche and market only to them

 

Cell Phone Call Center

 

Without Omni Channel: You take your telephone, and dial that toll-free number to your cell phone carrier. You are calling to negotiate your cell phone contract, which, let’s be honest, nearly everyone with a cellphone has done. You’ve spoken to a rep at your local store who told you about a great promotion but asked you to call their phone support who would be able to activate it for you. Nevertheless, the story changes. At home on the phone, the rep you’ve reached doesn’t know anything about the promotion. He requires access information about your account, and even once they are in (finally), they are not telling you the same thing the in-store rep did. You hang up hoping never to go through that again. #frustration.

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With Omni Channel: The in-store rep you were speaking with was able to tag your internal account with the offer they mentioned. At home on the phone, the rep can quickly access your account, see the promotion you were promised and activate it on your account. #happycustomer

Do you see the difference? It may not seem like much of a problem for a big company, but it makes a huge difference for building loyalty in customers. People hate having their time wasted, and the better and faster you can serve them, the happier they’ll be.

nectarom personalization omnichannel trends

Though omni channel integration will result in increased sales and revenue, it’s not its primary focus. Rather, it works to keep customers happy, which builds loyalty, and consequently, increases repeat purchases.

 

Then Vs. Now: The Importance Of Brand Consistency

 

In the past it was easier to create a fully seamless brand experience, because each brand wasn’t appearing on as many channels are they are now. These days a brand needs to have a multilingual website, multiple social media accounts, a customer service center, and a fully automated system running it all. Though it seems straightforward, creating that seamless experience is very difficult.

From a customer’s point of view, a modern fortune 500 brand should be able to achieve all this, and with the internet at their fingers, they can easily look elsewhere.

 

To have the right answer at your fingertips, a comprehensive database management infrastructure is essential. We at NectarOM specialize in omni channel personalization, and you can learn more about how we can help your brand get your brand’s omni channel ready here.

 

Data Management

 

Most brands have (or can collect) lots of data from their customers. From purchase or browsing history, to when they shop, to their economic status, and the area they live. All of these are very powerful marketing tools. The hard part is using them correctly, and integrating all the different channels. It is essential to manage this data to know about your user’s experience. If someone visited your site on his or her laptop, you, as a brand, need to keep that experience consistent on a mobile device.

Here are two very common scenarios with and without omni channel personalization experience.

 

Working 24/7

 

The last important way in which omni channel marketing has changed retail is that stores are no longer open for a set amount of hours. People browse the Internet and make purchases at all times of day (and night), so your marketing needs to work on their timetables.

 

To do so, it is essential to have all your systems on autopilot. As soon as someone makes a purchase or interacts with your brand, your marketing should reflect that. Whether it means they are getting a confirmation email to let them know their item has shipped, to getting time sensitive promotions and coupons as soon as they become available. There are too many moving parts to run a business manually, and automation is a must in our digital age.

 

Once a customer has purchased, and your marketing has begun, it’s not acceptable to send generic emails. It is easy enough to say that your messaging must be consistent across all platforms, but it must be specific to the customer’s current situation.

 

More businesses have become aware of the importance of omni channel personalization, about giving your customers something relevant and useful that consequently builds trust. Once you have trust, you’re able to establish a relationship with your clients, and ultimately make sales. Above all else, keep it simple. There is no point in delivering a substandard experience that will most likely lose you business. Focus on what you already know about your customers and then work backward to enhance their experience.

Exclusive Bonus: Download the FREE Guide to Personalizing the Consumer Journey!

How Marketing Personalization Increases Customer Loyalty

What Kind Of Data Do You Need To Be Tracking To Meet Your Conversion Goals?

Who are the best kind of customers? The ones that never complain and keep buying from you and tell everyone they love you. You know the type.

They’re the loyal ones.

If you’re trying to grow a solid brand, loyalty should be on your radar. There are multiple definitions of what loyalty means to businesses. While loyalty programs, such as points, miles, coupons, are great, the type of loyalty you want from your customers is blind devotion, and refusal to look elsewhere. The problem is: loyalty is hard to obtain. It takes a lot of work and effort to gain trust, and along the way one slip-up could negatively impact all that hard work. It’s a very delicate process, there’s no question about it, but if done right the benefits far outweigh the drawback.

Exclusive Bonus: Download NowThe Personalization Checklist To Increase Customer Loyalty

Take Apple fanboys for example. There weren’t nearly as many of them around 20 years ago, but now there are tons, and Apple is the most profitable company in the world.

Coincidence?

I don’t think so. They are the best kind of loyal customers, willing to pay a premium for products and line up for days before they’re even out. These aren’t exclusive models either, and, on paper, they’re comparable to ones can be bought for nearly half the price. But people continue to buy from them. Why? These are customers that are loyal because they like the entire process, from the lineup to unboxing.

Gaining this type of loyalty is hard, but with businesses having the ability to capture more data, personalizing content is an easy way to start fostering a loyal customer. Let’s explore three aspects of personalization that you shouldn’t ignore.

1 – Profiles & Behaviors

Data can reveal a lot about someone: where they are, what browser they’re using, what links they clicked and what kind of device they’re on. It’s a marketer’s dream, and this information can, and should be used to help you increase your conversion.

In general, there are two types of data: explicit or implicit.

Explicit signals are hard facts: This user was on an iPhone in Canada, and clicked three links and visited the site four times.

Implicit signals are what you can deduce from the hard facts: It looks like this user was browsing items. Since he’s from Canada, he’s less likely to purchase than an American; but, since he’s clicked three links and been to the site four times, he has a high chance of buying.

Turning implicit signals, which come in the form of data, into explicit signals and determining how you can initiate the sale can be a daunting task. NectarOM can simplify things and help automate this process in real time.

 

Customer profile

Once you have begun tracking your data, your next goal should be to create virtual profiles of your customers by combining data from multiple sources.

A profile describes a particular segment of customers with as much information as possible. This should include info like:

Exclusive Bonus: Download NowThe Personalization Checklist To Increase Customer Loyalty

These are just a few examples of points you can use to build your own persona. When you have a clearer picture of your ideal customer, the next step is to describe them and turn them into real people. Only once you have a profile of your customer can you start creating a plan to market to them. There’s no point wasting your time on strategies that might work.

How somebody is interacting with your content can tell you a lot about who they are and how they will interact with your brand. Generally speaking, mobile use accounts for a lot of search traffic as well as browsing, while computer/laptop traffic accounts for the majority of purchases.

 

2 – Test & Learn Strategies

What a simple world it would be if all leads came from the same place. You could focus all your marketing efforts on one thing and then clean up! But this is real life, and people are complicated. Different people hang out on various sites and can experience a brand in a variety of ways. One may prefer your Twitter feed, and another may frequent your site. Where they access your brand influences what they buy.

You can use this knowledge to your advantage by sending unique channel offers. For example, we all know Instagram is ideal for sharing images, so depending on what kind of images your audience’s feed is filled with, you could make something that blends in and barely looks like an ad. In this example from Qaloring, it’s not clear that they’re selling anything, and all you see is a woman in exercise clothes.

loyalty in marketing imagePeople on Twitter are usually looking for some interesting news, delivered in the iconic 140 characters or less and is a great place to promote your product with a catchy headline that gets people curious. Looking at the example from Ideapod; they play to people’s egos and drum up a bit of intrigue.
indeapod imageAm I smart? Heck yes! *click*

It can also be used to easily tag influencers in the industry to try and drum up some buzz for your product.

Facebook is a mix of the two, allowing more headlines but also a lot of space for an image. This ad from Jetsetter gets right to the point with a clear offer and beautiful picture.
facebook post image

Giving messages that relate to how people like to interact with a brand is the key to success. Make sure you’re not only thinking about the marketing campaign but how people will interact with your campaign over all sorts of channels and devices that you’re choosing to run it on. The more specific and targeted your campaign is, the better it will perform.

Exclusive Bonus: Download NowThe Personalization Checklist To Increase Customer Loyalty

3 – Automated Activation

Knowing all of this information is great, and any business owner should be doing everything they can to leverage this wealth of data that is at their disposal, but if you aren’t using or tracking this information, then you’re wasting your time. We here at NectarOM have an orientation toward action and apply marketing automation, predictive analytics and trigger based communications. Our system allows you to put this data to work. That way you can create detailed user profiles and implement laser precision campaigns.

No matter what your business model is, trigger based messages can help foster loyalty and increase your ROI. Making each customer feel special by delivering content based on their actions is a surefire way to keep them coming back.

With e-commerce, you’re always in the trenches, so to speak, looking forward to that sale and email notification coming through. Automated personalization has been proven to help with cart abandonment, by sending a follow-up email a day or so later. This can help bring people back to the state of mind where they were about to purchase, and could seal the deal.

As a corporate marketer, you’re more concerned with activating users because it’s necessary for continued subscription and a long term relationship. Sending a series of tips during a trial period, and capping it off with a ‘last chance, the trial is expiring’ email is a great place to start, and sure to get a conversation going with customers looking for an extension.

In a brick-and-mortar setting, clienteling, or providing a personal touch to shoppers can go a long way to building loyalty. This is usually achieved by using software to learn about customers preferences, behaviors, and purchases, and then having sales reps connect with customers in meaningful ways.

 

The Loyalty Effect In Action

At the highest level, getting all these systems in place can create machine-learning recommendations, which, if you can attain, mean a constant stream of business. Just look at what Netflix is up to:

“A study from Wharton cited that Netflix reported 60% of its sales came from machine-learning recommendations, and 35% of Amazon sales came from system-generated suggestions. Regarding increasing engagement, Venture Beat reports that personalized email subject lines can increase open rates by up to 41%.”

With industry leaders like Netflix heavily pursuing customization and machine-learning, it needs to be on your radar of things to implement. By keeping your messages relevant and personalize, you’ll be able to not only see the benefits in the form of increased revenue but will be able to keep your customers loyal – and more importantly, coming back.

This stuff can get complicated, and there are a lot of plates spinning in the air. But by focusing on your ideal customers and giving them personal attention, you’ll be able to keep them around. For businesses looking to deliver automated personalized omni channel experience book a free consultation with us here at NectarOM to discuss a strategy for your business.

Exclusive Bonus: Download NowThe Personalization Checklist To Increase Customer Loyalty

5 Omnichannel Truths for 2016

Facing 2016, we decided to take stock of what we’ve experienced and learned as marketers. It’s more important than ever to truly understand your target audience, to focus on improving the customer experience, and to provide value with your advertising by way of personalization. The only difference that comes with operating in a digital environment is the speed at which we must adapt to our customers’ continuously changing habits and preferences across all channels. Thankfully, there are some tools and strategies that have helped us out greatly along the way.

A seamless customer experience is priority #1 in your omnichannel marketing strategy

We should be happy to live in a time where our products and services can reach a global audience. That said, each one of our hundreds of thousands of customers has a unique set of preferences when it comes to communicating with your brand.

Data Management Platforms can organize your customer information and prime it for action. Marketers can use this kind of software to reach customers and deliver relevant content across multiple touchpoints, including web, mobile apps, social media, email, and text. The actions that a potential buyer makes on one channel should be remembered in a unified customer profile that carries over across all channels.

Given the endless amount of options that your customers have access to online, it’s important for remove as many barriers to communications as possible. Making your customer experience seamless across all channels will make them happy and absolutely drive your revenue. Speaking of which…

Mobile marketing matters.

While it’s important to deliver a strong customer experience on every channel, marketers should understand that no other channel has risen so sharply in growth, use, and importance than mobile. Mobile = Money, and nowhere this year was that more obvious than the record-breaking Thanksgiving sales weekend that spanned from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, where mobile hits accounted for a whopping 49% of all shopping visits across eCommerce sites.

Not only was more money spent in eCommerce than ever before, but the amount of mobile browsing and purchases increased so much that the crowds at brick-and-mortar stores looked noticeably thinner on Black Friday.

Marketing automation boosts efficiency and effectiveness.

It’s important for today’s omnichannel brand to be able to provide content with impeccable timing. It’s possible to automate this process using data from your digital marketing hub, meaning that you’ll put your customer information to work to generate real-time advertisements and messages that are personally relevant to each one of your buyers.

Why wait? A Data Management Platform never sleeps, and it’s available to message your customers instantly based on preset triggers that adapt your marketing efforts on the turn of a dime. Don’t make your customers wait to be engaged: automate your marketing to improve each campaign’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Your content must be useful and shareable.

One of the great marketing challenges of 2015 was learning to adapt to the AdBlocking software that became a standard in web browsers on both PC and mobile channels. We as an industry came to terms with the fact that the traditional ad died a long time ago: the new standard for engaging with customers is based around providing them with relevant, personalized content that adds value to their lives.

We saw countless examples of this as Facebook adapted its Newsfeed to embrace video, reaching an average view count of 8 billion per day and going toe-to-toe with YouTube. The key to this incredible growth? Promoting high-quality content that can be shared within social circles. When your content is just that good, people will advertise for you and sing your praises without any added prompting.

In other words, you get what you give. That’s a lesson that NectarOM learned when working with Avocados From Mexico to double their Facebook likes to over 1,000,000 in total over the span of just three months. NectarOM and Avocados From Mexico enticed its users with shareable, quality content such as recipes, giveaways, and eBooks that were passed on to friends and family and grew their social media presence in a very organic way.

Marketing personalization increases customer loyalty and engagement.

As much as marketers would love it if all of their customers were found in one place, the fact is that we live in an age where our products are connecting with more people than ever before. Each one of your customers has their individual preference for communicating with your brand, whether it’s over your website, your Facebook page, your mobile app, through emails, your brick-and-mortar store or some combination of all of the above.

Personalization has become much, much more than just a “first name” tag at the beginning of a mass email. It’s about understanding your customer based on their interactions with your brand, their shopping history, and the critical life events they choose to share on social media. Learn it, embrace it, and make it a part of your marketing toolkit moving forward.

3 Ways to Evaluate and Engage High-Value Customers

You’ve heard of the Pareto Principle: the rule of thumb that 20% of the work drives 80% of the results. In sales and marketing, we can observe that this principle holds true across all industries, and understand that a huge amount of sales, revenue, and brand interaction can be directly traced back to a few high-value customers, or HVCs.

If you haven’t put much thought into CRM, it’s a good policy to prioritize the creation and retention of HVCs who will give you the most return on your investment. Though the majority of all sales transactions are likely to be one-offs or from occasional buyers, a significant amount of your revenue will be driven by intensely loyal HVCs, who will not only stick by your brand but help promote it. To put it simply: you should keep your HVCs happy because when they buy, they buy big.

What makes a customer high value?

  • HVCs buy for a reason: HVCs look to your products, services, and brand to meet a fundamental need. Whether it’s health, wealth, or status, identifying your business’s raison d’etre will help you serve your best customers more efficiently.
  • They are interested in the next big thing. HVCs will keep checking your website, app, and social media pages for updates and new products. If you make customer loyalty a priority, you can create positive feedback loops that pay off huge in the long run.
  • HVCs are less sensitive to price changes. High-value customers will return to your brand even if they can find similar products for cheaper. It’s not about the cost: it’s about how your business addresses their specific needs in a relevant and personalized way.
  • HVCs will promote your brand. Your most loyal customers will promote your goods and services to friends, colleagues, and even strangers, if they believe in your products and customer service. HVCs bring with them a large social network of potential new clients, so pay it forward!

High-value customers are your business’s Golden Geese: keep them happy, and you’ll set yourself up for huge successes in the long run. And the truth is, doing so is actually pretty simple once you adopt the mindset of putting the customer first and personalizing your services to give each individual the VIP treatment.

3 Ways to Engage High-Value Customers

  1. Reward HVCs for their loyalty. By integrating loyalty data into your delivery providers and personalization tools, you’ll be able to understand when, how and why high-value customers access your site and design useful, personalized touches to interact with them across multiple channels. When done right, loyalty programs remove barriers between your customer and their purchases and streamline their shopping experience. Doing so can empower the customer with  a sense of agency when they realize that their actions have a direct impact on their experiences with you and what services you can offer them.
  2. Pay attention to their recent activity. This information can be used to identify a customer as high value based on metrics such as: frequent site visits, a high clickthrough rate on email and website, and big recent purchases. Someone who can’t get enough of your content will respond well to an increase in messages, especially the triggered marketing that corresponds to important life events or interactions with your brand. When done right, this will prove to customers that you really understand what makes them tick. One appropriate example for a triggered message: if a certain HVC has a record of high overall spend but for the last several months they have not been interacting or buying, you might send them a re-engagement email with a big discount attached.
  3. Evolve with your customers. Changes in customers’ habits which point to increased interest in categories outside of their normal purchase pattern can indicate someone’s shift into becoming a high-value customer. A significant change in what they buy and how much they spend could be a signal that this individual has extended their product trust into brand trust for you, prompting their movement into the HVC bucket.

There are many ways you can use data to help determine who is an HVC by using your personalization tools, and from there it’s a matter of providing your high-value customers with the service and attention that they deserve. In the process, you’ll develop the infrastructure, habits, and mindset that’ll attract and engage new customers at each step of their journey.

Avoiding Common Email Automation Mistakes

Almost every company uses automation to send emails in today’s day and age. Every morning, I wake up to dozens of emails from retailers comprised of newsletters and special offers.

For the most part, I love sifting through these emails. However, as a marketing automation enthusiast, there are some aspects of email automation that can drive me crazy if done incorrectly. Below, I have determined four of my biggest automation pet peeves.

Boring subject linesSubject Line Email Automation

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover… However, this doesn’t always resonate with email recipients. Even marketers with the best email content can be at a disadvantage when not using catchy subject lines in their messages.

Amidst dozens of emails, a recipient’s eyes can easily glaze over a boring subject line. Subject lines should promote new products, relevant offers, special discounts, or use the recipient’s name to stand out among other emails.

In the example to the right, notice Nordstrom had sent me a “relevant” email about sandals after I had shopped for sandals on their website the day before. NM Last Call advertised a noteworthy sale to draw me in. J. Crew emphasized a “new” offer and special discount of free shipping to attract me. Note that Amazon Local did not utilize any of these tactics to grab my attention, and their message remained unopened and ignored.

Sent at the wrong time

Just because a software sends out automated emails, companies must still be conscientious of when they are distributing marketing messages.

Nordstrom Friday Evening EmailMost companies send out emails first thing in the morning – and for good reason.

While there is no set rule that marketers must stick to mornings when sending out emails, there are certain times marketers should avoid sending messages. For example, consider this email I received from Nordstrom. Nordstrom sent me this email at 6:30 Friday afternoon. This is one of the worst times to send me a marketing email, as I have likely finished work for the weekend and am probably enjoying a happy hour or dinner with friends. The only reason I opened this email was because I was looking at messages sent during poor times  for this blog post.

Friday evening is not the only bad time to send emails. Weeknights during “dinner time” will likely hold a low open rate. However, emails sent between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays will yield higher open rates, according to experts.

 

Incorrect personalization

Nothing aggravates me more than wasting my time opening an email with irrelevant offers. This holds true in the past couple months I’ve been a member of Banana Republic’s reward program.

Banana Republic's Men's Email
One of Banana’s many “male-centered” emails I always receive.

Every time I receive an email from Banana Republic, I receive emails about men’s clothing. I find this strange because every time I have shopped at Banana I have only ever bought clothes from the women’s section. However, every email I receive always includes information about their latest additions in their men’s line with little or no regard to women’s clothing. For some unknown reason, I think Banana Republic assumes I am a male.

Banana’s automation tendencies were amusing at first, but now I get annoyed whenever I see their irrelevant emails. Now, I rarely open any of their messages unless the subject line references some special discount.

While personalization can be a huge marketing asset, incorrect personalization can cause major problems. About 75% of consumers get frustrated when receiving irrelevant content. Avoid upsetting your target audience by personalizing with correct data.

Changing personal information is a hassle

While incorrect personalization is dangerous, mistakes can happen. In the case that consumers receive irrelevant content, the process to change personal information should be easy and convenient.

Consumers that must navigate through an entire website just to change a small personal detail (like their gender at Banana Republic), may be turned off at the thought of spending extra time on a website. Updating personal information should be simple. If changing profile details is too difficult, don’t be surprised if your email unsubscribe rate is uncomfortably high.

Wrapping it up…

While automation can be a big time saver, make sure your company is doing it effectively! The above mistakes can be harmful to your company’s growth, but making small fixes to your automation strategy is simple. Learn how to keep your automation easy and effective.

Trusting Automation: Feeling Secure in your Software

Even though automation software is a proven essential for strong marketing, some companies are still wary about its practices. Oftentimes, marketers are hesitant to apply automation to sales because they have difficulty trusting technology – especially when automation plays a large role in marketing.

We’ve heard that some marketers are uneasy trusting the accuracy of data collected, messages sent, and customer privacy. Because automation is more “machine” than “man,” implementing it into marketing may require a little more faith.

And we get it.

Letting go of your marketing reigns to let software play a large role in your marketing strategy can be unnerving. However, companies should cast their fears aside because – all things considered – automation is a tool that can be trusted. To help marketers feel more at ease with this technology, we are addressing three common trust issues that marketers have with automation.

Trusting data in automation

For the most part, data gathered and implemented in your automation software is reliable. This data comes in two forms.

Even a silly typo (like .con instead of .com) can result in a data mistake!
Even a silly typo (like .con instead of .com) can result in a data mistake!

Companies can directly ask customers to share personal information with them. For example, retailers often ask for a consumer’s name and email address for sending newsletters or special offers. Since this information comes directly from the customer, companies should feel comfortable trusting and using it to tailor messages. Typically, any mistakes in customer-relayed information come as results of a spelling mistake or typo when sharing information.

Companies can also gather information from clickstream data and analytics. First party data reflects information gathered by one’s own company. To gain more trust in a company’s first party data, companies should grasp a complete understanding of how the process works.

Third party data reflects information gathered by another source. This is typically where companies falter in the trust department. To put your mind at ease, perform thorough research about the quality of third party – rather than blindly accepting data. Determining the strength and reliability of the third party can prevent dirty data from being thrown into the automation’s data pool.

Trusting automation to deliver messages properly

Some marketers may not trust automation to send relevant messages to its consumers. However, by creating a checklist with basic criterion, marketers can ensure that the right messages are sent to the appropriate customers.

This checklist operates on the basis of the simple logic format, because X happens, Y will likely follow. The logic behind a checklist ensures that messages with a personalized element are sent to specific users.

Shoppers that frequent online sales, or adjust settings from low to high...
Shoppers that frequently online sales, or adjust settings from low to high…
May be more likely to utilize special offers, sales and discounts. Be sure to adjust marketing strategies accordingly.
…may be more likely to utilize special offers, sales and discounts. Be sure to adjust marketing strategies accordingly.

For example, a customer who regularly sorts products by “prices: low to high” may be categorized as a bargain shopper. In a preprogrammed checklist, this criteria might look like, Because this customer shops sales, he or she will positively respond to information about discounts. Based off this assumption, the automation software may send the consumer emails with special offers and sales.

Companies should trust that these messages are sent to the right people because they, themselves, are designing which customers receive which messages. Because companies are responsible for developing their checklists, marketers should trust that the checklist reflects accurate assumptions. If the assumptions are not relevant or correct, marketers should look to the checklist developers. The automation’s job here is easy – simply send out the messages that fit basic criteria at a designated time.

Trusting automation to keep information safe

Another common trust issue marketers have concerns the privacy of their customers. With recent hacks in the datasphere, some companies are hesitant to trust the cloud to store customer data.

With that in mind, companies should take the necessary steps to ensure customer data remains safe. Familiarizing oneself with customer data can alert marketers when usual inconsistencies come up. Companies should also perform thorough background checks before they hire – as employees have the most access to customer data. An untrustworthy employee may be the cause of a data breach. Companies can implement security testing, or penetration testing, to evaluate the strength of their data protection measures.

And let’s not forget…

Marketing should not completely rely on technology. A team of data analysts and marketers should regularly confirm that data analysis is accurate, messages are relevant, and that information stored is safe. Although automation is trustworthy, double checking its accuracy can prevent the unlikely rough patch in a marketing campaign.

Feeling a little better about implementing automation to your marketing? Learn why we’re saying automation is a long-term investment, or get the scoop on our very own NectarSuite automation.

Keeping Marketing Automation Easy

Technology can be scary topic for some. Technology brings change and complicated concepts, which can be challenging even for the tech-savvy. Implementing foreign concepts may seem overwhelming, and can scare off marketers.

However, one sect of technology sets itself apart from the rest because of its usefulness and potential assets. Marketing automation can be a marketer’s best friend when implemented into a marketing strategy.

And, despite its technological ties, automation can be easy for marketers using the right software and the right data to create content.

Software

The first step in keeping automation easy is choosing the right automation software. Each platform has different tools. With that in mind, it’s important to make sure the software you choose corresponds with your company’s marketing goals.

Establishing what an automation software can do for your company is important. Some software provides a few automation commands, while others offer dozens of different options. Marketing automation is best known for sending automated emails. However, this is just the tip of the automation software iceberg. Marketers can also use automation software to conduct A/B testing, lead generation, customer segmentation, and content organization. Depending on what you’re using your automation for, choose a software that coincides best with your automation goals.

Your automation software must also be easy to operate. Software that is too difficult to understand can lead to an automation nightmare. Instead of saving a company time, a confusing platform may actually cost extra time, money and other resources. Before fully committing to a particular software, marketers should make sure they understand how to operate the platform… or have access to someone else that can!

We encourage marketers to consider marketing automation systems like nectarOM’s.

Data

After determining which automation platform is best, marketers can begin to develop content. The key to drafting automation content easily is in the data. making-automation-easy

A common misconception is that automation generates content that is cold, robotic and impersonal. However, customer data helps marketers develop personalized, targeted messages for consumers. Generally, customers prefer this personalized content. When marketers correctly use data, coming up with content for automation messages can be relevant and efficient.

So here’s the problem:

If marketers are using bad data, developing content may take an unnecessarily long time. And – what’s more – the content may not even be effective. To prevent any data mishaps, marketers should eliminate bad data from their data pool.

Bad data consists of data that is too old, irrelevant, or simply wrong. To avoid falling into the dirty data trap, marketers must weed out this bad data from their data pool.

To prevent collection of more bad data, marketers should consider the following precautions.

  • Marketers should collect data from a variety of outlets, incorporating data from 1st and 3rd parties.
  • Additionally, marketers should not hesitate to ask shoppers for personal information. The more relevant information a company has about a customer, the better a personalized experience will be.
  • Lastly, marketers should evaluate specific metrics to determine whether the automation is working successfully. Figuring out what works and what doesn’t work can be a huge help for marketers.

Equipped with good software and good data, marketers can easily draft a positive automation experience for customers. Intrigued about implementing automation into your marketing strategy? Learn more about how to manage multiple channels with automation.