Spring Clean Your Customer Data For Effective Personalization

How to increase the quality of your customer data for effective personalized marketing

Marketing personalization has become an indispensable strategy for retailers who aim to increase sales and improve customer loyalty through the use of targeted content and offers.

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While having the right technology is important, the foundation for implementing an effective personalization strategy is the quality of your customer data.

Without accurate information, you won’t be able to deliver targeted content in the right place at the right time to the right audience.

How to clean up your customer database for effective personalized marketing

It’s important that you regularly clean up your database and audit the sources from which you collect the information to ensure that the customer data is supporting your marketing personalization strategy:

Review web forms

If you’re generating leads by using web forms, ensure that you’re collecting relevant information that helps in targeting your audience effectively.

Consider whether you’re asking for the right kind of data at the right level of detail. Gathering too few details doesn’t allow you to effectively segment your audience while requesting too much information can cause form abandonment.

Audit data fields

Duplicate fields or repetitive information in your customer database can cause errors and confusion.

Ensure that the fields in your customer data management system are set up correctly so that data from web forms, lead generation mechanisms (from your website, social media, or messaging apps), and eCommerce platform is categorized and collated correctly to support your personalized marketing campaigns.

Refine segmentation

Audience segmentation isn’t “set it and forget it.”

Revisit the way you’re segmenting your audience periodically to ensure that it’s supporting your overall marketing strategy.

You can also enhance audience segmentation with the information you gather during the user-interaction sessions with your brand. This includes the products they’re interested in based on their browsing behavior and the questions they ask during a live chat session.

Set up single customer view

To effectively collect and utilize all the available customer data, you need to create a 360-degree customer profile so that the information can be stored in and accessed from a centralized location.

A single customer view allows you to gather relevant customer data and effectively leverage the information to deliver a customer-centric experience through personalization.

Review analytics

There are many different ways to deliver personalized content and offers. Are you leveraging the right customer data to form your strategy?

The best way to find out is to review your analytics and see if your personalization strategy has been effective in driving traffic and generating sales.

If the metrics aren’t meeting your expectations, you’ll have to adjust and test your personalization rules to ensure that you’re using your customer data in a way that helps deliver the most effective content and offers.

Build a solid foundation with a robust customer data management system

After you put in the work to clean up your customer data, ensure that it’s managed and utilized in a way that will help you implement personalization marketing effectively.

A robust customer data management system has become indispensable for marketers who want to use personalization to increase the effectiveness of their omnichannel marketing initiatives.

Request a demo to see how our customer data management system can help you derive customer intelligence and actionable insights so you can make data-driven business decisions and achieve your marketing goals.

 

Three Reasons Why Email Marketing Really Works

Benefits of Email Marketing

In a world where social media, blogging, and SEO take precedence, email seems like it would be on its way out the door. However, with the business world obsessed with acquiring consumer data, email marketing is not only useful but essential to companies.

Email marketing is one of the most effective and reliable channels for marketers to interact with customers. Here are three reasons why email marketing really works.

1.Easy Way to Reach Mobile Customers

Email marketing is an easy way to reach consumers on mobile without investing in new technology or software. Email channels already exist and are a traditional medium of connection, making it simple to reach consumers. According to a report by Pew Research Center, 52% of cellphone users in the U.S. access their emails via mobile phones. With many consumers constantly on the go, email marketing offers companies a way to send a greater volume of content to consumers in a quick and efficient manner.

Email is also accessible on devices other than mobile phones. According to a study done by Forrester Research, consumers opened 42% of retailers’ emails on smartphones and 17% on tablets. Essentially, nearly 60% of email marketing messages also double as mobile marketing messages. This versatility puts email at an advantage in comparison to text messages and SMS messaging. Consumers are more inclined to open email messages because emails are more accessible. Texting, on the other hand, is only available on mobile devices. Email is also free for the consumer and company while texting risks the chance of an incurred charge on the customer’s end. This diminishes the satisfaction of customer experience and can drive customers away. Also, email marketing is an easier access point for consumers and conveys more content that is useful to consumers.

2. Email is a Transactional Medium

Consumers see emails as a way to get offers, coupons, promotions, and in-stores sales. Email marketing deals drive in-store sales, making product emails key to getting consumers to engage with a product. A study performed by Nielsen found that 27% of online shoppers subscribe to emails in order to save money. 64% of consumers have printed out coupons found on email marketing campaigns.

Since customers expect to see offers and promotions in product emails, they are more likely to be in a buying state of mind. In turn, this can turn into increased revenue opportunity for companies. E-coupons are becoming a huge business with the growth of online sales, and email marketing is at the heart of it. Email marketing reaches out to online bargain hunters and provides consumers with a way to save online and in store. The transactional framework that email marketing provides also allows companies to personalize more toward consumers, engaging them more and further increasing sales opportunities.  

3. Tells You What Works

Email marketing allows companies to see what works and what doesn’t. The data obtained from email marketing provides metrics to see how emails are performing and what companies can do to improve email strategies. These insights allow companies to market their products smarter and better. Learning what works because of email marketing also gives companies a better understanding of the needs, interests, and desires of the consumer base. Companies can see the clickthrough rate of an email, which can then provide data as to how shoppers interact with the online shopping platform. Companies use the information provided by email marketing to not only cater to what consumers are looking for, but to better improve the interaction between consumer and company. By using email marketing, companies can track customer activity and better serve their interests.

Some say email marketing is dead. However, email marketing works. It keeps customers engaged and opens channels of communication between the company and its customers. With email marketing, companies can be in the right place at the right time.

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.

nectarom

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.

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

Omnichannel Today: Week of November 30th

Omnichannel Today – Black Friday Edition

Happy Thanksgiving from NectarOM! As we gear up for the eCommerce holidays of Black Friday and Cyber Monday these are the latest news articles we’ve been paying attention to:

JC Penney’s Retail Reinvention

Unlike Nordstrom’s and Macy’s, JCP is on course to exceed holiday expectations during a season where eCommerce and digital platforms are taking away business from retail. The secret, as CEO Marvin Ellison puts it, is finding the balance between the “art” and “science” of retail. JC Penney is taking a completely different approach to their in-store experience, developing attractive new features such as store-within-a-store kiosks for both younger shoppers and the upcoming cohort Millennial-age parents. Next up for the department store? Focusing on the science side of things by making improvements to their eCommerce, supply chain, and data processing abilities.

Amazon’s ingenious scheme to undermine Black Friday

Black Friday and its younger sibling Cyber Monday are a major source of income for the retail industry every year. Since this last Friday, web giant Amazon has taken advantage of the holiday shopping fervor to entice customers with constantly updated deals and featured items, hoping to sway buyers that won’t miss the authentic “Black Friday Experience” of elbowing through crowded stores. That said, certain stores such as Best Buy and Target have responded to Amazon by making their in-store discounts apply to their eCommerce platforms as well.

Facebook Says Nearly One Third of Online Shopping Transactions Are On Mobile Devices

New data from Facebook suggests that its users are becoming much more comfortable with using mobile devices to shop and make purchases. The social media titan expects a 30% increase in the percentage of users who buy on mobile by the end of the fourth quarter. Facebook researchers also observed that about 45% of all shopping occasions involve mobile devices in some fashion, such as during product research that results in a purchase on a desktop.

Retail enters third phase of digital evolution: ‘Emotional’ eCommerce

A new article from the Financial Times discusses how modern shoppers expect brands to develop a relationship with them over social media and other digital platforms. The thought leaders interviewed point to the success of apps like Instagram, Etsy, and Olapic, who offer businesses the ability to showcase their “human side” to potential customers by using memes, shareable posts, and conversation starters to promote fan engagement over social media.

Other stuff we read this week:

How James Murdoch thinks the ad industry should innovate: ‘Empower the Consumer.’
Here’s how advertisers will be able to target TV viewers who see competitors’ ads
Goodbye privacy, hello ‘Alexa’: Amazon Echo, the home robot who hears it all
Volvo Wants to Use Microsoft’s Sci-Fi Glasses to Sell Cars

Check back next time for the latest developments in omnichannel! We’ll bring you news, facts, opinions, and infographics that will help you gain a broad perspective of the industry. Drop in, stick around, and subscribe to our newsletter – and who knows? You just might learn something.

Overcoming Personalization Challenges in Retail eCommerce

Online shopping is easy and efficient. With the introduction of omnichannel-savvy retailers implementing in-store pickups and fast home delivery, eCommerce is more popular than ever.

We know personalization is effective for every type of business. Customers like goods and services tailored to their wants and needs. We’ve seen some of the world’s strongest marketers reap huge rewards from personalization programs and experts predict that personalization is the key to the future of marketing.

But in terms of online retail, personalization is not always executed as well as it can (or should) be.

The problem

One of the biggest speed bumps in retail shopping online is determining a customer’s perfect size and fit. When shopping at brick-and-mortars, customers can tell whether an item fits by trying it on. However, the inability to physically model the clothing yourself is a huge caveat of online shopping at today’s top retailers.

However, there are a couple different ways that companies are tackling this problem.

Voluntarily sharing personal data

Determining which size fits best is often done by looking at the clothing’s measurements or relying on past purchases from similar retailers. However, both of these options can be problematic.

Let’s be realistic – how many shoppers actually use those measurements to determine which size is their best fit? Oftentimes, this can be too much effort to figure out. This is why most customers simply rely on the size they typically wear.

But while many customers have a standard size, retailers occasionally size differently from one another. Someone who wears a size XS pants at one store may burst out of XS shorts at a different retailer.

A scale that shows whether pieces run small or large can help fix this problem; however, this is not the only solution.

The best way to confront sizing disparity is by implementing a personalized sizing feature into your site. Sites with features like these are often customer favorites. Customers can feel confident with their purchase without worrying about the hassles of returning products. This feature gives customers a sense of security about making orders, which increases individual orders and draws in new customers.

So how does a retailer go about implementing a sizing feature? Consider the work from an expert: Lilly Pulitzer.

Click on the images to enlarge and learn about Lilly’s True to Fit feature.

Lilly Pulitzer helps customers unsure about their particular size by asking for their personal data. This data includes a customer’s height, sizing in other brands, and body shape. Lilly Pulitzer uses this data to evaluate which size is best for the customer. This feature also considers other sizes for the shopper, and explains which parts of a clothing item may fit poorly. Shoppers can save their profile, which comes in handy when checking sizing for other Lilly products.

Virtual fitting rooms

Retailers who more digitally inclined may have the option to utilize a new, exciting service. The UK-based company Fits.me works with retailers to create a virtual fitting room for shoppers. This is similar to Lilly Pulitzer, but much more visual. The feature projects how different clothing items would fit on one’s specific body measurements. After a shopper selects the fit they like best, he or she can proceed to customize the clothing item.

Fits.me is an innovative concept that has yet to make its way into U.S. retail. These virtual fitting rooms are available in Europe, but with the United States’ strong eCommerce market I expect features like Fits.me to come across the pond soon enough.

Need more personalization?

If you love learning about marketing personalization, be sure to read up on increasing loyalty with personalization and how personalization can be used with disconnected customers.

3 Reasons Why Email Still Thrives in the Omnichannel Era

Over the past decade, faster computers and widespread access to high speed internet have made omnichannel access possible in a way that we’ve never seen before in human history. But despite all of the hype we give to mobile and social channels, the humble email is still one of the most effective and reliable channels for marketers to speak with their customers. Here are a few reasons why.

1) Email is your passport to the rest of the Internet.

Especially for younger generations, email has supplanted direct mail by being faster, cheaper to produce, and more accessible on the go. So by that logic, you would think that mobile and social channels should replace email, right?

Well, not really. The thing about email is that it’s an indispensible “passport” to the Internet. Customers need one to pay for things, subscribe to services, and sign up for websites – social media sites still require one, and so do their apps. Email’s still here, and according to The Direct Marketing Association, has an ROI of about $39 for every $1 spent.

2) Email isn’t just about advertising: it’s about getting information.

Email metrics are more sophisticated than ever, meaning that in addition to being a cost-effective way to market new services and products to your customers, your emails can be a source of valuable information about your brand, market, and channels.

Using an email tracker like Nectar Clickstream can give you a huge amount of actionable data. You can learn when customers are more receptive to emails, what kind of marketing they respond to, and which channels (PC, laptop, mobile? Other?) they’re more likely to use to access your brand.

3) Email is a bridge between new channels.

Continuing from that last point: old-school digital marketers cut their teeth on email by using it as a means of direct advertising.

In the Omnichannel Era, it’s equally as important for email to be used to continue the conversation that customers have with your brand on other channels, such as through your app, ecommerce website, or storefront.

 

Change“Personalizing” doesn’t have to mean becoming a customer’s best friend: it’s just about being there at the right place at the right time. For some people, you have to understand that there’s just no appropriate time for direct advertising ever – instead, you’ll have to be more creative with what content you deliver, making sure that its context and timing will be received well by the customer.

Though the field of digital marketing is more sophisticated than it did ten years ago, email is still a legitimate, high-ROI tool for advertisers looking to connect with their customers. Make no mistake: though technology will continue to change the face of branding, the creativity, ingenuity, and adaptability required by great marketers will never go out of style.

Increasing Loyalty with Personalization

Two weeks ago, we talked a little about defining the loyal customer with data.

And because loyalty is so important for successful marketing, we decided to explore the topic a little further. But this time, we’re looking at loyalty through the lens of personalization. Personalization is the best way to successfully retain customers effectively and efficiently.

We have developed a guide to show how personalizing marketing can increase customer retention and loyalty.

Collecting Data

When marketers struggle, the reason often has something to do with acquiring customer information and data. Marketers may worry that customers are hesitant to share personal information – especially over digital avenues. Some customers may complain that the process to share information takes too long to share. Others may worry that disclosing contact information may put them at the receiving end for a plethora of spam mail.

It is a marketer’s job to put these customers’ minds at ease. Customers unwilling to spend an extra few minutes sharing personal information should be reminded that data disclosure is a future investment. Spending extra time sharing information today can result in a faster online check-out in the future.

Kate Spade gives its subscribers exclusive access to its secret sales
Kate Spade gives its subscribers exclusive access to its secret sales

Marketers should also reassure consumers who are wary of spam mail. Those worried about copious amounts of spam should be reminded that they will actually be on the receiving end of exclusive offers from the retailer – offers that may not be available without sharing an email address. Consider Kate Spade’s email campaign, which offers secret sales for users that share email addresses.

While these ideas might seem like second-nature ideas for marketers, it’s important to remember that the public is not always familiar with loyalty programs and data disclosure.

Drafting content

After data has been collected, marketers can develop personalized content.

Personalized content is meaningful content for consumers. Integrating customer data into marketing can transform a generalized message into an intimate, 1:1 experience.

Personalized messages should always contain the recipient’s name. Using a customer’s name in a subject line can serve as an attention grabber. When scrolling through emails from a variety of companies, a customer is more likely to pause when seeing his or her own name amidst dozens of irrelevant emails. Name usage can also make a customer feel important. A first-name basis relationship can enhance the intimacy between marketer and marketee.

Personalized content should also incorporate the consumer’s location. Consider, for example, AmazonLocal, which sends emails with deals based around a shopper’s location. These offers are often successful because people obviously prefer products that are relevant to their lives – about 3 out of 4 people get frustrated with irrelevant offers.

Personalize via nontraditional channels

Don’t be afraid to stray from the automated email “norm.” Differentiate your company from others by sending hand written notes or making phone calls to your loyal customers.

Designer Tory Burch is an expert at personalizing through nontraditional channels. The lifestyle brand who sent its frequent shoppers holiday gifts in December. My mom was sent a small USB keychain as a gift, as well as a note from the company, thanking her for her purchases. The token was small, but the gesture was big and memorable.

Personalized tokens show customer appreciation, which, in turn, perpetuate loyalty and retention. Thinking outside of the box can be an asset when keeping customers interested and invested in your company.

Personalization’s potential

Personalization is great for increasing customer loyalty, but there are many other ways marketers can use content marketing to their advantage. Learn about how to overcome stress when marketing, or how to tap into the disconnected consumer with personalization.

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.

Defining the Loyal Customer with Data

What is a “loyal” customer?

The loyal customer is a person who keeps coming back for more. This customer frequently browses, shops and supports your company. A loyal customer may consider other competitors, but often chooses your company when making purchases.

In other words, a loyal customer is your favorite kind of customer.

Why is defining the loyal customer with data helpful?

Companies should market to all types of consumers. However, marketing to loyal customers can give a business an edge when making sales.

The loyal customer also tends to be a more valuable customer. Selling to existing customers is about 50% easier than selling to new customers, according to Marketing Metrics. Loyal customers also churn a greater profit, according to Gartner Group. In 2012, the group found that 80% of a company’s future revenue comes from 20% of existing customers.

Brick-and-mortar loyalists

In small mom-and-pop shops or some brick-and-mortars, labeling the loyal customer can be easy. For example, I frequent my local brick-and-mortar Starbucks so often that the baristas have my order memorized. When I walk through the franchise’s doors, I am greeted with a friendly “Hello Savannah!” followed by, “Grande vanilla soy latte, right?”

Because I am face-to-face with my Starbucks baristas every day, my baristas can easily discern that I am a loyal Starbucks consumer. Because of this, they offer me a personal greeting and predict my order. This makes my experience more enjoyable and convenient.

But what about entities that aren’t privy to daily face-to-face interactions?

Digital loyalists

What is a digital loyalist?Determining loyal customers across digital entities can be a little more dynamic. With a significant portion of sales happening over the Internet, discerning which customers are loyal is important. However, it is not always as basic as face recognition.

Companies can analyze big data from their online sales to determine which customers are loyal. Integrating data and marketing can be more effective than remembering names and faces.

In the aforementioned Starbucks example, defining loyal customers can help a company personalize shopping experiences. This personalization is not limited to in-store interactions. Marketers can offer the same personalized greeting and predictive product suggestions digitally via email, SMS or website.

Marketers can use data several different ways to determine which customers are loyal. Special membership programs are the most obvious way to discern which customers are loyal. These CRM systems generally require customers to share personal information in exchange for special offers or discounts. Personal data is compiled to create a personalized customer profile. Companies can also use specific metrics to determine which customers are loyal. Metrics can track how many purchases a customer makes, and determine whether they are a one-time buyer or a loyal customer. Marketers can also use metrics to see which customers are opening, sharing, or unsubscribing to online content.

Adjusting personalization for one-time shoppers vs. loyalists

Distinguishing loyal customers can also help a company shape their marketing strategy. Businesses may change the way they market based off how likely a customer is to be a return customer.

Starbucks is one of those companies that adjusts its marketing strategy according to a customer’s loyalty. According to Business Insider, the coffee company offers most of its special offers to consumers who are not as likely to be return customers. Starbucks tries to attract these irregular buyers with these special offers, whereas it doesn’t feel the need to woo loyal customers because these loyalists do not require special offers to buy from Starbucks.

However, Starbucks does not ignore its loyal customers. Through its rewards program, Starbucks offers different types of offers for customers that are more loyal. Offers for Starbucks Gold members  – the most frequent Starbucks customers – encourage further purchases from a sect of consumers who are already frequent buyers. For example, customers at the Gold level have access to free in-store refills – a privilege reserved only for Gold members.

Through this unique type of personalization, Starbucks plays the marketing game based on the strength of its consumer relationships. If you’re intrigued about incorporating customer data in marketing, learn about clickstream data in an automated world.