How To Use Email Personalization To Increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

3 ways to use personalized emails to get customers to buy more from you

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is a metric closely related to the profitability of a business.

It’s a measurement of customer loyalty and how well you’re catering to their needs so that they buy from you again and again.

Why’s that important?

The cost of acquiring a customer is much higher than that of retaining one. In addition, loyal customers are more likely to tell others about your products and services, thereby increasing your sales through word-of-mouth marketing.

It pays to invest in cultivating customer loyalty, which will help increase the amount they spend on your products or services over time.

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Thanks to its cost-effectiveness, personalized email marketing remains one of the best ways to cultivate customer loyalty.

Email marketing has a median ROI of 122%, which is over 4 times higher than other marketing formats. Meanwhile, the average order value from personalized emails is 5% higher and conversion rates are 6% higher, compared to those that aren’t personalized.

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So how do you use email personalization to increase customer lifetime value and encourage recurring purchases?

1. Optimize customer segments by CLV

You can segment your email list by profitability, such as not-profitable (20%), profitable (60%), and very-profitable customers (20%). This way, you can send personalized emails with the most relevant content and offers to increase purchases from each segment.

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For example, you can move customers in the “not-profitable” segment into the “profitable” segment with a special offer or cultivate relationships with your “profitable” or “very-profitable” groups so they’d stick around and buy more.

The goal is to move as many customers as possible into the “very profitable” category and increase the average CLV.

2. Reward customers for their loyalty

Offering rewards via personalized emails is a great way to add value to the relationships that customers have with your business and increase their CLV.

A research has shown that customers who make one purchase have a 27% chance of coming back. Meanwhile, second-time customers have a 54% chance of returning for a third purchase.

There are many ways to show your appreciation to your existing customers, by adding special discount codes, offering a free gift with purchase, sending an exclusive invite to an event, or giving them early access to a sale.

3. Upsell and cross-sell relevant products

Customers have very little tolerance for marketing messages that aren’t relevant to them. In a survey conducted by Accenture, 44% of consumers indicated that they’re frustrated when companies fail to deliver relevant, personalized shopping experiences and 41% of consumers have switched brands because of that.

By offering highly personalized product recommendations via email to existing customers based on their preferences and purchase histories, you can upsell and cross-sell items to entice them to buy more from you and increase their CLV.

For example, JustFab leverages interest and behavioral data to encourage repeat purchases through personalized email campaigns. These highly targeted recommendations increased email revenue by 39% and cut customer churn by 46%.

The foundation of effective email personalization

In order to personalize your emails effectively to increase customer lifetime value, you need a comprehensive customer database and the ability to organize the information for your email campaigns.

A robust data management platform (DMP) provides the solid foundation for processing all your customer information in a centralized location so you can extract actionable insights to increase your customer lifetime value.

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.

Why Email is the Most Underrated Personalization Channel

Over the past decade, faster computers, super-powered phones, 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 emerging 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.

Maximize The Potential of Your Mailing List

Thanks to ad-blocking software, today’s customers might not actually see any ads at all before streaming videos, on social media sites, or just while browsing the Internet. It’s a problem that we marketers struggle with daily throughout the industry.

Right off the bat, email has an advantage over web ads because of it’s still a channel that’s – for the most part – impervious to ad blocking software. Promotions, messages and the like will appear for your customers if they’ve added their info to your mailing list, so make adding to it a priority.

Email also boasts an incredibly high ROI, considering how few resources it takes to deliver. Other channels such as advertising through social media have their own advantages such as virality and views, but when it comes down to it, email has been proven time and time again to drive actual action and sales.

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

Email supplanted direct mail by being faster, cheaper to produce, and more accessible on the go. So by that logic, you would think that texts, tweets, Snapchats and Facebook messages should replace email – but it simply hasn’t happened.

The thing about email is that it’s an indispensible “passport” to the Internet. Customers need an email address to pay for things, subscribe to services, and sign up for websites – social media sites still require one, and so do their apps.

Proof that there’s something here? Google recently announced their new Customer Match service, which allows companies to track and understand their customers’ needs through their Gmail and YouTube activity. This in turn will give advertisers the ability to more consistently retarget their buyers and provide more relevant content.

2) Email is 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 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 most likely to use to access and interact with your brand.

3) Email is the bridge between channels.

Old-school digital marketers cut their teeth on email by using it as a means of direct advertising.

In the Omnichannel Era, however, 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.

For example: if a customer begins a transaction on your eCommerce website but later abandons their cart to run errands, sending them a triggered email could be just the push necessary to finish the sale.

Though the field of digital marketing is more sophisticated than it was ten years ago, the humble email is still a legitimate, high-ROI tool for advertisers looking to connect and interact with their customers. Make no mistake: though new technologies will change the face of branding: traits like creativity, ingenuity, and adaptability that define great marketers will never go out of style.

 

This article originally appeared on Business2Community.

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.

Managing Multiple Channels with Automation

There’s no doubt regarding the effectiveness of marketing automation. Automation makes communicating with customers easy and has the potential to yield impressive results.

However, automation can be a nuisance for customers if not used appropriately. Automation fails when marketers present irrelevant, incorrect, or outdated content. At its worst, marketing automation can actually make a business lose customers.

Automation can be a little tricky, and automation across multiple channels can be tough. But a little extra effort can turn into a big payoff – a seamless, omnichannel marketing automation experience can be a marketer’s best friend.

So, what’s the point of marketing automation?

The end goal in most marketing automation campaigns is to drive traffic to the business’s website. E-commerce sales are steadily increasing, and the best way to make sales online is by increasing traffic to a website. Automated marketing provides relevant content for the right customers at the appropriate time. With automation tools, a marketer can create a personalized, 1:1 shopping experience without having to constantly attend to a customer’s needs.

Businesses who want to give shoppers an easy, convenient e-commerce experience should utilize automation via website, email, social media and call centers.

The Digital World:

Websites

Nearly every business that makes sales online uses some type of automation in their website. Website automation has a wide range of uses and may interact directly and indirectly with a customer.

Customers may experience automation through a business’s search engine, shopping cart, or user registration. Automation systems can also handle mundane, behind-the-scenes technical tasks like data backup.

Forever21's search engine predicts what you're searching for, and automatically directs you to the right product
Forever21’s search engine predicts what you’re searching for, and automatically directs you to the right product

The most important assets in website automation are leading pages. Emails, social media, and other web pages will often contain links to a site’s landing page. Landing pages are specifically designed to generate leads, as these links direct customers to a product page or collect customer data. Employing leading pages increases the likelihood for a completely seamless multi-channel automation experience.

Email

Marketers should be strong advocates for email automation. This channel has particularly high potential and a variety of different opportunities to market.

As previously mentioned, landing pages play a large role in email automation. Businesses can send customers emails with relevant products a customer may be interested in, and prompt a sale by providing a link to the products’ landing page. Businesses can also send “Happy Birthday” discounts or information about sales, with links to their site.

Banana Repulic's Embark confirmation email
Banana Repulic’s Embark confirmation email

Businesses can also connect brick-and-mortar experiences with digital. For example, Banana Republic sends emails to its newly registered members, welcoming them to their Embark program. Seconds after I registered with Embark, I received the following email from Banana:

This automated email confirmed that my membership with Embark. A few days later, I received another email from Banana’s Embark with information about in-store sales. I had officially connected with Banana in-store and online via email. And, even though I was not actually with a Banana Republic associate, I was still able to access relevant information at my leisure.

Social

Social media can be a strong asset for marketers using automation. The workout class provider ClassPass is one strong player in the social media marketing game. ClassPass provides a variety of yoga and pilates classes to members, and markets through automated social media ads.

ClassPass posts links to landing pages in their Twitter or Facebook feeds, sharing new promotions and products with their followers. Links within these posts lead ClassPass’s followers to more information about their offerings and a link to purchase workout classes.

ClassPass promotes new location
ClassPass promotes their new location via Twitter

ClassPass advertises to individuals that don’t necessarily follow them on social media, but may be potential clients using Facebook’s paid advertisement feature. Before I had heard of ClassPass, the following sponsored ad popped up on my Facebook feed.

Classpass

As a pilates-loving woman living in a city with ClassPass locations, this advertisement was perfect for me. Using my gender, location and interests, Facebook and ClassPass targeted me as a possible client in the workout-class demographic. My personal information determined that I would likely be interested in ClassPass’s products.

Both types of social media advertisements are particularly effective for ClassPass, because they reach the consumer when he or she is likely not preoccupied with other tasks. As most people access social media in their free time, ClassPass’s potential customers have the time to explore the webpage and consider new purchases.

Call Center

Although phone calls are not digital, company call centers also play a role in the e-commerce experience. When a customer wants more information about a product or a shopping experience goes awry, he or she can call the customer service line.

In years past, a seamless website-call center experience was nonexistent. However, with technological advances, call centers contribute to easy, seamless shopping. Call centers have quick access to customer data from past purchases and personal information, and can pull up detailed information about a customer’s shopping experience in seconds.

If a customer has a complaint about their most recent purchase, a call center can verify purchases and help the customer with a touch of a button. If a customer is looking for more information about an out-of-stock product, the call center may be able to recommend other products based on similar shoppers’ preferences. And if a customer needs to be redirected to a different department, information can be shared with the new company rep digitally, quickly, and easily. A call center’s automated material is key in providing a personalized experience for customers.

While adjusting marketing automation strategies may require a little extra time and effort, businesses should keep eyes on the prize: an increase in customer interest, product awareness, and ROI. And, as experts believe that marketing automation will gain popularity, marketers should be quick to employ an automation strategy.