Marketing campaigns in today’s retail world are requiring an ever-increasing amount of personalization that is tailor made to meet specific consumer needs. No longer can retailers rely on generic, one-size-fits all marketing messages that they blast to their entire customer and prospect base.
And while many retailers may be aware of the need for personalization in concept, executing it can seem difficult and time consuming. But this doesn’t have to be the case. In 2021, we helped many retailers discover easy, time saving marketing campaigns they could use to significantly increase personalization at scale with a one-to-one feel for their customers — which, in turn, increased sales and revenue.
If you want to level up your engagement, conversion, and retention this coming year and send messages that actually matter to your customers, these are the top four targeted campaigns you should put into practice in 2022.
- VIP customer outreach
- Lapsed customer win-back
- Timely promotional offers (birthday, anniversary, etc.)
- Post-purchase retention
1. VIP Customer Outreach
The customers we call “VIP” are those who have purchased recently, buy frequently, and spend the most. These customers are hot off the stove and ready to buy (or they likely will again soon) and contribute to a large portion of your revenue.
This presents a valuable opportunity to hit them with the right message at the right time. Your VIP customers are not going to be interested in products or services that don’t apply to them — if someone is a regular buyer of women’s clothing at your store, an email about men’s shoes is likely to be ignored, and the opportunity to gain a repeat purchase is lost.
Instead, use the data that’s already in your POS and eCommerce systems to determine their purchase behavior and use it to your advantage. If you have a sale on women’s jackets coming soon, build a promotional campaign to target your VIP customers that are known to buy women’s clothing consistently. You can also offer these customers exclusive offers as a reward for being a regular, loyal customer.
2. Lapsed Customer Win-Back
When customers come back for a second purchase, brand loyalty significantly increases. In fact, 70% of customers return in the four months following their second purchase, whereas 60% of first-time buyers do not return at all within that same time frame.
Automated lapsed customer campaigns are a powerful tool for customer retention. For example, Mike’s Bikes ran a successful return-traffic campaign that sent automated emails 90 and 120 days after a purchase to those who hadn’t returned. This drove over $100k in revenue and doubled their conversion rate. Those are some impactful results.
These types of campaigns can vary in context — it can be a simple nudge reminding them to come back to the store or visit the website soon to see what’s new, or it can include a coupon or other offer with a limited redemption period to drive urgency.
3. Timely Promotional Offers
What’s more personal than a birthday? When you collect this type of data from customers through different channels — whether it’s an exclusive offer, pop-up form, loyalty program, or survey — you immediately have access to information you can easily personalize. Wishing a customer a happy birthday or recognizing an anniversary of a big purchase is not only incredibly personal, it allows you to provide a special discount or other offer that will bring them back to the store.
Another benefit to these types of emails is how it makes your customers feel like family. Customers want a “made for me” experience, not to feel like just another number on a marketing list. Nothing says ‘family’ better than sending your customers messages they actually care about — and when they feel like you care too, they will keep coming back.
4. Post-Purchase Retention
Once a retailer has secured a purchase, the primary goal is to keep that customer coming back. And for good reason — it’s six to seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one.
The timeline to get that customer back in the store or online is important as well, because 51% of repeat purchases occur within 60 days. This creates the perfect opportunity for post-purchase follow-up campaigns such as a thank you or welcome email. Within those emails, you can include additional dynamic content based on the type of purchase they made and provide other helpful information.
Questions? Ask Us!
As mentioned, putting these types of campaigns together doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right marketing tool, you can easily identify different segments of customers, build beautifully tailored campaigns, and automate them to run behind the scenes while you run your business. Ascent360’s platform was designed to help you with that — our engine collects all your POS and eCommerce data, enriches it, and gives you a crystal-clear picture of who your customers are.
If you want to take the hassle out of personalized, segmented campaigns and bring your marketing to the next level in 2022, connect with us today!
