Lauren Ackerman, Web Content Specialist
We live in a world of instant gratification – one-click shopping and information at our fingertips via a quick search. Digital marketing is on a similar evolutionary path – nothing can beat digital in terms of its ability to respond quickly to an action on behalf of the consumer. Between SEO, SEM and email automation, it’s truly possible to give online shoppers that instant feedback they expect.
Automated digital makes a high-touch, highly targeted, highly personal digital strategy possible at every phase of the customer lifecycle, from acquisition, through nurturing through reactivation.
Acquisition
The comparatively low costs of entry for most PPC channels makes them ideal mediums for acquiring new customers. In the ROI equation, these tend to be “tryers,” or lower cost, lower gain customers than those acquired from print. However, it’s a great channel to get them in the door, and works especially well with a follow-up in print to make a big impact.
Google AdWords and Bing’s PPC can create dynamic ads based on a customer’s previous searches, predicting what they are most likely to click on and serving them up in the format that they’ve preferred in the past.
Most major social media platforms also offer PPC ad targeting. Since they have access to more extensive customer profiling, the targeting can get highly advanced, reaching the exact audience that matches your customer profile.
Beginner tactic: Text, Display & Remarketing PPC Campaigns
Next level tactic: Dynamic remarketing PPC that uses your product feed to offer up products the shopper has clicked on, in varying formats, and over time, “learns” which ad formats are clicked on most.
Onboarding
This is the phase in the customer lifecycle when they are most engaged. They have just raised their hand and opted to receive communication from you, or perhaps they’re a first time purchaser who opted in as part of the checkout process.
In either case, they have entered a conversation with you. What do you have to say to them? This is your chance to welcome them to your brand as either a first-time customer or prospect. Remember: they are most engaged, so make it count.
Beginner tactic: Use a welcome series to introduce your brand to customers or new prospects.
Next level tactic: Serve up dynamic content on the web page or within a welcome series email.
Conversion
You should already have a website that renders well on all devices, supports your brand and makes the path to purchase easy. I hope.
But what else can you do to get the customer to take the next step and close the sale? This is another point where automated or dynamic marketing can help push the customer to purchase.
Beginner tactic: Integrate an abandoned shopping cart triggered email series of 1-3 emails.
Next level tactic: Browse abandon. Use on-site browsing behavior to trigger an email series based on the items that the customer was shopping.
Retention/Nurture
Retaining customers is all about strengthening the customer relationship with ongoing touches of relevant content. The last thing we as marketers want to do is annoy our customer base with too frequent, spammy content. But how can we avoid it?
Beginner tactic: A well-crafted contact strategy that includes buyer frequency segmentation, so we’re contacting the best customers who want to hear from you frequently enough, with a wide enough variety of content. Layered on top of this, you should also be using the following for relationship-building: order confirmation, shipping confirmation and follow-up thank you email triggers.
Next level tactic: Connect your transactional database to your email file and send highly targeted product offerings, targeted by product category or brand affinity. Use relationship-building, special offers or exclusive content for your best customers.
Reactivation
It’s unavoidable that some customers will lapse into inactivity, and eventually fall off the file. However, if we can tap some of those customers on the shoulder at just the right time, we can move them back into the sales funnel and hopefully keep that relationship alive. It’s cheaper to reactivate a lapsed customer than to acquire a new one, so it’s just smart marketing to put those dollars to good use by using your email marketing to reactivate lapsed customers.
Beginner tactic: Reactivation email series with an overt “we miss you!” message, potentially paired with an offer.
Next level tactic: A highly personalized campaign that includes their name in the subject line and the body of the email, along with product they are likely to be interested in.
We operate in an omnichannel world, so all these digital strategies should also work in harmony with offline efforts in print, sales force and retail presence. Everything we do should have the goal of creating a long-lasting customer relationship.
Need help with your digital strategy? Email me at LaurenA@JSchmid.com or call 913-236-8988.
Tags: digital marketing, Lauren Ackerman, multichannel, Strategy