Quite a few companies are struggling with too few customers and a lack of appropriate tools to attract new people interested in their offerings. Those who have already dealt with this problem, however, may be severely disappointed as they continue to fail to achieve impressive results. It is important to remember that having a large number of users interested in our products does not guarantee profits and high sales. What is important is that the customer shows commitment and is willing to come back and use the company’s services many times. If you’re wondering what you can do to make sure people don’t just make one-time transactions with you, this article is for you! We’ll show you how to use marketing automation to build customer loyalty.
What does marketing automation actually do for user interactions and why is it necessary for your company
Let’s start with the simplest thing, i.e. determining who is interested in your offer and wants to receive advertising messages from you. Marketing automation will allow you to create, for example, a contact form for people who want to mark the appropriate marketing consents. This is a very important issue, especially since the RODO regulations came into effect and people are more aware of their rights regarding the sharing of personal data. The best and most reliable marketing automation tools are completely safe in this regard and protect user information, and you are in control of everything.
Automation is irreplaceable when sending a large number of messages to many recipients. You don’t have to keep track of everything and worry about whether the information will reach a given user. In addition, you will no longer wonder if the campaign reached the goal and focused the attention of the audience, because with marketing automation you will generate helpful and clear reports and use many analytical tools to determine its effectiveness.
How to contact users, or the most important information about communication channels
When directing messages to your audience, you need to remember that there are many options for sending. It is important to tailor the channel to a specific person. Otherwise, a given campaign may not have the desired effect. For example, it is not worth targeting your regular customer with SMS messages when you see his high activity regarding reading and responding to emails. Well, what are actually popular channels of communication and which ones will work well for communicating particular information?
Email marketing
Emails have been one of the most popular forms of communication for many years. Using them, you can, for example, welcome a new user, provide information about order tracking, or direct a special promotional offer. Emails reach many people at the same time, moreover, allowing you to include a lot of the most important information in the message. Marketing automation makes it possible to create emails personalized to a given person (e.g. by including a name or at least advertising specific products). A convenient editor with various templates is available in iPresso, so emails are created quickly and easily. In addition, using marketing automation scenarios, you can send messages to a specific group depending on the actions taken by the customer. For example, you will seamlessly target selected emails only to customers who bought something within the last year and it was not their only purchase.
SMS
Short messages sent to mobile phones work best if you want to communicate, for example, a time-limited promotion or encourage people to learn about a new offer. Of course, this form of communication is also widely used. If you are conducting some product pre-sales, it is worth sending such information to customers via SMS. This is also a convenient way to encourage users to give feedback. You can send a link to a short survey, for example, to buyers of a particular series of goods.
Automation even allows you to send a special discount code on a customer’s birthday, which is sure to increase engagement and loyalty.
Pop-ups
Pop-ups on a page are very useful for displaying to the user products in which they may be interested. Of course, this is also where marketing automation plays a big role, allowing the offer to be tailored to a specific person. Thus, a buyer of garden furniture might see offers to buy outdoor lamps and rainproof decorations, but for those interested in buying a rug for their room, such a customization would not be appropriate. They, on the other hand, may see pop-ups with decorative vases and elegant curtains for color. Everything happens according to the behavior of a given user on your site, so you are sure that the product proposal is in line with their interests.
What attracts people and encourages them to take advantage of the offer
Of course, there will always be people who expect more than just news and information about the products in your store. If you don’t offer users something unique, they may leave for your competitors. You may be trying to “target” certain people in some way, but the methods you choose may not be very effective. Learn our tips for increasing your customers’ engagement and loyalty.
Loyalty programs and discount codes
In iPresso you can generate a pool of coupons, entitling you to a specific discount. E-couponing gives you tremendous opportunities to connect with your customers. For example, you can easily create and automatically send a 10% discount code for new users and 20% for regular customers. In addition, unique codes are also applicable to various sweepstakes, where they can be printed on product packaging, for example. E-couponing is also a good method for incentivizing a person who abandoned a shopping cart on your site, as you will learn later in this article. Extensions to iPresso also allow you to create loyalty programs based on earning points by a specific user.
Personalized content
Everyone likes to feel appreciated and important, and you can show your customers how much they mean to you. With iPresso, you’ll customize a message to a specific person, which will inspire extra trust and interest. Imagine you get two SMS messages from different companies. The first reads, “On 27.08 with purchases of at least PLN 50 there will be an automatic 10% discount for the next time. There is a promotion on the site for selected items.”, while the second one reads: “Hey Tom, we have something special for you! Do your shopping this Wednesday, i.e. 27.08 for a minimum of PLN 50, and you’ll get a 10% discount on your next order! Check here what promotions we have for you!”. Which one would encourage you to buy more? Of course, there is nothing wrong with the former, but the latter is definitely more likely to attract a potential customer. A given piece of information can be conveyed in many ways, and by customizing the content and personalization you can build a strong bond with the recipient.
Special campaigns
Limited-time offers, sales of unique items or the introduction of a new collection are just examples of special actions that can encourage customers and increase their engagement. When offering cooking courses, many are more likely to attend if the program includes a meeting of well-known people in the industry. For a travel agency, pre-selling tours for the summer will attract additional customers and interest existing ones. You have plenty of options, and with marketing automation, you don’t have to worry about wasting time or costing too much.
Why you need to implement retargeting
Abandoned processes are particularly prominent in the e-commerce industry, but that doesn’t mean this phenomenon doesn’t affect other sectors. Marketing automation allows you to automatically schedule and send notifications to users who have not completed a purchase on your site for some reason. A good way to encourage such people to return is to offer a discount code (which you can automatically generate in the system), along with information about the products that are waiting in the shopping cart. Be sure not to be too pushy and send out several emails and SMS messages to each person over a number of days, as such an action can be discouraging. Retargeting allows you to reach people who are interested in your products, so there is a good chance that some of them will eventually complete the order.
Don’t forget to keep in touch
Customers are increasingly building trust based on what a company can offer beyond the goods in the store. Providing additional value will earn you the appreciation of your audience, so don’t limit yourself to just your website. We’ll give you some ideas on what you can offer customers to gain more loyalty:
- Sending newsletters will attract people who are interested in additional tips or advice. You can also insert there information about some special offers that will appear only after some time.
- Push notifications, i.e. messages in the browser or mobile app, will allow you to provide specific information without any unnecessary additions.
- Running social media is very important these days, and the content posted there regularly should be short and understandable, so as to encourage even people who have had no contact with the company so far.
- Creating a blog with interesting facts, additional materials or aids can also help strengthen the relationship with the user.
Summary
Customer loyalty can be built in a number of ways, and marketing automation allows for quick and convenient contact. The use of special tools and the introduction of automatic dispatch of personalized messages, as well as the selection of appropriate communication channels, allow you to reach a specific person and affect the reception in a key way. By implementing marketing automation you can significantly increase customer engagement, as well as conversion and sales on your website.
We encourage you to take advantage of the 30-day trial access to our iPresso platform and try out different marketing automation tools. Click here to fill out a short contact form and see how much you can improve contact with your customers.
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