As the parameters of the marketing industry continue to shift in meeting the needs of this global crisis, it is difficult for brands to envision future digital marketing strategies.

Undoubtedly, the marketers’ gradual transition into a completely digital space has been accelerated by the arrival of Covid-19, and the need for reliable and innovative technology to support business strategy has never been greater.

Brands require sage guidance to safely navigate their businesses in a post-lockdown world, and advice on how to adapt their practices to the new normal. Perhaps greater still, brands are in need of direction to ensure the continued acquiring and nurturing of new customers, while growing and retaining their current customer base.

The Drum and Mapp Digital are hosting a webinar on 10 June at 11am where brands can learn just how to achieve this. Register here. The session will explore:

Data-driven insights into the situation that brands are experiencing right now
Guidance on how marketing will need to change in the new normal
Practical approaches and tactics that you can use in a post-lockdown world.

Attendees will receive a comprehensive guide comprising 100 key tactics to ensure successful customer growth and retention, whatever your brand’s current or future needs.

Here we highlight 10 key tactics that marketers can adopt today to improve customer communication and engagement.

Competitions and surveys

Tried and tested tactics, launching competitions and conducting surveys are highly effective methods of engaging with your consumer base. While competitions reward your customers for interacting with your products, surveys allow marketers to gather crucial insights into newly acquired audiences. They also allow brands to create highly personalised experiences from the very beginning.

Adoption of these tactics can lead to growth in newsletter subscriptions, increased customer engagement and enriched customer profiles.

Funnel optimisation

It is paramount to make use of the information that is readily available via your own website regarding purchases. By meticulously examining your online purchase funnel, you can ensure that you are getting the best out of your website traffic and quickly identify improvement opportunities.

Businesses can use these findings to improve conversion rates while simultaneously enhancing the customer experience.

Category triggers

This technique involves sending weekly automated messages to customers that have shown interest in buying from your high-value product categories. These messages to the high-value customer must be distinct from other business communications, creating a sense of the bespoke.

This tactic is proven to increase customer life-time value (LTV) as well as revenue from your high-value product categories.

Lifecycle and replenishment email

This two-pronged approach to email marketing is hugely effective in maintaining contact with customers. Lifecycle emails check back in with your customer at pivotal milestones; delivering encouraging results when the transaction includes numerous steps or when initial adoption is key for increased consumer value. Replenishment Emails remind customers when they could be running low on a particular product and prevent them from buying an alternative from one of your competitors.

These email marketing strategies are proven to lead to greater customer engagement and satisfaction, while increasing product adoption.

RFM(E) modelling

Organising your customers based on Recency, Frequency of Engagement as well as Monetary Value allows you to monitor consumer behaviour. This information informs you of the effectiveness of you customer nurture efforts, while remaining on top of customer churn prevention actions.

Additionally, it allows deeper insights into the traits of high-value customers, leading to enhanced customer acquisition.

Segment analytics

Many successful businesses choose to overlay marketing segments over KPIs and analytics, for a clearer overview of the whole digital strategy. This alignment ensures that each marketing campaign is driving the desired KPI uplifts, and that these are measurable.

The value of this tactic is seen in the improved effectiveness of marketing campaigns, as well as increased consumer engagement as a result of enhanced contact frequency.

Weather-based content

Innovatively, marketers have been optimising email content by basing it on the weather where the recipient is located. This is a tactic often adopted in the travel industry, effectively highlighting better weather at a promoted destination. It is further used in retail where product categories are impacted by local weather.

Best time to communicate

It is essential to send triggered, as well as business as usual communications at a time when the customer is most likely to engage with your messages. This can be achieved through an AI-enabled marketing automation platform or using manual segmentation.

Experts have shown that this tactic results in a 15% increase in engagement, when AI is used to predict best send-out time.

Email gamification

Simple, fun and effective, inserting interactive games and experiences like ‘Spin the wheel’ or ‘Click to reveal’ helps to drive large amounts of traffic to your site. Crucially, this action also leads consumers away from their inbox, preventing them from reading emails from your competitors.

Location-based notifications

The rise in mobile devices and out of home (OOH) has opened up the possibilities of location-based marketing. This technique can be used as a trigger to initiate interactions based on the customer’s physical location; nudging your customer to try out a product they have seen online and driving footfall to stores when nearby.

This increases store visits and helps to enhance your customers’ experience.

Source: TheDrum