Staying Top of Mind for Future Buyers
In B2B marketing, timing is everything. According to the 95-5 rule, 95% of potential buyers aren’t always ready to buy now but will be in the market in the future. So, how do you engage with those future buyers before they’re ready to make a decision?
Where relationship-building and targeted communication are key, direct mail provides a tangible way to directly connect with decision-makers. Let’s explore the power of direct mail in a B2B space.
Understanding Direct Mail for B2B
While some may view direct mail in B2B campaigns as unconventional, it’s gaining traction. According to HubSpot, 18% of B2B marketers’ budgets are allocated to direct mail marketing and print advertising. There’s a large audience that can be reached with direct mail considering the following growing challenges within the B2B landscape.
- Overcrowded Digital Channels: B2B buyers are overwhelmed by digital marketing, making direct mail a more effective way to break through the noise and reach key decision-makers.
- Building Personal Relationships: Trust and long-term relationships are crucial in B2B. Direct mail provides a personalized, tangible way to engage and build credibility with prospects.
- Decision-Maker Accessibility: High-level decision-makers often filter digital communications, but direct mail can bypass gatekeepers and land directly on their desks.
- Supporting Complex Buying Cycles: B2B sales cycles are long and involve multiple stakeholders. Direct mail helps nurture relationships, staying top-of-mind throughout the entire decision-making process
Direct Mail Across Funnel Stages
Direct mail’s B2B strength lies in its ability to enhance brand awareness and engagement at various funnel stages:
- Top Funnel: Introduce prospects to your brand with promotional items in a dimensional mailer or freemiums on a bifold. While emails and ads may fail to engage immediately, physical touchpoints like branded desk items create lasting impressions and set the stage for future interaction. Tangible items offer a unique opportunity to build brand awareness in a more memorable and personal way.
- Middle Funnel: Educate potential customers with informative direct mail content such as brochures or QR codes linked to blogs or webinars. This builds trust and reinforces your value proposition, deepening their interest.
- Bottom Funnel: As prospects approach a decision, reward their engagement. Personalized postcards or mailers with incentives, such as discounts or free trials, can push them toward closing the deal.
How to Use Direct Mail Successfully for B2B
Data is king. According to the Salesforce B2B Marketing Benchmark, 1 in 3 marketers say data-driven insights help inform decision-making, while 82% agree that marketing can demonstrate impact to the C-suite through measurable performance. With accurate, up-to-date data, businesses can narrow down firmographics to ensure precise targeting.
Here’s how to leverage direct mail effectively:
- Target Specific Groups: Tailor your campaign based on job title, company size, geography, or industry for better relevance.
- Start or Follow Up on Conversations: Personalize your outreach by addressing prospects by name and title. A personalized postcard, for instance, can remind them that you’re looking forward to hearing from them.
- Drive Traffic: Encourage website visits or engagement with QR codes or PURLs, and track responses to measure success.
- Build Trust: Showcase accreditations, business memberships, or social media ratings to build trust. Writing in a language familiar to decision-makers creates a more authentic connection.
- Focus on Benefits, Not Features: B2B tends to be more technical. Avoid overwhelming recipients with jargon and focus on how your service(s) solves their problems rather than getting down in details from the jump.
The Impact of Direct Mail in B2B Marketing
Referring back to the 95-5 rule, direct mail’s longer shelf life in the office environment ensures ongoing visibility and retention, keeping the brand top-of-mind for extended periods.
In B2B marketing, where targeting is highly specialized, direct mail is crucial for reaching key decision-makers and influencers within organizations. Unlike general consumer outreach, B2B direct mail focuses on specific roles and departments, allowing marketers to tailor messages to individual recipients. This targeted approach helps bypass digital clutter, ensuring communications reach those with significant influence over purchasing decisions. The tangible nature of direct mail further enhances its impact, making each piece more memorable and effective.
At the end of the day, direct mail remains a powerful tool for B2B marketers aiming to create meaningful connections with their audience. Ready to see how direct mail can elevate your B2B marketing strategy? Contact us today.
Unlocking the Power of Marketing Technology to Help You Meet Your Unique Goals
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, businesses are constantly on the lookout for ways to optimize their marketing efforts while keeping costs in check. This is where MarTech steps in, the seamless integration of marketing and technology that transforms how businesses can connect with their audience, streamline operations, and foster growth.
What is MarTech?
MarTech, short for Marketing Technology, is where technology intersects with marketing strategies to drive efficiency and innovation. At its core, MarTech leverages digital advancements and data analytics to enhance marketing efforts, improve customer interactions, and boost business outcomes.
Encompassing a broad array of software tools and platforms, MarTech offers adaptability across various marketing functions. From customer relationship management (CRM) systems and email marketing platforms to print marketing tools and marketing automation software, the MarTech landscape is diverse and continually evolving to meet the needs of marketers.
Within this arsenal, MarTech can help fulfill crucial functions pivotal to marketing success, including audience targeting, content creation and distribution, campaign management, lead generation and nurturing, and comprehensive data analytics and reporting (to name a few).
What Are the Benefits of Cost Optimization?
Efficiency and Automation: MarTech tools empower businesses to automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows, minimizing the necessity for manual intervention and conserving valuable time and resources. By automating processes like email marketing campaigns, direct mail outreach, and social media advertising, businesses can enhance operational efficiency and reduce labor costs.
Targeted Marketing Campaigns: With MarTech, businesses can use data analytics and segmentation tools to target their marketing endeavors more precisely. By pinpointing and engaging specific audience segments based on demographics, behaviors, and preferences, businesses can optimize their marketing spend by concentrating resources on the most relevant and high-value prospects.
Improved ROI Measurement: MarTech tools offer robust analytics and reporting capabilities, enabling businesses to watch and assess the performance of their marketing campaigns with enhanced accuracy and granularity. By scrutinizing key metrics like conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value, businesses gain real-time insight into the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, enabling them to quickly find underperforming channels, tactics, or campaigns and make timely adjustments to optimize results.
Scalability and Flexibility: Many MarTech solutions are engineered to scale alongside businesses’ requirements, enabling them to evolve and expand without incurring substantial added costs. Whether incorporating new features, venturing into new markets, or accommodating shifts in customer preferences, MarTech offers the flexibility and scalability businesses need to minimize costs while still being adaptable and responsive to market dynamics.
Tips for Executing Cost Savings
- Improve Data: To achieve cost savings effectively, prioritize using customer data as a valuable resource, which not only aids in understanding customer behavior but also enhances the overall customer journey. Every marketing action and customer interaction provides valuable insights into customer behavior. Focus on consistently improving data quality to show a comprehensive view of each customer, allowing for deeper analysis. Enhance this data by including transaction-based insights, sentiment scoring, and social media profiles to better understand customer preferences. Use master data to inform predictive models, improving the ability to predict customer behavior and refine segmentation strategies for targeted engagement. By using customer data in these ways, businesses can optimize marketing efforts, improve the customer journey, and realize cost savings.
- Resource Consolidation: With MarTech, businesses can streamline their marketing operations by merging multiple functions and tools into a single platform or suite of integrated solutions. This consolidation cuts redundant tools and licenses, reducing maintenance and support costs while enhancing efficiency. By having a connected ecosystem, businesses can better meet the demands of customers for personalized experiences across all touchpoints with the brand. This integrated approach significantly saves costs and ensures a seamless and cohesive customer journey.
- Invest in Team Training: Understanding how to effectively use your MarTech solutions is crucial for achieving efficient and cost-effective results. Investing in team training through webinars and other educational resources can significantly enhance technical ability and ensure the longevity of these tools within your organization. Consider reaching out to your service provider to inquire about available training courses. By empowering your team with the necessary skills and knowledge, you can maximize the value of your MarTech investments and drive long-term success.
- Choosing the Right MarTech Partner: Navigating the complexities of MarTech solutions can be time-consuming for busy business professionals. Partnering with a MarTech expert can simplify this process and ensure cost-efficient solutions tailored to your needs. It’s crucial to select a partner who aligns with your business goals. Before making a decision, assess how well the features and capabilities of a MarTech solution align with your specific objectives. Whether your aim is to improve lead generation, increase conversion rates, enhance customer engagement, or enhance operational efficiency, ensure that your chosen partner can deliver results that align with these goals. For example, consider our success in delivering a programmatic, highly configurable, and secure computer-to-computer connection via an existing marketing portal to a highly regulated Fortune 500 Financial Services Company responsible for providing timely annual notices to clients. This shows our ability to tailor MarTech solutions to meet the unique needs and regulatory requirements of businesses in various industries.
Final Thoughts
MarTech presents a wealth of opportunities for businesses to streamline operations, enhance marketing efforts, and drive cost savings. By understanding the fundamentals of MarTech, implementing best practices for execution, and choosing the right partners, businesses can leverage these tools to achieve their goals efficiently and effectively. With the right approach, MarTech can become a powerful ally in your quest for success in the digital landscape.
Ready to take your MarTech strategy to the next level? Contact us to learn how our term of performance-driven experts can help you harness the full potential of MarTech for your business.
In a world dominated by digital interactions, a variety of businesses (especially grocers and retailers) are rediscovering the enduring impact of direct mail on customer engagement. Furthermore, businesses are catching wind that direct mail is where tradition meets innovation for loyalty campaigns. In this blog, we’ll delve into the strategic use of direct mail as a powerful tool for crafting and enhancing loyalty program marketing campaigns, and we’ll also be examining how its unique attributes can cater specifically to the needs of those in the grocery and retail sector. From creating tangible and personalized connections to celebrating customer milestones, we detail the diverse ways in which direct mail can shape a memorable and targeted loyalty campaign experience.
Benefits of Direct Mail for Loyalty Campaigns
Tangible and Personalized
Generally, direct mail can establish a tangible and personalized connection with each customer due to its physicality, elevating the overall customer experience and enhancing memorability. Unlike digital interactions, receiving and opening mail adds a sensory dimension to the engagement, making it more immersive. This tactile experience, coupled with personalized content tailored to individual preferences and purchase history, can foster a deeper connection and strengthen the emotional bond between customers and loyalty programs.
Highly Targeted
Direct mail enables precise targeting by leveraging customer purchase history, preferences, and demographics. This capability enhances the relevance of loyalty program messaging, ensuring that the content resonates with each individual recipient. By tailoring campaigns to specific characteristics and behaviors, companies can deliver personalized and meaningful communications, increasing the likelihood of customer engagement. The precision of direct mail targeting not only introduces the loyalty program effectively but also ensures that the message reaches the right audience with maximum impact.
Engaging
As touched on above, the targeted and tangible nature of direct mail prompts customers to actively engage with campaign messaging, and – even better, redeem their loyalty points. The physical presence of loyalty program materials can enhance the customer’s inclination to participate, and this active engagement, stimulated by the personalized and tactile aspects of direct mail, can contribute significantly to the success of your loyalty initiative.
For more retail marketing ideas, click here.
Common Strategies of Direct Mail for Loyalty Campaigns
Updates, Reminders, & Thank-Yous
Direct mail keeps customers engaged in loyalty programs through timely updates, personalized thank-you notes, and strategic reminders. It also provides customers with information about their loyalty points, program changes, and new features, ensuring they’re consistently informed and engaged.
Personalized thank-you notes sent via direct mail can create a memorable and emotionally resonant experience that strengthens the customer’s connection with the company and its loyalty program. Additionally, businesses can send timely reminders about upcoming expiration dates of loyalty points, encouraging customers to seize the opportunity to redeem their rewards before they expire.
Milestone & Exclusivity Incentives
Direct mail can reinforce customer loyalty through thoughtful celebrations and exclusive privileges. By celebrating customer milestones, such as reaching specific point thresholds, celebrating birthdays, or even acknowledging anniversaries of first purchases, businesses can add a personal touch. These are often accompanied by extra incentives to further encourage ongoing loyalty, such as a free gift or discount.
Direct mail’s also an ideal platform for announcing exclusive sales and events, offering customers early access and special privileges linked to their loyalty status. This not only fosters a sense of VIP treatment but also actively encourages customer participation.
Direct Mail for Loyalty Campaigns, In Action
Executing a successful loyalty campaign that includes direct mail involves implementing key strategies to enhance customer engagement and overall effectiveness. So, what’s the process here at Strata? Below you’ll find what we consider most important:
Personalized Content
Incorporating personalized content and utilizing customer data – such as addressing customers by name and tailoring messages based on their purchase history, preferences, and loyalty status.
Marketing Mix Integration
Integrating direct mail into the overall marketing mix for your loyalty campaign is often crucial for success. Most of the time, coordinating direct mail with digital and other marketing channels amplifies the impact.
Testing and Optimization
Implementing a testing and optimization strategy for any direct mail campaign helps companies refine their approach over time. A/B testing different elements, such as messaging, design, and incentives, can allow for identification of the most effective strategies for engaging customers and driving loyalty.
Before following the strategies and practices above, companies should understand the audience they’re targeting, what their goals are for their rewards and loyalty program(s), and what they want out of their customer loyalty marketing campaigns. With that said, it’s very likely the campaigns will benefit from personalized content, streamlined workflows, and integrated direct mail. With the use direct mail, grocers and retailers alike can create a targeted and memorable experience for their loyal customers. Contact Strata today to explore how our expertise can help take your loyalty or rewards program(s) to the next level.
Unlocking Proven Strategies for Maximizing Your Coupon Impact and Converting Shoppers into Buyers
In the ever-evolving landscape of eCommerce, staying ahead of the competition often means harnessing the latest techniques to boost sales. One powerful tool at your disposal? The classic coupon. It might seem like a small piece of the puzzle, but when used correctly, coupons can turn hesitant browsers into enthusiastic buyers.
In this blog, we’ll explore the coupon’s profound impact on eCommerce sales. Whether you’re an established online retailer or just launching your digital storefront, understanding how to strategically use coupons can make all the difference in your bottom line. We’ll discuss proven tactics, share insights, and offer practical tips to help you use discount strategies to increase your sales conversion rates.
Why Entice Customers with Coupons?
The most widely known reason for distributing coupons is the positive response they always get from current and potential customers (no one dislikes spending less money!). Moreover, coupons can also result in the following:
1. Enhance CLV & Encourage Repeat Purchases:
When customers are offered coupons, they’re often enticed to return to your business again. This potentially increases their loyalty and their overall lifetime value.
2. Gather Customer Data & Generate High-Quality Leads:
When customers sign up to receive coupons, you gain access to their contact information, allowing you to build a database of potential customers for future marketing efforts.
3.Decrease Abandoned Cart Rate
Offering a coupon during the checkout process can motivate hesitant customers to complete their purchases, ultimately leading to less likelihood of abandoned shopping carts.
These combined benefits make coupons a vital tool in your eCommerce sales conversion strategy, as they not only drive immediate sales but also foster long-term customer relationships and data-driven marketing opportunities.
Discounts vs. Coupons
Distinguishing between coupons and discounts is crucial in understanding their distinct roles in your eCommerce strategy. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they represent separate concepts. Both coupons and discounts allow customers to acquire products or services at a reduced cost, but it’s essential to approach them differently to avoid any confusion.
Coupons are tailored for individual buyers and typically involve shareable codes. They are a targeted marketing tool, frequently used by businesses to reach specific audiences. When a potential customer comes across a coupon code, they can apply it during the checkout process to receive a designated discount. This approach provides businesses with valuable insights into their customer’s journey, helping them identify where the particular customer discovered the discount.
On the other hand, discounts, while potentially also directed at specific audience segments, are generally accessible to all customers making a purchase. These eCommerce promotions typically involve certain products offered at a reduced price. For example, a company might provide a 10% discount on a particular product for a specified day.
Again, understanding the disparity between coupons and discounts is crucial, as it allows you to leverage them effectively in your eCommerce endeavors. Now that we’ve clarified their differences, we’ll discuss why you should incorporate them into your strategy and how to use them optimally.
The Best Ways to Implement Coupons
When it comes to implementing coupons effectively, there are several key strategies to consider. First, personalized offers for specific customer segments prove highly effective. Tailoring your coupon offers to match the preferences and purchase history of individual customer segments can significantly boost their impact. By creating coupons that resonate with each segment, you can expect higher redemption rates and increased customer satisfaction, ultimately driving eCommerce sales.
Another powerful strategy is to create a sense of urgency and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) through the use of flash sales with limited-time coupons. Offering time-limited discounts prompts quick decision-making among your customers. To maximize the impact of these flash sales promote them across various marketing channels.
Coupons can also be strategically used to promote non-selling or slow-moving inventory. Offering discounts on these item can help you clear out excess stock while increasing visibility of lesser-known products or items that draw less interest and attention. This facilitates inventory management and introduces customers to items they may not have considered otherwise.
Exchange Of Value
The exchange of value is a fundamental aspect of an effective coupon strategy, where customers receive tangible benefits in return for their engagement and loyalty. Here are four key methods for directly exchanging customer value for coupons:
1. Referral Programs:
Referral programs offer customers the chance to earn coupons or discounts by referring new customers to their business. This exchange of value benefits both existing and new customers. For instance, a customer can refer a friend to your eCommerce store, and upon their friend’s first purchase, both the referrer and the referee receive a coupon code for a discount on their next order. This not only drives new customer acquisition but also rewards and retains existing customers.
2. Newsletter/Landing Page Sign-ups:
Encouraging customers to sign up for newsletters or engage with your landing pages in exchange for exclusive coupons is a valuable tactic. For instance, a customer visiting your landing page might be prompted to enter their email address in exchange for a 10% discount on their first purchase. This not only builds your email subscriber list but also provides customers with an immediate incentive to make a purchase.
3. Loyalty Programs:
Loyalty programs are an effective means of exchanging value with customers over the long term. As customers make repeat purchases, they accumulate points or rewards that can be converted into coupons or discounts. For example, a coffee shop could have a loyalty program where every 10th coffee is free, providing a tangible value exchange that incentivizes repeat business and customer loyalty.
4. Feedback Rewards:
Encouraging customers to provide feedback on their experiences, whether through reviews, surveys, or product ratings, can be rewarded with coupons or discounts. For example, a clothing retailer may offer a 15% off coupon in exchange for a customer leaving a product review on their website. This not only collects valuable feedback but also drives engagement and future purchases.
These methods of direct value exchange create a win-win situation, where customers receive immediate benefits while businesses gain valuable customer data, referrals, engagement, and loyalty.
Promote Your Coupons
Effectively promoting your coupons is key to maximizing their impact. Several strategies can help you get the word out and engage customers:
1. Pop-Ups:
Employ pop-up windows on your website to instantly capture visitors’ attention and entice them to take advantage of your coupons. Ensure that these pop-ups showcase compelling offers in a visually appealing and user-friendly manner, prompting immediate action.
2. Make Your Offers Apparent:
Make sure your coupons are highly visible on your website. Place them in prominent locations, including your homepage, product pages, and cart checkout to ensure that customers easily spot these potential savings. It’s also important to pay attention to the visual appeal of your coupons to ensure they stand out on your website. Utilize eye-catching design elements, vibrant colors, and clear, concise copy to make them visually attractive and easily noticeable.
3. Email:
Utilize targeted email campaigns to reach your subscribers, emphasizing the availability of your coupons. Customize these emails to cater to different customer segments, clearly conveying the value of the coupon and creating a sense of exclusivity.
4. SMS:
Harness SMS marketing to reach customers directly on their mobile devices. Craft concise, engaging messages that include coupon codes and a compelling call to action, simplifying the redemption process for recipients.
5. Social Media:
Leverage your social media platforms to promote your coupons effectively. Create attention-grabbing posts and stories that highlight the benefits of using the coupon. Encourage sharing to expand the reach of your promotions and consider using paid advertising to target specific demographics.
By implementing these diverse promotional methods, you can ensure that your coupons are widely seen (and hopefully, widely used).
Monitor Success
To ensure the success of your coupon strategy, monitoring and analyzing is crucial. The promotional code serves as an effective tool to track and measure marketing efforts. One way to optimize coupons is through A/B testing, where you can compare the performance of different coupon offers, delivery methods, or presentation. By employing various coupon codes through A/B testing, you can measure the effectiveness of each coupon variation, gaining valuable insights into what resonates with your audience.
Also, utilizing the coupon conversion formula, calculated as…
Coupon Conversion = (Coupon Used / Coupons Given) x 100
…allows you to assess the impact of your coupons accurately. This formula provides a clear picture of how many coupons are redeemed relative to the number distributed, helping you fine-tune your coupon strategy.
Optimize Coupon UX
Lastly, optimizing the coupon user experience (UX) is essential to enhance customer satisfaction and maximize coupon usage. To achieve this, consider the following strategies:
1. Visible and Well-Designed Coupon Field:
Ensure that the coupon field is prominently displayed and visually appealing. A well-designed coupon entry field not only enhances the UX but also makes it easy for customers to apply discounts. Additionally, you may want to consider hiding the coupon code field if your website typically doesn’t offer coupon codes. This prevents unnecessary confusion and frustration for customers who might search for codes that aren’t applicable.
2. Pre-Discounted Links:
Rather than relying solely on coupon codes, offer pre-discounted links or URLs that automatically apply the discount when users click on them. This streamlined approach simplifies the process for customers and eliminates the need for them to manually enter coupon codes, creating a smoother shopping experience.
3. Effective Language Use:
Ensure that your coupon-related messaging is both clear and compelling. Use persuasive language to convey the value of the coupon and the benefits it offers to customers. Highlight any unique selling points and emphasize limited-time offers to entice customers to take full advantage of the discount.
Looking to achieve higher conversions? Strata’s custom marketing services are designed to drive results, increase engagement, and boost your ROI. Let’s work together to increase your eCommerce conversions. Contact us today.
A Look Into How Physical Assets Can Support this Digital Space
In an era dominated by the digital age, it’s tempting to cast aside marketing strategies that predate this revolution. However, as we notice a constant influx of digital marketing tactics bombarding consumers, it raises the question: do tangible assets still capture the most attention? Our belief is a resounding yes, especially when considering the distinct advantages, they now offer in this digital age.
Personalization in Direct Mail:
In today’s digital landscape, personalization is key for email and SMS strategies, but it’s often overlooked in direct mail. However, we have the technology to mass-produce personalized direct mail, including names, addresses, and tailored content. Why does this matter? In a digital age, personalized direct mail stands out, especially since there’s been a decline in traditional mail volume, resulting in less mailbox clutter. This presents a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in an uncrowded market. Personalized direct mail enhances customer satisfaction, encouraging recipients to engage with the content and respond to the call to action.
Personalization for Abandoned Carts:
Personalization is a powerful tool when it comes to re-engaging consumers with their abandoned shopping carts. It demonstrates your thoughtful consideration of their needs and fosters a stronger connection between your company and the customer, motivating them to take action.
Moreover, pinpointing the specific reasons behind cart abandonment empowers you to address these concerns directly and strategize for the future. Common issues include pricing, lack of information, and confusing UX/UI. Once you’ve identified these concerns, you can tailor your approach accordingly.
In our experience, the majority of abandoned carts are due to price concerns. One effective method for cart recovery is strategic incentivization, such as offering discounts or free shipping to ease the purchase burden. To reignite overall customer interest, emphasizing the benefits of your products is key. Remind customers why they were initially drawn to your offerings and how they can enhance their lives, providing the motivation to complete their purchase.
However, it’s important to tread carefully with personalization. Some recipients may find overly detailed personalization intrusive. Avoid including information that may seem too personal, especially in the context of showing up at their doorstep, as not everyone is well-versed in data and tracking practices.
Effective Direct Mail Strategies for Abandoned Carts:
When it comes to effective direct mail strategies for addressing abandoned carts, retargeting technology stands out as a top contender. Research suggests that it often takes approximately eight touchpoints with a consumer before securing a sale. Custom retargeting technology, such as dynamic QR codes, plays a pivotal role in streamlining this process. These codes bring customers back into the digital realm, allowing you to track their interactions through direct mail and make informed decisions on your next steps.
Timeliness is a crucial factor in implementing direct mail strategies for abandoned carts. It’s essential not to let too much time elapse; the most opportune moment to re-engage is in close proximity to when the cart was initially abandoned.
In crafting your direct mail content, focus on creating engaging copy and compelling calls to action (CTAs). Using concise yet enticing language helps convey your message effectively and seamlessly tie it into your ask. After all, the primary goal of sending this mail is to reconnect the individual with the product at hand.
Lastly, remember the importance of adaptability and customization in these strategies, as their effectiveness may vary depending on the industry and product characteristics.
Combining personalized direct mail with digital marketing can be tricky, but surely it is a winning strategy. If you’re ready to enhance your marketing strategy, contact us today for expert consulting in direct mail marketing and optimization. Let’s drive results together!
Key Tactics to Increase eCommerce Conversion Rates
As mentioned in part one of this blog series, achieving high eCommerce conversion rates requires continuous measurement, testing, and optimizing of your eCommerce platform – and if you’re not constantly focusing on enhancing customer experiences and streamlining the purchasing process, you’re missing out on potential gains. In this blog, we’re sharing ten additional key practices to boost eCommerce conversation rates.
More Ways to Increase Your eCommerce Conversions
Reduce the number of steps at checkout
When it comes to eCommerce conversions, checkout is arguably the most important area to focus on and optimize. It’s at the bottom of the conversion funnel – so when optimized properly, all other parts of the flow are likely to improve, as well. “If you improve the conversion rate of your final purchase page by 5%, your overall sales will go up by 5%.” One way to improve checkout? Try out some A/B testing of the content, imagery, and layout. Another? Make sure the cart can be easily edited. There’s nothing worse than not being able to figure out how to reduce the quantity of a product from 2 to 1, or remove one of the products from your cart. Lastly, try setting up auto-fill areas – such as the city, state, and zip code fields. “Research shows the average cart abandonment rate across all industries is around 69.57%.” Don’t let it happen because of a difficult checkout process. Most often – the simpler and easier the checkout, the better.
It’s also important to provide multiple payment options. Make sure all the most common ones are covered. You wouldn’t want a potential customer getting to the last step of the checkout process with the means to pay your company, but not the ability.
Think through the customer journey – then go through it backwards
Always have user experience in mind when reviewing and testing your eCommerce site’s effectiveness, while making sure it portrays and exemplifies your unique brand. If an eCommerce site is too complicated and confusing, customers will leave and find your product elsewhere. Additionally, make sure this simple design and experience is optimized for mobile. While it depends on your product and customers, it’s usually best to design with a mobile-first perspective. 91% of online purchases are made via a mobile device.
Differentiate your eCommerce site and your product
As noted above, it’s important to show off your unique brand and offerings. Make sure your product or service’s different qualities are clearly exemplified on your eCommerce site – and ensure your site and offerings compete with those within your vertical. If you don’t differentiate yourself, customers will likely navigate over to a company that does.
Use high-quality images & video
High quality, clear imagery not only looks professional, but can help the potential purchaser envision the products they’re interested in, in real life. In fact, “75% of shoppers rely on product photography to make purchase decisions.” Low quality, poorly lit, or badly photographed images look bad and can cause distrust and disinterest for the potential customer. 65% of people are visual learners…so make sure they’re learning what you want them to.
Here are two more photography tips that increase conversions:
- Product images work best with neutral-colored backgrounds (such as white, black, and beige), although this can differ depending on the nature of your product. Sometimes images need to show mood, style, lifestyle, and so on, so a background that tells the story but isn’t the focus is, at times, necessary. Use your best judgement with knowledge of your customer base and product.
- To create focus on your product, make the subject of the image either much bigger or much smaller than the background.
Video is also a great converter, enabling the viewer to not just envision the product in real life, but see how it works, where it works, and who it works for. Additionally, if your video is intriguing and well-shot, it will keep customers on your eCommerce site for a longer span of time (which is never a bad thing).
Think through and develop consistent understanding of data passing back to your site
This data includes that from digital ads, social media, print ads, and so on. Reliable and consistent data passed back from all traffic sources to your eCommerce site is crucial to knowing where to focus your efforts. But keep in mind, digital ad programs often mark all conversions as incremental, when that’s not always the case. Think through where and why this traffic is coming to your site and what it leads to. Yes, this takes time and effort – but the effort pays off. Understanding these pass backs can lead to higher profitability and better outcomes.
Along those lines, it’s often better to direct traffic to landing pages rather than to product pages or your site’s home page. This makes for easier tracking, increasingly focused targeting and CTAs, and often, better conversions.
Minimize (and test) the number of recommendations per page
“Choice Paralysis” is when a person is overwhelmed with the number of choices they have in front of them, making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to make a decision. When this happens to a shopper, they’ll often become so overwhelmed that they’ll leave your site altogether. Limit this paralysis by offering fewer, more relevant options per page. To increase conversions, A/B test the number of items customers see at each section of your website. It’s often even effective to give the customer the option to make that decision themselves, by adding a products per page dropdown at the bottom of each page. Additionally, make it easy and accessible for customers to search and narrow down what they’re looking for with a search bar.
We hope both part one and two of this blog series help you increase your conversions – but if you have questions, we’re always here to assist you. And, if you’re ready to explore our services or chat further about eCommerce conversion strategies, don’t wait! Contact us today.
To Boost Customer Acquisition (& Retention)
Before we get into the seven retail marketing ideas we’ll share with you in this blog, let’s first look at some key aspects of retail marketing. Unlike several other industries, buying from the retail industry is not always driven by a need, but quite often by a want – or by a perceived need brought on by persuasive marketing. This notion can make retail marketing a bit more complicated than that of other industries, but with the right tools and knowledge, not necessarily more difficult. Marketing to a retail audience is all about creating engaged, loyal customers using effective, detail-oriented marketing campaigns that not only focus on acquisition, but long-term allegiance. It’s about finding your audience and targeting them with information based on their wants, interests, and pain points – causing them to realize or believe that they not only have interest in your product, but that they “need” it.
Customer Engagement
There are several ways to engage with and create an actively engaged audience. Generally, customer engagement is your brand’s communication with your customer base, made via strong marketing outreach through various channels. Quality engagement with current and potential customers can create brand awareness and understanding, as well as cultivate brand loyalty. In retail marketing, it’s imperative to create customer relationships – especially those that last. Retail marketing is made more successful when it’s well thought through, and retail campaigns work best when they can be easily spread and successfully flourish through word-of-mouth marketing (WOM marketing). WOM marketing is a must…after all, up to 90% of people trust recommendations from friends and family. Also important is efforts to not only keep customers coming in, but to keep customers coming. Make sure your campaigns are not only built to excite and attract new customers, but to appreciate and nurture existing customers. Experiential marketing, quality customer service, and loyalty discounts and offers are all key to marketing to and keeping current customers. In fact, 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a good experience, and 80% of customers say that their reason for switching to another company is poor customer service. Additionally, research shows that 71% of online shoppers are influenced by discounts, and the stronger your relationship is with a customer, the more likely they are to buy into an offer (and keep coming back for more).
Planning a Retail Marketing Campaign
The following are some key things to keep in mind when planning an effective retail marketing campaign.
- Duration: How long will you run your campaign?
- Engagement: Will the customer interact with your brand without prompting?
- Frequency and Volume: How often and how much interaction will occur over the customer’s lifecycle?
- Context: Where exactly are these interactions taking place?
7 Retail Marketing Ideas
Now that we’ve scratched the surface and gone over some retail marketing basics, we’d like to share several retail marketing ideas we’ve compiled – and believe work well. Take a look:
1. Blending Digital and In-Person Marketing:
74% of shoppers expect the same level of service in-store and online. So, make sure whether something’s out of stock, a customer’s unable to find their size, or they aren’t sure where to find a product in-store, that they can quickly resolve the issue with a digital touchpoint. The resolution should be as simple as pulling out their phone, scanning a QR code, finding a digital store map, signing up for wait-list alerts, and/or ordering online. Additionally, when sending or providing marketing materials, make sure to lead the customer to a digital touchpoint via QR code or URL. It’s great to include a detachable, physical coupon – but also important to provide a digital option. This way, no matter who your audience or their level of tech knowledge, they’ll be able to easily access your offer.
2. Augmented Reality Marketing:
Augmented reality has been and continues to be on the rise, especially when it comes to retail marketing practices. It’s become much more important for customers to not just see a product but to imagine the product on them or in their space. If it aligns with your target audience(s) and budget, think through how you can incorporate some sort of augmented reality into your marketing – whether that’s with a virtual app, a geofilter, or an in-store screen. Need ideas? Take a look at some of these augmented reality marketing examples.
3. Loyalty Programs:
Not only are these types of programs beneficial to customers – they’re also very useful for retailers. Loyalty programs build long-term relationships with faithful customers that will come back time and time again – and not just for the benefits, but because they believe your company cares for their individual allegiance. And, getting new customers to sign up for a rewards program right away is extremely helpful, as you acquire a ton of customer information up front that can be used for future outreach. It’s important to always have several ways for customers to join your program. Include a link, QR code, and/or a form to sign up on your direct mail, on your website, in-store, on receipts…the list goes on. The best part? Customers very rarely get annoyed by loyalty program communications, even if it’s the third or fourth time you’ve offered. Why? Because it’s a benefit to them!
4. Omnichannel Engagement:
It’s important to target retail customers with not only the right message, but at the right time, and in the right place. Depending on the variety of your audience, it’s possible you have some audience members that are more likely to communicate with your company through more “traditional” mediums, and others through more “modern” mediums. Think through the demographics, geographics, and even psychographics of your audience to understand where and when you should be connecting with them. Either way, multiple connection points with your current and potential customers will keep them engaged and make your brand more memorable.
5. Exclusive Experiences:
This kind of marketing can be a bit riskier than most, as whatever buzz your business creates (whether good or bad) will likely have an impact. However, marketing tactics such as exclusive drops, invite-only events, special release items, or “first-come-first-serve” items can be very effective and create a lot of conversation (again, we’re referring to WOM marketing) around your products or services. Just make sure you think through all the positives and negatives as well as possible outcomes and create the best plan of action so that all goes as smoothly as possible. To get the best possible showing at your event, release, or drop, be sure to promote it on both digital and physical marketing pieces – such as mailers, flyers, digital ads, and so on. Again, think through where your target audience is, and start there.
6. Campaigns, Challenges, and Contests with Similar Brands:
Another unique marketing tactic we’d suggest you try, if you have the right connection(s), is a crossover marketing campaign with another company with similar audience geographics, demographics, and psychographics, yet different offerings. For example, if you’re a budget gym, try partnering with a low-cost clothing (even better, gym clothing) retailer. Creating a campaign with this brand is beneficial in several ways, as you share a similar customer base, but on different verticals, helping both parties increase customer engagement and possibly gain new customers.
7. Take a Stand for a Social Cause:
What better way to meet new customers than because of a cause your company’s passionate about? Today’s consumers expect (and even appreciate and respect) when companies have opinions and will feel a much stronger connection and allegiance to your company if its opinions and beliefs align with theirs – whether those beliefs are centered around environmental protection, sustainability, food safety and distribution, equality, education, healthcare, etc. If your company shows active support for specific causes, new customers with aligned beliefs will follow. Of course, this tactic also comes with a bit of risk, but that risk is often simply a tradeoff. A lot of customers that don’t necessarily feel a long-term connection to your company, or fewer customers with aligned beliefs, are there for the long run. As we mentioned above, nurturing your customers is just as important in the retail industry as acquiring new ones. And, while the cost of acquiring new customers and nurturing existing ones can feel hefty, a strategic marketing partner can help you keep to your budget while creating and cultivating these important retail relationships. If you’re ready to increase the effectiveness of your retail marketing campaigns, click here, or contact our experts today.
Multichannel Recruitment in Just Three Steps
96% of people are looking for new jobs this year. If you have open positions to fill, now, more than ever, is the time to connect with a robust job market to find top talent to fill your open positions.
Connect with this segment of the workforce at the right place, at the right time, with the right messaging, through multichannel marketing.
Multichannel Marketing – A Quick Refresh
Multichannel Marketing is one of Strata’s areas of expertise – it combines direct and indirect communication channels to allow you to reach all your clients, prospects, and customers with a multifaceted campaign. Whether your potential or current customer prefers direct mail, social media, brick and mortar stores, or digital ads, multichannel marketing meets the end user where they are and allows them to act on their choice channel.
Before You Begin
We’ve talked about it before, but strong, cohesive design – from your direct mail to your digital ads – can give your campaign credibility and memorability. And with talent acquisition campaigns, specifically, you’re not only attracting new talent, but also building brand awareness and optimizing your budget.
Keep these stats in mind:
- 56% of the workforce is likely to look for a new job within the next year.
- 30% are looking for work-life benefits. For example, flexible hours, more time off, wellness and healthcare benefits, and working-from-home.
- 30% of workers are ready to quit their job within the next 12 months.
Clearly identify your audience prior to creating your campaign. And, when creating, make sure your campaign has eye-catching, clean graphics. If you utilize direct mail or another print medium, your message should be concise and include a clear next step – whether that’s to apply through a link or scan a QR code to find open positions.
Keep in mind that about 70% of job-applicants view openings and submit their applications through mobile platforms, so your campaigns, even if they include a physical channel, should also appear across and be optimized for digital. Keep messages that appear on digital channels short and sweet, as well.
Regardless of medium, make sure your recruitment messaging and creative is designed to fit well within whatever channel it’s on for maximize impact.
Multichannel Recruitment in Three Steps
1. Collect your data
Identify where individuals in your field are searching for jobs. Determine which channels to invest in – whether they’re LinkedIn, Facebook, Indeed, or somewhere else, you’ll want to have data and knowledge behind where you put most of your efforts. For example, 80% of job searches happen online and 79% of job seekers use social media to find openings.
2. Craft Your Campaign to Each Specific Channel
While your goal remains the same across the board, tailoring your message to each specific channel is key.
- Digital platforms can support a plethora of different messaging. For example, social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter should focus on content that’s short and digestible. Include a link to the open position with a message along the lines of, “Join our team!”.
- On job boards like LinkedIn, Zip Recruiter, and Indeed, it’s more fitting to provide a little more detail. There, you can include the contact for the position and give more information about your company.
- If you’re looking for referrals from existing employees, providing a toolkit with verbiage and imagery for them to share openings with their network(s) is a simple way to engage and include them in the process.
- Your company website’s also a great way to connect with individuals. Utilizing a pop-up on your home screen or a specific landing page linked to other media, you’re not only able to accept applications, but can get a sense of which platforms are performing best.
- For any email components, ensure your HR, recruitment, and/or marketing team has been provided with the proper verbiage, voice, and templates to ensure they’re connecting with candidates while also maintaining brand and campaign consistency. You’ll want to make sure what your candidates receive through email matches what they’re able to view through a quick online search, and fits in with the other campaign materials they may be viewing or receiving elsewhere.
- It’s also important to factor in your print marketing efforts. Regardless of where a candidate may interact with your messaging, it helps to have cohesive branding across the board. Your print marketing touchpoints could be a billboard, wrapped benches and buses with interactive media, and flyers put up around town near your office location(s). All should be connected with your other touchpoints and should likely include a shortened URL or QR code to apply. Whether long-form or short-form, be sure to include an overview of the location of the job (with the city and state, and whether it’s remote, hybrid, or fully on-site), the benefits that come with the position, and a small portion discussing professional development.
3. Launch Your Campaign!
By running a multichannel recruitment campaign, you’re able to monitor the metrics and ROI through reporting tools, such as Google Analytics, your own proprietary technology, or software available on the platforms you’re using, such as LinkedIn Insights. With a combination of several job boards, your company’s website, emails, desktop and mobile advertising, social media, and more, you’re able to connect with a wide pool of job seekers. If you choose a marketing partner, like Strata, you’re able to better target your audience of job seekers with a highly targeted multichannel campaign – based on their goals, backgrounds, skillsets, and more. It’s also helpful to have a team of experts behind your campaign to support your efforts and land your company with the best possible talent out there.
Looking Ahead
With so many job openings and job seekers, it’s important to meet potential, qualified, and talented employees where they are, at the right time, with the right message, and to give them the opportunity to respond or apply when and where works best for them. Not sure where to start? Connect with our experts today to get started with your multichannel recruitment campaign.
A Strata YouTube Channel Original
Throughout our last few blog posts (and their corresponding YouTube videos), we’ve gone over the basics of new mover marketing, along with how to approach a new mover campaign and the best channels and workflows to reach new movers in different industries. When it comes to new mover marketing, it’s important to remember that tactics and incentives differ not only for each industry – but are unique to your specific business, as well. In this blog, we’ll go over how those in the grocery industry can create incentives that resonate with new movers.
A Quick Review of New Mover Marketing
To give you a brief refresher, new mover marketing is a specific, niche marketing tactic that’s designed to reach new residents in your area. It’s one of the most effective ways to bring in new customers that have just recently entered your specific target market. When it comes to new movers, they’re nobody’s customer, yet – so it’s an effective tactic to make a good first impression at the same time they’re looking for your product or service.
The Benefits of Incentives
Incentives can sometimes be perceived as a waste of time and/or money, but in our opinion, that’s often not the case. Why? They allow you to build a connection with your potential customer and invite them to consider your establishment – and maybe even become a regular, loyal customer. You’re showing them that you care about them and their possible loyalty, while presenting all that your business has to offer. Incentives help build a positive company image in the minds of new movers. By giving them a free gift (or other incentive) at the start of your business-customer relationship, you’re very quickly helping the potential customer to see your establishment in a positive light, and creating a favorable association in their mind between the gift and your company. Additionally, using incentives helps with your ROI, since spending a little is likely to get you a lot back in return.
The First Rule of Incentives
The big question is – how do I use incentives to get people to buy from my business? The answer is simple…by being generous! While you may be swayed to take the more inexpensive route to save a few dollars, that mindset’s not what generates ROI. It’s always better to give a little more up front in order to show customers you care about them – not just their money. Customers want to feel seen, heard, and special, and if you can’t/don’t make them feel that way, they’ll take their business elsewhere. By being generous right off the bat, you’ll stand apart from – and very likely ahead of, other similar establishments (your competitors).
New movers are a great segment to target because they’re willing to spend a lot (on average, $9,700) in their first 6 months of new homeownership. This spending is a lot more than already established homeowners. New movers are putting out a lot of money in order to get their new home up and running, so if they receive a free gift, they’ll likely be truly appreciative. Plus, they’re more likely to remember you and your generosity and be more inclined to spend their time and money at your establishment down the road. We know that 80% of new residents redeem offers or “freebies”, so it’s definitely worth the time and money to reach out and offer a gift, discount code, percentage off, or rewards program sign-up. Remember, the end goal is to gain life-long, loyal customers who will keep coming back time and time again.
What’s Next?
Now that you know the benefits of incentives, and the first rule of thumb for grocery industry giveaways, learn a bit more by heading over to our YouTube channel. You’ll listen to Connor, a member of Strata’s Strategic Sales Team, as he gives more detail on effective grocery industry incentives. If you’re ready to take the first new mover marketing steps with Strata, contact us today.