By
John Nash, RedPoint Global
The holiday season is upon us, and
marketers are gearing up to capitalize on the busiest time of year. To ensure
that they are embarking on a successful season, it is important to understand
how an irrelevant or mistimed message can impact and even jeopardize a
customer’s loyalty. Below are the top marketing pet-peeves that can upset a
customer, prevent a sale and hinder the opportunity for a long-term relationship.
If any of these are diminishing your marketing effectiveness this season, now
is the time to put them on your fix-it list to make sure it’s the last time
they happen.
Sending a message about
something a customer already bought
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All too often, after researching and then subsequently buying a product
from a brand, a customer will receive repeated messages about that same
product. This untimely outreach by the brand can be extremely frustrating for
the consumer when the message is offering a discount for the same item the
customer just bought.
Inundating a customer with too
many messages in too short of a time
Customers see thousands of advertisements a day, especially as the
number of touch points across devices grow: 74% of U.S. Internet users said
they are seeing
more ads overall, and when MarketingSherpa asked U.S. adult Internet
users why they unsubscribe from email lists, one
in four said they did so because they receive too many emails.
Customers will increasingly become averse to a brand’s outreach efforts if
their inboxes are being inundated with repetitive messages.
Repeating irrelevant messages
Accenture found that 91%
of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that recognize,
remember and provide them with relevant offers and recommendations. An irrelevant
offer can come in many forms. A typical example during the holiday season is when
a brand sends repeated messages to a customer who bought a product as a gift
for someone who has different product preferences than he/she does. Another
example is targeting the wrong person in a household, especially when family or
friends share computers, loyalty cards, laptops or tablets within their house
or apartment.
Targeted messages to customers can be a make-or-break
deal. Companies and organizations that leverage personalization have seen
upwards of a 19%
sales lift by creating a more personalized journey for the consumer.
Similarly speaking, 41% of U.S. consumers have ditched
a retailer or brand because of poor personalization. To make sure
you’re staying in a consumer’s good graces, here are three tips that can help
you avoid common holiday marketing mistakes.
1. Process customer data in real
time
Being one step behind a customer is of a little value to both the
marketer and the customer. It can even waste precious time and resources in an
already busy time of year. To avoid this mistake, it’s important for marketers to
leverage technology that prepares their data in real time, so that when it’s
time to execute, nothing stands in the way of speed, agility and accuracy.
2. Understand the cadence of the
customer
Having the correct timing and pattern of messages is essential. To gain
this insight, it’s important to know where a customer is within their path to
purchase and how aggressively they should be targeted. For example, a loyal
customer who has a rewards card may look forward to email campaigns more than a
customer who has only shopped with the brand a handful of times. It’s important
that customer outreaches are tailored to reflect these nuances rather than a
spray and pray approach.
3. Have the full context of the
customer
Sending irrelevant messages is the most obvious way to tell a customer
you don’t have a full understanding of who they are. 62%
of companies have between six to 20 engagement systems, which create data
silos. Marketers need to create a unified customer profile and a single point
of control of data, decisions and interactions to consistently deliver relevant
messages based on the full context of the customer.
To avoid the top marketing pet-peeves listed above this holiday season,
it’s important for marketers to invest in a solution that can provide a single
point of control of data, decision and interactions. With solutions such as
customer data platforms, which can incorporate data from each step of the
journey, each touch point adds value to the customer’s profile. However, these
marketing strategies are not quick fixes. To best leverage these technologies,
it’s important for marketers to address these issues now so that they can change
their customer experience before the next holiday season.
John Nash has spent his career
helping businesses grow revenue through the application of advanced
technologies, analytics, and business model innovations. As Chief Marketing and
Strategy Officer at RedPoint Global, Nash
is responsible for developing new markets, launching new solutions, building
brand awareness, generating pipeline growth and advancing thought leadership.
