Web 2.0 tools continue to weave their way into the marketing toolbox for retailers at this week’s Internet Retailer Conference in Boston, as several innovation solutions debuted providing merchants with a path to combine the power of social media, personalization and user generated content with popular channels such as email marketing.
In one of the highest profile examples of this trend, Bronto Software announced plans to pair the company’s email platform with Baynote’s Email Recommendations, allowing retailers to drive revenue by sending customized messages to their customers and prospects.
Combining the variety of messages that can be sent via Bronto with relevant product or content recommendations from Baynote, the partnership is designed to give merchants to combine the value of email marketing and drive further customer conversation engagement. The specific capabilities available through the combination of Bronto and Baynote include the ability to:
- Introduce up-sell and cross-sell messaging, such as “Others who liked this also liked…” into transactional order, billing, and shipping confirmation emails.
- Enhance triggered messages, like reminder or renewal notices, to include up-sell and cross-sell messaging for related items.
- Close the loop on abandoned shopping carts by sending a triggered message with offers for related products.
- Combine past campaign behavior with recommendations for similar products in promotional emails.
- Send targeted promotional campaigns based on past purchases with a cross-sell or up-sell message to a complementary product.
In another example of integration between outbound and inbound platforms, Bronto also announced a partnership with eCommerce service provider MarketLive. The pairing will offer an integrated solution designed to allow marketers to use the rich data set found in their ecommerce database as the foundation for targeted email campaigns.
The integration of the Bronto & MarketLive applications is deisgned to help retailers:
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- Build Repeat Customers: With a 360 degree view of the customer, retailers can provide relevant and personalized cross-sell or up-sell messaging in promotional campaigns that turn a one-time customer into a repeat buyer.
- Uncover new opportunities: Using the recency, frequency, and monetary purchase values (RFM), retailers can uncover hidden customer groups and thereby message to customers at the ideal point in their buying cycle.
- Optimize messages: Retailers can test subject lines, content, and time of day to determine the driving force behind conversions and further enhance each campaign for optimal results.
- Understand Buyer Behavior: With the ability to combine purchase history with click behavior, retailers can build a richer profile of each buyer.
- Create Timely Offers: Automated messages using date triggers can send a message for a renewal or reminder to buy a gift.
