Were you able to attend our recent Webinar, Customer Contact Strategies: Beyond Just Marketing? If not, then you missed what was a very compelling overview of contact strategy optimization filled with both practical guidance and recommendations for addressing common gaffs. Don’t fret if you weren’t able to attend; you can view the replay here or just read the recap below!
In today’s world, where customer relations are ever-changing, brands need to redefine how they engage with each and every customer. Why? The classic contact strategy of push marketing no longer works. Customers are far less loyal to brands, they’re more empowered, and they know what they want.
As customers ourselves, we know the problems that exist. There are more channels of communication but less consistency in the messages. And while there are more messages, they are less relevant. It’s time that campaign strategies are revamped and customers are engaged in conversation and approached in a more personal, relevant manner. In a recent post, Jennifer Roneker outlined exactly how much of an impact contact strategies can have.
During the webinar, Quaero’s own Susan Connors, Vice President of Customer Engagement, focused her presentation on the importance of an “impactful, effective strategy” for increasing engagement and reducing customer fatigue. She outlined the six important considerations that play a major role in a contact strategy that really works. They are:
- Know the behaviors and preferences of your customers or customer definitions. Is your customer a high school student or a VP of a large company?
- Determine the most appropriate channel of contact or media mix. Is email always the best choice, or would a phone call be more appropriate?
- Don’t message too broadly or give away too much; treat your customers differently by targeting your segments with selective offers. Think about the difference of acquiring a new customer with a $10 off offer and the kind of offer you would present a loyal customer with.
- Use customer characteristics and behaviors for message personalization. Think back to the high school student and the VP and how different the message to each of them would be.
- Establish the right frequency and timing of messages (hint: the data will tell you what that is). If the customer visits your website every day, would he want to receive emails more often than someone who only visits once a month?
- Measure and track through the proper interaction channels. Nothing will be of greater benefit to you than plenty of information about your customers.
While defining important aspects of a contact strategy is vital, the proper building blocks are necessary for executing a strong plan. Susan defined four:
- Customer Intelligence. It starts with bringing data together in a meaningful way. Then, you can begin to derive insight and better profile, segment, and model your customers for a more informed approach. And speaking of informed…
- Informed Planning. While not the most thrilling aspect (who really likes process?), this is the stage where the bulk of the work takes place. Lifecycle planning, segment strategies, and campaign plans are formed.
- Dialogue Management sets up business rules and governance, and;
- Dynamic Execution is the stage for testing segments, formatting offers, and executing campaigns through a cross-channel campaign management solution like Neolane’s.
It’s clear that businesses need to evolve and adapt with the customer. Push is not an option—conversation is the solution. If you keep the idea that less is more in mind while adhering to the rules of content, target, contact fatigue, and channel capacity optimization, there is nowhere you can go but up.
What key issues did you take away from the webinar that are specifically relevant to you or your organization?
