How data drives customer engagement through meaningful marketing

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In order for businesses to create marketing messages and campaigns that are meaningful for their customers they must first be able to answer one very powerful question.

“Who is my customer?”

An overall picture of frequent or loyal shoppers is important, but to take marketing to the next level, marketers must be able to take what they know about their customers and convert it into relevant and meaningful messages developed for each unique shopper.

Cloud marketing platforms and personalization technologies enable marketers to easily engage with their customers and transform customer data into actionable knowledge, creating richer, more relevant experiences. These technologies provide opportunities for businesses to make marketing smarter – smarter in how customer data is collected and used, smarter in how campaigns are planned and executed, and smarter in terms of driving higher revenue, satisfaction and loyalty.

For example, as visitors navigate their favorite websites and browse different categories and products, their unique preferences become apparent. With personalization technology, businesses can quickly begin to connect the individual preferences and behaviors of millions of online customers and automatically deliver targeted recommendations across websites, email, social channels, mobile apps and other online and in-store customer contact channels. Capturing this information helps marketers to develop a better understanding of the kinds of products customers like and buy; what colors and sizes they tend to purchase; when they tend to do their shopping; how much they spend; and how they engage with your brand. Marketers can apply these insights to develop targeted, personalized online marketing campaigns and move beyond traditional segmentation-based marketing into one-to-one customer engagement that boosts conversion rates, drives campaign performance and increases customer lifetime value.

As businesses strive to deliver better, more personalized experiences across email, mobile, social and the web, understanding how consumers want to digest and receive marketing is becoming essential. Marketers must understand how customers view their marketing and deliver positive, more engaging experiences.

Today, for example, there are more than one billion smartphones and tablets in use around the world, and the number of customers who receive news, alerts and promotions on mobile devices is steadily rising. As customers rely more on mobile technology, marketers need to tailor their online marketing strategy accordingly. Providing an optimized mobile experience is the first step, but the immediate next step requires retailers to consider the behaviors and requirements of an audience that is on the move. Understanding when your customers will be using their smartphone or tablet, where they will be and how they will be using it seem like simple ideas, but are important points to consider when planning any marketing campaign.

Now more than ever, marketers need to be able to easily answer questions around the performance of their campaigns. What devices are customers using? What information did they find important? Did the campaign result in the customer taking action – signing up for an event, making a purchase or visiting your store? With this valuable customer knowledge and the right technology, marketers have the power to enjoy a deeper understanding and create richer, more relevant, personalized customer experiences. The more you know your customers, the more you will know marketing success.

Anthony Wilkey
Anthony Wilkey, Regional Director at SmartFocus, a global leader in real-time, personalized cloud marketing, has worked in the fields of CRM and marketing intelligence for more than 15 years. He has extensive experience with working on collaborative, often multinational digital ventures and is especially focused on topics such as multichannel marketing, marketing automation and data-driven marketing strategies. Anthony is also involved with the DMA, sitting on the Email Marketing Council and its Benchmarking Hub, responsible for producing and editing a number of industry reports each year.

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