For many loyalty programs, mobile marketing offers the potential to reach new heights in record time, creating positive customer experiences and ensuring sustained customer loyalty. Like building a house, your loyalty program must have a solid foundation and be “up to code” before construction on mobile marketing campaigns can begin. The key to adding mobile to your existing loyalty program is a compliant opted in mobile database. With a well-constructed database, you can accurately identify your customers’ communications preferences, monitor purchasing habits and capture preference shifts to cement a positive customer experience.
Follow these tips to build a mobile marketing plan that will have a strong, and up to code, foundation.
- Get the Opt-In—To build your mobile database, you first must gain your customer’s express consent to communicate with them. With the right plans and partner, this isn’t a hard thing to do; it just takes a bit of time, creativity and consistent effort. Consumers aren’t quick to volunteer personal information unless they perceive value in doing so. You know your customer base, so be creative. Consider loyalty programs, contests, coupons and campaigns that capture their attention. Simply asking for information with nothing in return won’t likely elicit trust to build your database.
- Collect the Right Information—Contact information like phone numbers, addresses and emails is helpful, but you can gain a strong advantage with customers by gathering their communications preferences. How do your customers wish to be contacted? How often? Which products or services are they interested in? Knowledge of communications preferences allows you to generate targeted and personalized marketing campaigns while increasing your chances of getting through.
- Manage Customer Preferences—Once consumers have supplied their communications preferences, honor them with vigor across the organization. Knowing how someone prefers to be contacted is paramount to turning a one-time shopper into a loyal customer. Communicating information they’re not interested in or using non-preferred channels can create negative customer experiences and can lead to program opt-outs. Once a customer opts out, the chances of her opting back in are slim.
- Pay Close Attention and Stay Updated—Your mobile database is a living entity. Identifying your customers’ preferences and channel response shifts will put you in a unique position to offer only what interests them while increasing response rates and your ROI. But be careful: as mentioned, honoring customer preferences is critical, but noticing shifts in channel preference is equally important. For example, the number of people who prefer to be contacted via text in 2013 will be higher than it was in 2012. You must continually monitor the pulse of your customers and their changing purchasing dynamics.
A mobile database requires a strategic blueprint, creativity and attention. It is an investment that can create optimal customer experiences and make your mobile marketing results soar through the roof. Learn more about building a successful mobile database at SoundBite’s breakout session, “Laying the Mobile Foundation: Creating and Utilizing Mobile Databases for Loyalty Programs” at the Loyalty Expo, or email us at [email protected].
