by James Cummings, owner of egnut.com
Triggered marketing is a promotion trend that uses data analytics and the target clients’ emotions to guide them into making a purchase that fits into a business’ plan. And many businesses today are jumping on the triggered marketing bandwagon to achieve marketing success.
Triggered marketing has proven to provide a response rate five times more effective than regular targeted marketing. In this article, I’ll show you what triggered marketing is, as well as a live example of triggered marketing. I’ll also discuss some of the emotions that can be used to carry out triggered marketing, plus four important steps in building an effective triggered marketing campaign.
Businesses that are consumer-driven have a duty to keep up to date with technology, especially if they are in a very competitive market. Several trends come and go, some come to stay, but the latest in a portfolio of tools that are guaranteed to attract customers and keep them loyal to the brand is the trend of using AI, Wi-Fi analytics and automated marketing platforms to carry out triggered marketing.
The use of these techniques affords many businesses the advantages that can be compared to those that online ecommerce giants use to collect customer data and use them for marketing purposes.
The collection of customer data as a means of personalising the customer experience has always been a huge contributor to the success of businesses, and plays a major role in triggered marketing.
Although the collection of data and data analysis are a critical part of the triggered marketing process, the only way they can yield favorable results is if they are used to correctly fuel triggered marketing.
Triggered marketing can be easily confused with the provision of loyalty programs to retain customer interest, but the former is about a lot more than that.
Customer loyalty programs can help improve customer retention and repeat sales, but when used as the only marketing techniques, they lose a lot of their effectiveness.
A single digital marketing strategy that incorporates a wide variety of marketing tactics will be a better option if the goal is to maximise the potential of each marketing technique.
Using collected data to make a difference in marketing.
Wi-Fi analytics and automated marketing programs can provide businesses with an edge by enabling them to easily capture customer data, analyse the information and subsequently provide personalised services to potential customers to attract and retain them.
Simply, they help with two major things that are needed in triggered marketing i.e. a way to track customer behaviour, and smart ways to use these data to personalise offers to customers, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will do what you want them to do.
Some companies credit the use of Wi-Fi analytics and automated marketing services for their recorded success. These companies began by collecting customer emails, and then directly marketing to each customer using insights gained from the customer shopping behavior.
To fully understand the use of Wi-Fi analytics, and automated marketing for a triggered marketing approach, we will study a fictional restaurant and a fictional character, Mary.
Mary dines alone at the restaurant once a week, Thursdays by 7 p.m. The restaurant finds this out because its smart Wi-Fi is able to give that information. This information can be used to trigger a sale by offering Mary a discount on a particular appetizer, and so increasing the chances that Mary will choose that particular appetizer for dinner.
If the goal is to get Mary to come in more than once a week, the restaurant can offer Mary a discount meal on another day of the week, maybe Monday, and therefore increasing the likelihood that if Mary has a Monday open, she will choose to dine at the restaurant.
That is how and why capturing customer profiles and tracking these individuals’ behavior provides the chain restaurant with an opportunity to personalize its target marketing.
Alternatively, we know Mary’s favorite dessert from her purchase history, so we can choose to offer her 10% off her meal every time she comes in. That helps to build customer loyalty because we have just communicated to her based on a personal preference.
With triggered marketing, you utilize information that you have about customers to market to them individually. You will need to know what they do in your store, and using a smart Wi-Fi presence analytics can give you an idea of how long they spend, and what they do while they are at your location.
This information is then used to directly influence your decisions about marketing to your customers. The ability to engage your customers, even when they are offline and in your brick and mortar store, in the middle of their contact with your business, is an intriguing way to communicate with them and stay their choice for a longer time.
With triggered marketing, you take advantage of an event, or occurrence in the target audience’s routine to offer an “upsell” or a “cross-sell.” It has been shown to have a response rate that is five times higher than non-triggered targeted marketing.
Effective triggered marketing makes use of emotions.
It might seem like a better idea to appeal to reason, however, effective triggered marketing relies more on emotions to get a customer to engage in the way that they want.
Emotions that are commonly used are:
Value.
When a business offers a good deal to its clients, the emotional trigger is ‘value.’ Many successful promotions rely on being able to convince customers that you have the best deals.
An example of an effective way to implement this is the popular statement many businesses make that “If you find a better deal anywhere else, then we will match it.” This convinces the customer that the business is confident about the value it offers.
Guilt.
Guilt is an effective trigger and can be used in two ways. Charity organisations use the guilt trigger by telling their clients that they can help alleviate suffering, and other organisations use different tactics, such as trade-free cotton, sweatshop-free fashion, and so on to channel guilt as a trigger for engagement.
Trust.
Trust is an effective emotional trigger as well. Businesses use this to build customer relationships and it’s a hot marketing trend right now. Many businesses offer trust in statements like “no hidden fees” or “no-obligations quote,” implying that other businesses are not to be trusted not to hit the clients with hidden charges or other unclear practices.
Competition.
People are often attracted to the concept of being equal or better than their peers and a common strategy that is used today is to appeal to this feeling. Fashion often uses this emotion in statements like “Make them stare” or “Want to be the cynosure of all eyes?”
Instant gratification.
People often get instant gratification and, as a result, expect it in all aspects of their lives. Being able to provide instant services to consumers is a great service, and appealing to that feeling of instant gratification by catering to a sense of urgency is a marketing trend that many businesses embrace today.
Using triggers like instantly, in an hour, same day delivery, and more are guaranteed to hold your clients’ attention.
Building an effective triggered marketing campaign.
If you want to build an effective triggered marketing campaign, then it is important that you take the right steps.
Use customer behaviour and timing to pinpoint effective triggers.
Identify your goals and be sure to state what behavior you expect from your target in response to your marketing efforts at each point.
Consider how much time your client will need to be carried along in your efforts. For example, consider how long it will take to convert a client from a potential target to an actual customer, then use the time frame to set triggers for each point in the cycle of conversion so that they are receiving the right trigger message at the right time.
Create touchpoints to help you reach out at the right moment.
Identifying the key touchpoints will give you the opportunity to really contact your client with the right messages at the right time, and using the proper channels of communication.
Find out what connects a customer to your brand and then using that information, create a model of offers, and time your engagement to suit the appropriate points of interaction. Some triggers for sending critical messages include abandoned items in carts, expired subscriptions, or no activity after sign-up.
Integrate your sales process.
To successfully incorporate your marketing techniques, you need an email provider that has the capability to integrate your sales process and your CRM. Also, make sure to get have a good web presence with a responsive design and top level professional hosting.
Being able to connect your website activity, or engagement to an email sent to your customers to your marketing campaign as feedback is important. Before you choose an email provider, ensure that the services they provide can fulfil this need.
Closure is important.
Trigger emails are essential to developing a connection between your clients and your brands. Track your target audience actions and gather enough feedback to make appropriate adjustments to your campaign. Also, remember to create responsive campaigns since approximately 51% of emails are opened on a mobile device.
The bottom line is that with triggered marketing you have to go the extra mile to offer customers deals that are personalised and as such trigger them to respond exactly how you want them to. This ensures your clients stay connected to your business and are committed to your brand at a personal level.
James Cummings is a business psychologist and serial entrepreneur, with over a decade working in finance, IT, marketing and recruitment sectors. He has authored numerous books in the management space and is owner of egnut.com.