Marketing Automation for Customer Loyalty

25% of eCommerce companies excelling in customer loyalty are able to retain almost 70% of their buyers, as shown by the Online Consumer Trends 2019]. eCommerce brands at the other end of the spectrum face a struggle, however, because only 20% of their customers are willing to make two purchases, and only 10% is willing to go beyond three. This article is meant to illustrate how marketing automation can help your brand make it to the top 25%.

The Online Consumer Trends 2019 – report created by SALESmanago Marketing Automation – analyzed data from 500 large and midsize eCommerce businesses, including over 1,5 billion online events and over 120 million transactions worth over 500$ million of revenues. The report in question revealed that over 70% of customers refuse to come back to eCommerce brands that perform poorly in customer loyalty.

Contrary to this, companies that are efficiently using marketing automation software lose only 30%. Furthermore, returning customers keep spending again and again in these online shops, because 48,5% of people still make a purchase after visiting the store from external sites and ads.

So the question is, how to keep at least some of those customers who are never going to come back again?

The answer is to effectively communicate with the existing customer base using personalization, time-relevant messaging and automatic programs to successfully address different behaviors across the entire customer life cycle. By doing so, companies can generate 25% of their revenue by conducting campaigns through the marketing automation platform.

What Can Marketing Automation Do For Your Online Store?

The basis of marketing is to know the needs and interests of your customers. In other words, the goal is to create a 360* behavioral profile (aka. a single customer view) for each buyer. Marketing Automation systems let you collect behavioral data regarding online and offline transactions. Even better, you can use them to monitor customer activity in the loyalty program, in Social Media and in the Mobile App (if you have one), as well as gather data from external systems such as CRMs, ERPs and Data Warehouses.

Based on the client’s profile, Marketing Automation technology generates perfectly tailored offers. AI & Machine Learning engine generates predictive, data-driven product recommendations, which will be the most interesting for your customers and most likely to be bought. Furthermore, automatic processes and campaigns enable real-time response to any customer activity, thus providing a seamless omnichannel experience.

In short: marketing automation technology allows you to deliver a tailored offer at the right time, using the most appropriate communication channel.

How Can Marketing Automation Boost Customer Loyalty?

Personalization is key to customer loyalty. According to McKinsey & Company, targeted communications that are relevant and useful can create lasting customer loyalty and drive revenue growth by 10 to 30%. Another research shows that nearly 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide relevant offers and recommendations.

That’s why you should segment your customer database based on transactional data, such as the time of the last purchase, frequency of purchases, or the amounts they spent. With that in mind, send different messages to frequent buyers and occasional shoppers. Provide information about promotions to thrifty customers, and deliver information regarding premium collections for high-spenders.

With Marketing Automation you can automatically detect the probability of customer churn and respond to declines in purchasing activity. It should also come as no surprise that mass newsletters can (or rather should) be personalized. Address customers by name, use 1-to-1 product recommendations and send time relevant messages, which are almost as effective as discounting.

The Power of Product Recommendation

With Marketing Automation you can deliver 1-to-1 product recommendations in different communication channels, most suitable for certain customers. For example, Use the recommendation frame on the product page to offer popular items or showcase bestsellers on the cart page.

Moreover, arouse interest with dynamic emails, featuring AI & Machine Learning product recommendations. Answer the cart abandonment problem – which goes as high as 68% for the average eCommerce brand – by sending dynamic emails reminding people that they left items in the cart, giving your customers an opportunity to quickly finish their business.

Another way to reduce cart abandonment is to use a loyalty program. When customers are offered some form of reward, they’re more inclined to complete their purchase.

Don’t Forget the Banners!

Use personalized banners to display content tailored to customer interest at every stage in the customer life cycle. Show a banner with a discount for the first-time visitors; a banner encouraging newsletter subscription for those who haven’t done it yet; and display a banner with a rebate code for those who have made a purchase in last month.

Launch a dynamic popup and adjust its appearance depending on the previously viewed categories, even for anonymous users. For example, if you sell footwear, display a different popup for users depending on whether they’re interested in men’s or women’s shoes.

Automation Is the Future

Marketing automation software also allows you to create an intelligent bot on Facebook Messenger with a quiz to engage customers. For example, if you have an online beauty store, use a quiz about skin treatment, offering relevant products at the end of the journey.

With marketing automation software you can take care of customer experience and customer service by displaying product suggestions during live chat conversations, based on shopping history and website visits, as well as AI & Machine Learning product recommendations.

Marketing automation will finally enable you to automatically adjust your page and communication to meet the expectation of your customers, thus increasing your shop conversion and revenue.

Another form of collecting useful information is through Gamified Profiling, an essential step towards personalization.

Building Customer Loyalty With Marketing Automation

All these examples of marketing automation help to build a sense of familiarity with the brand, making the buying process easier and more relevant. It’s important to start building that sense from the first store visit and without losing customer interest by delivering too many unwanted offers.

Having a platform capable of running personalized omnichannel communication and precisely defined responses to customer behavior makes it easier to design a powerful loyalty program.