Event Triggered Marketing Campaign Strategies That Increase Response Rates
Many marketers have yet to delve deeply into event-triggered campaigns, which are usually "one-off" initiatives that only utilize email. Often, these take the form of push emails sent to customers who experience a technical problem or abandon a shopping cart on an e-commerce site. As the priority for marketers shifts to improving the bi-directional relationship with customers and potential customers across multiple media (e.g. phone, web, print, and mobile phone platforms), it quickly becomes apparent that dated event-triggered methods must be updated too. Put simply, good timing and a large database are no longer enough to generate new opportunities for revenue.
Current event-triggered campaigns require two things: a way to track and capture previous customer interactions across all points of contact, and a way to use that information to personalize messages. Using collected customer data to effectively trigger personalized marketing messages, offers, and initiatives is a key component of a successful event-triggered campaign.
Research from Gartner suggests that an event-triggered campaign can save up to 80 percent of a marketer's direct mail budget. This is accomplished by delivering targeted on-demand services, such as signing up a customer for a new rewards club, rather than mass printing and mailing a brochure. So, while there may be upfront costs in changing existing processes and technologies, the long term payout will be worth the effort. And that's just the beginning.
Once a system for event-driven marketing has been put in place, it is easy to establish goals the entire organization can appreciate and understand: new clients, and up-sell and cross-sell offers to existing clients. With a transparent set of measurable strategies, marketers can negotiate budgets from a stronger position, and are more likely to be able to acquire the necessary funding for implementing event-triggered campaigns in future campaigns.
To begin, marketers must set clear goals for event-triggered campaigns targeting both new customers and existing customers. It is of course possible to focus on only one of these groups, and this approach may be the best way to test and evaluate campaigns on a smaller scale. Start by setting easily manageable benchmarks and metrics that can be tracked throughout the campaign.
Next, look at your current methods and technologies. Ensure that the proper technology is being used to take advantage of the customer data collected regardless of which channel it came from, and as you track your metrics, make sure your system is designed to flag inconsistencies so that the proper adjustments can be made.
Gartner's research suggests that event-triggered marketing messages have nearly five times the response rate of non-targeted push messages. Attaining these results is an achievable goal for campaigns that utilize a consolidated database which automatically captures customer activity from all points of contact, from on-line action, to customer service phone calls, to in-store purchases. Mining this data is crucially important to extending relevant cross-sell and up-sell offers, and if it's not cross referenced, it's far more difficult to target personalized offers. By employing solid event-triggered tactics across all channels based on previous customer preferences, marketers now have many more tools to encourage repeat business and loyalty.
Kristin Hambelton is the Director of Marketing at Neolane. Neolane provides the only event triggered marketing automation software specifically designed to manage, automate and optimize programs across traditional and emerging channels including direct mail, email and mobile.
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