We began an engagement with a service provider a few years ago. We were charged with evaluating their customer marketing efforts and outlining the go-forward strategy, creative execution and analytics to increase the cross sell of additional products and services. Like most providers, they not only offer the featured service to their customers, but also numerous affiliated products and brands each of seemingly high value. This becomes somewhat of a challenge when trying to effectively convey the benefits of each to their customer. It requires them knowing more about their customer to understand what is important to them; and it is the reason it’s so critical to develop a two-way dialogue with customers. Marketers can effectively engage with their customers to deliver the right message at the right time once this conversation has been established.
The Audit
It became clear when we took a look at their existing communications that they were over communicating with their customers. Multiple lines of business competed for their customer’s attention; and cross-sell campaigns were being deployed simultaneously. The result: saturated customer inboxes, declining conversion rates and a very hard-to-manage marketing calendar. Competing business drivers ruled over the customer’s needs.
Pragmatic evaluated the existing cross-sell communications being sent to customers throughout their tenure.
Our Plan
Together, we transformed their marketing strategy. We put the customer at the center of their own communications experience. We listened to them, and held their hand along the way. The new approach was a behavior-based communications journey designed to take them through the purchase funnel from awareness to conversion.
The first step of the new journey was to ensure we were targeting the right people. Using models and scoring, refreshing data, and deploying re-contact and re-profile campaigns were critical in our understanding of the customer. Arguably even more important was putting them in the driver’s seat and letting them dictate their communications path. As Marketers it was on us to serve up important content, but we needed to allow them to navigate through their journey by engaging and expressing interest in various topics.
Pragmatic developed a ground up strategy to cross sell and drive customers down the funnel from Awareness of the available products and services, through the Consideration, Intent and Conversion phases of the buying cycle with a customer and content-centric journey map.
1. Awareness – Provide an overview of the products
We started with an Overview Email Campaign promoting multiple categories of services and offerings.
2. Consideration – Once interest is expressed in a product category, serve up an easy-to-scan outline of the available services and products
Next, we deployed follow-up messages based on the customer’s behavior, and their engagement within the initial Overview Email. A relevant, Digest-style Email Campaign was sent detailing the different services within the expressed interest category. We developed 3 versions of the Digest-style Email and customers received the version related to the product category they expressed interest in.
Customers who didn’t click on the Overview Email received a re-mail of the initial email a few days later, with a different subject line providing them another opportunity to engage.
3. Intent – Deliver in-depth product related messaging and offers to drive purchase
Finally, we were able to get even more targeted and sent a highly customized email based on the service the customer expressed interest in within the Digest-style Email Campaign.
We sent a product-specific Offer Email Campaign providing an incentive for the customer to convert and sign up. We created 12 versions of the Offer Email (four for each of the three product categories). Customers received the Offer Email associated to the specific product link they clicked on within the Digest-style Email.
Again, customers who didn’t click on the digest-style email received a re-mail of that email a few days later, with a different subject line providing them another opportunity to engage.
Success
Through the use of this new technique, we were easily able to adjust the customer’s communications path and deploy valuable, customer-centric messaging in the most relevant manner. Our re-mailing tactic ensured customers didn’t miss messages, and kept our client top of mind. And, all of this was done through a marketing automation platform which allowed our client to focus on generating sales and not managing complicated program operations.
But most importantly, this effort resulted in the most impressive results of any similar campaign in the company’s history:
Comments