Customer Lifecycle Magazine
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An Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
4 Reasons<br />
Why Marketers<br />
Need Personas<br />
pg. 8<br />
BUILDING<br />
UNMATCHED<br />
CUSTOMER<br />
EXPERIENCES:<br />
The who, how, what,<br />
when, and where<br />
6 Steps<br />
to Building a<br />
Personalization<br />
Roadmap<br />
pg. 9<br />
3 Email Triggers<br />
to Consider<br />
pg. 21
Data-Driven <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Experiences<br />
Letter from the president<br />
Michael Fisher<br />
At Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing, we are dedicated to creating<br />
a connected, committed, and collaborative culture – we<br />
adhere to this within our business, and, more importantly,<br />
we operate this way with you – our customers.<br />
We are relentlessly striving to enable organizations to become<br />
insights-driven businesses. We harness the power of data,<br />
transform it into insights, turn those insights into actions,<br />
and those actions into remarkable customer experiences.<br />
At a time when consumers hold more power in the palm of<br />
their hand, there has never been a greater opportunity to<br />
differentiate your brand by providing exceptional interactive<br />
moments. Turning these experiences into a cohesive lifecycle<br />
journey for your customers (and into revenue for you) is what<br />
we are distinctively positioned to deliver.<br />
Our goal is to be the single partner our clients turn to<br />
for customer experience management technology and<br />
solutions. Whether this is via a cross-channel marketing<br />
platform, integrated proprietary data, unrivaled agency<br />
services – including strategy, creative, and analytics – or<br />
hosting sophisticated marketing databases, our connected,<br />
committed, and collaborative teams act as one with our<br />
clients. We deliver on the promise of building experiences<br />
that lead to demonstrable results.<br />
We are Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing:<br />
One Brand, One Mission, One Partner<br />
Boston | Chicago | Portland | San Francisco | Denver | Omaha<br />
Dallas | New York | Toronto | London | Singapore | Sydney<br />
A LOOK INSIDE<br />
Who are your customers? .....................................pg. 6<br />
How do you communicate with them? ..............pg. 8<br />
How do you grow your audience? .....................pg. 10<br />
What do you say to your customers? ...............pg. 14<br />
When do you communicate with them? ..........pg. 18<br />
Where can you reach them? ...............................pg. 22<br />
2 | marketing@yeslifecyclemarketing.com | 1-877-937-6245 | yeslifecyclemarketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 3
YOUR CUSTOMERS:<br />
A LIFECYCLE JOURNEY<br />
Who are your<br />
customers?<br />
Who<br />
How<br />
How do you<br />
communicate with<br />
your audience and<br />
grow it?<br />
Where can you<br />
reach them?<br />
Where<br />
What<br />
What do you say<br />
to your<br />
customers?<br />
When<br />
When do you<br />
communicate<br />
with them?<br />
Linda Vetter<br />
Vice President, Marketing<br />
Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing<br />
First off, thank you for picking up this magazine.<br />
While Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing is a marketing services and<br />
technology provider, our goal with this publication is NOT to<br />
advertise the products and solutions we offer. Instead, we<br />
want you to get to know us. One of our key differentiators<br />
is our people and the expertise they bring to our clients.<br />
The content within <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven<br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>, is your resource for the who, how, what, when,<br />
and where of building unmatched customer experiences.<br />
Our goal is to give you the foundation that can help propel<br />
your customer lifecycle marketing and illustrate we have the<br />
know-how and understanding of the progressive strategies<br />
to get you there.<br />
In this edition of our magazine, we’ll help you identify who<br />
your customers are; understand how to communicate with<br />
them; discover how to grow your audience; determine what<br />
to say to them and when to communicate; and then help<br />
pinpoint where you should reach them.<br />
Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing empowers<br />
you to build an all-encompassing<br />
customer experience, from acquisition<br />
to retention to advocacy.”<br />
Read on to learn more about bringing your customer<br />
data into focus, developing customer personas, building<br />
a personalization roadmap, converting visitors into<br />
subscribers, driving customer engagement, improving<br />
targeting with testing, and utilizing triggers to increase<br />
conversion.<br />
Have feedback?<br />
We’re always looking for ways we can improve. Please send<br />
us a note at marketing@yeslifecyclemarketing.com.<br />
4 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 5
THE MORE YOU KNOW<br />
8 data sources to help you understand<br />
your audience<br />
By deepening your understanding of your customers, your<br />
brand can deliver a completely personalized marketing<br />
experience that builds long-term engagement, increases<br />
conversions and in turn, boosts return on investment.<br />
Start by finding out what your customer base looks like<br />
and equipping your marketing team with the tools to collect,<br />
store, and organize its various attributes. This exercise<br />
will enable you to develop a number of relevant customer<br />
segments and create customized marketing campaigns that<br />
will help you build long-lasting engagement and loyalty.<br />
Below are eight standard types of data you can use to get<br />
to know your customers:<br />
Demographic Data<br />
Married<br />
Has a 5-year-old<br />
Who are your customers?<br />
More info online:<br />
http://bit.ly/YLM-8data<br />
If you don’t collect or have access to the data that shapes<br />
your most important audience segments, you have a few<br />
options:<br />
Infer: some data points can be deducted based on user<br />
behavior. For example, if a user consistently clicks on nail<br />
polish and 97% of your nail polish purchasers are female, it<br />
can be inferred this user is female.<br />
Ask: you can request information directly from consumers<br />
by sending them a message with a distinct call-to-action<br />
to update their preferences or take a survey. To motivate<br />
consumers to act, you can include an incentive like a 15%<br />
-off coupon.<br />
Enhance: you can turn to a third party to append or enhance<br />
the data you have at hand; this will help you develop a more<br />
complete picture of your audience.<br />
Social Media Usage<br />
Active content sharer on<br />
Instagram and Facebook<br />
DRIVEN TO NEW HEIGHTS<br />
Focus on your customer data<br />
You know data is imperative to your success as a marketer.<br />
You’ve read the studies that state data-driven marketing is<br />
the key to higher revenue.<br />
With new marketing technologies and constantly growing<br />
number of customer touch points, the ability to expand<br />
a brand’s reach has led to a deluge of data collection and<br />
new selling opportunities. However, as collecting data has<br />
become easier, using it has grown more difficult.<br />
To Become Data-Driven, Focus On<br />
Your <strong>Customer</strong><br />
In order to truly take advantage of their digital marketing<br />
capabilities marketers need to start by analyzing their<br />
customer data file. Utilizing customer data to personalize<br />
marketing campaigns will increase the likelihood of an open,<br />
a click or a purchase.<br />
First, you need a sound master data management<br />
process in place. Standardizing data collection across your<br />
organization and implementing business rules for cleaning<br />
it are two steps you should take.<br />
Second, you’ll want to do an audience analysis on your<br />
customer and prospect file. This will enable you to utilize<br />
behavioral and descriptive data to form insights and create<br />
actionable audience segments. After this, you should focus<br />
on creating profiles for each segment and looking at ways<br />
to enhance the information you have on file, be it through<br />
data append, preference center update, or direct request to<br />
consumers.<br />
And here’s where it all ties together. Once you have a<br />
clear picture of your customers and prospects, you can<br />
Retailers say that<br />
identifying and engaging<br />
their most valuable<br />
customers is their biggest<br />
marketing challenge.”<br />
The New World of Cross-Channel Execution,<br />
a proprietary Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing research<br />
make better marketing decisions. You might find that you are<br />
mailing too many catalogs and need to refocus your energy<br />
on low-hanging opportunities. Or, that you have a potentially<br />
lucrative customer segment that needs to be tested.<br />
Your customer data holds the key to where and how you<br />
should invest your marketing budget. It will tell you which<br />
channels require your attention, and what messages will<br />
resonate best with each segment of your audience.<br />
Psychographic Data<br />
Enjoys hiking and camping<br />
Avid photographer<br />
Email Activity<br />
Frequent email opener<br />
Highest click rates occur<br />
early in the evening<br />
?<br />
Browse Data<br />
Recently browsed highend<br />
camera equipment on<br />
brand's site<br />
Preference<br />
Center Data<br />
Prefers to receive emails<br />
once a week<br />
Provided date of birth<br />
Real-Time, Event-<br />
Based Data<br />
Thunderstorm about to hit<br />
Chicago, IL, where he resides<br />
Home team in Super Bowl<br />
Purchase Data<br />
Recently purchased a pair<br />
of hiking boots<br />
“ We always knew we had male buyers, but we had<br />
no idea how valuable they were to our portfolio<br />
until Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing showed us.”<br />
Senior Manager, Strategy and Analytics<br />
6 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 7
Persona<br />
#1<br />
CUSTOMER PROFILES<br />
4 reasons why marketers need<br />
personas<br />
Everybody knows that personalized messages generate<br />
better engagement, drive more revenue and create<br />
more opportunity for long-term brand loyalty among<br />
consumers. Yet, proprietary research by Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong><br />
Marketing reveals that 68 percent of retailers say they wish<br />
they could improve personalization.<br />
That’s why developing personas is so important.<br />
Personas, or audience profiles, are created to represent<br />
different groups of consumers who engage with<br />
a brand, site or product. They offer marketers 4<br />
distinct benefits.<br />
Personas drive customer<br />
experience design<br />
<strong>Customer</strong>s have preferences and as marketers,<br />
we need to consider them. By developing personas,<br />
you can provide a personalized customer experience and<br />
develop messaging scenarios across various channels and<br />
based on a variety of customer actions. They help identify<br />
how different audience segments interact with<br />
each message and help inform the way<br />
messages are delivered to each group.<br />
Personas help build<br />
a consistent brand voice<br />
Personas help brands communicate<br />
different (but consistent) messages to<br />
each of their audience segments. For one<br />
persona, the message may aim to show that a<br />
brand understands its customers, for another - it may seek<br />
to demonstrate that its products are designed with the<br />
audience’s needs in mind. For both, however, the brand can<br />
communicate value every step of the way.<br />
How do you communicate with them?<br />
Persona<br />
#2<br />
Persona<br />
#3<br />
Personas inform channel<br />
investment and strategy<br />
<strong>Customer</strong>s and marketers can interact<br />
through a variety of online and offline<br />
channels. Personas can help brands identify<br />
which channels are most effective for which audience<br />
segment, and how to properly allocate budget to each one in<br />
order to improve ROI.<br />
Personas get results<br />
Personas make marketers more efficient and can provide a<br />
more actionable strategy.<br />
For example, after Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing helped a<br />
major multi-channel retailer build wellrounded<br />
personas, the client discovered<br />
that a large segment of their audience<br />
was more likely to engage through<br />
email than through the direct mail Persona<br />
catalogues they were getting. Based<br />
on these findings, the brand moved #4<br />
this 100,000-person segment<br />
into their email marketing<br />
stream thus significantly<br />
reducing direct mail costs and<br />
improving purchase rates for the segment<br />
by 10%.<br />
49% of marketers feel their<br />
communication efforts are<br />
one-size-fits-all and 68%<br />
say they wish they could<br />
improve these efforts.”<br />
The 2017 Channel Report,<br />
a proprietary Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing<br />
MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER<br />
THE CENTER OF YOUR<br />
UNIVERSE<br />
6 steps to building a personalization<br />
roadmap<br />
Personalization is a valuable asset to your business. It<br />
lets customers know that you understand them and cater<br />
specifically to them. In a market where customers can pick<br />
from endless options, the idea that your brand “gets” them<br />
is a strong differentiator that can set you apart. And the<br />
more you reinforce it, the stronger the relationship becomes.<br />
The ultimate goal is the customer’s long-term loyalty and<br />
repeated patronage.<br />
Here’s a six step approach to building a personalization<br />
roadmap that will not only help you decide what might work<br />
for your brand, but also how to go about implementing it.<br />
#1 Brainstorm<br />
Put personalization in the context of your brand and identify<br />
ways it could benefit your customers. Focus on the customer<br />
experience. What type of personalization or customization<br />
will help customers shop, or what will give them that extra<br />
nudge to convert? What will entertain, surprise and delight<br />
them? What kind of custom content might cause someone to<br />
show their phone to their friend and say, “Check out what I<br />
just got from !”<br />
#2 Prioritize<br />
One way to prioritize the ideas you brainstormed is to see<br />
how they map to your organization’s business goals. Start<br />
with your own marketing goals for the year, and look for KPIs<br />
which correlate to the personalization ideas on the list. For<br />
example, if one of the major goals you have is to improve<br />
open rates, a strong focus on optimizing the sender line,<br />
subject line and pre-headers should rank high. Keep the list<br />
relatively short, no more than 10 concepts.<br />
Which of the following data types do you<br />
use for communication personalization?<br />
70%<br />
Email<br />
engagement<br />
50%<br />
Web<br />
behavior<br />
41%<br />
Social media<br />
engagement<br />
54%<br />
Recipient<br />
name<br />
50%<br />
Demographic<br />
data<br />
30%<br />
Display ads<br />
engagement<br />
53%<br />
Purchase<br />
history<br />
49%<br />
Geographic<br />
data<br />
3%<br />
I don’t<br />
use data<br />
More info online:<br />
http://bit.ly/YLM-Personalize<br />
#3 Estimate the level of effort<br />
The best way to understand what’s involved in executing<br />
the ideas you’ve selected is to get input from relevant team<br />
members who are knowledgeable about your database,<br />
email production, user experience, and web design. Try<br />
asking questions like:<br />
• Is the data for this personalization available/<br />
accessible?<br />
• What do we need to do in order to collect / have<br />
access to / acquire data for this personalization?<br />
• What technologies or changes are necessary to<br />
support the customization?<br />
• What are the challenges in incorporating this type of<br />
personalization into the email?<br />
Keep the discussion about the level of effort required general<br />
with estimates like “Is it weeks or months?” “Is it 2-4 weeks<br />
or 6-8 weeks?”<br />
Finally, document dependencies like site updates or<br />
changes, store staff training, data analysis, data clean-up or<br />
the approval of a promotional offer.<br />
#4 Plot out a Roadmap<br />
Create a Personalization Roadmap for your plans for the<br />
next 12 – 18 months in quarterly increments. Use the<br />
prioritization you set in Step 2 and the implementation<br />
timelines from Step 3 to gauge where something should<br />
be on the roadmap. Keep it high level - this shouldn’t be a<br />
detailed project timeline.<br />
#5 Socialize<br />
Now is the time to share the Personalization Roadmap.<br />
Circle back with the relevant team members who helped you<br />
throughout the process and carefully review the feasibility<br />
of executing the prioritized items. Be ready to make<br />
adjustments based on feedback, especially at the beginning.<br />
#6 Test for Effectiveness<br />
When making any enhancements or changes to the way<br />
you personalize your email campaigns, it’s best to test<br />
them out over a number of deployments to work out all the<br />
kinks. Testing also provides much needed KPIs that help you<br />
measure the success of a new personalization initiative. Keep<br />
in mind, not all results can be measured. Personalization first<br />
and foremost enhances your customers’ overall experience.<br />
Be sure to keep your eye on both the short and long-term<br />
results. Don’t forget to revisit your roadmap to make sure<br />
you are on track, and to add more ideas to your plan.<br />
8 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 9
LET’S STAY IN TOUCH<br />
3 tips for collecting customers’ emails<br />
in-store<br />
Almost half of retailers do not collect email addresses instore,<br />
arguably the lowest hanging fruit for marketers. Past<br />
purchasers are more likely to engage than non-purchases<br />
and it’s much easier to maintain a customer relationship<br />
than to foster a new one.<br />
Here are 3 best practices for welcoming in-store<br />
shoppers into your brand’s digital program:<br />
#1<br />
Make collection optional: Consumers must be<br />
aware that they’re not required to provide an<br />
email address in order to complete a transaction<br />
or receive a receipt. The incentive to join your list<br />
can be an e-receipt, a discount or other benefits. Just be<br />
clear that sign-up is optional.<br />
#2<br />
Use name capture tools: It’s standard practice<br />
to have the cashier enter a customer’s email<br />
address into the POS system or provide a<br />
physical sign-up sheet where shoppers can write<br />
their information down. These methods are very prone<br />
to errors and altogether inefficient. A more reliable<br />
option would be to allow buyers to enter their own<br />
email address into the POS system and follow-up with<br />
an email that prompts the consumer to confirm his or<br />
her subscription.<br />
How do you grow your audience?<br />
#3<br />
Provide opt-in & opt-out options: Consumers<br />
should have control over what types of emails<br />
they receive. Encourage them to elect to receive<br />
promotions (perhaps with a purchase incentive),<br />
in addition to transactional communications; or provide<br />
an option to opt out of additional mailings at the end of<br />
an e-receipt.<br />
Aligning online and offline customer data should be part of<br />
every savvy marketer’s strategy. By following these three instore<br />
email collection tactics and communicating their value<br />
to all customer-facing employees, brands can ensure their<br />
message and goals are preserved throughout the process.<br />
Almost half (44%) of marketers<br />
consider improving customer<br />
acquisition a top 3 priority.”<br />
ONLY THE BEST<br />
“Look-Alike” customer<br />
acquisition models deliver ROI<br />
At a time when CEOs are more focused than<br />
ever on bottom-line performance, marketers<br />
are being asked to do more with less. With<br />
responsibility to continually fill the pipeline<br />
with new customers who are the life-blood of<br />
long-term growth and profitability, it’s critical<br />
that marketers get it right. Reducing acquisition<br />
costs and converting prospects who are likely to<br />
be highly engaged are two of the most important<br />
goals. What’s a marketer to do?<br />
Well, today’s savvy marketers realize that<br />
data is the new black which means that it can<br />
be extremely effective for customer acquisition.<br />
They understand that searching for “households<br />
with incomes above $50K; who live within five<br />
miles of the store; with 2+ children under the<br />
age of 18” is not the best way to spend valuable<br />
resources. In fact, according to an eMarketer<br />
report, “in order to maximize the effectiveness<br />
of dollars allocated to acquisition efforts,<br />
marketers must place an emphasis on data,<br />
audience centricity and the lifetime value of<br />
customers.”<br />
More and more marketers are leveraging<br />
their customer data to develop acquisition<br />
programs that identify the proverbial “needle<br />
in the haystack” (i.e. highly valuable prospects).<br />
This strategic solution focuses on:<br />
• Identifying existing best customers<br />
• Employing advanced statistical analysis<br />
and modeling to identify prospects who<br />
“look like” their best customers<br />
Step<br />
#1<br />
Step<br />
#2<br />
Step<br />
#3<br />
Step<br />
#4<br />
Define the customer segment you want to clone.<br />
This can be tricky because there are many ways to<br />
define your audience. Is it the customer segment that<br />
spends the most across all merchandise categories? Or<br />
is it your best Men’s Apparel or Women’s Sportswear<br />
customer with a specific purchase history? You can<br />
even define your ideal customer based upon geography<br />
(want to grow customer base in the Northeast or the<br />
Mid-West?), or even by demographics (more Millennials<br />
anyone?).<br />
Identify your ’best customer’ sub-segment via a key<br />
financial metric.<br />
After you’ve isolated the customer segment you want to<br />
clone, you’ll need to separate the “best” customers from<br />
the rest of the segment base. We’d typically identify a<br />
key financial metric such as net or gross sales, gross<br />
margin or profitability, and then rank each customer<br />
from highest to lowest.<br />
Append 3 rd party demographic, lifestyle and<br />
behavioral data.<br />
Appending 350+ 3 rd party data elements (i.e. age,<br />
household income, education, enjoys hiking or plays<br />
tennis) to customer records identified in steps 1 and 2, is<br />
an integral component to the final “look-alike” modeling<br />
solution.<br />
Build the “look alike” model.<br />
From among the 350+ appended data elements, typically<br />
between 7 and 12 individual attributes will represent<br />
the key data attributes that will be used in the “best”<br />
customer “look-alikes”, or cloning model.<br />
The 2017 Channel Report,<br />
a proprietary Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing research<br />
• Deploying a cross-channel media<br />
strategy to engage and convert the target<br />
prospects<br />
DID YOU KNOW?<br />
After Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing built a<br />
look-alike model for a retail client,<br />
they improved:<br />
response<br />
average<br />
rate by<br />
spend by<br />
250 % 53 %<br />
cost per<br />
acquisition by<br />
marketing<br />
ROI by<br />
69 % 3,227 %<br />
Step<br />
#5<br />
Step<br />
#6<br />
Step<br />
#7<br />
Score the prospect universe.<br />
There are approximately 230 million individuals<br />
maintained in most U.S. consumer databases. To<br />
determine which of these prospects look like your best<br />
customers, you’d apply the arithmetic equation from<br />
the model you built and scored to each of the names.<br />
The prospects who score in the top 10% or top 20% are<br />
typically selected for the acquisition campaign. The final<br />
percentage will depend upon your budget and marketing<br />
acquisition objectives.<br />
Suppress your existing customers.<br />
After you’ve identified the prospect file from the scoring<br />
process, match your existing customer base against this<br />
list and suppress any matching records. This leaves you<br />
with the final file of prospect households to target.<br />
Reach out to the “look-alike” target audience.<br />
You can message these prospects through any<br />
marketing channel, including direct or email, display,<br />
social or mobile media.<br />
10 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 11
How do you grow your audience?<br />
JOIN THE CROWD!<br />
Convert website visitors to subscribers<br />
The continuous growth of mobile shopping, especially during<br />
the holiday season, has resulted in an increase of new<br />
subscribers opting into brands’ mailing programs. According<br />
to a recently released National Retail Federation report, last<br />
year “online and other non-store sales increased 12.6%...”<br />
Using interstitial forms and pop-windows on their<br />
websites is a ‘must’ for marketers who want to grow<br />
their database and take advantage of long-term revenue<br />
opportunities. This strategy is particularly effective when<br />
combined with a generous incentive that encourages site<br />
visitors to opt into a brand’s mailing program. In addition,<br />
in order to ensure the success of their cross-channel<br />
acquisition strategies, brands should supplement their web<br />
forms with a fun and informative email welcome series that<br />
introduces new subscribers to the brand, sets expectations<br />
about the brand and its mailing program, and, if applicable,<br />
invites them to join the brand’s loyalty program.<br />
For example, during the holiday season Lands’ End<br />
had a great incentive for new site visitors who subscribe<br />
to their email program; they offered 40% off one item and<br />
free shipping on orders over $50 when visitors entered their<br />
email address in the well-placed interstitial form.<br />
After visitors subscribed, they were entered into a<br />
welcome stream that first provided the promised reward<br />
(40% off a single item), then set the expectations new<br />
subscribers should have for Lands’ End (quality guaranteed)<br />
and finally, encouraged them to follow the brand on social<br />
media for an additional touch point. One thing to note is<br />
that the interstitial form did not pop up right away when<br />
consumers first got to the Lands’ End website; instead, it<br />
appeared after visitors had selected a category to browse.<br />
This was a smart practice as it delayed ‘the ask’ (a.k.a.<br />
the brand requesting site visitors’ email addresses) until<br />
consumers had gotten a glimpse of the Lands’ End products<br />
which is key for creating demand.<br />
1 Day<br />
After<br />
3 Days<br />
After<br />
5 Days<br />
After<br />
More info online:<br />
http://bit.ly/YLM-convert<br />
“ Smart marketers can use<br />
any of their communication<br />
channels as part of their<br />
acquisition strategy. Any<br />
point of interaction can be<br />
an ‘in’ with new customers.”<br />
Ivy,<br />
Marketing, Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing<br />
12 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 13
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?<br />
A look inside 6 different email offers<br />
On any given day, consumers are inundated with emails<br />
from a variety of brands promoting a variety of products and<br />
services, creating a highly competitive inbox.<br />
To capture consumers’ attention and stand out, brands<br />
have prominently adopted the use of offer incentives in<br />
email content. Offers like free shipping, specific percent or<br />
dollar-off purchase and more are common. Incentives are<br />
even more pronounced during promotion-heavy holiday<br />
season when brands are vying for consumer attention.<br />
To determine which offers perform best, Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong><br />
Marketing analyzed nearly 8 billion emails and studied the<br />
performance of different incentives in email subject lines.<br />
Key findings include:<br />
• Offers were used in 30% of all email subject lines and<br />
in nearly half (44%) of retail-only subject lines.<br />
• Across all industries, incentives related to loyalty<br />
programs outperformed all other offer types,<br />
generating the highest open, click and click-to-open<br />
(CTO) rates.<br />
• On average, emails without an offer in the subject<br />
line boasted higher open, click and CTO rates than<br />
those promoting specific incentives. Yet for retail,<br />
offers promoting a specific ‘% off’ drove the highest<br />
conversion rates from all other messages, with 7.9%<br />
of all clicks leading to a purchase.<br />
The one exception to the last finding was loyalty incentives.<br />
Emails with offers related to loyalty boasted a 9 percent<br />
higher open rate, 20 percent higher click rate, and 12 percent<br />
higher click-to-open rate compared to campaigns with<br />
no offers. Many marketers feel like they need to advertise<br />
generous offers to be competitive. However, the lack of<br />
engagement shows that consumers are often not tempted<br />
by extravagant incentives. Instead, to make emails relevant,<br />
marketers should emphasize loyalty and rely on lifecycle<br />
messages to keep things fresh and make offers feel more<br />
unique.<br />
What do you say to your customers?<br />
While the low engagement of emails promoting<br />
specific offers might be counter-intuitive, it emphasizes<br />
the importance of a balanced marketing program. In order<br />
to create well-rounded marketing strategies that cater to<br />
their audiences’ needs, brands must have the data to create<br />
a holistic view of their customers, the ability to develop<br />
insights from that data, and the technology to deliver their<br />
message efficiently across each channel.<br />
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(Mix & Match!)<br />
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More info online:<br />
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Hurry, ends Friday<br />
A DATE TO REMEMBER<br />
Calendar ideas for customer<br />
engagement<br />
Mon.<br />
Looking for ideas on how to remain relevant and stay top<br />
of mind? Our monthly customer-centric calendar series<br />
highlights holidays and events marketers can use to engage<br />
with and relate to customers.<br />
From cause-driven events like Women’s History Month<br />
and Autism Awareness Month through ‘enthusiast’ days like<br />
National Cheese Lover’s Day, we have every opportunity to<br />
win over customers covered. With our monthly customercentric<br />
calendar, you won’t miss a life moment or official<br />
holiday that your customers are looking to celebrate.<br />
Examples from April<br />
To get inspired, search for<br />
our monthly marketing calendar on<br />
yeslifecyclemarketing.com/blog<br />
Administrative Professionals Day<br />
1-800-Flowers used Facebook to<br />
promote lovely bouquets, perfect<br />
as thank you gifts for admin<br />
professionals.<br />
Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri. Sat. Sun.<br />
3<br />
10<br />
17<br />
24<br />
4<br />
11<br />
18<br />
25<br />
5<br />
12<br />
19<br />
26<br />
April<br />
6<br />
13<br />
20<br />
27<br />
7<br />
14<br />
21<br />
28<br />
1<br />
8<br />
15<br />
22<br />
2<br />
9<br />
16<br />
23<br />
29 30<br />
<strong>Customer</strong>-Centric Monthly Marketing Calendar:<br />
Spring is in the air! There are numerous holidays throughout April that<br />
provide opportunities for brands to capitalize on “energy moments” and<br />
engage customers and subscribers. Email and social channels can be used<br />
in tandem to strengthen the themes of your messages. Therefore<br />
marketers should plan out a multi channel campaign approach to<br />
maximize brand awareness and conversion opportunities.<br />
1 st 1 st – 3 rd 2 nd 2 nd 7 th<br />
Daily<br />
Sports<br />
Daily<br />
Sports<br />
Daily<br />
April<br />
Fool’s<br />
Day<br />
NCAA<br />
final four<br />
National<br />
PB&J<br />
Day<br />
15 th 16 th 18 th<br />
Sports<br />
Daily<br />
Daily<br />
NBA<br />
playoffs<br />
start<br />
Easter<br />
Tax Day<br />
Month Long Events: Earth Month and Earth Day<br />
As consumers get more environmentally conscious, Lands’<br />
End took the opportunity on Earth Day to feature their “plant<br />
a tree” campaign. The message highlighted a meaningful<br />
and compelling insight into the brand’s efforts to raise<br />
awareness for the environment.<br />
Meanwhile, Ace Hardware used a great multi channel<br />
approach to expand on the green theme and get their<br />
subscribers’ attention on Earth Day<br />
April 1 – 3: Final 4 - March Madness<br />
Even for non-sports related brands, it’s easy to get into<br />
the spirit of NCAA Final Four. AMC theater’s invited their<br />
followers to participate in a bracket themed movie face-off<br />
to keep their brand name top-of-mind during the games.<br />
Get into the spirit with daily updates on teams that moved<br />
on and ensure you are putting relevant products front<br />
and center. Dick’s Sporting Goods timely social promos<br />
featured apparel from the Final Four teams in 2016 -<br />
capitalizing on the home town spirit of Wisconsin,<br />
Michigan, Duke and Kentucky.<br />
MLB<br />
opening<br />
day<br />
Daily<br />
22 nd<br />
National<br />
Jelly Bean<br />
Day<br />
National<br />
Beer Day<br />
Music<br />
14 th – 23 rd<br />
Coachella<br />
Daily<br />
Daily<br />
22 nd 26 th<br />
Earth<br />
Day<br />
Admin<br />
Professionals<br />
Day<br />
April 1: April Fool’s Day<br />
As illustrated by American Girl, use a fun event Like April<br />
Fool’s Day to drive traffic to video content. Children’s Place<br />
provided a fun way to feature user generated content by<br />
asking social followers to share pranks played on their child.<br />
Similarly, 1-800-Pet Meds created a contest where the best<br />
prank could get you a pet care package.<br />
Easter<br />
Williams Sonoma celebrated the<br />
holiday by promoting colorful Easterthemed<br />
candy and flowers, and also<br />
making the iconic Easter bunny<br />
central to their creative messages.<br />
Similarly, 1-800-Pet Meds created a contest where the best<br />
prank could get you a pet care package.<br />
April 7 + 22: National Beer Day & National Jelly Bean Day<br />
If you sell these food items, use it as a way to drive foot<br />
traffic to stores! Jelly Bean and Beer Day are great<br />
examples of using just a simple fun event to drive a day of<br />
engagement (and sales)! It’s one day so immediacy is the<br />
key to making it count!<br />
Party City highlighted Jelly Bean Day to creatively promote<br />
the variety of Jelly Bean flavors offered at their stores. For<br />
National Beer Day, Delta showed some regional flair by<br />
highlighting SweetWater Brewing Company, also located in<br />
the Delta hub city of Atlanta!<br />
Nearly one-third of messages brands<br />
send contain offer incentives, but<br />
perhaps counter-intuitively, they<br />
underperform in comparison with all<br />
other message types.”<br />
What’s the big deal: a look inside 6 different types of email offers,<br />
a proprietary Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing research<br />
Heads up! 25% off for<br />
rewards members<br />
April 14 – 23: Coachella<br />
Part of the fun of Coachella is the fashion, and social<br />
channels were widely used to showcase what was on<br />
trend. Abercrombie & Fitch used hashtag #festival look to<br />
feature key products seen around the festival. Aldo Shoes<br />
took it a step further by placing a team on the ground to<br />
not only capture fun moments but also highlight the style<br />
notes and durability of Aldo shoes worn by festival-goers<br />
at the event.<br />
Earth Month and Earth Day<br />
As consumers get more environmentally conscious, Lands’ End<br />
took the opportunity to promote their “plant a tree” campaign on<br />
Earth Day. The message highlighted the brand’s meaningful and<br />
compelling efforts to raise awareness for the environment.<br />
April 18: Tax Day<br />
Usually Tax Day is April 15th but in 2016 and 2017, it falls<br />
on April 18th. Have some fun with a day that most people<br />
know and (don’t) love. Ace Hardware promoted 18% off<br />
offer on the 18th last year and made in-store pickup free<br />
to drive store traffic. Meanwhile, AMC theaters invited<br />
subscribers to see a movie and had some fun leveraging<br />
personalization to highlight a movie playing soon.<br />
April 16: Easter<br />
Both Williams Sonoma and 1800 flowers celebrated the<br />
holiday by promoting colorful Easter-themed candy and<br />
flowers and also making the iconic Easter bunny central to<br />
their creative messages.<br />
14 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 15
View Online | Forward to a Friend<br />
April 19, 2016<br />
View Online | Forward to a Friend<br />
April 19, 2016<br />
View Online | Forward to a Friend<br />
April 19, 2016<br />
What do you say to your customers?<br />
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?<br />
How multivariate testing improves<br />
targeting and engagement<br />
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The more you understand customer behavior, the better able<br />
you are to create engaging experiences and increase the<br />
performance of email campaigns. That’s why A/B testing is<br />
such a valuable tool. You get real customers to tell you what<br />
they prefer by voting with a “click”.<br />
No more time wasted weighing the merits of one font<br />
over another; or the best wording for a call-to-action (CTA)<br />
button. Let the numbers point the way!<br />
Wouldn’t it be great if you could go beyond testing for<br />
preference and actually collect data on which elements of<br />
the experience contributed to the lift in conversion?<br />
The limitations of A/B testing<br />
A/B testing is an “either/or” situation. If you want to test<br />
button color, you need to test your options separately to<br />
determine the real effect of each change individually. But<br />
what if you want to test five other colors? Or three different<br />
CTA’s? What if you have separate editorial images to go with<br />
each CTA color? Clearly, testing all these options one by one<br />
would not only be mind-numbing to set up, but take ages to<br />
run.<br />
Multivariate testing: evaluating many<br />
versions at once<br />
Don’t let the name put you off. If you break “multivariate”<br />
down into two parts, its meaning becomes clear: multi<br />
=many, and variate = versions, a.k.a. it enables you to test<br />
multiple things at the same time.<br />
Say someone on the marketing team wants to change<br />
the CTA text from “click here” to “buy now” but another<br />
person thinks it should actually be “learn more”. Sure! Your<br />
boss wants to try different colors for the button while you’re<br />
at it. Why not? What about changing the button placement<br />
too? Bring it on!!<br />
We can test all of that at once – AND get accurate results!<br />
We’ll also be able to point EXACTLY to the one change that<br />
made the most difference.<br />
Multivariate testing allows you to look at each element<br />
on its own, all at once, without introducing any new or<br />
unknown elements (such as time of send, content, date sent)<br />
that could otherwise affect results. The customer database<br />
would be equally divided among the test samples and a<br />
control group to see which version is the most popular.<br />
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Fashion & Clothing<br />
Multivariate testing and segmentation<br />
By “slicing and dicing” the findings of the multivariate<br />
testing according to different customer segments you can<br />
create multiple versions of your email that are fine-tuned to<br />
increase conversions. Just think of the clicks and conversions<br />
you can generate if you employ these common types of<br />
multivariate tests to refine your marketing campaigns:<br />
• Subject line and pre-header<br />
A B<br />
• Subject line and CTA<br />
• Images and copy<br />
• Image placement, headline<br />
copy, and CTA color<br />
• CTA color, CTA copy and<br />
button placement<br />
Shop Online<br />
Try out new ideas since there’s no limit to the number of<br />
variations you can test. You’ll gain valuable knowledge<br />
for creating better targeted marketing campaigns that<br />
drive greater ROI.<br />
16 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com <strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 17
When do you communicate with them?<br />
SAY WHEN<br />
Choosing the right email frequency<br />
Long gone are the days when marketers could send “batch<br />
and blast” emails to their entire audience. <strong>Customer</strong>s<br />
have come to expect a certain level of personalization and<br />
relevance in their communications with brands. They also<br />
are more sensitive to how often they receive emails.<br />
Data and technology can help marketers determine<br />
the best email frequency based on subscribers’ interests,<br />
preferences, and behavior. Having the optimal email<br />
deployment strategy in place can mean the difference<br />
between subscriber engagement (and ideally customer<br />
loyalty) and the “spam” button. It often depends on your<br />
brand’s objectives, industry, and competition. So just how<br />
often should you send emails?<br />
The pros and cons of daily marketing emails<br />
Daily emails are well-suited for companies who need to<br />
create a sense of urgency and drive subscribers to quickly<br />
take action—purchase, download, recommend, or share.<br />
Brands who sell consumer goods are the best example.<br />
Marketers should be aware, however, that repeated use<br />
of this type of email can deter subscriber engagement<br />
and conversion. There’s a fine line between engaging and<br />
annoying, overwhelming, or boring.<br />
When weekly emails work best<br />
Some brands think customers have a short memory but they<br />
need to consider that daily emails aren’t always the way to<br />
go. Weekly emails can be just as effective because they tend<br />
to be opened promptly. Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing research<br />
finds that nearly three in four of opened emails (74%) are<br />
opened within the first 24 hours of landing in subscribers’<br />
inboxes. Marketers can make the most of this impulse to<br />
open by using subject lines that focus on a specific business<br />
objective or product. Testing subject lines is a great way to<br />
determine the most engaging content that drives opens.<br />
Monthly emails and newsletters<br />
Information-based mailings such as newsletters garner<br />
the most engagement when sent on a monthly basis. A Yes<br />
<strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing analysis indicates that 86% of opens for<br />
monthly e-newsletters occur within the first day an email<br />
campaign is deployed. Due to the timing between monthly<br />
emails, subscribers may find the messages more interesting<br />
and valuable than daily or weekly emails.<br />
Triggered emails<br />
Marketers send these automated emails after customers<br />
subscribe to an email list, abandon a website browsing<br />
session or shopping cart, complete a survey, or engage in<br />
an array of other activities. Other reasons to send triggered<br />
emails can include birthdays or anniversaries. Whatever the<br />
reason, these types of emails can be ‘set and forgotten’ due<br />
to their automated nature. Given the personalization and<br />
relevance of triggered emails, it’s no surprise that they have<br />
high engagement rates so marketers can reap the benefits<br />
without having to continuously invest time and resources.<br />
Striking the right email cadence is crucial, so brands<br />
should test different email marketing frequencies for<br />
various audience segments. Better yet, marketers can<br />
utilize preference centers to gain insight into what email<br />
subscribers enjoy most while empowering them to manage<br />
their relationships with brands.<br />
Having the right email<br />
frequency strategy can mean<br />
the difference between email<br />
recipients making a purchase<br />
and unsubscribing from any<br />
future communication.”<br />
Kris,<br />
Intelligence Products, Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing<br />
One of the most important tasks we<br />
accomplished working with Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong><br />
Marketing and utilizing their industry<br />
expertise and cross-client learnings, was<br />
identifying a true opportunity to not only<br />
drive incremental revenue, but overall<br />
engagement that translates to customer<br />
loyalty. That’s what the lifecycle trigger<br />
program did for us and that’s where Yes<br />
<strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing’s partnership and<br />
experience in the retail industry proved<br />
instrumental for our success.”<br />
Lands' End, Marketing Specialist<br />
18 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com
When do you communicate with them?<br />
LET’S STAY TOGETHER!<br />
3 email marketing triggers to consider<br />
This is an example of how a cohesive<br />
storyline, personalized content, and<br />
innovative execution deliver greater<br />
value and relevance for members.<br />
Through the Year in Review program,<br />
we were able to leverage individual<br />
members’ key accomplishments to<br />
drive re-engagement.”<br />
Marriott Rewards<br />
Campaign Manager<br />
As email open and click rates decrease year-over-year, it<br />
becomes increasingly difficult for marketers to effectively<br />
engage consumers. Triggered emails, messages that have<br />
been automated to varying degrees depending on a brand’s<br />
level of technology and integration, take this challenge head<br />
on because they:<br />
• are relevant (they respond to a specific action taken by<br />
the consumer)<br />
• are timely (they immediately follow that action)<br />
• demonstrate knowledge of and interest in consumers’<br />
actions<br />
• invite interaction between the brand and the consumer<br />
These campaigns are the work horse of a brand’s mailing<br />
program; they significantly outperform base communications<br />
not only when it comes to engaging subscribers, but also<br />
when it comes to converting them to purchasers. Let’s look<br />
at three types of triggered campaigns that can boost revenue.<br />
Browse abandon<br />
Browse abandon emails are part of the larger remarketing<br />
triggers umbrella since their primary objective is to grow<br />
email revenue and convert subscribers into purchases.<br />
Browse abandon emails typically highlight products that a<br />
site visitor viewed but did not add to his/her shopping cart<br />
or products that are similar to what was viewed. These<br />
campaigns are very easy to implement and optimize.<br />
Anniversary<br />
Marketers use these types of campaigns to congratulate their<br />
subscribers for reaching a milestone in their personal life or<br />
in their relationship with the brand. Anniversary campaigns<br />
typically mark a year since subscription/registration or from<br />
first purchase. They can also celebrate reaching a new loyalty<br />
level/status or racking up a specific number of loyalty points.<br />
Because milestone campaigns boast a congratulatory and<br />
reaffirming language, typically paired with a discount code<br />
as a ‘gift’ for the occasion, they introduce a completely new<br />
revenue stream while targeting part of the same audience<br />
that is receiving promotional emails.<br />
Activation<br />
Activation messages target subscribers who have lapsed<br />
early – they have recently (generally within 3 months) opted<br />
into a brand’s mailing program but have not interacted with<br />
any or most of the emails they have received since. Activation<br />
campaigns aim to re-capture these subscribers’ attention<br />
and reintroduce them to the mailing program through a<br />
combination of offer incentives, playful and cheeky copy, and<br />
message personalization. They’re very easy to set up since<br />
the only information they require is subscriber tenure and<br />
email activity, which is stored in any email platform.<br />
Browse Abandon<br />
Anniversary<br />
Activation<br />
<strong>Customer</strong> <strong>Lifecycle</strong>, an Insights-Driven <strong>Magazine</strong> | 21
Where should you reach out to your customers?<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
HERE, THERE, AND<br />
EVERYWHERE<br />
It’s a cross-channel world<br />
As long as customers continue to shop online, cross-channel<br />
marketing will increase in importance. While email marketing<br />
will remain an effective channel for brands to engage<br />
consumers and drive sales, as mobile commerce becomes<br />
the norm, marketers will need to implement inclusive crosschannel<br />
strategies to differentiate themselves and stay<br />
ahead of the competition.<br />
Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing conducted a survey of more than<br />
300 brands to gain insights into how marketers plan to drive<br />
engagement and conversions in a cross-channel world. Here<br />
are some key findings and takeaways:<br />
More info online:<br />
http://bit.ly/YLM-CrossChannel<br />
• Brands also see value in integrating digital and offline<br />
to gain a consistent view of the customer and offer<br />
an improved experience. Many will implement<br />
cross-channel marketing strategies in the year<br />
ahead to integrate siloed communication<br />
programs. Forty percent say they are looking<br />
to implement cross-channel attribution<br />
initiatives, followed by test tools for<br />
channels and content at 38 percent<br />
and a data-fed, consistent view of the<br />
customer at 35 percent.<br />
<strong>Customer</strong>s want and expect communications to be<br />
tailored to them based on what they need, when they<br />
need it, and where they want to receive messages.<br />
Marketers who have a 360-degree view of their<br />
customers will gain the insights needed to better<br />
target communications.<br />
Marketing technology and service providers who<br />
boast the capabilities necessary to execute highly<br />
personalized, cross-channel marketing tactics<br />
offer brands a strategic edge. The right partner can<br />
seamlessly integrate email, display, SMS, push,<br />
and social channels, to deliver unified customer<br />
experiences.<br />
Cross-channel marketing does not have to be<br />
complicated. Invest in the right tools, set achievable<br />
goals and build your strategy with the customer in<br />
mind.<br />
• While some brands do not yet use web browsing or<br />
purchase history data to customize offers, many are<br />
looking to incorporate more advanced tactics like<br />
cross-channel or dynamic offers to improve relevancy.<br />
• Brands will look to marketing technology and service<br />
providers to help get them on the right path through<br />
an emphasis on innovation and analytic services.<br />
• Brands will invest in cross-channel initiatives to<br />
improve upon existing tactics. Forty percent say they<br />
will implement cross-channel attribution initiatives,<br />
and 38 percent plan to implement test tools for<br />
channel and content.<br />
• Email remains and will continue to be<br />
a tried and true method of customer<br />
communication. With social and display<br />
rounding out the top three channels,<br />
brands are understanding the need to<br />
present relevant customer experiences<br />
across these channels in order to increase<br />
engagement with their audience. Similarly,<br />
these top three cross-channel initiatives<br />
support the path to improve the customer<br />
experience, which will ultimately drive sales.<br />
• Brands see value in marketing technology and service<br />
providers. Marketers say ease-of-use and integrated<br />
analytics matter most when using technology<br />
platforms. This is likely because of marketers’ need to<br />
be able to turn their data into action in order to gain a<br />
more consistent view of their customers. It’s perhaps<br />
not surprising that marketers ranked reporting so<br />
high because they need to be able to access<br />
and analyze data to derive insights<br />
which influence communication<br />
strategies.<br />
Brands will invest in cross-channel<br />
initiatives to improve upon existing tactics:<br />
Forty percent say they will implement<br />
cross-channel attribution initiatives, and<br />
38 percent plan to implement test tools for<br />
channel and content.”<br />
The 2017 Channel Report,<br />
a proprietary Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing research<br />
22 | www.Yes<strong>Lifecycle</strong>Marketing.com
About Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing<br />
Yes <strong>Lifecycle</strong> Marketing turns data into<br />
action across every customer interaction,<br />
generating superior results. We do this by<br />
transforming brands into true insightsdriven<br />
businesses by linking insights and<br />
continuous learning, empowering them to<br />
make better, smarter, and faster decisions.<br />
To learn more,<br />
1-877-937-6245<br />
sales@yeslifecyclemarketing.com<br />
yeslifecyclemarketing.com