In Part One, we covered off the Welcoming and Onboarding experience, Surprise and Delight, and Second Purchase Programs. The retail marketing initiatives we share in this blog are:
- Birthday & key moments programs
- Seasonal and culturally relevant initiatives
- Customer advocacy (reviews, social shares and referrals)
- Re-activation program (at-risk and lapsed buyers)
1. Birthday & key moments programs
Remembering key moments plays an integral role in relationship building. Whilst there is validity when including a purchase-linked gift or special offer, it needs to be done without diluting the authenticity of your message. As long as the customer sees significant value in the offer, then it’s more likely to be perceived as a gift and not a sales tactic.
Informed Retailers more frequently use an attractive value offer with time-limited redemption. These can be put towards high-value purchases, or to combine a free gift with a purchase-linked gift. Having researched what the target customer likes, the right gift is likely to create happiness and excitement, which will do wonders for building loyalty.
2. Seasonal and culturally relevant initiatives
Informed Retailers understand which seasons and cultural events are most relevant to their customers. Using a calendar, they develop touch-point programs tailored to these segments with relevant messaging, product suggestions and offers to remind and activate desirable buying behaviour and loyalty during these periods.
3. Customer advocacy
Getting your most valuable customers to recruit those of a similar profile is one of the most effective retail marketing tactics. Further to fuelling new customer acquisition, the act of an existing customer advocating, leaving a positive review, sharing on social media or referring to their peers is likely to reinforce their own belief and trust in the brand.
The first step in an advocacy program is to identify which review sites and social media platforms your customers engage with, so you can focus on building activity on these. The most common are Facebook, Instagram and Google Business. Once the reviews are in, you may add these to your site and other online channels for social proof. The most appropriate trigger point to request reviews, social shares and referrals then needs to be identified. This could be following each purchase and/or other touch-points along the customer journey.
4. Re-activation program
The ability to identify customers who have lapsed, or at risk of doing so is paramount. Similar offers to those in the Second Purchase Program can be used here:
- Sending a gift voucher with an attractive amount
- Providing a sense of urgency with a time-limited offer
- Offering loyalty points with their next purchase
In addition to email, messaging, direct mail and paid social targeted activity has proven to be highly effective. Having the ability to recognise at-risk or lapsed customers means you have the ability to exceed their expectations in your intent to retain them as a customer.
Informed retailers continuously strive to connect all assets, channels and departments to create unified business operations and customer experiences. They know how to leverage unique capabilities that stores and online provide, but also to embrace them as a whole. They selectively leverage technology, platforms and channels that are relevant to their customers and focus on providing valuable experiences.
Find out if you’re an Informed Retailer here: https://retailexpress.com.au/blog/informed-retailer
Source: