You’ve just clicked on the
Marigold Engage+ Cross-Channel Messaging workout plan!
And folks, if you follow these instructions exactly you’ll be able to acquire new potential customers, create more regular two-way permission-based communications, further enrich your data sets, and at the very least delight your existing audience.
*Appropriate accompanying background music*
We at Marigold Engage+ are committed to getting the brands we work with into the most tiptop shape they have ever been in. This doesn’t just include supplying them with the best tools to keep them trim, but also by providing a tailored program they can follow. A healthy brand is a happy brand and in our world a healthy brand is one with a toned and well-defined cross-channel digital communication strategy in place.
In what follows, let’s break down what we recommend as the ultimate “workout plan” to get the most from your cross-channel messaging. To be successful, first this plan lays out the need to attract new customers and interest them in what your brand is offering. Once signed up, the challenge is to make sure these individuals actively remain engaged enough to want to hear from you on a regular basis.
The best way to achieve this is to frequently enrich your knowledge about their relevant preferences. To prevent opt-outs, brands have to make sure they better personalize the program towards individuals, and if at all possible re-engage those lost. In the long term, this workout plan will help brands succeed in creating ongoing enjoyment for their audience which in turn will ease them towards creating a more formalized loyalty program for their very best customers. Virtual muscle beach here we come!
All those familiar with other workout plans know that some accompanying specialist equipment really makes the difference such as yoga mats, exercise bikes, free-standing boxing bags, barbells, and circuit steps. This one is no different, Marigold Grow provides a completely new set of tools to re-imagine your cross-channel workout plan and take it to the next level.
First off, we’re going to work on our core; if we get this right the rest will follow!
Exercise #1: Acquisition
Use a value exchange to get potential customers into your cross-channel messaging program.
How do you go about quickly beefing up your list of marketable opt-ins? The answer: data-gathering interactive experiences that collect new records. Here, customers are enticed by a true value exchange where marketers offer them something in return for their data. The most efficient way to crush your cross-channel KPI goals is to significantly grow your database — as the more people you can contact, the more opens and clicks you will be getting.
Brands need to turn unknown customers into known and we have a whole set of interactive experiences that work to openly collect first name, last name, email, and opt-in data. This may be via a sweepstake, instant-win, watch-to-win, quiz, or contest, to name just a few mechanics. These experiences don’t merely need to live in the confines of webpages either, they can be rapidly configured and deployed to any digital space and even included in your cross-channel messages.
92% of marketers believe using first-party data is critical to growth
Exercise #2: Permission
Do your customers still want to be subscribed to your messaging?
Ultimately, email and text message inboxes are a private space that belongs to the consumer, and you should only be sending content there if you keep being invited to do so. Interactive experiences can provide regular touchpoints that enable a brand to keep its cross-channel database fresh and engage its audience in a permissioned way each time. In the times we are moving into, marketers must keep asking for permission by re-engaging their current customer tables.
It’s not just the type of content either, brands can proactively ask which channels an individual would like to be contacted via e.g. app download, SMS, direct mail, email, or push notifications.
41% of U.S. consumers delete cookies regularly
CHECK OUT: HGTV Smart Home Sweepstakes
Exercise #3 – Enrichment
Keep getting new data to make all involvement more personalized.
Understanding your customers should be at the heart of what you do. Interactive experiences provide the best ways of collecting preference data points. In the past, messaging preference centers were used to gather and update these, but this impersonal process just isn’t as relevant now. With Marigold Grow, dynamic progressive preference centers can be created, driving people to regular interactive activations that update their information. It’s an ongoing journey with your customers; one moment they’re pondering the need to get more active, next they’re having jogging regularly, and before you know it entering marathons!
This also provides a good moment for a brand marketer to stop and think about the freshness of their existing preference data sets — sets they may well have had for years. Interactive experiences can be used to re-engage this audience, asking them new questions to update their profiles and increase the value of this existing data set.
Surveys have 2.5 times higher unique click rates.
Rate and Review requests have 4 times higher click rates than promotional mailings.
64% of marketers admit bad data hinders their ability to provide a truly excellent personalized service
Example of Preference Data Collection
Exercise #4 – Enjoyment
Never forget the simplest of conditions required to keep people coming back for more.
Whenever you’re engaging with your consumers make sure it’s “fun.” Traditionally, this delight aspect comes from good creative, relevant messaging, and personalization. When using experiences however a completely new set of options opens up, creatively and strategically, to foster two-way interactions.
So many cross-channel messaging programs are just updates — product announcements, promotions, offers, and sales. That daily message however could be so much more engaging and interactive than just informative, i.e., team selector, spin to win, playlist creator — all accessible via the customer’s device of choice and when they want it.
Unique click rates for emails with quizzes in the subject line are 79% higher than other promotional mailings (12-month averages ending in March 2020)
Why Not — Add a Personal Trainer
Imagine if you threw a personal trainer into the mix, to help further optimize your efforts.
With a personal trainer, you have an individualized nutrition plan, someone to customize & configure the right equipment for you, train you on the right exercises to do, monitor your performance, help you avoid injury, and ultimately get you to your goal.
In this case, the industry-leading Marigold Engage+ account team is your personal trainer. We have a team dedicated to your success, a team of specialists with services tailored to your business, and a support system to ensure that your cross-channel program, enhanced by interactive experiences, always runs smoothly.
Why Not — Set Up a Home Studio
Be it streaming a live cycling class in your lounge or following along to a pre-recorded boxing hiit workout in your basement, there’s something about exercising in your own controlled environment that makes things better.
In our cross-channel workout plan when a user has engaged with one of our sweepstakes, taken part in a poll, or entered their details in an Instagram story, you need that data loaded directly into your marketing tools efficiently and seamlessly in real-time. This preferential data and all the marketing opt-ins collected through Marigold Engage+ can be pushed instantly into our Engagement Data Platform.
This is not a CDP. The Engagement Data Platform empowers preference data that marketers need to deliver truly-personalized, cross-channel communications, and customer experiences, all from one easy-to-use studio. It is purpose-built for end-to-end customer lifecycle management, driving revenue, and customer lifetime value.
Learn more about the Marigold Engage+ in this episode of The PULSE
The cool down
If this was the end of a yoga or pilates class we would conclude by spending a few minutes sat in silence, to clear our minds of any distractions and reflect on the exercise we had just completed. Reflecting on the above, to further enhance and get the most from your cross-channel communications marketers should look to incorporate interactive experiences throughout the process. By doing this brands will:
- Increase the number of individuals who are interested in engaging with your brand.
- Regularly ensure that all individuals you do contact want to hear from you.
- Learn more about your customers individually, building out a more rounded view of their preferences.
- Make sure these communications have a fun and more interactive element.
Those rock hard abs will be yours in no time.
For more on how your cross-communication program can be enhanced by adding interactive experiences check out our latest guide: The #1 Secret To Growing Your Email Database.
