Back in the olden days, all a brand had to worry about was in-store interaction. Then along came Sears with its direct mail and catalogs, and the marketing game changed forever. Today, in the digital age, customer touchpoints are absolutely everywhere — websites, social media, in-store, digital ads, physical ads, and more.
And while there are more channels to connect to your audiences, there is also a greater risk that your communications can fall flat. But never fear — armed with these tactics, you can maximize every touchpoint in your marketing arsenal in no time.
Dig in
To guarantee you’re getting the most out of your customer touchpoints, first, look inward and do an honest review. Customers won’t be loyal to a brand with a mediocre (or worse) customer experience, so before adding new touchpoints to the mix, make certain existing ones are up to snuff. If one or two of your touchpoints aren’t as strong as the others, improve those first to make sure customers are getting the most out of every single interaction.
Pro tip: Solidify your customer service. All the behind-the-scenes work on your other touchpoints is worthless without solid customer service to seal the deal. (One bad call to a support line is all it takes.) Refine onboarding and training practices if need be to ensure your front-line employees put your brand’s best foot forward.
Make it (and keep it) personal
For today’s brands, “the competition” includes much more than just the other companies in their industry. When it comes to loyalty, you’re competing against the strategies and best practices of every company on the planet.
It’s safe to assume most of your customers get an amazing, personalized experience from companies like Lyft, Netflix, and Amazon — and they expect the same attention to detail from your brand, too. To go above and beyond, take advantage of every touchpoint in your arsenal — in-person, social, SMS, email, and other digital content — to offer targeted, personalized offers.
Listen to your customers
Everyone has their own particular way of doing things, and the same is true of your customers. Just because a lot of people prefer text communications doesn’t mean all of them do. So what’s the best way to get your customers’ opinions and preferences? Ask!
Yes, it’s that simple. Make sure your account settings let members share how they want to hear from you and then use that info to create your cross-channel segmentation plan. For example, customers who express a preference for email and actively engage with your email program could get a more frequent cadence of email communications than those who prefer social media or SMS.
Mind the medium of your message
As much as we love email, the truth is every communication is not best suited for the inbox. Similarly, a message that works as a text or tweet may not fare as well as a marketing email. That’s why it’s so important to match your message to your channel.
Have an urgent account update or flash sale? Don’t let that disappear into the depths of an unmonitored inbox — SMS is perfect for these situations. On the other hand, incessantly using push notifications to let members know about a month-long promotion might push them right into that unsubscribe button. Match your message to your method to keep customers engaged and excited to hear from you.
Home in on geo-targeting
Marketers have so much first-party, customer-based data at hand, location can sometimes be overlooked as a touchpoint opportunity. Geo-targeting, coupled with your loyalty program data, lets your brand serve up location-specific information your audiences actually want — for example, automatically match them with their nearest location with recommendations specific to that store. By putting this data to work, you’ll build connections and keep customers coming back for more.
Customer touchpoints used to belong to a set order of operations (you know, like MDAS in middle school math) within a traditional journey. While it’s not possible to predict or direct today’s customer journey, those touchpoints are available at all times, making them more important than ever.
At the end of the day, every consumer should feel like they’re valued and taken care of by your brand. Ready to start building meaningful customer relationships across a variety of touchpoints? Contact us here to see how Marigold Engage+ can help.
