In a very loud, crowded, and competitive market, getting noticed can be difficult. Online retailers with access to product, purchase, customer data, and, consequently, predictive data, have a keen advantage over their counterparts who don’t. Predictive data allows retailers to go above and beyond the call of duty to help customers before they even know what they want. Here are the top three automated predictive campaigns online retailers should implement for 2015.
DATA-DRIVEN PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS
Automated product recommendations save you from having to decide what products to showcase. When creating automated product recommendations retailers can segment their customer base by category or the specific item that was purchased. If you’re a retailer that sells multiple brands, being able to segment by each individual brand is key for product recommendation upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Some industries lend themselves to category or item specific product recommendations; while other industries can leverage both category and item based product recommendations.
BrewUK, an online retailer based in England that specializes in home brew beer and wine kits, utilizes product, purchase, and customer data to foster customer engagement, with the goal of retaining more customers and increasing the number of purchases a customer makes.
BrewUK has set up 13 different automated product recommendation emails – one for each product that has a natural upsell product associated with it. Using purchase data, powered by Windsor Circle, BrewUK triggers these emails anywhere from 5 to 20 days after a purchase is made. The email to the right is an example of an automated product recommendation that is sent to customers who purchase from any of the five American beer categories. Notice how these emails, which have seen open rates of 42% and click rates of 6.2%, incorporate an image of the product that was purchased on the right hand side of the email while using the area below the fold to push new and recommended products.
REPLENISHMENT
Automated replenishment campaigns not only drive increased revenue, but also add value for customers , which ultimately strengthens the customer-retailer relationship. As a customer, how great would it be to receive a reminder email when you were just about to run out of your favorite lotion, face cream, coffee, etc. If you know the average usage rates of your replenishable products, you can set up a replenishment campaign to send out X number of days after a purchase is made. With access to predictive analytics, such as predicted replenish date, retailers can create one email that pulls in a dynamic image of the product a customer purchased and triggers based on a customer’s individual buying cycle, eliminating the “one size fits all” mentality.
Aruba Aloe leverages predictive analytics and purchase data to power the replenishment campaign seen above. They use dynamic content to showcase the product that needs to be refilled and other related items that a customer might purchase. Since Replenishment emails see such high engagement, this is a great away to showcase new products for returning customers.
WIN-BACK
Churning customers were once high value customers who have since fallen off the map. Online retailers should spend time and effort making sure churning customers know they are missed and bringing them back to the store. Retailers can leverage predictive analytics, such as predicted order date, to trigger Win-Back campaigns based on their unique customer base.
SurfStitch, a top Australian retailer, created a 3-part Win-Back campaign (shown below) that triggers based on the predicted order date of each customer. Since customers need to have purchased 2 or more times in order to have a predicted order date, SurfStitch also took a look at the average latency between purchases and created a version of the Win-Back campaign that triggers 4, 8, and 12 months after the last order date for customers who do not have a predicted order date. Over a 6 month period, SurfStitch saw a 72% decrease in churning customers from their Win-Back campaign.
With access to data comes the ability to send the right message to the right person, at the right time. With access to predictive analytics comes the ability to send emails to help customers buy what they need before they even know. In this ever evolving market, building relationships with your customers and adding value is key to making sure you aren’t relegated to the promotions tab, the spam folder, or deleted from the inbox for good.