So, we are in Lockdown 2.0, and there is a looming sense that we are going to be in and out of some level of restriction for the foreseeable future. Amongst the many headaches this brings retailers, the lack of face to face contact with shoppers for those classed as ‘non-essential’ is a big one. Especially at a time when the relationship brands have with customers is the very thing that will seal their future success. So what does missing out on this in-person connection mean for businesses, and what can they do about it?
One of the most important things we talk to leading brands about is the importance of remaining relevant. Building relevance through personalised CRM and Loyalty programs is needed more than ever right now. But as Einstein once said, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.’ And this is so true of CRM! For your program to deliver results, it has to be dynamic and tailored to the needs of different customer groups. And that means basing it on an accurate, up to date read of your customer data.
It’s crucial to gain the upper hand with data so you can understand the long term performance of customer communications and behaviour. Valuing data in terms of how much of it you have is an all too common mistake. The vital metric here is how healthy it is. We call it ‘Engagement Health’ and it’s what helps companies understand just how invested customers are in a brand, how they engage with it and how relevant it is. It means a deeper dive into your data, but without it, your loyalty program is destined to fail. Here is our five point plan.
- Crunch the data: you’ll need 12 months of customer data for email interaction, plus open rate/click through data for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. Also sales data by customer ID if you have it. At this stage, an excel whiz would also be handy if you have one in your team! Now start breaking your data down into these different engagement levels.
- Highly Active: this is people who have opened an email within the last month. These customers are interested, they like what you do, so the action plan is simple: keep on doing what you’re doing, particularly if it’s correlating with sales performance.
- Active: those who have opened an email in the last 12 weeks. They are interested, but not as loyal as your highly actives. Take a look at frequency of emails, where you get the best traction, for example through a heavy sales focus or perhaps more inspirational content. Work out who likes what and begin to tailor your plan based on these behaviours.
- Lapsing: Erm, you need to do something here, these people are waning and no longer interested. They may have opened an email in the past 6 months but they’ve taken no action. Perhaps they receive too much communication from you and are ‘delightfully deleting’ without opening, or maybe they feel you are not tailoring things to suit their needs. Look at this base and create a ‘win back’ plan using lapsing triggers. These emails often have a ‘we miss you tone’ and offer an incentive to get you re-connected with the brand.
- Inactive: these are the guys who haven’t opened anything from your brand in over 6 months, and you can safely assume that they’ve ‘checked out’. They are not engaged, they maybe haven’t mustered up the energy to unsubscribe and really are the ‘tail’ in your data. You need to explore what you have sent them, re-define relevance, perhaps create some momentum with an offer or discount. Or accept it’s over….or that you were never really friends to begin with.
Of course, depending on your business model and the frequency of the shop, these time frames can be adapted. But this is a rule of thumb to ensure you have the best CRM capabilities and a clear communications strategy based on the health of your customer interactions. It’s an essential step for brands that want to stay relevant and memorable and build stronger brand equity in the year ahead. And we could all do with more of that.
