Commentary

Embrace Continual Marketing With 'Permanent Campaign'

2015 has been a record-breaking year for email marketing. Marketers are generating long-term consumer engagement, with the “never active” subscriber segment dipping to under 69% for the first time. 

Part of this success can be credited to mobile. Consumers are purchasing from mobile more than ever, and the gap between mobile and desktop click-to-open rates is almost nonexistent (19.2% and 14.2% respectively).

Marketers must do more than optimize mobile to improve engagement, however.  The best marketers should address what’s known as the “permanent campaign,” according to Chris Marriott, vice president of services and principal consultant at The Relevancy Group,

The term “permanent campaign, one that doesn’t end at the sale, but continues throughout the entire customer lifecycle, reportedly comes from politics. Like candidates who begin campaigning for they second term as soon as they’re elected to the first, email marketing efforts should be continual. Brands must look beyond their immediate goal to build long-term relationships and start long-term conversations.

With the 2016 elections in their infancy, now is a good time to reflect on how a permanent email marketing campaign can generate long-term engagement.  

Integrate context, content and conversations

To ensure continued engagement, marketers must stay relevant by integrating three major types of email campaigns: context, content and conversations.

Context emails explain what differentiates a brand from its competitors, answering the long-lived consumer question of “Why should I care?” They also serve as a soft sell. A hotel might send an email highlighting new amenities that demonstrate its mission to effectively serve consumers.

Content emails show that you understand who your customers are outside of the context of your brand. While they don’t drive sales, the best examples provide relevant information and build relationships.

As with all communications efforts, creating conversation is essential. In email, these conversations should include a call-to-action, usually with a sale as the end goal. These emails mobilize the consumer by asking them to share on social or make a purchase.

Identify when a customer is ready to purchase again

While mixing content is essential, marketers must be able to identify when a customer is ready to purchase again. Marriott calls these “smoke signals.” A customer’s lifecycle is dynamic. They are not always ready to purchase. But, marketers that fail to identify when customers are ready to buy miss out on an important sale. Data is essential to understanding these smoke signals. Unusual activity on your company’s website, for example, may indicate that a customer is ready to purchase. When these smoke signals arise, email messaging should be adapted.

Embrace triggers

A Relevancy Group study found that few major brands actually trigger messages based on two of the basic signs that consumers are interested in a brand: submitting their email address and placing items in their shopping cart.

When a consumer is close to purchasing, brands can use triggers to influence their future messaging. If there is an item left in an online shopping cart, for example, brands can send a message reminding the customer of their abandoned cart.  If the triggered email doesn’t influence a purchase, the data from browsing history can still inspire the content and offers in future messaging.

Think like a customer

Communication from a brand shouldn’t seem robotic. Consumers won’t be surprised if they receive an ask based on mutual interests, but will question a lack of communication followed by an offer, according to Marriott. Like any good campaign, there’s always an end goal in mind. By thinking like a customer, you can identify the proper time to make the ask appropriately and fulfill your goal.  

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