The Next Step in Marketing Automation

In a previous post, we highlighted a conversation with PivotLink’s Bruce Armstrong and Joe Dalton that explored the differences between Marketing Intelligence vs. Marketing Automation systems. It’s a great primer for marketing professionals in retail and other industries who are looking for ways to harness customer data and take their analytic strategy to the next level to optimize Marketing effectiveness and spend. Here in part two, we’ll outline things to consider as you take the next step.

5 Stages of Marketing Maturity: Spend Less and Get More With Customer Analytics

Getting a customer’s attention used to be about being louder and edgier than the other guy. Marketers still pump a ton of money into engaging customers, only now, they’re using advanced analytics to spend less and get better results. PivotLink’s Joe Dalton discusses how retailers are evolving their strategies in this month’s RIS Magazine Tech Solutions Guide, “Smarter Insights, Smarter Strategies”. What stage of maturity has your marketing organization reached?

Where do your great customers come from?

Most retailers are pretty good at describing their customers in terms of demographics, purchase patterns and marketing response rates. And if they’re not, well, there’s really no excuse anymore – the data is readily available and off-the-shelf analytic applications that solve this problem are easy to buy and deploy. There are a number of companies in this space, including ours (PivotLink).

However, one of the marketing questions that remains a little more elusive is: “Is there a pattern to how we acquired our best customers, and if so, how can we repeat it?”

To answer this question, we need to understand a few more things about our customers. The path your new customers took to find you is as important to understand as what they do once they make their first purchase. So, if we can track our customers’ interactions with us prior to their first purchase, and if we can track which ones remain good customers and which ones we never see again, then we can make much more informed decisions about how to spend precious customer acquisition marketing budget to get the best results.

Here are three things to consider:

Hunch marketing rehab

All of us marketers have done it. Most of us more than once. Pulling the trigger on campaigns based on gut-feel happens more than we want to admit.

Even with a goldmine of customer big data, we haven’t perfected who to reach, what to say and where to spend money to get their attention. This is where Marketing Intelligence comes in.

Marketing departments and their digital agency partners are getting more scientific about how they hone their strategy to engage consumers. Armed with insights from a new class of analytic applications built like marketers think, they’re finessing programs for customer acquisition, retention and loyalty, win-back, cross-selling and up-selling.

The ebook “Stop Guessing and Start Using Your Marketing Intelligence: 8 Ways to Boost ROI and Profits,” presents practical ways to use these solutions – from how to find new customers, to where to place ads that compel them to act.