Trigger-based marketing. A buzzword of the hour, certainly, but it also describes a change in perspective. It's no longer the company that determines the timing of the campaign. The customer triggers a communication measure through their behavior. And that measure is much more relevant because it is topical and personal. What’s more, the measure is not intended as a one-off action.
Trigger-based marketing represents a fundamental change in the way marketing activities are planned and implemented. Marketing is facing an upheaval in this area.
Taking the outside-in perspective
In trigger-based marketing, the rule is "outside-in" — not "inside-out". Think from the customer's perspective, not from internal processes.
"Triggers" are measurable customer-company interactions that indicate a need, an intention or even a possible purchase. We want to first identify them and then react to them promptly with an appropriate response. Experience has shown that this kind of trigger-based marketing can elicit a better customer response.
It all comes down to timing. Why should my plan to run a marketing campaign each spring be appropriate for all my customers in my target group? It is highly unlikely that this would be the case. Every customer has a different chronological "trigger" point. And that's what we need to find and use as the starting point for customized marketing campaigns.
This means that it is not we marketers who define the marketing plan, but each customer for themselves. The customer initiates their own marketing measures. We move away from thinking, "As a product manager, I have the good idea to send out my credit card mailing in May" to “The customer triggers the optimal time for them with their own behavior." The trigger ensures the right time and the right context for a relevant interaction.
Start with the most important triggers
What makes this approach so attractive and successful is the fact that it is quite easy to implement. It is usually enough to start with two or three triggers. Take, for example, the trigger-based publication of content on the website.
For many companies, the website has become an important interaction point with customers. Its potential is often underutilized, though. It is usually managed like a passive storefront rather than as an integral part of personalized customer interaction. All this said, websites today have the opportunity to behave intelligently and deliver content in a targeted and automated way.
Ideally, visitor A gets to see something different than visitor B. The website learns which visitors are interested in what information and responds accordingly. In the process, data about user behavior is collected, which can be used to improve the customer experience.
If a company has a website with ecommerce, the importance of such mechanisms increases even more. The effectiveness (in this case, for example, the "conversion rate") can be significantly increased.
According to an American study, personalized calls to action are over 200% more effective than generic ones. And personalized web content is just one example. The "personalization effectiveness principle" can be extended to emails, newsletters, SMS, in-app messages, surveys, etc.
The intelligent use of technologies
As the number of triggers increases, so does the complexity. And with it, so does the need for a software solution that manages the triggers automatically. In other words, you need a tool to reconcile the various behavioral information.
For example, over time, a customer may qualify for both the "birthday trigger" and the "contract expiration trigger." Companies need a prioritization and optimization logic that ensures that no customer is overstimulated, that no duplications occur, that time blocking periods are observed after an action has been carried out and that the company's goals are also kept in mind for all triggers.
We need to know our customers' preferences and behavior. We have to think ourselves into the customers’ shoes and into their interaction scenarios. We need to link those scenarios, creating relevant customer journeys and managing marketing measures in an integrated and, where appropriate, automated way.
Every interaction counts. The latest studies show that customers are increasingly evaluating their experience with brands based on their most recent interaction. In the case of negative customer experiences, brand loyalty or previous positive experiences no longer play a role.
To deliver a personalized customer approach, we need to take care to ensure that the measures for a specific trigger are different and correct for each customer. The birthday message for a customer at risk of churn should be different from the one for a new customer. Not only do we need to respond in a timely manner, but we also need to make sure the message is right. The right message at the right time. Offline and online. Based entirely on the customer's preferences. For all this, the use of customer data is indispensable.
It is the combination of customer data analytics, software intelligence, and message relevance that results in the enhancement of both customer value and business value.
Safeguard the customer relationship
Why is this so particularly important today? In the age of digitalization, the importance of the customer relationship has once again increased dramatically. The danger of being overtaken by new digital players is just a click away. New competitors can now contact customers directly, quickly and easily to attack the customer relationships of established companies that have been stable for decades.
We should be in control of our customer interactions. Without trigger know-how paired with relevant responses and direct reactions to customer behavior, this becomes more difficult. Now more than ever, it is important to be able to track your customers' behavior in the moment — to stay close to them. And then be able to (re)act in exactly the right way. Managing customer data is the key to creating new interaction experiences for customers that create value and strengthen the customer relationship.
Robert is a pioneer in data-driven marketing with over 20 years of experience in direct marketing. A lecturer at multiple universities, he specializes in digital and data-driven strategies. Since 2015, he has led business development for intelligent customer engagement at gateB, helping companies leverage data to enhance customer relationships, optimize experiences, and drive profitability.
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