Lifecycle marketing’s key ‘tech pillars’
By Miles Toolin (pictured), Head of Sales Engineering, APAC at Eagle Eye
In this article, I’ll distill down lifecycle marketing into the four foundational pillars essential for creating industry-leading customer journeys. By focusing on data storage, analytics/AI/ML, retention/value exchange, and activation, businesses can streamline the marketing process and deliver engaging customer experiences at scale.
Pillar One: Data storage
Background: The evolution of data storage has seen a progression from data warehouses, which tended to turn into data swamps, and now to Customer Data Platforms (CDPs). While the data warehouse craze led to challenges in managing and utilising data effectively, CDPs have emerged as a solution to these problems by allowing businesses to organise and use data specific to distinct customer journeys.
Key takeaway: I can’t tell you what the right data storage solution is for your business, but what I can say is that for this layer in your tech stack, you need to focus on the data required to power the customer journeys that will deliver the most value for you and your customers. If you start here and work your way back, you will find yourself asking the right questions, uncovering the data that you need to implement that journey. This ensures that your data is valuable, use-case specific, and available when needed, facilitating seamless customer interactions.
Pillar two: Analytics, AI, ML
Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have been around for years, but their potential – in marketing, at least – is only now starting to be realised. To summarise, thanks in part to recent advances in AI/ML, it’s now possible to collect vast amounts of data and analyse it near instantly. This is a significant breakthrough because it allows businesses to deliver personalised experiences at the perfect moment across both digital and physical channels. (At Eagle Eye, we’re proud that retailers use our loyalty and personalisation platform to execute close to a billion personalised offers weekly.)
Key takeaway: Even though marketers understand the centrality of data analytics and AI/ML to contemporary marketing, they often leave money on the table by failing to take full advantage of the available tools. For example, AI/ML can analyse email open rates, click-through rates, and user behaviour patterns to determine when your customers, or target market, are most likely to engage with content. Leveraging AI for ‘Send Time Optimisation’ is not especially costly or challenging. Nonetheless, not all marketers send communications at the time(s) most likely to increase engagement and drive desired behaviours.
Pillar three: Value exchange
Background: In commercial transactions, as in life, people rarely give you anything for free. With consumers and their elected representatives now much more focused on data privacy, and cookie-based marketing belatedly being phased out, it’s never been more crucial for data-hungry businesses to offer something (discounts, exclusive content, personalised offers) that consumers perceive to be of value.
Key takeaway: Develop a loyalty and retention strategy focused on value exchange. Understand what your customers value and offer it in exchange for their data and engagement. This builds trust and fosters long-term loyalty.
Pillar four: Activation
Background: Activation is the process of implementing the strategies outlined to create personalised, timely customer interactions. For instance, push notifications or personalised emails can be sent, or in-store personalised experiences can be provided based on customer preferences. (This will be easier if you assemble a tech stack of best-of-breed solutions that can integrate data in close to real-time and execute actions seamlessly.)
Key takeaway: Ensure your activation platforms can integrate data in real time and support event-driven marketing. This allows for dynamic, responsive customer interactions.
Offer value, receive loyalty
Understandably, marketers are often sceptical of the marketing claims of tech companies. But none of what has been outlined above is empty hype. With the right tech stacks, retailers can now offer the long-elusive ‘personalisation at scale’. The technology now exists to adjudicate many millions of offers, rewards, and promotions across multiple channels within milliseconds and then deliver exceptional customer experiences. CX that will keep your existing customers happy and attract new ones.
One final tip – make sure you invest in the most appropriate solutions for your business. Ensure any potential technology vendors can demonstrate their capabilities at scale and meet your specific use cases. With the right solutions, you can make the last mile of customer interaction a smooth and rewarding experience for your staff and customers.
