Your marketing team was firing on all cylinders in the lead up to the holiday season, and the work wasn’t in vain. With 2019 holiday shoppers breaking all types of records, there’s no doubt that you brought in Santa-sized sacks of new customers. But what now? These newly acquired customers could easily fade into post-holiday ambiguity and never make another purchase, or they could become repeat buyers and even better, brand ambassadors. Now that you and your team have done the hard work of acquiring new customers over the holiday season, how do you make sure they stay customers? You can start by not treating them, like just customers. Rather, start to build a relationship. After all, good brands are like good friends, they know you, and they understand your wants and needs.
Remind new customers who you are
Chances are, any new holiday shoppers you leveraged during the holiday season hadn’t done weeks of research to find your brand. In all likelihood, they were scouring the internet and flipping through dozens of tabs. Though you were working behind the scenes to get in front of their eyes, they may have simply made an impulse purchase. The point is, your brand may not have been top-of-mind at the time of purchase and probably isn’t top-of-mind now. So, it’s time to reintroduce yourself. Stand out among the several likely places they bought gifts from and put your best foot forward. This is a chance to remind them of why they fell in love with you (or at least liked you enough to purchase) and move back to the top of their mind.
Retarget new holiday shoppers
Simple retargeting campaigns are a great way to reintroduce your brand, without pushing the hard sell. Don’t be afraid to get creative and show off your brand’s voice. After all, like a good friend, a good brand should have a unique voice that speaks to you. Don’t be afraid to retarget across multiple platforms to keep your brand top-of-mind. A customer needs multiple touchpoints and it’s critical that your brand stays visible. The rule of seven says that it takes about seven times of being exposed to something, from an idea to a brand logo, for us to retain it long term. Sure, your new customer is not going to forget about the purchase they made with you last week. But what about in a few months’ time? How do you ensure your customer remembers you in the future enough to come back to your store? Remind people of that wonderful time you had just before the holidays, when you helped them find that a special gift.
Show them new products related to what they bought over the holidays or complementary items that would go with their purchase. If they were purchasing for someone else they’ll likely have other gift-giving events throughout the year, become their go-to for the important people in their life. If they were purchasing for themselves, use these retargeting efforts to become their favorite place to treat themselves.
Social retargeting ads
Social re-targeting will be key here. You could leverage the automation and insight of the dotdigital Engagement Cloud out to channels like Facebook and Google Ads to make sure you’re remembered. With audience connectors, you can sync the dotdigital Engagement Cloud contacts to your Facebook and Google Ad audiences. Start by syncing an entire segment to a new audience or maintain an existing one by adding contacts when they meet your predefined criteria. Audience connectors in our omnichannel marketing automation tool make it easy to upkeep your ad audiences and ensure optimal re-targeting campaign ROI.
Social ads are a great way to get in front of customers and capture their attention. Visually appealing content that’s relevant to them is the best way to ensure engagement with your retargeting ads. Shoppable Instagram posts or stories, promoted Facebook posts, etc. are great traffic drivers and easily personalized for retargeting purposes.
Product recommendations
Now it’s time to get personal. Create a personal experience via email marketing using product recommendations. Similarly, make sure you have a well-placed abandoned cart program, just so they know you’re paying attention.
Dynamic content in email is a great way to tailor your merchandise to the specific customer, creating a truly customized experience. We don’t know about you, but here at the dotdigital offices, we all love it when we get beautiful, personalized emails delivered to our inbox, with a selection of goodies that we’re actually interested in. Especially when we get these emails on payday!
Everyone likes a deal, so it’s time to sweeten the pot with a juicy offer. Again, dynamic email content is huge. You can scoop up all those abandoned carts to turn them into order with compelling offers. Not only does this show your customer that you’re paying attention and getting to know them, but that they’re important to you.
Don’t forget to listen to what your new holiday shoppers have to say. Perform a bit of data capture with them to benefit you both. Give them control of their marketing preferences for optimal transparency, trust, and relevance. Some people prefer to know about everything you’ve released and other only want to hear from you once a month. Knowing their frequency preference is the best way to guarantee engagement and satisfaction. Send them surveys to find out what they want to hear about or what they want to see more of in your store. This gets them involved with the brand so they feel like they’re a part of something rather than just making yet another purchase. Curate a brand experience, a brand community and you’ll have a customer for life.
Lastly, you could consider providing a little incentive here for this exchange of information. Not only will this make your new customers feel special, it will also provide you with more data, and ultimately, more power. What incentives you offer (and work) can be telling: whether it’s a percent-off vs. dollar amount, free shipping or a free gift, etc. Never miss an opportunity to learn more about your customers, what appeals to them, and what they want. Then turn that customer intelligence into actionable insights that power your retargeting efforts!
