Maximizing brand engagement across the buyer journey
Tackling challenges & unlocking opportunities
Optimizing engagement throughout the buyer journey isn’t a walk in the park. Marketers grapple with challenges at every turn, from identifying the right tools to fostering consistent engagement across diverse consumer touchpoints.
But…first things first—why is engagement pivotal at every stage of the buyer journey? Picture this: a potential customer interacts with your brand for the first time. This initial encounter sets the stage for a relationship. As they progress through the journey, engagement acts as the guiding force—informing, persuading, and solidifying their connection with your brand. Whether it’s the awareness phase, consideration stage, or conversion moment, meaningful engagement fosters trust, loyalty, and ultimately, conversions.
Despite recognizing the significance of engagement, marketers often find themselves dissatisfied with the available tools and platforms. Fragmented systems, lack of comprehensive analytics, and the struggle to personalize interactions haunt marketers’ efforts. The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t cut it in today’s highly personalized consumer landscape.
But fear not! Solutions exist to overcome these barriers and optimize engagement at each buyer journey stage. These are some:
1 – Integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
Investing in an integrated CRM system (like HubSpot or SalesForce) empowers marketers to streamline data, enabling a unified view of customer interactions across multiple touchpoints.
A company employing a CRM system observes a trend where a specific customer consistently buys a particular product. Leveraging this insight, the CRM system can proactively dispatch targeted promotions or tailor-made recommendations for similar products to this customer. This strategic approach aims to entice repeat purchases, fostering a stronger bond with the customer and heightening the prospects of cultivating long-term loyalty.
2 – AI-Powered Personalization
Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence allows for hyper-personalization. Implementing AI for personalization and enhancing brand engagement in a webshop involves several strategies:
- Recommendation Systems: AI-powered recommendation engines analyze user behavior, preferences, and past purchases to suggest relevant products. This keeps customers engaged by showing them items they’re likely to be interested in, increasing the chances of sales.
Personalized Shopping Experiences: AI can create individualized shopping journeys based on a customer’s browsing history, demographics, and interactions with the site. Tailoring the website layout, content, and promotions to match their preferences enhances their experience and encourages longer site visits. - Chatbots and Customer Service: AI-driven chatbots provide instant assistance to customers, answering queries, offering product recommendations, and guiding them through the shopping process. This immediate and personalized support improves customer satisfaction and boosts engagement.
- Dynamic Pricing: AI can analyze market demand, competitor pricing, and customer behavior to adjust prices dynamically. Offering personalized discounts or pricing based on individual preferences can attract and retain customers.
- Predictive Analytics: Using AI algorithms to predict customer behavior helps in anticipating their needs. For instance, predicting when a customer might need to restock a product and offering reminders or discounts can increase repeat purchases.
3 – User-Generated Content
User-generated content, like reviews, social media interactions, and feedback, gives us an inside look into what customers really think. This data helps us refine products, tailor marketing, and get a sense of customer sentiment and preferences.
Why is this kind of content so crucial online?
It’s incredibly helpful when someone’s considering a purchase. It’s not just what companies say—it’s what regular people share on social media, in emails, or when shopping online.
It’s like honesty on a whole new level. With tons of brands vying for attention, people are pickier about who they trust, especially Gen Z—they’re particular!
User-generated content holds immense power in different sectors. A survey found that 79% of people feel it significantly influences their buying decisions—a significant rise from 60% in 2017. In contrast, only 13% find brand-generated content impactful, and 8% give high importance to influencer content when making purchasing decisions.
It’s not just consumers who value authenticity—around 60% of marketers believe genuine and quality content is crucial. And when it comes to authenticity, nothing beats content from real customers.
A major tip: Don’t try to fake it! People can tell when something’s not genuine, and it can harm your brand’s reputation. Always ensure user-generated content comes from real customers, loyal fans, or your own team.
Think about how much weight people put on recommendations from others—that’s what user-generated content is like now. It’s like getting advice from a friend.
Here’s the kicker: People are 2.4 times more likely to believe user-generated content compared to brand-created content. So, focusing on this honest approach to social media and marketing is a smart move.
4 – Email Marketing Optimization
Use historical data to personalize email content, suggesting products or promotions based on a customer’s history, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions.
During Email Expo 23, we (Scratcher) interviewd Sophie Thybo Dalgaard, Email Marketing Lead at Matas, and asked for her tips on personalization, brand engagement and interactive formats. She shared some perspectives about how considering location and purchase history can power up emails campaign performance. She also talked about a new engagement model and its correlation with User Experience Customization Value (UECLV).
Matas launched a new engagement model for their loyal 1.8 million members to understand member engagement and push it to new heights. Why? Because they noticed an interesting correlation between member engagement and customization value. When customers’re more engaged, they see a rise in overall value.
They’ve crunched numbers and found that just moving 1.5% of their members to the next step of engagement could lead to a whopping 13 million gain in revenues.
If you want to learn more about email marketing strategies read this article.
5 – Interactive content and gamification marketing
In the e-commerce space, interactive campaigns are a useful tool to create an engaging customer journey and collect essential first-party data. For example, the activewear retailer EYDA, gamification marketing has provided a means to generate leads, strengthen brand awareness, and learn more about their customers’ preferences. With markets currently in Denmark and Norway, the e-commerce company is focused on sharing their message of inclusivity and high-quality products with their growing audience.
EYDA activated 15.000 unique visitors to interact with the website pop-up and social media ads. And, of those unique visitors, 12.000 participated in the “Fit for Every Body” quiz. This means that they had a conversion rate of 80%.
Over three months, EYDA’s Meta ads received close to one million impressions across Denmark and Norway, the main locales of the campaign, and channelled 10.000 interested visitors to the quiz. On their own website, the engaging pop-up channelled 5.600 visitors directly to the campaign page.
With around €40 spend per day, this means that EYDA’s CPL for this campaign was €0.30—Scratcher allowed the e-commerce retailer to acquire leads 35% cheaper than through their usual Meta ads! Read more about this brand business case here.
6 – Omnichannel Communication
Creating a seamless omnichannel experience is essential, and POWER, the electronics giant in the Nordic countries, exemplifies this remarkably. They’ve introduced POWER TV LIVE, a monthly live shopping broadcast, integrating live streaming on their website and social media channels. During these broadcasts, they showcase various products and offer viewers a unique chance to engage through the Wheel of Fortune for prizes.
This innovative blend of physical and digital gamification is evident as viewers comment “I participate” in the livestream chat to enter a draw for an in-studio spin and simultaneously receive a link to digitally spin the wheel with Scratcher.
Their live streams attract substantial audiences, ranging from 30,000 to 140,000 viewers, with about 70% actively engaging through reactions, participation comments, and direct purchases. This high level of interest and interaction on social media significantly boosts POWER’s content within algorithms, expanding their organic reach to a wider audience.
Read more about POWER business case here.
In conclusion, optimizing brand engagement throughout the buyer journey must be seens as an opportunity. Marketers must shift gears from traditional, static approaches to dynamic, personalized strategies. Embracing integrated systems, AI-powered personalization, interactive content, and omnichannel communication is the key to unlocking unparalleled brand engagement and, ultimately, driving positive outcomes for the business.
Remember, the buyer journey isn’t a linear path—it’s a multifaceted experience. By prioritizing engagement at every twist and turn, brands can forge lasting connections, nurture loyalty, and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Ready to level up your engagement strategy?
Explore the strategy of interactive marketing to create personalised experiences, foster engagement, and establish meaningful connections with your audience. With Scratcher as a partner you will have:
- User-friendly integration: Easily integrate interactive content with all of your favourite marketing tools
- 24/7 customer support: We're here to assist you every step of the way
- Customisable templates: Personalise your campaign to reflect your unique brand
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