Omnichannel campaigns are more effective than single platform campaigns; they provide your clients with a much better ROI. But the client may not be able to effectively plan and execute a great omnichannel strategy. Maybe they don’t have the data to power and personalize it enough, they don’t have the time to strategize, and they don’t have the manpower to devote to it. So they’ve come to you.
What does it take to run a successful omnichannel campaign? A couple of our clients have run award winning omnichannel strategy campaigns recently. We learn a lot from successes like these. We have distilled out a couple tips to help your agency continue to create great campaigns that will keep your clients coming back for more.
Acquiring clean contact information for your mail, email and call clients is imperative. People move, they get new work emails, change their personal emails, get new computers and change their phones regularly. Not only that, but everyone has different preferences for how and when they should be contacted.
When you have up to date information on where to find your audience, you can get your information in front of them.
Case Study: In the early days of the pandemic, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler was facing the repercussions of a drastic drop in travel. So they created a “virtual travel” newsletter that highlighted iconic destinations around the world so that readers could be “armchair travelers.” They also connected their readers with podcasts and consumer goods that would keep their travel dreams alive, diversifying the channels and touchpoints..
The result? The newsletter generated the highest open rate since launch– a 28.2% unique open rate, which exceeded the program’s monthly goal by 47%.
What can we learn from Marriott’s success? Because Marriott Bonvoy Traveler had good, clean data, their newsletters reached their audience at the right place and right time. People were at home, not work; they were reading newsletters at different times and on different devices than before. Marriott was strategic about responding to global events in a way that mattered to their customers. They stepped inside the customers’ shoes and empathized with them.
Targeting the right audience means understanding their needs beyond basic demographic data. Demographics might tell you your customers are in their 30’s living in a middle income area, but some of those people have kids, some go to concerts, some are investing in education and some are doing home renovation. So how can you target each person appropriately?
Case Study: Colorado Technical University used a series of triggered emails with dynamic content. The message content was assembled based on the student’s interests and needs, which in turn was based on content they clicked on in prior emails and website content. In this way, CTU was able to offer highly personalized messaging to each student.
Result: Because the content was so relevant to each student, those triggered emails generated an open rate that was three times higher than average performance. They generated a click rate that was nine times higher than average. And compared to email open rates in the education industry in general, CTU’s campaign performed 160% better.
Similarly to Marriott’s newsletter, CTU was able to tap into what each person needed at the time they needed it. Marriott used a global phenomenon, and CTU used each individual’s history and behavior. When you have clean data that keeps the individual’s purchase behavior and browsing habits up to date, your campaign can predict not only what the customer needs, but also what the customer will do.
When you’re working across channels, it’s doubly important to create a unified message by keeping imagery, slogans and goals consistent. So this is where your team really needs to hone in on your client’s objective for this campaign. What do they want their customers to do, specifically? When you have a firm, set goal, then you can think about the channels you’ll use and the type of audience you’ll target.
Case study: For instance, See’s Candies’ larger purpose was to focus customer attention on their fundraising program. Organizations like youth and school groups, community organizations and nonprofits can purchase See’s Candies at a discount and then fundraise by re-selling the items, thus generating a significant profit. Once they had their goal and message, they decided to run their campaign on display and social media ads, using animated images that grabbed the audience’s attention.
What was the result? The campaign generated 20% above average click through rates. The campaign drove additional awareness and participation in See’s fundraising program.
All their banners and social media ads focused on that goal–the opportunity to fundraise. They didn’t also show ads about how delicious the candies are. They stuck to one message.
Data can help you put the right message in front of the right person, and data can also help you send that same message to another channel that same person will also see. You can show them a unified message that goes from their phone to their laptop at work, thus solidifying the message.
Remember that for a unified message to work, all the teams within your agency and your client’s company need to work together to coordinate. Communication between teams will help everyone, from marketing to web development, produce and maintain content that sends a unified message.
When agencies can work with high quality and high quantity data, they can create more sophisticated digital marketing strategies. Retargeting allows your campaign to keep making an impact after the initial touchpoint. With good data your client’s campaign can place touchpoints where your customers will already be. From first interaction to last interaction, retargeting gives you more opportunities to connect with your customer.
Retargeting can increase in conversion rates, reduce cart abandonment rates and promote brand awareness, so it’s too important to ignore.1
Our three clients, Marriott, Colorado Technical University and See’s Candies, all ran award winning campaigns by thinking about what their customer needed and wanted to see, where their customer wanted to see it, and by keeping their messaging consistent. They used good quality data to make decisions and still remain flexible, even, sometimes, in the midst of global chaos. Each campaign went above and beyond what the teams expected.
If your agency needs to deliver a winning campaign for your client, learn how The Axle Agency can help you exceed your goals.
1 https://truelist.co/blog/retargeting-statistics/
As Content Marketing Manager, Natasia is responsible for helping strategize, produce and execute Data Axle's content. With a passion for writing and an enthusiasm for data management and technology, Natasia creates content that is designed to deliver nuggets of wisdom to help brands and individuals elevate their data governance policies. A native New Yorker, when Natasia is not at work she can be found enjoying New York’s food scene, at one of NYC’s many museums, or at one of the city’s many parks with her two teacup yorkies.