Guide the Customer Journey With Personalized, Moments-Based Marketing

Consumers are bombarded with sales messaging from dozens (or even hundreds or thousands) of brands across multiple channels throughout the day. The only way to cut through the noise is with meaningful interaction. And the only way to do that is to understand the customer’s needs and where he/she is in their journey, a unique experience made up of key moments or milestones.

Today’s technological innovations have given retailers unprecedented access to consumer data. Retail customers have high expectations of receiving a relevant offer or message at the right time through their preferred channel. It’s the promise retailers make to customers who agree to allow companies to track and use their information. However, this is much easier said than done. The good news is that retailers can fulfill this promise by using data wisely to create an improved cross-channel experience for customers through moments-based marketing.

Unlock the Power of Data With AI

What once required weeks or months to gather, analyze and report on customer insights can now happen in a matter of minutes. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), brands can access actionable customer insights in real time and optimize the next best point in the customer journey, providing extraordinary opportunities to shepherd customers through a seamless omnichannel experience.

An insights-led customer engagement platform leveraging AI can also create action-based insights for highly customized campaigns. That was the strategy for Cocomelody, a popular bridalwear retailer. The brand is known for its trendy but affordable bridalwear. It delivers omnichannel retailing across its offline and online stores, ensuring that shoppers have a unique, hassle-free buying experience.

Seizing the Moment Requires Unified Data

Cocomelody’s marketing team used multiple tools to drive cross-channel customer engagement, including Google ads and sponsored Facebook posts. Over time, however, the brand noticed a pattern of steep user drop-offs. Similarly, its ads’ conversion rates were stagnant, negatively impacting its overall return on online ad spend (ROAS).

Even with its many tools, the marketing team struggled to determine exactly where the drop-off points were and, most importantly, why they were happening. Cocomelody’s team opted for a more centralized customer engagement platform to identify the gaps and provide more personalized interactions.

The data pointed to a high cart abandonment issue on the website; however, it also showed that the users who abandoned their carts checked back to the site often. Once the team established the users’ intent on dresses, they segmented their audience based on behaviors such as checkout success, geography, and whether the users had been active in the last 30 days.

Based on this information, and knowing that bridal parties prefer to touch and try on the gowns before purchase, Cocomelody created new offers such as “Try at Home” and home delivery of fabric swatches. Next, the brand launched a multichannel retargeting campaign to let the shoppers who had abandoned their carts know about the ability to receive fabric swatches or try on gowns at home. The campaign included push notifications, SMS texts, and personalized emails. The result? A 69 percent increase in ROAS and a 30 percent increase in sales due to the Try at Home offering.

Create a Moments-Based Playbook

Today, brand marketers must look beyond costs and acquisition with their customer engagement strategies. Creating personalized campaigns demonstrates that your brand is paying attention to its customers’ needs. It begins with using customer data thoughtfully. It’s time to adopt a new playbook — one that’s centered around moments-based customer engagement. And personalization, powered by data, is what makes it possible.

Raviteja “Ravi” Dodda is the CEO and co-founder of MoEngage, a leading insights-led customer engagement platform used by global brands and retailers.