Across Canada, consumers are experiencing a rapidly shifting retail marketplace with new technologies that are changing their expectations and demanding greater understanding of their needs. For retailers, this means finding more effective ways to manage customer relationships, stay relevant and cultivate loyalty with your brand. But when it comes to engaging with your customers and driving ROI, just how effective is your digital marketing strategy?
eMarketer estimates that 76% of Canadians use smartphones, and shoppers are increasingly open to more digital, mobile and personalized interactions. As analog gives way to digital, brands have a unique opportunity to connect with consumers across multiple channels—in-store, online, via email, SMS messages, and even more so in their mobile app—to deliver consistent, personalized and ongoing value to their customers.
Building, cementing and extending brand loyalty throughout the customer lifecycle (in a highly-competitive market) doesn’t happen overnight. It requires brands to understand their customers’ shopping behaviors and preferences, and provide the right offer to the right person, at the right time. Creating a compelling loyalty program, backed by a truly-personalized approach to customer engagement, ensures a steady flow of targeted communications, offers and rewards that customers really want to receive.
Here are several ways to ensure your brand’s digital strategy supports a positive customer experience, encourages increased frequency and spend, and drives conversions and revenue for your business:
1. Customer Data Should Drive Your Loyalty Strategy
At the heart of every loyalty strategy is customer data. It drives the most effective campaigns, provides robust, real-time data on the success or failure of each scheme, and indicates when, where, how, and how often you should engage with your customers. Collecting data across all channels to create a single customer view should be your top priority. From there, you can begin marketing customers with maximum relevance and earn more positive commercial outcomes across all channels, activities, expectations and demographics.
2. Every Interaction Should be Personalized, Relevant and Convenient
According to recent data in our “Shifting Loyalties in Canada” report, 47% of Canadian consumers will quit a loyalty program if it doesn’t provide enough value, and 57% who do quit will shop less or quit shopping with the brand altogether. For brands and retailers, this poses a significant threat to their business if they disregard consumer preferences and send generic offers across their customer base.
45% of Canadian consumers expect personalized offers and communications in exchange for sharing their personal information. If you’re capturing customer data, as recommended above, you should be using that information to engage each customer in a unique, convenient way so they feel valued and continue to engage with your brand.
Data and personalization are the driving forces behind a successful customer engagement strategy in Canada, whether you operate in the retail, food services, grocery, or food & beverage sector. If you’re ready to connect with consumers across multiple channels and serve up relevant, meaningful rewards to drive revenue, download our “Shifting Loyalties in Canada” report or contact us today.