Imagine you are at a grocery store to pick up some vegetables for the week and it happens to be a Saturday, when you usually buy popcorn for movie night. The store tracks your purchase history and recognises that you regularly purchase popcorn on Saturdays, so it sends you a discount coupon on your registered mobile number, for you to avail at the store. If this sounds far-fetched, think again. Today’s hyper-competitive retail environment requires retailers to use innovative strategies to keep pace with evolving customer needs, for sustained growth. Such personalised offers are being implemented across many retail channels and will become the norm in the future.
Today’s digital savvy consumer is well-informed, shifty and highly demanding. With easy consumer access to information on brands and its competitors, retailers are finding it increasingly challenging to drive customer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty. So, how can retail businesses stay relevant and gain a competitive edge? The solution lies in leveraging customer intelligence to drive personalisation strategies. According to a 2019 Gartner study, brands risk losing 38 percent of customers because of poor marketing personalisation efforts. Customer intelligence and data driven insights are the bedrock of personalisation.
Here are some key trends in customer intelligence that are shaping the future of retail, and can help retain customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace:
- Tailoring campaigns to match shoppers’ needs: Providing personalised experiences for customers is key in improving customer loyalty and revenue. Retailers can use smart sensors and advanced IoT infrastructure to send personalised discounts to customers’ phones when they are near the POS counter or when they are browsing through a particular product or section in store or online. These personalised discount coupons are often more effective in driving increased conversions than a generic discount for the masses. Customer data can also be used to craft welcome messages, birthday and anniversary greetings and discounts, and festival and product preference led offers through engaging campaigns. US-based retailer Kroger sends out customised emails to its customers, based on their shopping patterns. Most retailers only do blanket promotions. Kroger’s e-mail promotion codes are said to garner a 40% redemption rate, which is 20 times the success rate when compared to an industry average of nearly 2%.
- Understand customers better with customer analytics: By collecting, collating and analysing consumer data from different channels across online and offline retail stores, retailers can identify key consumer attributes to form customer segments and personas. Customer analytics can then be used to develop personalised engagement campaigns based on these personas, to entice customers with the right products and offerings.
- Delight customers at the right location: With the help of location-based marketing, retail businesses can improve their campaign strategies and campaign performances. Location-based marketing helps brands create cross-channel experiences and leverage re-targeting opportunities to capitalise on micro-moments when the probability of campaign conversion is high. Retailers can develop messaging and communications tailored to customers based on their specific geographic location, including delivering ads in the local language, specific to local customs and festivals. As retailers collect information about the customer at various touch points across mediums, the customer’s address can be used to provide inputs and recommendations on the nearest store where related products are available, including details on promotional offers.
- Drive engagement with real-time rewards: Real-time rewards are increasingly being used by retailers to fulfil the need for instant gratification that lures customers. Real-time offers can be provided in various ways such as providing incentives or offers at the purchase stage based on purchase value, communicating rewards via the phone or app while purchasing in-store, and announcing rewards on social media platforms based on customer behavior patterns.
Ultimately, customer intelligence empowers you to make informed data-driven decisions to build customer loyalty and improve sales efficiency for your retail business. By analysing customer data and coupling it with external data such as competitors, industry conditions, general trends and more, you can develop deeper insights into the customer’s existing and future needs. With a handful of benefits to gain from customer intelligence, arm your retail business with the right technology! 6DX provides retailers with all that they need to attain customer intelligence. Get closer to strengthening your customer relationships, by booking a demo today!