Key elements of successful data-driven orchestrations

Orchestrations provide an easy way to create and visualize all customer touch-points for an automated message campaign using a combination of triggers, delays, filters, and actions. When creating orchestrations, many elements play a crucial role in the success of both the production and execution. These elements represent a starting place that should guide effective and efficient campaign and orchestration management.

1. Personalized content and messages

The ability to produce content that resonates with each segment of your audience is crucial. Leveraging data for personalization means each campaign piece is crafted to meet the unique preferences and behaviors of different customer groups, enhancing the relevance and impact of your messaging.

Further reading: 7 customer personalization components to implement now 

2. Efficient campaign setup and execution

A true marketing platform will help streamline the setup and execution of campaigns and orchestrations. This efficiency allows for rapid deployment of marketing initiatives, reducing the time from conception to market. It means marketers can quickly respond to market changes or customer feedback, ensuring campaigns are always timely and relevant.

3. Coordinated cross-channel delivery

Effective campaign orchestration involves synchronizing messages across multiple channels. Data-driven approaches ensure that whether a customer interacts with an email, social media post, or SMS message, they receive a consistent and cohesive brand experience. This coordination is key to building a unified brand narrative.

4. Insights-driven strategy development

Analytics and reporting generated from orchestrations feed directly into strategy development. By understanding what works and what doesn’t, marketers can continuously refine their approach, ensuring each new campaign is more targeted and effective than the last.

5. Thoroughly mapped customer journey

Detailed mapping of the customer journey is crucial for orchestrating campaigns that engage customers at the right time, with the right message. This mapping ensures that every touchpoint along the customer journey is optimized for maximum impact.

Further reading: How Virgin Voyages simplifies complex customer journeys

6. Collaborative workflow management

The ability to manage workflows collaboratively across teams is vital in campaign production. Data-driven platforms like Cordial provide the tools for seamless collaboration, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned and that campaigns are executed smoothly and efficiently.

7. Scalable campaign efforts

As brands grow, their campaigns must scale too. Your marketing platform should provide the scalability needed to expand campaign efforts while maintaining focus and effectiveness. This scalability ensures that as the audience grows, the campaign strategies grow alongside, maintaining their effectiveness.

Further reading: Build custom models by unifying and transforming your data 

Level up with Cordial’s Orchestration Builder

The shift towards integrated, data-driven marketing strategies is shaping a future where marketing becomes more connected. Cordial is a true marketing platform, showing how data-driven tools and strategies can revolutionize campaign production and orchestration. With Cordial’s Orchestration Builder, brands can easily connect personalized content, channels, customer and business data, and insights to design relevant customer journeys.

What marketers are saying about Cordial’s Orchestration Builder:

“Oh, there are so many [benefits], I can’t pick just one. I think the unified journey orchestration and our ability to think more holistically about how we communicate with the customer based on where they are in either the pre- or postpurchase cycle.” — Senior VP of Digital Transformation at a household goods retailer

“The biggest benefit is the ease and flexibility of creating campaigns.” — Director of Retention Marketing, clothing retailer

“Cordial has functionality our prior solution did not have. A big thing we noticed was just how easy it is to put an orchestration together; one example is that you can move or disconnect something in your Cordial orchestration and the system prompts you asking where you want to map these users to.” — Director of Marketing, wine retailer

Data is the foundation for intelligent, powerful marketing, but without the right tech partner, that data is useless. With a powerful data platform at Cordial’s core, you can instantly access incredible amounts of data to engage customers in highly personalized ways across channels. Our clients are revolutionizing their campaign production, achieving unprecedented engagement, efficiency, and overall marketing success.

The big picture: Total economic impact of Cordial

Cordial commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact study based on a composite organization of clients to examine the potential return on investment for enterprise businesses moving to Cordial. The study found Cordial not only eased the pain of managing multiple solutions but also enabled marketers to be more productive and effective in orchestrating messaging campaigns for high levels of customer engagement.

The TEI study’s quantitative findings include:

• Reduced time producing campaigns valued at $365,800.
• Increased revenue from email, SMS and mobile app marketing valued at $5 million.
• Reduced costs from retiring prior solutions valued at $1.7 million.
• Improved efficiencies from automating customer service valued at $980,400.
• Cost savings preparing data for decision-making valued at $626,400.
• Cost savings creating customer segments valued at $101,600.

Download the full study.

The post Your data-driven orchestrations should have these 7 elements appeared first on Cordial.

For instance, beyond New Year’s Day and Valentine’s Day, you can connect with your customers and fans on social media with holidays like #OrganizeYourHomeDay on January 14th or National Make Life Beautiful Day on June 11th — and make your spin on the holidays your own. And although there are an array of options throughout the year, the key to your company’s success with socially relevant holidays is to embrace thoughtfulness, a little fun (and intentional messaging), and a genuine approach to cultivating community with your audience.

Jump ahead to each month on our social media hashtag calendar:

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

Ignite your audience with action in January.

At the beginning of the year, it’s highly likely that your audience will be focused on creating a new mindset for new possibilities within the new year. Consider a monthly theme like Get Organized Month or National Vision Board Day on January 13th that supports the consumer mindset of starting the new year off with productivity and focus.

In 2022, Brookshire Brothers shared insightful tips on how their customers could live a balanced life in all areas of their lives. They provided a thoughtful approach to sharing information with their fans, from health to self-care. If you take this angle to your messaging, remember to speak with your audience (not at them).

January 2024 monthly themes:

• Financial Wellness Month
• Get A Balanced Life Month
• Get Organized Month
• International Creativity Month
• International Wealth Mentality Month
• National Be On-Purpose Month
• National Mentoring Month
• National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month 

January 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• January 1 – New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay#NewYears2024
• January 2 – National Motivation and Inspiration Day #MotivationandInspirationDay
• January 2 – Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay
• January 2 – World Introvert Day #WorldIntrovertDay
• January 4 – National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
• January 6 – National Technology Day #NationalTechnologyDay
• January 9 – Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay
• January 11 – Human Trafficking Awareness Day #HumanTraffickingAwarenessDay
• January 13 – National Sticker Day #NationalStickerDay
• January 13 – Public Radio Broadcasting Day #PublicRadioBroadcastingDay
• January 13 – National Vision Board Day #VisionBoardDay
• January 14 – Organize Your Home Day #OrganizeYourHomeDay
• January 15 – National Hat Day #NationalHatDay
• January 15 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day #MLKDay
• January 18 – Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
• January 21 – National Hugging Day #NationalHuggingDay
• January 23 – National Pie Day #PieDay
• January 23 – Community Manager Appreciation Day #CMAD
• January 24 – National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
• January 25 – Opposite Day #OppositeDay

Inspire remembrance or connectivity in February.

February is all about remembering heritage, personal commitments, or human connection. If you’re planning to celebrate Black History Month or Random Acts of Kindness Day, lead your messaging to bridge connection rather than merely celebrating for visibility. If you plan to show your support, do it with intention, like Target’s Black Beyond Measure Campaign, which has a mission of honoring the sacrifice of Black leaders of the past while amplifying and celebrating the voices of the Black community of today.

February 2024 monthly themes:

• African-American Cultural Heritage Month
• American Heart Month
• International Month of Black Women in The Arts
• National Black History Month
• National Time Management Month
• National Weddings Month
• National Women Inventors Month
• North American Inclusion Month (NAIM)

February 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• February 2 – Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay
• February 2 – World Wetlands Day #WorldWetlandsDay
• February 3 – National Bubble Gum Day #BubbleGumDay
• February 4 – World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
• February 5 – National Weatherperson’s Day #NationalWeatherpersonsDay
• February 7 – National Send a Card to a Friend Day #SendACardToAFriendDay
• February 7 – Safer Internet Day #SID2024
• February 8 – National Boy Scouts Day #BoyScoutsDay
• February 9 – National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
• February 10 – Chinese New Year #YearOfTheDragon
• February 11 – Inventors Day #InventorsDay
• February 11 – Super Bowl LVIII #SuperBowl2024
• February 13 – Self-Love Day #SelfLoveDay
• February 13 – World Radio Day #WorldRadioDay
• February 13 – Mardi Gras #MardiGras
• February 14 – Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
• February 14 – International Book Giving Day #InternationalBookGivingDay
• February 17 – Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
• February 18 – National Battery Day #NationalBatteryDay
• February 19 – Presidents’ Day #PresidentsDay
• February 20 – World Day of Social Justice #SocialJusticeDay
• February 20 – Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
• February 21 – International Mother Language Day #IMLD
• February 22 – National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay
• February 23 – Digital Learning Day #DLDay
• February 28 – National Pancake Day #NationalPancakeDay

Celebrate progress in March.

March is packed with socially relevant holidays, including Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day on March 8th. As you build your content messaging, consider ways to connect your audience beyond the content. For example, Pinterest amplified the presence of women-owned businesses during Women’s History Month 2022 while leveraging its Pinterest Elevates program to incorporate women from their platform community into high-profile initiatives beyond its celebration in March.

March 2024 monthly themes:

• American Red Cross Month
• National Women’s History Month
• Social Work Month
• Spiritual Wellness Month
• Women’s History Month

March 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• March 1 – National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day #PeanutButterLoversDay
• March 2 – National Read Across America Day #ReadAcrossAmerica
• March 2 – World Book Day #WorldBookDay
• March 3 – World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay
• March 3 – National Day of Unplugging #DayOfUnplugging
• March 3 – National Employee Appreciation Day #EmployeeAppreciationDay
• March 4 – National Grammar Day #GrammarDay
• March 6 – National Dentist’s Day #DentistsDay
• March 7 – National Cereal Day #NationalCerealDay
• March 8 – International Women’s Day #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2024 #EachforEqual
• March 8 – National Proofreading Day #NationalProofreadingDay
• March 9 – Popcorn Lover’s Day #PopcornLoversDay
• March 10 – Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NWGHAAD
• March 10 – Daylight Savings #DaylightSavings
• March 11 – National Napping Day #NationalNappingDay
• March 12 – National Girl Scout Day #GirlScoutDay
• March 14 – Organize Your Home Office Day #OrganizeYourHomeOfficeDay
• March 14 – Potato Chip Day #NationalPotatoChipDay
• March 14 – Pi Day #PiDay
• March 15 – World Sleep Day #WorldSleepDay
• March 16 – National Freedom of Information Day #FreedomOfInformationDay
• March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
• March 18 – Awkward Moments Day #NationalAwkwardMomentsDay
• March 19 – National Let’s Laugh Day #NationalLetsLaughDay
• March 20 – International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness
• March 20 – World Storytelling Day #WorldStorytellingDay
• March 21 – First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring
• March 21 – Elimination of Racial Discrimination Day #RacialDiscriminationDay
• March 21 – World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay
• March 22 – World Water Day #WorldWaterDay #Water2me
• March 23 – World Math Day #MathDay
• March 23 – National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
• March 25 – Tolkien Reading Day #TolkienReadingDay
• March 25 – Earth Hour Day #EarthHourDay
• March 26 – National Spinach Day #NationalSpinachDay
• March 26 – Purple Day #PurpleDay
• March 29 – Good Friday
• March 31 – Transgender Day of Visibility #TDOV
• March 31 – Easter #Easter

Spark fun in April.

Humor can go a long way into your messaging, but you must be clear on your audience and how they would resonate with your company’s humor. If you plan to share chuckles with your audience, remember that human temperament varies, and it’s all about knowing your audience. Be thoughtful in your approach and strategic in your angles (and responses) while preparing for the outcome. In 2012, Adult Swim’s April Fool’s prank went so well that it relaunched the fandom’s rebirth around Toonami and anime.

April 2024 monthly themes:

• Celebrate Diversity Month
• National Poetry Month
• Stress Awareness Month

April 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• April 1 – April Fools’ Day #AprilFools
• April 2 – World Autism Awareness Day #WAAD
• April 3 – Find a Rainbow Day #FindARainbowDay
• April 4 – Hug a Newsperson Day #HugANewsperson
• April 5 – National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay
• April 7 – World Health Day #LetsTalk
• April 10 – National Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
• April 10 – Encourage a Young Writer Day #EncourageAYoungWriterDay
• April 11 – National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
• April 12 – International Day of Human Space Flight #HumanSpaceFlightDay
• April 16 – National Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
• April 17 – Haiku Poetry Day #HaikuPoetryDay
• April 18 – National Tax Day #TaxDay
• April 19 – Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day #PJDay
• April 20 – National High-Five Day #NH5D
• April 20 – National Look-Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay
• April 22 – Earth Day #EarthDay2024
• April 23 – National Picnic Day #NationalPicnicDay
• April 25 – World Malaria Day #EndMalariaForGood
• April 26 – National Administrative Professionals Day #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay
• April 26 – Denim Day #DenimDay
• April 27 – Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day #COUNTONME
• April 28 – Arbor Day #ArborDay
• April 29 – International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
• April 30 – National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay
• April 30 – International Jazz Day #JazzDay
• April 30 – National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day #AdoptAShelterPetDay

Think outside the box in May.

I know there are a few off-the-wall social media holidays that can appear random at first glance, but if you think a little deeper about the connections, you could find something so unique for your company it garners attention beyond your campaign. If you plan to participate in a quirky social media holiday, lead your messaging with a desire for a sincere connection with your readers.

May 2024 monthly themes:

• Asian American Month
• Lupus Awareness Month
• Mental Health Awareness Month
• Family Wellness Month
• National Barbecue Month

May 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• May 1 – International Workers Day #IntWorkersDay
• May 1 – May Day #MayDay
• May 2 – Teacher’s Day #ThankATeacher
• May 2 – World Asthma Day #WorldAsthmaDay
• May 3 – World Press Freedom Day #WPFD2024
• May 4 – Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay
• May 4 – International Firefighters Day #InternationalFirefightersDay
• May 4 – World Password Day #WorldPasswordDay
• May 5 – Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
• May 6 – National Space Day #NationalSpaceDay
• May 6 – National Nurses Day #NursesDay
• May 9 – Europe Day #EuropeDay
• May 10 – World Lupus Day #LupusDay
• May 10 – National Receptionist Day #NationalReceptionistDay
• May 12 – National Limerick Day #NationalLimerickDay
• May 12 – Mother’s Day #MothersDay
• May 15 – International Day of Families #FamilyDay
• May 15 – National Chocolate Chip Day #ChocolateChipDay
• May 16 – Love a Tree Day #LoveATreeDay
• May 17 – Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia #IDAHOT
• May 19 – Endangered Species Day #EndangeredSpeciesDay
• May 24 – National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay
• May 26 – Heat Awareness Day #NoFryDay
• May 27 – Memorial Day #MemorialDay
• May 28 – National Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay
• May 30 – National Creativity Day #NationalCreativityDay
• May 31 – World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco

Unite your community in June.

From Juneteenth to Pride Month, socially relevant holidays in June can inspire your community to discover more similarities than differences. However, beware of “rainbow washing” your company and adding your support to your messaging without clear, intentional support within your company values and among your people. To be supportive is to not only include messaging that says you support love for all, it means living it through company practices, like Proctor & Gamble, which lives its support all year-round.

June 2024 monthly themes:

• LGBTQ Pride Month
• Men’s Health Education and Awareness Month
• National Home Ownership Month

June 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• June 2 – National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
• June 4 – National Cancer Survivor’s Day #NCSD2024
• June 5 – World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay
• June 6 – Higher Education Day #HigherEducationDay
• June 8 – World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay
• June 8 – National Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
• June 11 – National Make Life Beautiful Day #MakeLifeBeautiful
• June 14 – National Flag Day #FlagDay
• June 14 – World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood
• June 16 – Father’s Day #FathersDay
• June 19 – Juneteenth #Juneteenth
• June 20 – World Refugee Day #WorldRefugeeDay
• June 20 – First Day of Summer #FirstDayOfSummer
• June 21 – National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
• June 21 – World Music Day #WorldMusicDay
• June 21 – International Yoga Day #InternationalYogaDay
• June 23 – National Columnists’ Day #NationalColumnistDay
• June 27 – National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
• June 30 – Social Media Day #SMDay, #SocialMediaDay

Activate fun for July.

The summertime brings fun, vacations, and memories. Discover ways to utilize socially relevant holidays in current campaigns already planned within your content marketing strategy. Additionally, emojis can be a light-hearted way to deepen the connection with your audience. Companies like OkCupid and Adobe Spark have mastered incorporating socially relevant content and the play of emojis into their push notification messaging.

July 2024 monthly themes:

• National Grilling Month
• National Ice Cream Month

July 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• July 1 – National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay
• July 2 – World UFO Day #WorldUFODay
• July 4 – Independence Day #July4th
• July 7 – World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
• July 11 – Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay
• July 12 – Malala Day #MalalaDay
• July 12 – National Simplicity Day – #NationalSimplicityDay
• July 15 – Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
• July 17 – World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
• July 18 – Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay2024
• July 30 – International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship

Motivate your audience in August.

With back-to-school underway and many people reshifting their focus to productivity for business health and the good of humanity. A great way to engage your audience with socially relevant holidays is to encourage their participation in the process by sharing information on ways they could share content with their friends and family or highlight influential people connected to the theme or day. Companies like Nordstrom recently highlighted Black-owned businesses with pop-up shops nationwide. During the pop-up shops, Black-owned businesses were encouraged to participate as vendors to promote sales and visibility for their businesses.

August 2024 monthly themes:

• American Artists Appreciation Month
• Black Business Month
• National Immunization Awareness Month

August 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• August 1 – Planner Day #PlannerDay
• August 2 – National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay
• August 6 – American Family Day #AmericanFamilyDay
• August 8 – International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
• August 9 – National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
• August 11 – National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
• August 12 – International Youth Day #YouthDay
• August 12 – World Elephant Day #WorldElephantDay
• August 13 – International Lefthanders Day #LefthandersDay
• August 15 – National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
• August 16 – National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
• August 19 – World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
• August 19 – World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
• August 20 – National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
• August 26 – National Dog Day #NationalDogDay
• August 26 – National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay

Educate in September.

September is packed with monthly themes and days that spark curiosity on how someone could support, give homage, or learn something new! Consider using a monthly theme or social media observance that would provoke your audience to research and think deeper about a cause, mission, or purpose connected to themselves or others.

September 2024 monthly themes:

• Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
• National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15)
• National Suicide Prevention Month 

September 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• September 2 – Labor Day #LaborDay
• September 4 – National Wildlife Day #NationalWildLifeDay
• September 5 – International Day of Charity #CharityDay
• September 6 – Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
• September 8 – International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
• September 8 – Stand Up To Cancer Day #KissCancerGoodbye
• September 8 – National Grandparents Day #NationalGrandparentsDay
• September 11 – National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
• September 12 – National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement
• September 12 – National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
• September 14 – Live Creative Day #NationalLiveCreative Day #LiveCreativeDay
• September 15 – Online Learning Day #OnlineLearningDay
• September 18 – Civic Day of Hacking #HackForChange
• September 19 – Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
• September 21 – International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
• September 21 – World Alzheimer’s Day #Alzheimer’sDay
• September 22 – Hobbit Day #HobbitDay
• September 23 – First Day of Fall #1stDayOfFall
• September 26 – European Day of Languages #EDL2024
• September 27 – World Tourism Day #WTD2024
• September 28 – World Rabies Day #WorldRabiesDay
• September 28 – National Good Neighbor Day #GoodNeighborDay
• September 29 – International Coffee Day #InternationalCoffeeDay
• September 29 – National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #FitnessDay
• September 30 – International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
• September 30 – National Love People Day #NationalLOVEPeopleDAY

Showcase awareness in October.

Many socially relevant holidays are fantastic for educating your audience about something new, but that doesn’t mean you have to be an expert. Collaborate and partner with organizations or other companies that provide that expertise and great synergy to your fans.

October 2024 monthly themes:

• Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• Domestic Violence Awareness Month
• Global Diversity Awareness Month
• National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month
• National Cyber Security Awareness Month

October 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• October 1 – International Day of Older Persons #UNDOP
• October 1 – World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay
• October 2 – Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence
• October 2 – World Habitat Day #WorldHabitatDay
• October 3 – National Techies Day #TechiesDay
• October 4 – World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay
• October 4 – National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay
• October 5 – World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay
• October 10 – World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay
• October 11 – International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl
• October 12 – World Sight Day #WorldSightDay
• October 13 – National Train Your Brain Day #TrainYourBrainDay
• October 14 – Indigenous Peoples’ Day
• October 14 – National Dessert Day #DessertDay
• October 15 – Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay
• October 16 – National Boss’s Day #NationalBossDay #BossDay #BestBossEver #HappyBossDay
• October 16 – World Food Day #FoodDay
• October 16 – National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day #CleanYourVirtualDesktopDay
• October 17 – Eradication of Poverty Day #EndPoverty
• October 21 – Reptile Awareness Day #ReptileAwarenessDay
• October 24 – United Nations Day #UNDay
• October 25 – Greasy Foods Day #GreasyFoodsDay
• October 28 – National Chocolate Day #NationalChocolateDay
• October 30 – National Candy Corn Day #CandyCornDay
• October 30 – National Publicist Day #NationalPublicist
• October 31 – Halloween #Halloween

Give thanks in November.

From World Kindness Day to Thanksgiving, November can hold a place for reflection and care for your audience. During this season, many companies will focus on sales and shopping, but think of ways to bring mindfulness to those dealing with holiday grief or seasonal depression. Utilize socially relevant holidays to remind your audience that you’re thankful for them beyond sales and brand advocacy. They matter to you as human beings.

November 2024 monthly themes:

• Novel Writing Month
• Epilepsy Awareness Month
• Men’s Health Awareness Month

November 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• November 1 – World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay
• November 1 – Diwali #Diwali
• November 1 – National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay
• November 1 – National Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
• November 3 – National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay
• November 4 – National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
• November 5 – Daylight Saving Time Ends #DaylightSavings
• November 8 – National Cappuccino Day #CappuccinoDay
• November 8 – STEM Day #STEMDay
• November 11 – Veterans Day #VeteransDay
• November 13 – World Kindness Day #WKD
• November 14 – World Diabetes Day #WDD
• November 15 – Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day #CleanOutYourRefrigeratorDay
• November 15 – America Recycles Day #BeRecycled
• November 16 – International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay
• November 17 – International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
• November 19 – International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay
• November 19 – Women’s Entrepreneurship Day #WomensEntrepreneurshipDay
• November 19 – World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims #WDoR2024 #WDoR
• November 21 – National Entrepreneurs Day #EntrepreneursDay
• November 21 – World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay
• November 24 – National Day of Listening #DayOfListening
• November 25 – Small Business Saturday #SmallBusinessSaturday
• November 26 – National Cake Day #NationalCakeDay
• November 28 – Thanksgiving Day #Thanksgiving
• November 29 – National Native American Heritage Day #NAHertitage #NativeAmericanHeritageDay
• November 29 – Black Friday #BlackFriday #BlackFriday2024
• November 30 – Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay

Be jolly in December.

To wrap up the year, brainstorm ways to infiltrate your core values into your holiday messaging approach, especially when it comes to unique holidays outside of those we often think of for the holiday season. It’s okay to be different but always remain intentional.

December 2024 monthly themes:

• AIDS Awareness Month

December 2024 holiday hashtag calendar:

• December 1 – World AIDS Day
• December 2 – Cyber Monday #CyberMonday
• December 3 – Giving Tuesday #GivingTuesday
• December 3 – Persons with Disabilities Day #IDPWD
• December 4 – National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
• December 5 – World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay
• December 8 – Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay
• December 10 – Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay
• December 10 – Nobel Prize Day #NobelPrize
• December 11 – International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay
• December 21 – Crossword Puzzle Day #CrosswordPuzzleDay
• December 21 – First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice
• December 25- January 2 – Hanukkah #Hanukkah
• December 25 – Christmas Day #Christmas
• December 26 – January 1 – Kwanzaa #Kwanzaa
• December 27 – No Interruptions Day #NoInterruptionsDay
• December 31 – New Year’s Eve #NewYearsEve2024

Five mantras to follow when striving for a better message — all year long

Whenever possible, try to send a better message — not just another message. So put yourself in the mindset and space of your customer. Here are five important mantras to consider whenever you’re crafting messaging for your company. Follow the links to listen to curated inspirational talks for each:

• Show empathy. Feel with people and listen.
• Elevate language. Think about how you think.
• Energize design. Keep in mind what makes us human.
• Innovate experience. Practice, test, and learn.
• Inspire action. Start with why — always.

And find more inspiration on Cordial:

• 10 Clio Award-winning brands winning with a better message — See how Clio Award-winning brands send an authentic message through empathy, language, design, experience, and action.
• How brands win awards, hearts, and change with customer data — We share 10 examples of companies achieving outstanding campaigns and change by tapping into their customers’ data and interactions.
• How to embrace kindness in your brand messaging — Get tips on kinder marketing with examples of kindness in messaging and best practices for building kindness in your process.
• How to align consumer messaging with your brand vision — Knowing your vision and mission statement is critical to creating an effective messaging strategy across all marketing channels. Here’s how to get started.
• Intro to growth marketing in the age of personalization — Ditch growth hacking and turn your focus to tried-and-true methods, top stats, and 30 of the most effective campaign types to accelerate engagement and revenue.

Amp up engagement all year long with personalized marketing

No doubt about it: personalization is here to stay. People of all ages appreciate it when companies they know and trust provide customized information and offers. The only question is will your company step up and embrace this reality? By harnessing the power of an advanced customer data platform (CDP), your company can achieve best-in-class personalization tactics.

A good CDP platform needs to:

• Unite robust data management with email, SMS, and mobile app marketing — all in one platform
• Consolidate all data from anywhere in your tech stack and activate it to power your outreach
• Provide easy-to-use workflows to simplify and accelerate campaign development
• Leverage predictive analytics to let you delight customers by anticipating their needs
• Empower you to deliver the consistent, cross-channel experiences customers expect

Companies today are on the edge of an unprecedented opportunity to transform how they engage with customers. Those who move swiftly and embrace personalization can dramatically improve their customer experience, increase retention, and remain powerful players in the market.

Cordial automates billions of data-driven emails, SMS, and mobile app messages to create lifetime customer connections for leading companies. Get in touch to schedule a demo.

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Which is more important: customer acquisition or retention? Most marketing tends to focus on customer acquisition — growing the customer base. But the real money is in retention. Harvard Business Review reports that the cost of acquiring new customers is between five and 25 times the cost of retaining an existing one. 

The key to retention is loyalty. But here’s the pain point: As our marketing channel choices expand, so does the complexity around how we develop and implement loyalty programs. And today, real-time personalization is an essential component of any successful cross-channel loyalty program.

So to get started, here’s how to build a customer loyalty program that works across all your marketing channels.

Popular types of loyalty programs

Your first step is to choose the type of loyalty program best suited for your business and customers. Here are some of the most popular types to choose from.

• Points programs — Some of the most well-known loyalty programs are points programs (think air miles or Sephora’s Beauty Insider program). Points programs offer customers points, a form of virtual currency, when they make a purchase or perform a specific action. Customers can then redeem those points for something else — a new product, discounts, and so on.
• Layered programs — Layered programs, sometimes called tiered programs, offer customers higher levels of benefits for higher levels of loyalty. Loyalty levels are often determined by how much a customer has spent on the brand. So customers who spend more get more rewards: better discounts, access to exclusive events, and more.
• Value-based programs — With a value-based loyalty program, you align rewards with your customers’ values. Rather than offering customer discounts or monetary incentives, you can offer to give a charitable donation or support a non-profit organization.
• Paid programs — Paid loyalty programs provide special discounts and exclusive products to customers who have paid extra to be in the program. This type of program can be effective if the price of the program is fair and the benefits are valuable. Part of the attraction to these programs is the exclusivity: The customer feels like they’re part of a special community.
• Omni-channel loyalty programs — One challenge for the implementation of loyalty programs is making sure they work for products across all channels, both online and in-store. An omni-channel loyalty program is one that offers a unified experience regardless of channel. It’s designed to deliver a convenient, seamless experience for customers and also provide the most valuable data to companies.

Best practices for a cross-channel loyalty program

The most effective cross-channel loyalty programs are those that are flexible and deliver the most value to customers. Here are some of the best practices that will help make your program successful.

1. Make it easy to enroll in any channel.

The key to loyalty programs is to maximize enrollment. So make it easy for customers to join. Make the sign-up process have a low barrier with a single, simple step. For example, let them scan a QR code as they wait in the checkout line, browse your web store, or scroll your Instagram page.

2. Offer rewards in all channels.

A true cross-channel program will provide rewards regardless of the sales channel. Make sure your brick-and-mortar locations, your web store, and your app are all compatible with your loyalty program.

3. Collect data over time.

One of the main benefits of loyalty programs to brands is the data they offer. So collect customer data. But don’t necessarily ask for it all at sign-up. Consider incentivizing customers to give you data over time in exchange for rewards.

4. Personalize, personalize, personalize.

Once you have customer data, use it. Offer the members of your loyalty program personalized deals based on their purchase history, product preferences, location, or other factors.

5. Surprise members with time-sensitive rewards.

Provide customers with more value by offering time-sensitive rewards. For example, send personalized SMS text marketing messages or push notifications with timely and relevant personal messages to customers near your store or who are about to make an online purchase.

How to make the most of each messaging channel for customer loyalty

Each of your marketing channels has a special role to play in your loyalty program. Here’s how each one is best used.

• Email — Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels. The best email strategies for loyalty programs include educating your customers and pushing them towards your website or web store. Make emails especially effective with clever copy, entertaining content, and personalization. The more valuable your emails, the better your open rates will be.
• SMS — SMS marketing has an eye-popping 98% open rate — much higher than most other channels. It’s best used for communicating time-sensitive offers targeted at your customer’s interests. It’s also perfect for when you know your customer is near your store or considering making a purchase.
• MMS — Multimedia Messaging Services (MMSs) are the next evolution of text messages. They let you send images, videos, GIFs, and even audio along with your text. Embrace the expanded creative possibilities they offer, and use them to showcase new products or new deals.
• Push notifications — Push notifications are clickable messages that appear on your user’s screen, regardless of whether they have an application open. Their strength is speed: You reach the majority of your audience in as little as 10 minutes. They’re best used for brief messages and direct text about time-sensitive deals or at crucial moments of a buyer’s journey — for example, when a customer abandons their shopping cart.
• In-app messaging — In-app messages, displayed while your customer is using your app, are a fantastic way to boost engagement and drive loyalty. But they have to be done thoughtfully to not disrupt the user from why they’re using the app. They’re best when they offer something valuable, like targeted promotions, and when they are tailored to what the customer is doing at that moment.

Related resources on Cordial

• Article: How to overcome top cross-channel marketing obstacles
• Article: How to improve cross-channel marketing strategy
• Data study: 7 data-backed strategies to win customer engagement

Examples of customer loyalty programs

Customer loyalty programs are nothing if not flexible. There are thousands of ways you can build an effective cross-channel loyalty program. Here are some of our favorites from the world’s top brands and why they’re so effective.

1. Educate your customers from the get-go.

One way to ensure that rewards program members know what an awesome opportunity they’ve found is to educate them. Cordial customer Ancient Nutrition has sent out introductory emails that spell out the benefits, such as in the example. They include clear copy, attractive imagery, and an easy-to-read chart.

2. Give the best rewards to your most loyal customers.

The Designer Shoe Warehouse (or DSW) has a tiered loyalty program where they give more points and better discounts to more dedicated customers. A customer’s reward level depends directly on the purchases they make. DSW has mastered the art of leveling up the benefits for its most faithful customers.

3. Make it easy for the customer to benefit.

Starbucks Rewards is structured like a traditional points loyalty program. But what sets it apart is how easy it is to redeem products. In true cross-channel fashion, coffee drinkers can quickly and easily use their points for products in-store or on the app for any product they sell. Simple and effective.

4. Offer customers more than just product rewards.

Points acquired in the North Face XPLR Pass program can be used not just for product discounts, but also for special event passes and access to limited-edition collections. These exclusive experiences give North Face customers a variety of ways to benefit, and therefore a variety of reasons to engage with the brand.

5. Create a community.

Sephora’s Beauty Insider program is an industry-leading points program. It has all the features you’d expect: Customers redeem these points for rewards of their choice, like free samples, product discounts, and access to events. What makes it innovative is layering in a community where consumers can share beauty tips and experiences. The result is a brilliantly engaging program.

6. Offer more than competitors.

Points programs are ubiquitous among airlines — virtually every company is part of one. With so many competitors, how does Alaska’s Mileage Plan become recognized as one of the best? It simply offers more. The layered program allows customers to earn miles, travel experiences, and obtain an elite-level MVP status faster than any other program.

7. Push customers to your preferred channel.

The paradox with cross-channel loyalty programs is this: You want to give your customers the choice to use any channel they like, but you also want to nudge them toward your preferred channel.

Expedia does this brilliantly. Their customers earn loyalty points from every channel, but they get double the points when they book a flight or hotel specifically through the app. They offer customers the convenience to choose but also incentivize customers to use the channel they prefer.

8. Deliver a complete customer experience.

Amazon Prime is an especially effective example of a paid loyalty program. The offer is simple: fast (and free) shipping, movies, TV, music, and ebooks for a single subscription. The beauty is that the rewards, including free shipping, incentivizes customers to buy more without offering discounts on items.

9. Align with a cause.

Ben & Jerry’s loyalty program is pretty standard: They offer customers get 10% off every purchase, plus extra perks like free cones on birthdays and the company’s “inside scoop” newsletter. But they boost the program’s effectiveness by aligning with social causes — as evidenced by clever ice cream flavor names like “Change is Brewing” and “Empower mint.”

Combining rewards with alignment to social movements is part of the reason Ben & Jerry’s has developed an extremely loyal customer base.

10. Contribute to charity.

The Body Shop’s loyalty program, the Love Your Body Club, sets itself apart by giving customers the opportunity to donate their points to charity rather than redeem them for products. It’s a simple feature, but it’s a powerful way to demonstrate to customers that the company is engaged in philanthropy.

11. Cooperate with the customer.

REI’s program leverages the uniqueness of its business structure as a cooperative. It’s owned by members, so one of the benefits of the loyalty program is a lifetime membership and an ownership stake in the company. That extra bonus, on top of 10% cash back on all purchases and steep discounts on products and experiences, makes their paid loyalty program especially effective.

Five mantras to follow when striving for better messaging — in any program

Whenever possible, try to send a better message — not just another message. So put yourself in the mindset and space of your customer. Here are five important mantras to consider whenever you’re crafting messaging for your brand. Follow the links to listen to curated inspirational talks for each:

• Show empathy. Feel with people and listen.
• Elevate language. Think about how you think.
• Energize design. Keep in mind what makes us human.
• Innovate experience. Practice, test, and learn.
• Inspire action. Start with why — always.

Keep customers coming back with a cross-channel loyalty program

A loyalty program is one of the most effective ways to build a community of people that love your products. And not only does a cross-channel loyalty program boost customer retention, but it also doubles as a steady stream of data to power your marketing campaigns.

Having the right marketing technology tools is the foundation for any successful cross-channel campaign. So Cordial’s platform gives you everything you need to execute your loyalty program messaging:

• Execute loyalty program messaging across all your channels, including email, SMS, and mobile app messages.
• Conduct advanced analytics to build granular customer segments.
• Automate marketing messages to send the right message at the right time on the right channel.
• Personalize your marketing messages using predictive intelligence and real-time customer data.

Cordial is simple to use but can have a powerful impact on the success of your cross-channel loyalty program. Request a demo today.

The post How to build a cross-channel customer loyalty program appeared first on Cordial.

Most notably, an Epsilon study found that 80% of consumers admit that they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. And as we found in our Cordial Cross-Channel Marketing Study, there is incredible value in customizing content based on individual actions:

Consumers who feel the messages they receive are personalized are nearly twice as likely to purchase based on an email or text received.

Without a doubt, consumers expect true personalization using the information they have shared and actions they have taken. But many marketers are still approaching personalization with the same approach from more than a decade ago. To win, successful engagement must go beyond “batch and blast” sends with A/B tests sprinkled in between. You brand first must address the biggest challenges to creating cross-channel bliss.

Challenges of creating a truly personal cross-channel experience

1. Without data, there can be no personalization.

In our study, we found nearly three-quarters of marketers, 74%, cite obstacles to sending email and text messages that are highly personalized. Twelve percent of marketers say “we’re unable to access the data we need when we need it,” and 14% cite data formatting, agreeing, “we can’t use the data we have without time and effort to prepare it.” Others struggle with resources and skills.

Access to data is critical to being able to make a real connection with consumers. The more granular the data that marketers are able to use, the more personal and timely the messages will be for consumers — and the more likely they will be to engage and break through.

2. Misaligned platforms can risk disconnected experiences.

Many marketers also need to rely on multiple platforms and data sources to send emails and text messages to customers. We also found only 24% of marketers say they can send email and SMS through just one platform, while 35% say they need three or more platforms in order to send messages. And it’s no secret that legacy ESPs are holding many marketers back.

3. Brands must meet the real-time imperative.

Perhaps as a result of disconnected technologies and data challenges, many marketers are still not able to achieve real-time personalization with their email programs. Only a third (33%) of marketers say that they are able to achieve real-time personalization, personalizing on all the audience, attribute, and behavior data they have in real-time. Only 23% of marketers say they are able to achieve real-time personalization with their text messaging programs.

Yet, despite the lack of real-time personalization, marketers still feel that they are creating a unique experience for each customer through email and SMS. A strong majority — nearly 9 in 10 marketers (89%) — feel they are creating a unique experience for each customer. Yet, harkening back to the consumer data, it is clear that the experience that marketers think they are creating isn’t necessarily landing with all consumers.

4. The future requires flexibility.

To deliver a consistent and connective customer experience, marketers must choose technology platforms that play well with others. Neither a world of disparate UIs and customer data silos nor one where a single marketing cloud solves all of a marketer’s problems will do the trick.

Marketers want to work with stellar platforms in e-commerce, content management, advertising, social, and cross-channel marketing that play nicely together: real-time customer and business data living in multiple platforms at once, where it can be activated in the best possible way. Furthermore, no vendor can provide custom integrations with every single best-of-breed martech solution. The future is flexibility — in APIs, data portability, no-code data transformation, and similar tools.

How to overcome cross-channel marketing challenges

Cordial is the cross-channel marketing and data platform for customer-centric brands. Collect all of your customer data in one platform, and use it to build audience segments, discover trends, and automate customer experiences at enterprise scale. Learn more from our team today.

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Cross-channel, multi-channel, or omni-channel approach?

In the marketing industry, we tend to use terms that teams may interpret differently, so let’s level-set on a few definitions.

What is cross-channel marketing?

Cross-channel marketing is the practice of implementing multiple marketing channels to manage data, analytics, customer segmentations, and orchestration across digital and offline channels. Each channel is connected and communicates with one another, along with a central data platform, to provide a cohesive personalized experience across each channel.

What is multi-channel marketing?

Multi-channel marketing is the practice of operating in multiple channels, but each channel is operated in a silo. Each channel serves a different purpose and is not necessarily integrated with the others. A multi-channel approach doesn’t always connect customer behavior to provide a consistent experience across all channels.

What is omni-channel marketing?

Omni-channel marketing is the practice of sequencing all marketing and advertising across channels and devices so that it is connected, relevant, and consistent with the customer’s stage in their lifecycle. Omni-channel marketing removes all barriers between advertising and marketing medians to create the most seamless experience.

Empowered consumers expect cross-channel experiences.

Consumers don’t behave in a linear line. They zig and zag between devices and channels, creating valuable opportunities for you to interact with them each step of the way. For example, in 2000, 83% of consumers required only 1-2 touchpoints during their path to purchase. In 2015, this increased to 3-6 touchpoints with a brand to complete a purchase. In other words, consumers are interacting with brands in more channels and more devices than they used to! It’s no surprise that this trend has continued to grow in recent years, with 90% of consumers saying they expect brands to deliver a seamless experience across the channels they interact and purchase in.

Fortunately for brands, as consumers’ online and offline fingerprints grow, they leave traces of data surrounding identity, behavior, purchase preferences and history that you can capture. Armed with this rich data set, your marketing team can provide personalized experiences along the entire customer lifecycle, regardless of channel of interaction.

Steve Costanza, Senior Performance Marketing Manager at Snipes USA points out, “User journeys are complex, and it’s no longer practical to view each channel in a vacuum. We also know that different channels attract different customer demographics, and we can make a customer’s first experience feel more personalized when we can show them more relevant ads, landing page experiences, and, ultimately, products.” However, this requires enabling technology to operate across channels, and your teams are being held back by difficult-to-use and disconnected messaging platforms.

To successfully and efficiently pull off a cross-channel marketing strategy, your team must find a technology that can capture a diverse data set on customers in a compliant way, identify consumers, deliver messages at the right moment, and measure their efforts. Using point solutions for each channel simply doesn’t cut it anymore.

Disjointed cross-channel experiences impact your business in more ways than one.

Warren Buffett famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” This is a good reminder that your marketing strategy has an enormous impact on your overall business. To uphold your brand reputation, retain and attract customers, the customer experience should be at the epicenter of your strategy.

Even if the majority of your brand’s revenue is attributed to a single channel, as a customer-obsessed marketer, you know that the best brand experiences (meaning the ones that drive revenue, lifetime value, and loyalty) happen in the channels consumers prefer.

There may be one channel that is your bread and butter, for example, email. You have success in email because you know what works, what your audience prefers, and the right messaging mix.

With Buffet’s quote in mind, what will happen if your customers prefer to be engaged in other channels like SMS, mobile app, or web? You wouldn’t want a customer to receive targeted messages for a particular product they just bought, or inconsistent promotions and incentives across email and SMS. Instances like this create disjointed customer experiences, and for some consumers it’ll only take one of these negative experiences to take their business elsewhere.

A PwC study shows 32% of consumers who love a brand will walk away after a single bad experience. And there’s more than a brand’s reputation at stake — customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that don’t focus on customers. Remember: Customers aren’t privy to what is going on behind the scenes between marketers — they only notice when a brand creates a disjointed experience.

A unique strength for each messaging channel

Now that we’ve established the consumer trends driving the business need for cross-channel marketing and the serious revenue impact it has, we can dive into more detail about various messaging channels your brand should be using.

Your marketing team cannot follow a one-size-fits-all approach. By design, some of the main messaging channels like email, mobile push, and SMS all bring different advantages and downfalls. While valuable on their own, when combined these channels are far more powerful for your business.

For example, maybe you’re running a 48-hour flash sale and send an email to your customer base promoting the best deals of the year. The success of this campaign will be limited to only those who open and click through from your email, leaving a large portion of your audience potentially unaware of the campaign. If you’re only sending emails, odds are a large portion of customers aren’t checking their email until after the sale. However, if you opt for an SMS message, you’re reaching customers on a device with higher engagement rates and better time-sensitivity than email.

If you use multiple messaging channels in a connected, thoughtful way, it delivers a better message for your customer and will make them more likely to have a positive sentiment and continued brand loyalty. This trust will pay off even more in the long run, as Forbes states, loyal customers are five times more likely to purchase again and four times more likely to refer a friend to the company. In the end, a positive, connected cross-channel experience = greater customer loyalty, engagement, and revenue.

How to grow your cross-channel marketing in 2023 (and beyond)

Now that we’ve covered what cross-channel marketing is and why your team should care, it’s time to put some of these tips into action. Let’s walk through some initial steps your brand can implement to build cross-channel marketing practices that will help you provide value to your customers at every stage of their journey.

1. Start with data.

Data is the basic building block of marketing decisions. You must be able to capture it and stitch it all together. The better you understand your customers the more valuable experiences you can provide. Using Cordial’s data platform, you can capture limitless customer and business data to hyper-personalize each message sent to individual customers.

Questions to ask about your customer data:

• Which data points are essential for personalization across channels?
• What attributes about your customers or your business drive your segmentation strategies?
• Which platform will be the system of record for the consolidated customer profile?
• How will that data be passed between marketing systems? How often?
• What is the weak link? Which system or process is most likely to fail and break the chain, and how can I proactively mitigate the threat?

Real-world use case: How Revolve delivers personalized recommendations emails

Fashion retailer Revolve pulls in 16 unique data points from the Cordial platform to personalize their product recommendations for each user. As a result, personalized recommendation emails are 2X more productive than batch messages, and equate to 65% higher click-to-open and click-to-conversion rates. Sent regularly, the Revolve team expects this email to generate hundreds of thousands in incremental revenue.

16 unique data points Revolve uses:

• Abandoned browse
• Currently hearted
• Favorite category
• Similar items (to browse history)
• You may also like
• New favorite designer
• Also purchased (based on orders)
• Abandoned cart
• Saved for later
• New arrivals by price
• Brand affinity buyer
• Best sellers by state
• Best sellers by state and country
• Best sellers in the last 365 days
• Best sellers in the last 7 days
• New arrivals
• Best sellers by country
• Best sellers

2. Grow your audience through cross-channel marketing.

Capturing customer sign-ups provides numerous benefits. It grants you a better idea of a single view of each customer across the devices they use. For prospective customers, it allows you to interact with them and begin building relationships with your brand. There are multiple ways of capturing first-party data such as unique discounts or offers in exchange for providing email and/ or phone numbers, or include seamless opportunities for customers to opt-in throughout their purchase experience.

Questions to get you started:

• Have you walked through the sign-up process? Is it easy to use across devices? Are there any points of friction that would deter a customer from enrolling?
• How many times are you asking for opt-ins?
• What’s the minimum data you can ask for to drive conversion?
• Are you using incentives to capture email addresses and phone numbers, and if so, is your current incentive effective?
• How can you extend your reach so your mobile app users also opt-in for emails (and vice versa)?
• How will that data be passed between marketing systems? How often?
• Are you providing customers the ability to opt-in to SMS and email marketing during the checkout process?]

Real-world use case: How Nurx drives cross-channel acquisition

Nurx utilizes their email and web channel to encourage users to opt in to SMS and download their mobile app. Understanding that not all consumers are the same, Nurx allows their customers to select their communication method. This approach also creates mutual value for Nurx and the customer — Nurx can collect more data on each customer, and their customers receive their preferred channel of communications.

3. Determine the right channel mix.

Understanding which channel to use to interact with individual consumers requires thoughtful planning and a deep understanding of customer behavior. Each customer has their own preferences and must be treated accordingly. One of the best options is to explicitly ask customers what their preferences are. Customize your preference center to allow customers to tell you what messages they want via which channel. But, not all customers will fill that out and you might not have the ability to change your preference center. So what other data can we use to understand channel preference? Engagement.

Querying your customer database to understand who has engaged in which channel, the recency, and frequency of that engagement, what the last channel was before purchase (and the first), can all help you narrow in on key segments to customize cross-channel journeys for. If you currently have limited channels enabled or limited customer data, consider which ones are the best fit for the message you’re sending and tailor outreach efforts based on your knowledge of what will resonate most with your audience.

Key questions to consider:

• How am I taking into consideration the preferences of each of my customers and interacting with them in their preferred channels?
• Has the engagement in any of my channels plateaued? How can another channel help re-engage customers?
• What channels are missing from our marketing mix?
• How can we test and validate the value of new channels we’re introducing?
• Are you implementing best practices for mobile app messaging, for instance, and other channels?

Real-world use case: How Paper Mart uses first and zero-party data to understand channel preferences

Paper Mart enables customers to state their specific interests and preferences to receive hyper-relevant and personalized communications to capture valuable zero-party data. Their audience can designate communication preferences and can be reached in channels like email and SMS to maximize engagement and decrease subscriber churn.

4. Create relevant and intelligent cross-channel moments.

Once you understand your customers based on the data you’ve collected, built an engaged cross-channel audience, and decided which messaging channels to use, it’s time to narrow down the messaging type and intent for your outreach.

Some of the most common message types include transactional communications related to order information all the way to more strategic promotional communications. Across the entire customer journey, you can use cross-channel marketing to create relevant and intelligent experiences that deliver the revenue outcomes you want and need for your brand.

Did you know that on average, acquiring a new customer is 5x more expensive than retaining an existing customer? That’s why it’s crucial that you choose the right message and channels to keep customers happy and coming back for more.

Transactional messaging

Transactional messages are an effective way to keep customers happy and aware of any order updates, but adopting an engaging cross-channel approach with transactional emails can make the experience fun for the customer while promoting brand loyalty and providing potential upsell opportunities. For example, Revolve saw an opportunity to personalize their order confirmations and shipping notifications. Within two weeks of migrating from their legacy ESP, Revolve saw a 17% increase in engagement rates by including dynamic, relevant content into these transactional emails.

Brands have traditionally sent transactional messages to keep customers aware of order-specific info, such as order confirmations or status updates. However, if the order is placed on your app, a mobile push notification for the order confirmation is also appropriate. If there are any updates to the order, an SMS message can notify the customer right away, instead of important information getting lost in their email inbox.

Each of these transactional messages is appropriate to send by email, SMS, and mobile push. The customer is waiting for this information and is eager to be notified about relevant updates. Here’s an example of an SMS message that opens an app to check-in:

Post-purchase messaging

Another type of transactional message that will create a cohesive customer experience is post-purchase messaging. This is a great way to check in with your customers and find out if they are completely satisfied. It is also a great time to recommend any complementary products for cross-sell or upsell, and provide helpful tips for using their new product.

Make these messages fun by:

• Inspiring your customers to share photos on social media
• Giving your customers coupon codes to share with their friends and family
• Asking for reviews of the product or your app in exchange for something
• Encouraging supplemental channel opt-ins if they’re only signed up for one

Loyalty and rewards messaging

You’ve acquired your customer, they’ve made their purchase, and now it’s time to grow them into brand loyalists. Loyalty messaging is particularly relevant for B2C and retail brands. If you don’t have a rewards program, now is the time to start one! Rewards programs are a great way to encourage repeat purchases.

Once a customer is part of your loyalty program, they expect you to know their loyalty status on each channel you communicate with them: email, mobile app, SMS, call center, in-store, etc.

Eddie Bauer emails out Adventure Rewards updates to customers enrolled in their loyalty program. Included in the email is a quick link to redeem in-store, a reminder of their current level, and the capability to add the reward directly to their mobile wallet. All of this is orchestrated out of one cross-channel messaging and data platform: Cordial.

Triggered messaging

Many brands leverage abandoned cart and abandoned browse triggers, which are often among the highest revenue per message tactics in the marketer’s arsenal. Advanced brands layer in additional data points to further personalize and drive urgency:

• Low inventory for your favorited item, cart/browsed item
• Low inventory for your size/style/color
• Low inventory/high views on product in cart

Promotional messaging

Last but certainly not least is the tried-and-true promotional email, whether for win-backs, campaigns, or more personalized offers. Promotional batch messages work well across channels when a consistent message is used, like Revolve:

5. Test and optimize.

When it comes to trying out new channels, messages, and campaign strategies, don’t forget that you can always test and iterate until you find what works best for your customer. And of course, the world is always evolving, so what worked best last year or last month, may no longer be the right approach.

As you’re getting started with cross-channel marketing, it’s important to test out a combination of current messages, promotions, and channels to determine what the most efficient mix is for your business. Amanda Oles, Demand Generation Manager at Datto can attest, “Email will always be queen but never be scared to test out a new channel. You won’t know if it works for your business/industry until you try!”

Questions to consider in cross-channel marketing:

• Thinking about the customer journey, is there an opportunity to introduce or use a channel differently (i.e., transactional, loyalty messaging) to enhance the customer experience?
• What barriers are preventing me from testing and trying new channel combinations?
• What KPIs am I tracking to determine the effectiveness and performance of each channel?
• Are you keeping track of new regulations for consumer data and privacy?

Five mantras to follow when striving for better message — in any channel

Whenever possible, try to send a better message — not just another message. So put yourself in the mindset and space of your customer. Here are five important mantras to consider whenever you’re crafting messaging for your brand, regardless of channel. Follow the links to listen to curated inspirational talks for each:

• Show empathy. Feel with people and listen.
• Elevate language. Think about how you think.
• Energize design. Keep in mind what makes us human.
• Innovate experience. Practice, test, and learn.
• Inspire action. Start with why — always.

Fine-tune your cross-channel marketing approach.

As the best marketers know, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating memorable customer experiences. Whether your company is connected to every channel under the sun or has been laser-focused on one messaging channel and is trying to diversify, the key is that you use data to inform your decisions and always put your customer first.

When in doubt, designing for the best customer experience won’t lead you astray. We’ve covered a lot in this ebook in terms of email, SMS, mobile, and other top marketing channels, but at the end of the day, you have to use data and customer knowledge to formulate what works best for your business. Selecting the right messaging channels is the first step you need to master in order to create the most personal and relevant cross-channel experiences for your customers.

• Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment to find the optimal channel mix for your business.
• Use data to inform your decisions.
• Keep a consistent tone across your channels.
• Allow your customers to tell you their preferences.

Ready to see how partnering with an industry leader like Cordial will help you optimize your cross-channel marketing approach? Speak with a Cordial expert today.

The post How to optimize your cross-channel marketing strategy appeared first on Cordial.

You should understand your target customers to ensure you create a targeted strategy that will impress them throughout their customer journey. And, of course, you should count data and analytics to help you make informed decisions on what to do at every stage of the journey. 

Steps to improve cross-channel marketing

1. Focus on data.

Without a doubt, knowing your data is critical when making marketing decisions at every customer journey stage. You must focus on collecting, analyzing, and understanding data about your target customers for the best results — and you’ll need to determine which data points are essential for personalization across multiple channels.

With these in mind, you’ll want to segment your target audience based on their purchasing behaviors, geographic locations, and demographics. And to develop a message that resonates with a specific segment of your audience, you’ll also need data on age, income, and more. 

Although you can use various tools to record, consolidate, and analyze customer profiles, consider focusing on a good customer relationship management platform to provide all the essential data you need about your customers, including how you acquired them, and a reporting program that aggregates your cross-channel marketing efforts into one dashboard.

Also, focus on growing your cross-channel audience by using:

• Smart web forms
• Social media
• SMS promotional campaigns
• Mobile app messaging

2. Determine the right channel mix.

While you can use various channels to interact with your customers along the journey, start with those your target audiences already use for their communications. Consider mobile devices for:

• Email
• In-app messaging
• Push notifications
• SMS and MMS
• Social media

3. Create relevant and intelligent cross-channel moments.

Providing relevant and intelligent experiences to your customers will help you earn customer loyalty. You can achieve that by using personalized post-purchase messages, such as thank-you notes. Also, giving your customers loyalty points and rewards is an excellent way of appreciating them, which will likely make them come back for more next time.

You also can smartly tailor your promotions and promotional messages to make customers want to buy and use your products. Your messages should be friendly, not pushy.

4. Maximize triggered messaging.

Many successful brands leverage abandoned carts and abandoned browser triggers to reach out to target customers and persuade them to purchase. Top brands will use the triggers to personalize further and drive urgency. You can take the strategy a notch higher by using low inventory and high views on the product in the cart and low inventory for favorite or browsed items.

You should also alert the customers via email or notification through the app when some of the products they are interested in are back in stock. Also, reminding your audiences of a price drop for products they have viewed before or added to the cart will likely make them buy the item(s) soon. 

Here’s a quick roundup of popular triggered emails:

• Abandoned shopping cart
• Abandoned browsing
• Back in stock
• Birthday
• Confirmation
• Low inventory
• Loyalty rewards
• Milestone
• Onboarding
• Personal event reminder
• Special offers
• Welcome

5. Test and optimize.

Don’t be afraid to try new channels and campaign strategies until you come up with the right channel mix and messaging that works for your customers. Use data analytics and reporting tools to see the results of your cross-channel marketing strategy. Fine-tune your approach to make it more targeted and personalized based on your data analytics, audience interests, and responses.

Getting started 

If want you to jump-start your cross-channel marketing, you have come to the right place. Leading brands like Revolve, Eddie Bauer, and 1-800 Contacts use Cordial to execute an intelligent cross-channel marketing strategy.

To learn more about cross-channel marketing strategy, schedule a demo with us today.

The post How to improve your cross-channel marketing strategy appeared first on Cordial.

Only Influencers revealed that a third of Email Service Provider Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that were postponed in 2021 are moving forward in 2022 and another third are undecided about what to do. If you are in the same boat and looking to find your next cross-channel marketing partner this year, we’ve rounded up the top three questions to consider during the evaluation process to make it as easy and streamlined as possible:

• What approach to take: RFP or Proof of Concept (POC)?
• Are you making the most of your data?
• What’s important in a tech partner?

What approach to take: RFP or POC?

With a complicated landscape, marketers have gotten more and more skeptical about what technology vendors say they can do versus what they can actually do—and with good reason. RFPs can help you procure a shortlist of vendors, and POCs can help you actually put the technology to the test. Make sure you know the strengths of RFPs and POCs, and how to best use them throughout your search for the perfect technology partner.

What’s an RFP? 

An RFP is an open bid in which a brand announces that funding is available for a particular project or program, and vendors can place bids for the project’s completion. Essentially, an RFP answers specific questions about how a vendor will meet the needs and goals of the requesting brand.

What’s a POC?

In the world of marketing technology, a POC is used as a pilot program for a brand to use a vendor’s technology in a controlled environment to replicate real use cases. The purpose is to test the technology, plug in real data, and use it as if it were for actual day-to-day work.

When working through RFPs or POCs, consider:

• Length of time
• System integrations
• Team coordination and ease-of-use
• Cost vs. performance
• Advanced capabilities (enterprise-ready vs. mid-market)

While an RFP is a great way for brands to vet vendors and weed out the ones who are not a good fit, the process can take an enormous amount of time and energy without true validation of the technology. Many marketers today don’t choose technology based on an RFP alone, they incorporate a POC period of 1-4 weeks to put the technology to the test, proving its worth and function. It’s a win-win for both the brand and vendor as the brand gets a no-strings-attached experience from the vendor and the vendor gets to technically prove themselves as the best solution.

Ensure the top vendors you’re considering are able to provide you with a POC to ensure their solution is the best fit to help your brand succeed. Take a second look at your RFP and consider requesting a POC from the vendors you’re considering so you can get a genuine experience in the technology to prove that it’s the right solution for you.

Are you making the most of your data?

Your team works hard to capture and collect valuable customer data points—but this effort can be wasted unless your marketing tech stack lets you synthesize this data into actionable insights designed to craft a better customer experience.

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) can be invaluable depending on your use cases, but if you’re considering new platforms, it’s worth asking yourself what you’re looking for from a CDP that you’re not already getting from your email provider. Several ESPs include a “CDP Inside” and some tick the boxes for features and functionality a CDP provides.

Chris Marriott referenced in his “4 Trends Shaping the ESP Vendor Landscape 2022” post that many brands ended up with a CDP and email platform with overlapping capabilities.

“Those brands that rushed into CDP adoption often ended up ‘over-platformed’, meaning they were paying two different vendors for many of the same features and functions… But—and this is the critical thing to remember—if you start your search for the right ESP before looking at CDPs, you may not need a CDP at all.”

Modern platforms, like Cordial, were created to support the incredible amounts of data brands need in order to communicate with customers in the relevant, personal ways they expect. For example, Cordial was designed with core CDP capabilities that let marketers enhance, transform, and use their first- and zero-party data in real time to orchestrate complex customer journeys. But our platform also has flexible data portability, both in and out, allowing us to coexist with other best-of-breed technologies and grow with our client’s enterprise.

Consider the timing of your CDP vs. ESP needs. If an email/cross-channel vendor matches all your requirements and includes a CDP element, it could save your brand a significant amount of money and time.

What’s important in a tech partner?

You’re embarking on a vendor partnership that is typically a minimum of two years. Make sure the partner you choose matches your values and is an organization you’ll look forward to working with on a daily basis—not a vendor who will treat your team like just another number.

It should be easy to work with partners and to deploy campaigns. But that isn’t always the case with some vendors. Even for brands with self-sufficient, technical teams, client service and even culture should be a significant consideration in the decision-making process.

Cordial recently conducted a survey and found that an overwhelming majority—96%—of B2C marketers agreed “It is important to choose technology vendors that offer a high level of service and support”, with 63% strongly agreeing.

The 2022 State of the ESP RFP survey also showcased interesting results in how brands are viewing their support and vendor partnerships. Even for brands planning to operate autonomously and with minimal need for vendor support, client service should play a big factor in the decision-making process.

“Making a big move up this year, and coming in as the second most important capability with 72% of respondents listing it, is ‘Client Service/Support’ that is significantly higher than the 50% it received last year.”

As cross-channel messaging becomes more and more complex with additional channels and data sources, even seasoned marketers will benefit from a team of experts to collaborate with on strategy and optimization. Cordial, for example, has client support and solutions that lay the foundation to get accounts set up and sending quickly (within 30 days on average) and a rep dedicated to ongoing consultation and additional services throughout the partnership to accelerate what our platform can do for our clients. When considering a cross-channel partner, think about how your team will work and be supported by them.

In addition to helping you get email programs sending quickly, it’s also important to consider ease of use with a new vendor; however many platforms sacrifice customization at the expense of usability. For example, a vendor might offer a drag-and-drop email editor, but be lacking in terms of how each content block can be configured and customized for your brand—as well as the type of real-time dynamic content optimization that other vendors offer. This is a perfect example of when a proof-of-concept can be so useful, so you can see how a feature actually works. In the end, your brand is unique, so why should your email templates look the same as thousands of other brands using the same vendor?

So if you are one of the many frustrated brands looking to upgrade from legacy clouds or limited partners, consider the process and the desired outcomes to make the best choice possible. 

The post From RFP to POC: Important considerations to help find your perfect cross-channel partner appeared first on Cordial.