Customers are always on the lookout for businesses that strike a connection with them. It’s no wonder that generic campaigns are now on a downtrend. Instead, we are seeing an increase in personalized and targeted strategies.
But every time businesses seem to have mastered the art of personalization, technological advancements enable yet another level of opportunities.
Making marketing even more nuanced, micro-moments and hyper-personalization join hands to create a formidable force – real-time marketing.
Real-time marketing is marketing that leverages the power of moments and customers’ own experiences to create a connection and leave an impression.
Understanding Real-Time Marketing
True to its name, real-time marketing is a fast-paced strategy that targets customers at the exact moment when they’re most likely to be connect with your business.
For example, your customer walks into a mall. Now is the time to send them a notification about an ongoing sale or offer – triggering recall and making it more likely that they visit your store and make a purchase.
It’s about cutting through the marketing noise to make your business relevant. The best way to get this done? With data — not the oft-touted Big Data, but smart data that helps you connect with your customers on a deeper level.
This is one of the most powerful ways to create resonance.
Ready to get started on creating a real-time marketing strategy?
Know Your Customer
To be there for your customers at critical moments, you need to first identify the moments your business can cater to.
If you’re a home décor brand, it would be a great idea to target people immediately after important life events like getting married or even moving homes. But how would you know which of your customers were experiencing this?
That’s why you need to engage with people already subscribing to your brand, send out surveys, host polls, and see their responses. Creating a detailed customer persona and understanding their background will help you develop content that increases conversions. You can also use analytics to see other searches your customers have conducted – targeting those which are most relevant.
The more information you have, the better connections you can create.
Rapid Follow-Ups
Leveraging a moment can make the difference between a strong connection versus one that’s long forgotten.
One of the simplest examples of this is when a cart is abandoned. A customer has visited your site, added products in for purchase, yet not completed the process. So how about a helpful nudge reminding them that their products are waiting?
Sometimes that’s all you need to capture their interest again and get them back onto your website. And would you believe – a whopping 50% of those who clicked on the follow up emails made a purchase?! Now just imagine if that email was sent the next day – the moment would’ve passed you by.
Real time marketing is also a great way to upsell products. If a customer is looking at Product A, there’s a good chance they might be interested in a discounted combo with Product B. Simply recommending this could improve your customer’s experience and strengthen their perception of your brand because they always find just the things they are looking for when on your site.
Make it Personal
At the end of the day, real-time marketing is actually just a desire for hyper-personalization.
But in order to deliver this, you need to level up your data collection and response. Send out regular surveys to understand your customers and create detailed personas. Keep an eye on the various touchpoints to understand satisfaction – and even the actions customers usually take next. And what’s more, keep your messaging on point.
The right messages at the right time can work wonders for your business.
Getting to know your customers can help with marketing that appeals to them. If you know a customer is into cruelty free makeup, marketing the right brands to them not only adds value to your communication, but also makes them feel heard. Take this a step further – marketing cruelty free makeup to a customer preparing for their wedding – and you’ll see the difference in your conversion rates!
Real-time marketing, at the end of the day, is the art of truly understanding your customers and ensuring your brand resonates with them.
While personalization has already taken the marketing world by storm, hyper-personalized real-time marketing is the game changer we need to harness the power of data to create experiences by leveraging moments, and making it easy for customers to connect.
Ready to step up your customer experience customization? Connect with us!
