In the third and final part of our feature of the AB Commerce Summit, which took place in Co. Laois earlier this year, we look at the final discussions of the day, which covered the final stages of the conversion funnel: Loyalty and Retention.
Paul Montwill, CEO and technical architect of AB Commerce, took to the stage to discuss the importance of using the conversion funnel to get repeat business, reminding delegates that personalisation is key to this. “In the modern retail environment, customer shopping is in-store, online and via social media”, said Paul, highlighting the omnichannel approach retailers should be making to their customer relationships.
Paul recommended merging together instore and online teams, getting them to integrate and collaborate, ensuring synchronicity with messaging.
Breige Grogan, senior eCommerce advisor at Magico, presented her five quick tips for an effective email marketing strategy:
An email in the hand is very valuable
A customer who has given consent for you to contact them in invaluable – use it, and recruit, recruit, recruit.
Make it worthwhile
Make sure the content is strong, relevant, builds relationships and drives action and sales.
Make it personal – you have the data
Use data to segment and personalise, giving you more control of what communications go to whom, and make the communication more targeted.
Nail that subject line
You want the email to be opened. Make sure the subject line is short, descriptive and compliant. Make use of emojis if they’re right for your brand, and if personalising, check your data!
Test, and test again
Send a real test to a real person – another pair of eyes to check content is ok, and don’t forget to test on mobile – make sure it renders ok.
Kerry Barnes, Partnership Manager at Klaviyo, concluded the discussion on the use of Email Marketing in customer retention and loyalty. She pointed out how effective use of data can help retailers build powerful customer segments, personalise communications, and divert attention to specific brands and topics.
Kerry reminded delegates that segmentation is also a useful way of reactivating inactive segments (contacts/customers who haven’t been engaging). She concluded by reminding delegates of the importance of email list cleaning – keeping
your contact list updated.
The session was wrapped up by a Panel of Integration Partners featuring Humm, Klaviyo, Trust Pilot, Segmentify and Chatify discussing how their technology and services could help Retailers achieve Retention & Loyalty.
At the end of the event delegates were welcomed to visit the exhibition space, which was a hive of activity with stands representing Magico’s partners including Segmentify, Humm, Elavon, Trustpilot, Chatify, Celebros, AIB Merchant Services, Wave OMS and Klaviyo.
