Leveraging promotions within an effective cross-channel strategy

Today’s customers expect seamless, personalized experiences across channels. While research indicates 85% of brands believe they’re offering personalized experiences, only 60% of consumers feel they’re receiving them. It’s no wonder why there’s such a big gap: A 2022 study of retail and eCommerce brand customer engagement found that only 38% of brands in this industry employ customer data for personalization. 

Further research has found that the majority of retail users are anonymous users, individuals who browse a company’s app or website and even make purchases without using an online account. Of these anonymous retail and eCommerce users, 96% receive no marketing outreach whatsoever, leaving them an untapped audience segment. 

Companies that manage to successfully get to know their customers and use key customer data to personalize their experiences and personalize their promotions stand to benefit. Research indicates that personalized marketing promotions can grow brand revenue by 6% to 10% and that the majority of US consumers say personalized content boosts their purchase intent. 

Personalization is powerful, but it’s no longer enough to add a consumer’s first name to a marketing campaign and then call it a day. Today’s user engages with the brands they care about across a wide range of different devices, platforms, and channels, and it’s essential to extend that responsive, personalized approach to the entirety of that customer journey. To do that, you need to embrace personalization at every stage of the process, from the channels you’re using to engage with customers and the tailored copy in the messages you send to the personalized coupons and discounts you’re offering.

Thanks to Talon.One’s integration with Braze, brands can create cross-channel personalized campaigns featuring 1:1 personalized coupons, referral campaigns, discounts, special offers for customers’ birthdays, product bundles, and loyalty program campaigns. Using the Braze platform’s automated, personalized cross-channel messaging capabilities, companies can send the right offers to the right users at the right time via their preferred messaging channels to have a positive impact on likelihood of engagement with these offers. 

Here are some key tactics and tools that savvy brands are using to optimize their personalized marketing promotions using Talon.One and Braze to yield stronger results. 

When brands create cross-channel promotional campaigns, deploying both in-product messages (such as in-browser and in-app messages) and out-of-product messages (such as push notifications, SMS campaigns, and emails), that can increase customer lifetime value by as much as 94%, according to Braze research. 

Action-based campaigns that are triggered in the moment, automatically after a customer has taken a specific action, such as logging into an account or adding items to a checkout cart, can increase transactions by 9X, compared to scheduled campaigns that are set to go out at a certain time. 

Brands that use AI-backed intelligence to predict when customers are most likely to engage with a promotion and utilize these insights to deliver campaigns at the right time see an uplift in upsell conversions by 9X. 

Deep links are designed to take customers from a marketing message, such as an email or SMS campaign, and send them directly to the right section of a brand’s website or app, without the customer having to hunt and peck to find the item the campaign refers to. Since deep linking makes for a smoother transition from campaign to shopping it’s no wonder then that this tactic helps drive upsells by 2X, purchases from special offers by 2.5X, flash sales by 21%, and general purchasing behavior by 6.9X, according to Braze research. 

To see how Talon.One and Braze can be used in concert to create a full cross-channel promotional campaign that generates outcomes, we’ve put together a sample campaign featuring three different messaging channels to promote a personalized referral campaign and promotion for a fictional eCommerce brand called PamperHer.

Left copy: Received by everyone who visits the app, with a product image from the customer’s Love List

Right copy: Share the love, Lili! Take 10% off any item you’ve added to your Love List as part of our PamperHer Love List promotion. Unlock an additional 10% off for each friend you refer to take part—for up to a total of 60% off. [Shop Now] [Remind Me Later]

Reach everyone who opens your brand’s app right when they’re actively engaging with in-app messages that contain targeted, personalized promotions based on their individual session data. Think of active in-app users as the digital equivalent of shoppers browsing a brick-and-mortar store—they’re primed to buy if they can find what they’re looking for. Instead of a typical one-size-fits all sale, this targeted promotion based on the items in a customer’s wish list is highly personalized, focused on products they’ve indicated they want to buy. 

Left copy: Hey, Lili! As part of our Love List promotion you can unlock up to 60% off one of these items from your Love List. Refer up to 5 friends and start saving! [Invite a Friend] [Shop Now] 

Right copy: Are you ready to get 10% off an item from your Love List, Lili? Now’s your chance as part of our PamperHer Love List promotion. Unlock an extra 10% off for each friend you refer to take part—for up to a total of 60% off if you invite 5 friends. [Invite a Friend] [Shop Now] 

Complement your campaign’s in-app message with a personalized email that amplifies the promotion. Send customers who have seen the in-app message but haven’t taken action yet a personalized email campaign highlighting the items in their wish list. Send customers who haven’t seen the in-app message an email that introduces the personalized promotion.

Left copy: Same as pictured

Right copy: Don’t forget about the Love List promotion: [Timer/clock showing time left] 2 days: 4 hours: 5 minutes left to participate!

Send an in-app message to customers who have seen the first in-app message or email but haven’t taken action yet. Since they’ve already seen the promotion, this message can be a shorter, simpler reminder.

Left copy: Send to customers who have received previous messages

Our Love List Promotion is almost over!

Unlock up to 60% off any item in your Love List. Offer ends at midnight!

Right copy: Send to customers who have not received or engaged with earlier campaigns

One-Day Love List Promotion

Share the love—invite your friends to claim up to 60% off 1 item in your Love List. Offer ends @ midnight!

The channels don’t have to stop there. Select promotions, such as customers’ birthdays or annual holiday sales may lend themselves to direct mail promotions while others may lend themselves to timely SMS campaigns or paid social campaigns.