Episode 3: Driving Engagement and Revenue with Mobile Marketing

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another, episode of our performance series today, we are talking about, mobile marketing and being able to stay competitive, with all the different tools that you can use for mobile marketing. My name is Josh Brown. I'm a technical adoption specialist here in the US. And, I have with me, Alex, who's a, also a technical adoption specialist across the pond. Alex, how are you doing? I'm great. Thank you. Really happy to join you on this episode. How are you doing? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. This is, an exciting topic, and it's it's one that I feel like is kind of constantly, like, changing and and more people are just kind of using mobile for their you know, they're shopping and they're just like everyday lives. So the more that we can kind of get into that area and and market towards them, the you know, the the more competitive we can be overall. So, yeah, I'm excited to to talk about this. And I think that a a good kind of starting point is just the different channels that we have available, especially kind of within the, a Marsha's platform. So, there are, you know, a few different, like, areas that we can can target. Obviously, we have SMS and Those like conversational channels of of text messaging, we have the, like, inbox of the app as well as, like, the in app. And then we have, like, push messages, that can kind of send notifications to the phone. And then, what's really exciting is that we now have this kind of like mobile wallet, and that can actually with with customers who don't necessarily have the app, we can send them vouchers and and coupons and that they can just add directly to their wallet, which I know that we'll we'll get into, a little bit later. But, how how have you seen kind of these these, like, work together, maybe briefly before we go into a few, specifically. Yeah. So I think first, all these channels are a must to to an any omni channel strategy in order to achieve customer centric personalized communications across all touch points because I think that's all we're trying to achieve really trying to to to get to our customers where they are, where they're spending the time, because we're kind of all spending our days within the tiny devices in our hands at this point. So I think where we have seen, customers implementing these channels seamlessly into their strategies, not just having, like, ad hoc almost, like, knee jerk reactions into, oh, I'm gonna use SMS or or I'm gonna use, in notifications, just bringing them all into a strategy seamlessly. That's when we've seen the the highest result Yeah. I think that's a great call out that we're we're kind of focusing today on the the the mobile kind of arm of of marketing, but it's still one part of of what should be kind of like your omnichannel strategy and and using that in concurrence with something that we're doing on the web and an email obviously is is always good to remember. So if we start off with the kind of in app, channels. So the, like, in app messaging or recommendations, allows us to kind of customize what someone's seeing when they're within the app that a customer has. And then if that, app does have a inbox, then we can send, you know, messages directly, to that space which, you know, is, is obviously really great because you're not kind of competing for space with other companies and other messages It's it's really just tailored to to people who already obviously have an interest, in the brand. They have the app. They're Once people kind of download the app, they usually kinda stick to using that for their interactions with the brand. So what are your thoughts on how that can kind of be leveraged, maybe in like a unique way? I think one of the thing that, we have heard a lot, I'm seeing a lot, especially with millennials and and gen z or gen x customers, for example, is that they are engaging a lot more with the brands up even during an in store visit. So I might go into a shop, and I might be looking at specific products, but at the same time, I'm still checking the app because, I want to see reviews maybe that other customers have left maybe on the product that I'm interested in. I want to see maybe there's coupons available or if there's a loyalty program and and so on. So making sure that you use the apps, when your customers are engaging with them, but also making sure that you almost guide them through that, purchasing journey so that you guide them in discovering the product and, it's your mobility program if there's one, and just that deep product information. I've seen that working really, and performing really, really well, with brands when they're literally on top of it. And almost using it as a real time, interaction with the the customer. And I think we we're we've all a little bit guilty of down think lots of apps may be trying to figure out where we wanna shop or reach one we wanna use. And as a brand, we want to make sure that recapitalize from that momentum and that, you know, when you have that customer engaged, you make sure that you keep it engaged and coming back. Otherwise, Again, we're almost guilty of that. We we tend to detox probably as as quickly as we install them. So we need to cap capitalize on that momentum, when the humor ease engaged with your mobile app before they move, on on to maybe a different store or a different app Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely, like, every few months or so I'll go through and kind of purge what's you know, what I may be downloaded on a whim and and haven't used. So, yeah, we wanna make sure that that your app does not, you know, fall into to that to that casualty. And so, yeah. So and that's something that that if there is something where they're opening the the app and actually seeing things that are are relevant to them and not just here's gonna be the static you know, promotions that everyone is going to get, that's obviously going to, create much more of a connection between the customer and the app that they're using and and getting recommendations that they're not seeing anywhere else. And I think using it in stores is a is a great call to if if it's yeah, something that they wanna see if they have any incentives that they can get before they purchase, or if there's kind of a, stock discrepancy. If they're, you know, this they don't have my size here. I wanna know to open the app or they're out of stock. I'm gonna be able to, to see that. Then that keeps them engaged, even if the in store experience isn't giving them everything that they're they're wanting to on that day. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think a, a connected kind of channel for that would be, like, the mobile push. So this is, push messages, that are kind of being sent over notifications. So This is obviously kind of similar to, SMS, but it's it's, again, giving them a space where it's not then just kind of disappearing in their more general, you know, messaging app. It is something that we can, push in in real time and let them know about, you know, promotions and recommendations, you know, if there's big sales coming or like you're saying if there's like a loyalty program and there's kind of a special promotion for that or if they're really close to being, getting to a certain tier, we can send messages on that. And and then having that connect directly to, the the app is just another way of kind of making that, that interaction seamless. Have you kind of seeing anything, that you, that you really like for for mobile push? I think, probably, like, my favorite, and and I I'm absolutely sure that probably one of the best performing, push notifications as well is where I've seen brands, take into account context, and as you said, almost seeing those push in in real time. So, if, you are able to use geofencing for, let's say, finding and targeting new customers. I am a big shopper in the sense that I also fall for the most, probably common marketing tricks out there. So, if I see a loyalty program, I want to be in, and I don't wanna spend my money and kind of move up, into tiers and so on. So for me, I think when I'm seeing brands using that information, the fact that, I like to, I've known gamified the experience and and be part of that, in order to to find my next product and place my next purchase I've seen that working really well and not just on myself, but, also with the brands that, I worked with. So with taking that into, taking the context, into account where building your strategy and pushing out those communications, works really well. Yeah. And I I completely agree. I definitely have a a fear of missing out on points. And so if there's something where it's like, yeah, just put in your number and start ordering is you know, yeah, I gotta I gotta do it. So I think that's a, a great call out as as well. And It's it's really interesting that kind of notifications, as a whole, kind of, have their own opt in, that you can kind of just change on your, on your phone, and then, and and then allow the the app itself to, to send over So, again, it's something that if we can get that, that permission and that engagement from the customer, then that's giving us a sign that they are really engaged and want to have that relationship with with the brand and that just kind of allows us to, you know, really focus on giving them their their personal recommendations and if, if that leads to, increase, like, progressive profiling, which I know we've talked about, like, on an earlier episode of the performance series, If we can learn even more about them and the way that they are wanting to interact, then the entire relationship is just gonna become stronger and stronger as we go on. That kind of reminds me of a success story that we have. So there's, a company called feel good contacts. And they, used our tactics program and the automation builder to launch some customer life cycle journeys. And so what they were able to do is use that mobile app push and in app messages to help like we were saying, just be part of that omnichannel strategy. So we're not completely abandoning, email, web, social ads, we're using them all together. And a lot of times since the the app, is is maybe like a final point of that journey. It's just even more crucial to get that right and be personable. And they saw a lot of really good success with that. So they, saw an increase of twenty six percent for, revenue, year over year. And it was, really, great in increasing the, cart value, that they that ended up getting purchased and winning back, turning customers. So, I mean, that's a huge win. And I think that the basket value, I think, is really interesting. And goes towards again that kind of being the last point of of, making offers and, you know, so that if someone's wanting to get, you know, accessories or, contacts and glasses or what are being able to customize their product that they can do all of that, from the same area that we're giving them the message. They're not having to go to another location. So as is that something that you've kind of seen similarly as as well? Or or what do you think of that? Probably, like, one of the things I wanna say first is that I I am a somewhere, of feel good contacts. So kind of thinking back or looking backward when I first bought my first, first pair of contacts, and literally physically having to go into a a place for someone to, offer you contacts, and now kind of looking on how you buy them now with the feel good contacts app, for example, is, like, so easy to find various number of contacts that may suit your needs. It's easy to kind of change. So I have loved really having that, so easy to use on my phone. But also true to to their stories, the fact that they continue to use the data to support their their learning and not just you know, we've done it once. We've seen success, and then we just kinda leave it running, and maybe we're gonna come back to it a year from now. They just continue to use the customer data to continue to develop that, learning and adapt their strategies over time. I think that's really important and, really stands out to, to the the strategy and their evolving brand as well. One of the things that I've seen in the past, with pairing data driven strategy with maybe a channel like like, mobile is, again, trying to bring trying to learn from your consumers and trying to bring those data points into your communications. In a lot of businesses, a lot of departments kind of sit separate. So you have marketing, you might have a buying department and, and merge and so on, and sometimes it's difficult, you know, kind of get all of them on board to decide what we're gonna push in this, push notification or in this email But when you see all of them coming together, like, in this case as well, you really see the performance coming through, their tactics and, test as well. Yeah. That's awesome. That's really interesting. And Now if we kind of, make a switch, if if someone's watching this and they're saying this is all really great, but I don't have an app. So I just, like, not use any of this. Well, hope you, you know, stuck around and kept watching because, we do have the mobile wallet feature, which is great for, people who are using the EMRIS platform that don't have an app, because you can still target people on mobile by using this feature. It's a a native channel that we have, and it again is is really good for, orchestrating alongside a omnichannel strategy. So what this does is allows us to send something that allows them to add a voucher message, like, directly to their, wallet. So it could be tickets. It can be, yeah, like, a coupon, anything that, can go to their, like, native wallet app on their phone, we can send that along. And so, an app's not necessary for that. And, that can allow them to not only, have, like, an ease of use of when they're, on their phone but it connects, like, we were kind of saying earlier to that in store experience. So if we are seeing that someone has a barcode that they need to use in store. We can see that they're, that when that is used, then we know that they're someone who likes to buy in store. We can target to that, or we can try and and leverage that to an online relationship as well. But I'm I'm really excited this is, new to the the platform and, has a lot of use cases, have you been able to to kinda look around on on this, yet and what what are your kind of initial thoughts on it? I think probably one of the couple of first feedbacks that, I've seen around is that as you mentioned with the mobile apps, obviously, they're absolutely kick, but sometimes it's really hard to, get everyone in gear and, be able to build and launch, successfully a mobile app. And with the wallet, it's such a great tool to to bridge the experience between online and offline until you get the mobiles up and running and strategy ready and so on. So, I know a couple of use cases, things like, going back to the loyalty and, your, let's say VIP customers and bringing them into your in store and, drive those experiences for them, to discover that, those physical locations as well and discover product using the the mobile wallet, campaigns. I think that would be great. And I'm really looking forward to to seeing all the creative ways that, brands will be rolling this out, So, yeah, I know it's early days, but I think I've really just so excited about the the possibilities here. Absolutely. So, yeah, I think that this been a a great conversation. I know we've kind of covered a lot. So just to kind of wrap up a little bit. We are really just wanting to hit home that mobile marketing has a lot of unique options. But it is still something that is going to complement like your main overall strategy. So it's something that can kind of seamlessly integrate into something that you're already doing with email, with web, with social ads, but this is going to focus on what is in someone's pocket all the time. And, with an app or even without an app, you can have a customized, personalized messaging system that is under your complete control and you're not, you know, battling for space if it's in app messaging. If it's push push messaging, that is is all coming from from your app. Or if if you're using that mobile wallet, then it's it's in, that, that native app on on their phone. Do you have any any final thoughts here before we we wrap up today? No. I think you you've made an amazing don't worry. You did a thing so that All I'm gonna say probably is that, for anyone that is still quite not sure how to potentially connect all the dots and integrate, mobile to their web experience and and store and all that. Sometimes it does sound maybe more complicated, but it's actually very easy to integrate all of the channels that we've touched upon into existing strategies, as you said. So, being closer to driving that true omnichannel experience is, a lot less easier than, probably we make it sound in a lot of maybe videos or articles that we have around. Yeah. And if you if you tell your your CSM that you would want some kind of help adopting that strategy. Maybe you'll see one of our, lovely faces here again soon. But for now, I think we will, sign off. So Alex has been great talking you. I I, I'm always excited to talk about kind of this this area of of marketing. And, I'm sure we'll chat again here soon, but thanks for for joining me on this. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. Alright. Well, thanks everybody. And, we'll see you on the the next episode. And, again, if you have any questions after this definitely, follow-up with us, and, we will get back with you.