Acquiring new customers is more expensive than ever. Paid search, once the go-to for scalable growth, is now crowded and inefficient, forcing brands to rethink how they drive new revenue. Retention marketing isn’t just about keeping customers – it’s a great source for new-new growth.
Owned Channels and Why First Party Data is the Future of Growth
Everyone knows that attribution and targeting has declined with the death of 3rd party cookies and various privacy regulations. Using first party data is now more critical than ever and getting creative with your customer list will set you apart from the competition.
- Help top of funnel channels – Build lists for targeting lookalike audiences in display, audio, video, remarketing, and other channels. Get granular with lists targeting red widgets instead of high-level widgets. Make sure list sizes are large enough for the algorithm to do its job.
- Customize Creative – Your lists are targeting red widgets so give the people what they want with creative focused on red widgets. Creative focused on product and services that interest the users will drive them further down the funnel at a higher rate.
- Use Direct Mail – digital channels are crowded, not only driving up costs but also hurting effectiveness. Use your first party data, combined with programmatic direct mail, to send highly targeted messages to pair with display, social, video, and audio online.
How to Use Retention Channels for Acquisition & Growth
With first party data under control, let’s use it to drive growth without increasing your marketing budget. Turn to your lists and make retention your new growth engine. Creatively chop up the list to drive upsells/cross-sells, referrals, build loyalty, and drive brand advocacy with community driven engagement.
- Upsells/cross-sells – Most companies are already doing upselling and cross-selling but to create a true growth engine, you need to dice up the list in new ways to increase effectiveness. Instead of a cross-sell as a secondary message, find a slice of your list that is highly likely to buy and make it featured messaging.
- Referral – Another area that can be underserved at some companies. Do you know a user follows you on social media? If so, they’re highly likely to share your content, offers, and ultimately tell friends and family. Instead of a batch and blasts referral program, use first party data to target in a way that super charges referrals.
- Brand Advocacy – Get your customers talking about your business, brand, and products. Get involved in Discord, Reddit, social media, and use your retention list to help drive engagement. Host a chat about a new product. Tell your users about an upcoming event. Join the discussion in a meaningful, organic way and watch your brand’s word of mouth drive new customers.
The New Framework for Lifecycle Marketing
For years, brands have combined batch and blast emails with batch and blast SMS followed by a direct mail campaign. Occasionally you’d see customized creative but typically the batch sends for all channels were campaign based. The new framework for lifecycle marketing is automated user flows combined with personalized creative and send times.
- Multi-Channel Retention Approach – Brands need to super-charge retention by taking advantage of every channel possible. Send an email when it’s time to reorder, followed by an SMS three days later based on user behavior. Direct mail isn’t just for high value products – if a user doesn’t open an email or click on an SMS – don’t be afraid to fire off a direct mail piece targeted to the user’s product preferences.
- Automated Lifecycle Campaigns – We’re in a world of AI and automation. Systems should know that a user has historically purchased four days after their first click on a marketing email or they need to receive an email two days after a visit, an SMS 12 hours after, and a direct mail piece four days after that. They should also know when to hold back – if a user isn’t showing indicators that they’re ready to act, don’t batch and blast retention channels.
Acquisition costs are rising but brands that master retention, and using their data, will win in the end. Leverage automation, first party data, and multi-channel campaigns to transform your retention engine into a growth engine.