Predictive Analytics

The most sophisticated levels of analytical insight are, at present, only available to corporations with large budgets, while smaller businesses are forced to focus primarily on reactive marketing. However, this is likely to change in the very near future. Experts predict that affordable AI software will soon enable small and medium businesses to analyze vast amounts of information about their target customers. This will allow them to predict customer behavior and thus make data-driven decisions with great accuracy.

Marketers will be better equipped to forecast trends and anticipate customer behavior, thus creating new opportunities for segmentation, personalized marketing strategies and tailored messaging. For instance, businesses will be able to move beyond current methods of segmentation into more granular micro-segments. This will allow marketers to target their messaging and recommendations precisely to customers’ needs.

Behavioral Targeting

Another key aspect of automated analytics is that they represent a move from using demographic data and statistical information to analyzing real-time customer behavior. Marketers will likely focus more strongly on user history and predicted intent rather than demographic segments when they target their campaigns. For example, a company may use past customer interactions to determine that they’re looking for affordable camping equipment rather than relying solely on demographic data to make assumptions.

Personalization

The dramatic improvement in predictive analytics will undoubtedly lead to more opportunities to personalize marketing approaches. For instance, marketers may use AI software to generate tailored shopping recommendations based on browsing history and previous brand interactions. This is a win-win situation for both customers, who will only be exposed to product recommendations that they’re extremely likely to appreciate, and marketers, who can expect better engagement and increased conversions.

Automated Digital Content Creation

While predictive analytics may offer a ton of insights, automated digital content creation will likely be crucial in implementing them. Artificial intelligence’s key advantage in this area is that it can create content at a speed that’s impossible for human writers. Even more importantly, AI’s writing capability is predicted to improve dramatically in the next few years.

AI will be able to handle working with varying contexts, tones of voice, moods and cultural expressions, enabling marketers to easily create highly personalized content. Thus, marketers will be empowered to create digital content on a large scale while fine-tuning it to strongly resonate with customers. This can be implemented in a range of avenues, from creating tailor-made product descriptions in real-time to fully customizing homepages based on customer profiles.

Artificial Intelligence and Social Media

AI is likely to change the social media marketing landscape as well. Experts predict that it will greatly enhance social media listening by providing large-scale monitoring of various platforms for customer comments and complaints. This way, AI will be able to develop social media posts and effectively tailor the messaging. Furthermore, artificial intelligence will further improve ad targeting by optimizing ad placements, bid strategies and content creation.

Customer Support

Customers are used to navigating huge amounts of irrelevant information on a daily basis. They are constantly looking for new ways to cut through the noise, so personalization is becoming ever more important in marketing. AI-powered chatbots are some of the easiest and most effective ways to tailor messaging according to each customer’s unique needs and preferences.

While current-day bots can already respond to commonly asked questions and offer product recommendations, experts predict their conversational capabilities will become far more sophisticated. Soon, chatbots can have full-length conversations with customers and expertly guide them through the sales funnel. This means that customers may soon have access to 24/7 first-class customer support, so they’ll be more likely to complete their purchases and develop brand loyalty.

One thing’s for sure — AI marketing is here to stay. Marketers will be able to take advantage of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence tools to improve data analysis, personalize messaging and ultimately bring together the right brands and the right customers.

The post AI and the Future of Marketing appeared first on Upward Commerce.

What is a Virtual Branded Experience

A virtual branded experience is something like an online store that’s 100x more interactive and immersive than a typical e-commerce website. Virtual brand experiences typically incorporate comprehensive virtual displays that enable consumers to interact with the brand in ways typical stores and websites don’t allow. That might include 360-degree shopping, virtual try-ons for clothing, in-app or virtual voice chat to interact with brand reps, social gaming, and guided tours to help you find what you’re looking for.

Bringing Bricks-and-Mortar Shops Into the Virtual World

With virtual branded experiences, companies can move their best in-person shopping experiences online, either creating a virtual, 360-degree version of their flagship stores, or by building newer, better experiences that enable their customers to immerse themselves in the brand from the comfort of their homes.

Virtual Brand Experiences From Some of the World’s Top Companies

When the Metaverse started working its way into the mainstream, Gucci was quick to hop on board, opening its own virtual experience in The Sandbox, a digital metaverse. Users will go on a journey through the fashion brand’s history through games and NFTs. According to Morgan Stanley, Metaverse is a $50 bln revenue opportunity for luxury brands.

Moschino is another great example of a virtual brand experience. In 2022, it launched Moschino x The Sims, a line of clothing inspired by virtual designs exclusive to The Sims’ world.

Vans, one of the most well-known skate apparel brands in North America, has entered a joint venture with Roblox, creating a virtual skate park where players customize their own Vans-branded clothing, shoes and skateboards while practicing skate tricks and competing in the Roblox virtual world.

The Future of Virtual Brand Experiences

Technology is only growing and as such, it can be expected that brands will be vying to keep up. That means the virtual brand experience isn’t likely going anywhere anytime soon. In the future, expect to see more brands raise sales and customer engagement online with a variety of experiences such as:

• Virtual try-on tools using digital overlay applications.
• Virtual shopping and experiences and tours that enable people to visit landmarks and popular spots from the comfort of their own homes.
• Gamification experiences, such as rewards for putting together outfits that garner the most customer votes. This experience can already be seen in some online stores, including Shein, the popular Chinese fashion retailer.
• Virtual gatherings for customers and employees, including fashion shows, makeover events, and demonstrations.
• Social gaming where brands embed their products in online games or launch avatar clothing and build immersive experiences such as concerts attended by people’s avatars. Lil Nas X performed to an audience of millions across two days and four shows; the shows gathered 33 million views in total across the performances.

Steps to Take to Bring Your Business Into the Virtual World

If you’re considering virtual brand experiences for your own company, it’s important to remember a few things before you get started.

1. Ensure that your virtual experiences align with your overall brand strategy. You want your company to provide an alternative to shopping in-store, not a completely different experience.
2. Utilize online advertising to draw customers in—those who are already online are more likely to engage with your brand than those you advertise to in person.
3. Interactive content is the most likely experience to keep customers engaged with your brand.

Overall, virtual branded experiences are the way of the future so if it’s feasible for you, the time to dive in is now.

The post Are Virtual Branded Experiences Here to Stay? appeared first on Upward Commerce.

What is Gen Z About?

Gen Z, also known as the iGeneration, came after Millennials. They’re the first generation to have their entire lives immersed in the digital age, having known technology from computers to cell phones, their entire lives.

While Gen Z has the world at its fingertips, it’s also known to live with higher levels of anxiety, stress, and depression than those who came before them. As consumers, Gen Z isn’t known to be particularly loyal to brands and as such, it can be more difficult for businesses to win repeat business from this age group.

There are more than 68 million Gen Z’ers in the U.S. population, representing a huge facet of consumerism. Unlike those that came before them, Gen Z appreciates businesses that support a cause. That said, they also buy in to trends, whether that’s brands touted by their favorite influencers or brands that all their friends are using. Some of the favorite brands of Gen Z as of 2022 included:

• Apple
• Amazon
• Nike
• Google

While these major brands hold a special place in the hearts of Gen Z members, this list doesn’t account for the influencer-advertised brands that have become so popular in recent years, such as Morphe, SKIMS, and Social Tourist.

A Different Kind of Consumer

Generation Z is a more critical consumer group and demonstrate more conscious shopping habits than its predecessors. Consumers in this age group are after high-quality goods and while they’re generally tight with their spending, they’re willing to spend more when they feel a connection to a brand or its products.

Convenience and sustainability are key

Gen Z prefers to shop online instead of heading to the mall and as such, they enjoy websites that are easy to shop and purchase from. One-click checkout, free or low-cost shipping, and pay-in-four options like ShopPay, Klarna and Afterpay go a long way in gaining repeat business from this generation.

Furthermore, Gen Z is a passionate generation that feels strongly about the planet and future generations. Its people appreciate sustainable options, such as shopping locally and purchasing sustainably-sourced products. They have certain expectations and want brands to uphold particular socio-political views or environmental standards. Generation Z shoppers are willing to pay at least 10% more to get the desired products and services.

Social Media Dictates Shopping Habits

Generation Z’s approach to shopping is different, even when compared with Millennials who frequently shop online. They often turn to social media sites, including TikTok and Instagram, when hunting for new products. In fact, data published by LaterBlog indicates that 60% of Gen Z use Instagram to find new products and brands. As such, many retailers have embraced social media marketing or social commerce. Business Insider notes that social commerce accounted for 4.3% of e-commerce retail sales in the United States. In 2021 social commerce reached $37 billion in sales and it’s estimated to rise to $45 billion in 2022.

In simpler terms, social commerce is a way to promote and sell products through social media platforms. Currently Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have built-in native social commerce features.

Influencer Marketing Trumps Traditional Advertising

Although Millennial’s and Gen X’ers have long relied on traditional advertising means, including print and television ads, to provide them with information about great new brands and products, Gen Z’ers turn to social media influencers instead to find the info they need to make their purchases.

A recent Google study indicated that 70% of teenagers who subscribe to influencer channels and profiles on platforms like YouTube trust influencers to provide them with accurate reviews and to help them to decide where and how to spend their money.

Mobile Apps More Trusted Than Websites

If your company has a mobile app, expect Gen Z shoppers to check out 157% more than those visiting your website alone. According to Gen Z’ers, a mobile app puts your brand in a higher position of trust while offering them an extra level of convenience, making mobile apps a more desirable way to shop.

Newer, Better Ways to Pay

Mobile payment methods that have given previous generations, particularly Generation X and Baby Boomers, some hesitation about security, have been quickly adopted by Gen Z. This generation prefers convenient payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Wallet over carrying clunky cards or cash.

The Bottom Line

Automation is key when it comes to appealing to Generation Z’s shopping habits. Utilize automated online merchandising, powered by AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics, to get the products Gen Z wants most in front of them when they visit your mobile app or website. By optimizing their exposure to your brand and your products, you’re far more likely to convert the average Gen Z shopper into a repeat buyer.

In addition to an optimized online storefront, you’ll need to keep up with e-commerce trends. That includes offering convenient checkout options like pay-in-four solutions and Apple Pay, as well as one-click checkout for repeat buyers.

Lastly, don’t leave your brand’s reputation in the hands of traditional advertisements. Get your name out there by utilizing TikTok, Instagram and Facebook for advertising and if your budget allows, try working with one or several influencers who can get your brand in front of this newest generation of consumers.

The post Gen Z: The Digitally Native Generation & Their Shopping Habits appeared first on Upward Commerce.

But is one-click checkout the right choice for your business? Keep reading to find out.

What is One-Click Checkout?

One-click checkout enables repeat customers to complete a purchase on your website without re-entering their information. If this process sounds familiar, that’s probably because it is. Amazon originally created and deployed one-click check out for its own business and at the time, they owned the patent on it, which meant it was the only company able to use the technology. However, in 2017, the patent expired and now merchants everywhere are able to adopt it for their own websites.

With one-click checkout, shoppers are able to store their address and payment information on your website for future purchases. Their information is encrypted and stored securely by your payment provider and when the shopper logs into your website in the future, your website can recall their information and auto-fill forms for a quick, hassle-free checkout process.

The Benefits of Using One-Click Checkout

One-click checkout is a great way to make it easier for your customers to purchase an item quickly and conveniently. Using the technology on your own website can actually increase your conversions. According to Dynamic Yield, a market research firm, 71.68% of online shoppers abandon their carts with 21% of those shoppers saying they abandoned due to a lengthy and inconvenient checkout process. That goes to show that a quicker checkout process has the potential to increase conversions.

Other benefits of one-click checkout include higher impulse buy rates and a broadened customer base thanks to information stored in your system from past one-time buyers. Provided you’re complying with anti-spam legislation, you’ll be able to use their stored information to market to a wider audience and, hopefully, encourage repeat business in those who wouldn’t otherwise return.

Risks of One-Click Checkout

While one-click checkout is a useful tool to keep repeat business booming, it’s not without risk.

Chargeback rates tend to be higher in businesses that offer one-click checkout, and while some cases tend to be the result of buyer remorse from impulse buys, they’re most often because the process is so convenient that shoppers don’t take time to read the fine print.

In the event your customer doesn’t take time to review shipping or tax charges, the amount they pay for their purchase could come as a surprise when it appears on their credit card statement and often, that could result in a chargeback.

If you plan on utilizing one-click checkout for your e-commerce business, it’s crucial to make all charges and fees obvious for your customers.

Is One-Click Checkout Right for You?

It depends. If your business doesn’t instill service or shipping charges, chances are you won’t be taking a huge risk when it comes to chargebacks and if that’s the case, one-click checkout could be a great way to drum up some extra repeat business.

However, if you pass shipping or service charges on to your customer, it’s a good idea to consider this when determining if you want to offer one-click checkout.

Additionally, if you already have a relatively high chargeback ratio, it might be best to take any measures you can to avoid extra chargebacks and that means not introducing one-click checkout as a way to pay.

The post Is One-Click Checkout Right for Your Business? appeared first on Upward Commerce.

Below, we’re discussing everything you need to know to tap into data to unleash effective marketing strategies with high yields, along with tips to update your current approach to data and consumer marketing.

Data-Driven Marketing: Defined

Data-driven marketing uses information about consumers, including preferences, shopping and purchasing habits, and potential motivations, to personalize marketing efforts. Using data, marketers can build personalized brand experiences to showcase products and services to clients who are the most likely to buy or engage with the brand. Data has typically been collected from third-party cookies or through direct consumer interactions (first-party data), but with the phase-out of third-party cookies, marketers will need to consider alternative first-party strategies.

2022 Trends in Data-Driven Marketing

Here are some of the top trends to consider when creating your data-driven marketing strategy.

Utilizing More First-Party Data

Third-party data can be difficult to use effectively thanks to federal regulations, such as the GDPR Cookie Consent and Customer-Centric Privacy law, as well as regulations and privacy restrictions brought forth by search engines such as Chrome, Bing and Safari.

To combat this hurdle, more marketers are starting to use first-party data that’s been captured from their own website visitors, in-store visitors and customers to create more consumer-focused and personalized marketing campaigns.

Consumer Touchpoints Have Increased

According to data published by Venture Harbor, the average consumer journey now involves anywhere from 20 to 500 touchpoints, depending on the value and complexity of the purchase they’re making. That means for every purchase, consumers will typically interact with a brand at least 20 times before completing the buying process. These touchpoints can include interactions with social media, website, advertising, retail store, email, blog or phone calls.

Because the number of touchpoints has become so high, it’s important for marketers to ensure that the brand experience is cohesive regardless of how customers make contact. Of course, the benefit of these touchpoints is that marketers also have more opportunities to gather first-party data and create personalized, targeted marketing campaigns for potential customers that already know their brand.

Businesses can begin mapping out the touchpoints by journey mapping the entire customer experience.

Personalization is Key

As consumers share more of their personal data online, it’s important that marketers realize they want something in return. It’s vital for marketers to provide consumers with personalized recommendations and heightened brand experiences, especially since 80% of consumers surveyed in a Smarter HQ poll stated that they’re more likely to purchase products from brands that market to them, personally.

Begin gathering data from analytics platforms, data management platforms (DMPs), customer relationship management software (CRMs), tag management platforms, demand-side platforms, and email platforms.

Once you have the data, begin delivering personalized content through 1:1 ads, targeted landing pages, emails, blogs, suggested products, add-ons, upgraded versions, etc.

Brand Loyalty is Taking a Backseat

There once was a time when brands relied on the loyalty of their customers to keep them in business but, today, the concept of brand loyalty is taking a backseat to the customer experience. Today’s consumers have higher expectations and, in fact, a recent study indicated that 32% of those surveyed would stop purchasing from a brand after just one negative experience and this is particularly true in parts of the world like Asia, where millennial populations are highest. We’re living in a very brand-saturated market with shorter attention spans, so you have to be everywhere…at the right moment…delivering the right message…to the right prospect…quickly and easily. This is where you can leverage data to personalize the customer journeys.

Automated Marketing is Vital

Automated marketing means scale. You can create 50 different funnels for your target personas and deliver unique experiences for each prospect…this saves marketers time & money. Using AI to automate processes such as data collection, email distribution, workflows, customer service, etc., is the only way to scale effectively and efficiently. Some examples of automated marketing are dynamic web content that changes based on visitors’ interests/attributes, lead nurturing via triggered emails, social media posting, product recommendations, SMS/MMS, push notifications, and so on. Automation makes it easier to manage every marketing task, from basic email sends to complex campaign management and data analysis.

The post Top 5 Data-Driven Marketing Trends in 2022 appeared first on Upward Commerce.

The use of traditional advertising in business promotion has been declining while at the same time the businesses are choosing to use social media in their marketing and business promotion, favoring the rise of affiliate marketers. But, how can you create an effective affiliate program for your online businesses? Below are ways that you can tap into this amazing opportunity.

What Does An Affiliate Marketing Program Mean?

The affiliate marketing program is a reward-based system encouraging partners to promote a merchant’s products to receive payments in terms of commissions. In the affiliate industry, a business is also known as the merchant or advertiser, and the affiliate is referred to as the publisher or marketer. It’s important to understand these references as it defines the roles at the onset of establishing the program. Affiliates drive visitors to your website or online platform through special referral links. Any sales made from this promotion earn the marketer some rewards.

Most affiliate programs pay by a flat dollar commission or a percentage of the sale. However, there may be incentives in discounted or free products. Either way, it is a win-win for the parties involved. This marketing strategy is applicable for business-to-business and business-to-consumer campaigns, with about 80% of the brands using various affiliate marketing programs to market and promote their products. In recent data released by IAB UK, travel and retail are the two largest sectors where affiliate operations are widely used.

Will Affiliate Marketing Work For Your Business?

What do you sell; services or physical products? Regardless of the nature of your business, there is a high chance that affiliate marketing can help your business. However, your company has to meet several requirements for an affiliate program to work. You should note that:

• You should be ready and willing to pay the affiliates in commissions or store credits for every sale they help you make.
• You’ll be able to pay higher commissions without spending much on customer acquisitions while enticing quality affiliates to join the program.
• This program works better when you want others to market your product or business on their channels and directly drive traffic into your website.
• This marketing method is best if your organization has higher customer retention rates.

Affiliate marketing programs work better for digital subscription businesses or e-commerce, especially those having higher profits.

Creating the Best Affiliate Marketing Program

Setting the Goals

Then creating an affiliate marketing program, you must begin by setting the goals. This can be arrived through first establishing your audience. What type of clients do you want to reach using the affiliate program? Which affiliates can help you achieve this?

After establishing the audience, the next thing is setting some measurable goals for the affiliate marketing project. They help you measure the success of the program. The main objective is the revenue you want to earn from the affiliates every month, quarterly or yearly. Set the conversion rates goals. How will people who click on your affiliate links make a purchase, and how often do you want them to? Regardless, all the goals should be measurable.

Analyzing Your Rival’s Affiliate Programs

After a general analysis to evaluate your weaknesses and strengths against your business competitors, it is time to consider their affiliate programs. This allows you to know your standing competitively. Remember, you are also in a competition for affiliates. Select not less than two competitors having an affiliate program. Look at the ways the competing programs have structured their affiliate commissions. These are things triggering payouts to affiliate commissions, how the affiliates are paid, and how the commission rates for each brand stack up. Evaluate the following:

• If you can do some digging, find out the other details of your competitor’s affiliate programs
• Consider the terms and conditions for each affiliate program
• How does each brand promote their affiliate program?
• Evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; otherwise called the SWOT analysis.

Decide the Right Affiliate Program Commission

At this stage, use the findings of your competitive analysis in structuring your affiliate program, and the commission structure is among the vital design choices. Although you’ve seen how your rivals pay their affiliates, you must only reward or compensate the affiliate when a sale has been made through their affiliate link. Never pay for clicks or impressions.

Begin by deciding the payment mechanism; will the payment be based on every sale made by the affiliate or a set amount for every sale? Will the payments be affected by in-store credit or cash? In most cases, merchants pay a commission in cash which is an attractive option for many affiliates.

You then need to set the commission that you will offer the affiliates. Although you want the affiliate program to become more competitive than your rival’s, one-upping your competitors is not often the best option. Then, address your company’s needs. Consider customer retention rates, average customer retention value, and customer acquisition rates.

Consider the Other Key Aspects of the Program Structure

You also have to consider the following in addition to the commission.

• How can you make your affiliate program do better than your competitor’s?
• How will you allow the affiliates to distribute and promote the affiliate links? Which are the marketing channels allowed?
• Will the company hire or designate a dedicated affiliate manager for programs?
• What are the other terms & conditions to be included in the affiliate program?
• What is the period that the cookies will remain active?

Start Finding Affiliates

After setting your program structure, the next step is finding the affiliates. Should you set up your affiliate network or establish an existing network of affiliates. However, you’ll need a method of tracking the affiliates regardless of the method you use for finding the affiliates. This lets you onboard new affiliates, monitor the affiliate progress, or set up the affiliate links.

Using an existing network, you can quickly build a base of representatives, especially if they’ve a relationship with the top affiliates. This can nurture the relationships with the affiliates for your business as the networks typically handle the management of affiliates. However, existing affiliates have one significant disadvantage; they charge the extra commission on top of what you pay directly, and sometimes this is about 30% of the commission your business charges.

You can also form your affiliate network. You’ll still efficiently track the affiliates and automatically compensate them using an affiliate platform. And the good thing is the software will cost less than the fee you would pay to use an existing network of affiliates. Additionally, the affiliate platform provides control over the data you need and the other aspects of an already running program. This means that you get a lot of advantages with the right affiliate platform overusing an already existing affiliate network.

To create your affiliate network, consider the bloggers, social media influencers, and websites followed and trusted by your potential customers, fit your brand’s niche, and produce quality content. Create a list of the people owning those accounts who you can ask to become your affiliates, or you can also have an affiliate signup form on your website.

Recruit And Train Affiliates

After finding the best affiliates, reach out and ask whether they would like to join your affiliate marketing team. You aim to find high-quality affiliates. Therefore, ensure you screen your affiliates thoroughly using business intelligence tools or manually.

How many affiliated do you need? How inclusive should the affiliate membership be? This decision is vital as it informs the reachability of your affiliates. After recruiting, brief your affiliates on the terms and conditions and ensure they sign an agreement binding them by the rules. Train them on the program and brand basics, provide them with affiliate links, and give them the necessary promotional resources. Craft a plan for progress tracking.

Performance Tracking

After starting your affiliate program, you must regularly track its success. You can do this either through the affiliate network you’ve created or the affiliate platform. Which affiliates are making more sales? Are the affiliates achieving the measurable goals set when planning, like conversion rates, AOV, unique sales, and revenue? If the program doesn’t meet the objectives, it might be time to rethink your marketing strategy and tweak the commission structure.

You now understand the process of creating a successful affiliate program and are ready to begin your program. Follow the guide above, and you’ll meet your marketing objectives with relative ease. Remember, affiliate marketing is on the rise, and you’d better take the opportunity to propel your business to new heights.

The post How to Create an Affiliate Program for Your Online Business appeared first on Upward Commerce.

To avoid making these embarrassing and potentially detrimental email marketing mistakes, it’s important to develop an email marketing strategy that will help you get the right information to the right customers. The clear answer is email segmentation. Follow the tips below to develop a strategy that works for your business and start email marketing like a pro.

What is Email Segmentation?

Email segmentation helps you target your email marketing campaigns so that your message reaches the right customers. When you develop an email segmentation strategy, you’ll start by separating your subscriber lists into small sections. These sections can be determined by:

• Where they live: Use geographic information, such as state, distance to a specific location or zip code to sort your customer list.
• Buying behaviors: Base the marketing information you send to your customers on past purchases or interactions with your business.
• Psychographics: This process can be more complicated but if you have information about your customers such as their values, lifestyles, or opinions, you can sort your email list based on these characteristics.
• Demographics: This includes details about your customers such as age, income, and household membership.

By using these categories to segment your email marketing campaigns, you can get your message delivered to the masses without creating an annoyance for customers and subscribers that the information isn’t relevant to. And unlike email personalization, segmentation doesn’t require the added work that goes into creating unique recommendations for each of your customers.

The Benefits of Using an Email Segmentation Strategy

It goes without saying that putting together an email segmentation strategy requires more effort than simply sending marketing emails to your entire subscriber list. However, the benefits of targeting these emails carefully are plentiful. They include:

• Enhanced customer relationships: Consumers know when they’re receiving mass marketing emails — strengthen your relationships with the people you serve by sending emails that speak to their interests and lifestyles.
• Increased engagement: Engagement is one of those metrics that are crucial to your business performance. Email marketing campaigns that generate clicks ensure you don’t lose engagement from disinterested subscribers.
• Simpler market research: Understanding which target audiences respond to which advertising campaigns is an easy way to understand who your customer base is and how to further tailor your offerings to their wants and needs.

7 Tips and Tricks For an Effective Email Segmentation Strategy

Before you sit down and try to sort out your email list, review the tips below to ensure the process is hassle-free.

1. Work with an agency
Work with a reliable digital marketing agency that has proven experience and success in email segmentation. Rely on their expertise to help you determine how to segment your list and to execute the strategy effectively.

2. Use page-level targeting and lead magnets
When website visitors opt-in to your email marketing campaigns, it’s easiest if you have the information you need from them right away. Using page-level targeting helps you understand where they fit based on the webpage they subscribe from, while lead magnets are questions on your subscription forms that enable your subscribers to give you the information you need from the get-go.

3. Give your new subscribers a warm welcome
When someone new subscribes to your email list, set up your system to automatically send them a welcome message reminding them of why they’re there. Include some of the benefits of being part of your email list, give them the opportunity to engage and shop online, and remind them that their private information is stored safely.

4. Give your subscribers the opportunity to choose
Some of the best email subscription lists make sure their subscribers aren’t overwhelmed by letting them determine the type of emails they’d like to receive and how often they’d like to receive them. Make it easy for your customers to provide you with their preferences and if they do want to unsubscribe, don’t make it hard for them.

5. Use metrics to determine message frequency
If you’re sending marketing emails to a particular subscriber and they’re never engaging, that might be a sign that it’s best to dial back their email frequency or give them the opportunity to provide you with their preferences. On the other hand, customers who engage frequently are the best ones to reach out to when you have special events, coupons, or invitations to test new products or website features. Make sure to measure and track the performance of each campaign so you have access to this important information.

6. Follow-up on abandoned forms and carts
One way to segment your email list is by creating a special list just for those who started the process of subscribing or shopping on your website but didn’t follow through. Use the information they’ve provided to follow up on forgotten shopping carts or incomplete forms.

7. Analyze purchasing behaviors
Using purchase history in your marketing campaigns is a great way to keep your subscribers coming back. Remind them when sales are coming up on their favorite products, offer add-ons that might interest them, and remind them if they’re likely running low on products they buy often.

Target the Right Audience With Email Segmentation

Taking the extra time to determine which subscribers will be most likely to engage with your marketing campaigns is the best way to ensure higher levels of engagement and more importantly, higher conversion rates. Use an email segmentation strategy to target your email marketing to the right consumers.

The post Email Segmentation: Tips and Ideas for Email Marketing Like a Pro appeared first on Upward Commerce.

How Agile Marketing Works

When using an agile marketing approach, teams collaborate on high-value projects in sprints. They aim to complete these projects quickly and cooperatively and once completed, they work together to measure the impact of their efforts and determine areas that can be improved. The team will make changes & iterations to their processes between sprints to improve the results of their marketing efforts.

The History of Agile Marketing and Sprint Zero

While agile marketing isn’t necessarily a new idea, it was in 2012 at an event called Sprint Zero that it truly gained momentum and became a solidified marketing practice. At this event, marketing leaders gathered to discuss the future of modern marketing and developed the Agile Marketing Manifesto — a comprehensive document that outlines the transformation of marketing into an agile profession.

The Benefits of Agile Marketing

Agile marketing provides marketers with opportunities to incorporate new methods and technologies regularly while quickly adapting to changing markets. Additionally, it’s a great way to ensure that marketing campaigns are effective by checking results regularly and optimizing techniques over time. Other benefits of an agile marketing approach include:

• Marketers have the opportunity to obtain input from other departments or team members regularly
• Teams can try a variety of approaches and quickly see their results
• Collaborative approach encourages marketers to gather ideas and think outside the box
• Data is consistently available to support campaign ideas

How to Implement Agile Marketing Methodology in Your Organization

If you’re looking for a way to ensure that your marketing team is consistently outperforming competitors and improving their processes, implementing agile marketing is a great place to start. Agile marketing practices can be customized to meet the unique needs of your business but it’s important to incorporate the following features in some way:

• Project Sprints: Sprints are quick bursts of working time in which your team has to complete current projects — this typically ranges anywhere from two weeks to as long as six weeks. If you’re working on a major project, it’s good to keep in mind that multiple sprints might be required to get the job done.
• Daily Progress Meetings: Each day your team should have a quick meeting to discuss the progress they’ve made the day before and issues they’ve encountered or overcome. If issues are persisting and preventing a team member from adequately completing their work, the team should come together to solve the problem immediately.
• Progress Tracking Board: Whether you use a traditional whiteboard or a digital solution, it’s important to create a visual that enables your entire team to view and track progress.
• Collaborate Team Environment: While individuals might be responsible for individual aspects of a project, the project itself is the responsibility of your team. It’s important to have team members who are prepared to collaborate on all parts of the project so that issues can be dealt with quickly and projects can be completed on schedule.

How to Determine if Agile Marketing is Right For Your Business

Before you dive in and transform your entire marketing process, it’s important to determine if this is the right approach for you. If you’re currently working with a team of marketers who are happy and produce results, sticking with what you’re already doing or adopting a hybrid approach, such as Scrumban, might be a better way to go.

However, if your team is overworked and underproducing, agile marketing could be the solution. Providing your team members with the opportunity to collaborate with peers in a more structured way can take pressure off them and ultimately, can increase productivity among your team. Additionally, if you’re struggling to keep up with competitors, the agile marketing approach might be just what you need to gain a competitive advantage.

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Key Highlights of Google’s Core Update

• The rollout began in June and July of 2021
  • June core update began on June 2nd
  • June core update ended on June 12th
  • July core update began on July 1st
  • July core update ended on July 12th
• This update isn’t specific to any region, language or website category
• Updates are intended to help Google improve its content assessment and search engine rankings
• After the update, some rankings may have moved up or down in search rankings

Reasons Behind the Update

It’s common knowledge among those in the internet marketing world that Google rewards businesses with the best SEO practices. As a search engine, Google gives the best rankings to websites that are accessible, user friendly,  feature authoritative, well-written content, and are adding actual value to a visitor’s search inquiry. For some businesses, following these best practices to achieve high Google rankings goes unnoticed, and improving this process is the top reason Google has released this core update. With this update, Google is hopeful that it will be better able to assess the quality of website content and determine which websites can provide the best answers to user queries.

What You May Be Seeing as a Website Administrator

If you’re a web administrator or owner of a website, you may have noticed some changes in your organic rankings. For those who’ve experienced a decline in rankings, it’s important to remember this doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with your SEO practices, it means that Google has found a website that provides a better answer to user queries than yours. So instead of overhauling your entire SEO strategy, it’s best to do your research and minor tweaks as necessary.

Where to Start if You Need to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

In the first days of any of Google’s core updates, the best thing any website owner can do is sit back and watch their rankings for the first two weeks. Initially, algorithm trackers tend to show extreme changes while updates roll out; rankings can fluctuate over the first couple of weeks until the updates have finished rolling out and algorithm trackers have started to settle.

Once the first couple of weeks have passed, it’s typically safe to start analyzing the impact of Google’s core updates. If your ranking has dropped, the best place to start is by exploring the websites that are ranking highest in your category and determining why those have overtaken or ranked higher than your own. Things to look for include:

• Location-specific SEO content and keywords
• Better keywords and effective keyword incorporation
• Clear answers to typical “People Also Ask” questions
• Keywords in title tags
• Accessibility
• Consistent content updates
• Social media presence
• Responsive mobile design
• Graphics, audio and other media
• Links from high-quality, authoritative websites

If you happen to be lacking in one or more of these areas, especially when compared with higher-ranking websites, take time to research how you can improve it and get to work on it straight away. That might mean producing regular content to keep a steady flow of fresh content on your website, increasing your presence on social media, enhancing your user experience, optimizing your on-page & off-page strategy, or acquiring more quality backlinks.

The post What You Should Know About Google’s June & July 2021 Algorithm Update appeared first on Upward Commerce.

In some cases, these options exist to help consumers feel a bit safe while shopping during a global pandemic while in others, they exist to enhance the customer experience or promote online presence for the retailer.

Below, we’ve listed some of the best examples of in-store technology that have cropped up since COVID-19 became a part of our everyday lives.

1. The Burberry Social Retail Store in Shenzen

In July 2020, Burberry opened its first social retail store. This store combines its luxury brand with social media to provide shoppers with a gamified immersive experience. Using the WeChat app, customers can discover products, scan QR codes in the store and book appointments, which results in an accumulation of virtual currency which is used to hatch and grow an animal character as they move throughout the store.

2. Smart Vending Machines By & Other Stories

Another tech-forward retain event this past summer was the release of & Other Stories’ smart vending machines, which is featured in the company’s Paris-based flagship store. This machine enables customers to explore available beauty and fragrance products, obtain samples, and make purchases without the need to interact with associates or head to the cash register.

3. The Nike House of Innovation 000 Speed Shop

While the Nike House of Innovation 000 opened in 2018 (or pre-COVID, as we’re calling it now), its Speed Shop was certainly ahead of its time, offering contactless shopping before we even knew what contactless meant. This shop offers customers the opportunity to reserve shoes that can be tried on in-store. After placing the reservation, shoes are placed in a locker with the customer’s name that can be unlocked using the Nike smartphone app. Customers can also use the app to customize their shoes and purchase them without ever speaking to a salesperson.

4. Amazon Go’s Unmanned Stores

You’ve probably heard about Amazon Go by now. It uses a high level of technology to create a convenient shopping experience that enables customers to simply walk into a store and grab what they need without checking out or paying for their products in person. Using computer vision, deep learning, and sensor fusion, Amazon Go is able to determine which products have been removed from the shelves, recognize who the customer is and automatically charge their Amazon account.

5. Marks & Spencer’s Traveling Pay With Me Program

At more than 200 Mark’s & Spencer stores throughout the UK, customers can now skip the queue and pay on-the-spot by finding an M&S staff member with a handheld checkout device. These devices can be used to check out customers who are paying with cards or Apple Pay and enable those at the cash registers to get through line ups faster and more efficiently.

6. Augmented Reality Displays in Zara

In select Zara stores throughout the world, customers can now use their smartphones to view window and in-store displays in AR. Throughout these stores, customers are directed to stand in a specific spot in the store or outside of it and use their smartphone camera to view live-action modeling of the store’s most recent items.

7. Robotic Cleaners in Sam’s Clubs

In a world where clean is everything and social distancing is the new normal, robots that clean are a definite game-changer. At Sam’s Club stores across the country, customers are seeing the company’s new robotic floor scrubbers, provided by Brain Corp. These robotic floor scrubbers are accompanied by shelf analysts that can detect low stock levels, locate product locations, and verify prices.

The post How Digital Technology Will Encourage Consumers Back In-Store appeared first on Upward Commerce.