Lifecycle Marketing: Are You Giving Your Customers What They Want?
Last week we saw two great posts on lifecycle marketing from Mike and David. Check out their posts for more in depth information on what lifecycle marketing is, and how it can be invaluable to your organization. In a nutshell, lifecycle marketing is communicating timely and relevant messages to the appropriate audience, using the right medium.
We recently implemented a lifecycle marketing campaign for Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino and Ski Apache. The campaign included various methods of communication including email, SMS, and RSS. The Inn and Ski Apache began communicating to their segmented lists of customers based on the customers’ communication preferences.
The client’s list was segmented by asking customers how they wanted to receive information, what type of information they were interested in receiving, as well as observing the subscribers click behavior to further refine the subscribers interests. Using the information gathered, several different segments were created including events, golf, hotel, gaming, and skiing. These segmented lists were then used to send customers relevant information specific to their interests via their preferred method of communication.
Customer segmentation research found that the majority of this client’s database prefers to receive information via email. As part of the lifecycle marketing campaign, an email program was put into place based on customer’s interests and behavior. This resulted in increased email metrics including render rate, click through rate, as well as completed call to actions such as reservations, purchasing tickets, etc. We were able to increase the amount of email we were sending to the subscribers, while significantly decreasing the spam complaints by more than 72%! That’s more email and fewer complaints! All by giving the subscriber what they want based on their interests and preferences.
Recently, the resort and casino was looking for a way to increase occupancy Monday thru Thursday when vacancy was usually low. By understanding the customer, we helped the client implement an email campaign called Fuego, which was a short-term promotion targeted to customers in nearby cities to help increase occupancy Monday thru Thursday. The campaign ran for four consecutive weeks, and earned a 541% return for the resort and casino.
Ski Apache implemented a SMS program as part of the lifecycle marketing campaign. Customers were encouraged to sign up for SMS via email and signage on Ski Apache property to receive regular snow updates. Within weeks, Ski Apache had over 400 SMS subscribers. This subscriber list was also used to promote a limited-time $199 annual ski pass offer, which resulted in $10,000 of sales by the end of the first day. Now that’s “mobilizing” your customers! View the SMS marketing case study.
We have seen many great successes with this client with the implementation of a lifecycle marketing campaign. It’s easy to see that your existing customers, and individuals who have previously shown interest in your product or services, may be a more valuable source when it comes to increasing your ROI than generating new customers.
0 comments so far