Reading Time: 8 minutes

In the realm of ecommerce and retail marketing, the terrain is ever-evolving, with technological advancements and consumer behavior changes shaping the landscape.

Recently, we’ve seen remarkable strides in customer engagement and digital marketing strategies, led by influential leaders who are redefining the industry’s boundaries. 

Our latest article delves into the careers of 10 remarkable marketers whose strategies have significantly impacted customer engagement and brand growth.

Let’s dive into the stories of these trailblazers and the innovative solutions that have propelled their companies to new heights.

• Emily Essner, Chief Marketing Officer, Saks
• Katie Lay, former Sr. Director of Retention, Poshmark
• Dhananjayan Sekar, Head of Digital Marketing, FoodHub
• Alexa Ritacco, Senior Vice President of Digital, Rhode
• Kyndra Russell, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Starbucks
• Katie Mullen, Chief Customer Officer, JCPenney
• Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, Chief Marketing Officer, DoorDash
• Raina Moskowitz, Chief Operating and Marketing Officer, Etsy
• Esi Eggleston Bracey, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, Unilever
• Carly Mansfield, Fractional CMO, A Bar Above

Top 10 Retail & Ecommerce Marketers List

1. Emily Essner: Redefining Luxury Ecommerce

Emily Essner, as Chief Marketing Officer at Saks, has steered the brand’s evolution in the luxury ecommerce landscape, focusing on customer acquisition and retention through innovative marketing channels like video and podcasts. 

Her strategy has successfully driven customer growth, acquiring 3.5 million new customers and shifting focus to retaining high lifetime value customers. Essner emphasizes the importance of data analytics in delivering personalized customer experiences and has led notable campaigns, such as the partnership with Dior for the Saks Fifth Avenue holiday experience. 

This collaboration underscores the brand’s commitment to providing unique and memorable experiences, reflecting the company’s heritage while embracing digital innovation.  

In the 2024 Top Women in Retail report, Essner discusses the transformation of Saks into a luxury ecommerce powerhouse, highlighting the importance of customer retention through innovative and strategic marketing initiatives that engage customers in the ever-evolving landscape of luxury retail.

“Today and going forward, being open to new ideas and change will continue to be a requirement for any leader. Reaching a level of comfort with today’s pace of change in the marketing world is helpful in continuing to evolve along with your customer and their expectations.”

2. Katie Lay: Personalized Engagement at Scale

Katie Lay, former Sr. Director of Retention at Poshmark, has been instrumental in driving the company’s customer engagement strategy. Her efforts have contributed to Poshmark’s position as a leading social marketplace with a vast community across the globe​. 

As an influential marketing leader, Lay has steered the company through the complex terrain of online resale markets. Poshmark’s challenge was managing its multifaceted business model, which serves both buyers and sellers, while fostering a community where entrepreneurs thrive. 

The solution? An investment in technology to tailor cross-channel communications and enhance customer journeys. The result was a staggering number of emails sent monthly where impacted campaigns saw a 60% open rate and 30% increase in converting listings to sales.

3. Dhananjayan Sekar: Mastering Customer Segmentation

Dhananjayan Sekar, as the Head of Digital Marketing at FoodHub, has played a pivotal role in the company’s successful adoption of AI-powered customer engagement solutions. His strategic initiatives have led to remarkable outcomes.

FoodHub achieved an 86% increase in basket conversions and a 25% rise in new user activation, demonstrating the effectiveness of the implemented strategies in improving customer engagement and business performance.

Also, under Sekar’s leadership, FoodHub adopted MoEngage’s RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) model, which allowed for precise customer segmentation and personalized promotions, contributing to a 10% increase in average order value and a 38% reduction in basket abandonment.

These accomplishments reflect FoodHub’s ability to leverage technology for strategic advantage, improving both top and bottom-of-funnel metrics significantly. Their efforts in personalizing the customer experience and enhancing customer insight have been central to driving these impressive results​. 

4. Alexa Ritacco: Innovating in a Crowded Space

Alexa Ritacco, recently nominated as a Forbes 30 under 30, and who is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Digital at Rhode, has had a significant impact in the digital marketing and ecommerce spaces, particularly noted during her tenure as the Chief Marketing Officer at Jenni Kayne. 

At Jenni Kayne, she played a crucial role in the brand’s growth, driving the company’s revenue from $8 million to over $140 million. Ritacco’s approach combined strategic content creation with performance marketing, social media, and influencer marketing strategy to captivate customers and drive conversions, demonstrating her expertise in marrying brand aesthetics with ecommerce efficiency​.

Her experience in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) sector is impressive – in a recent edition of The Direct 60, she highlights the company’s adaptation to AI advancements and the evolving digital landscape:

“Over the last 5 years, each year has felt wildly different than the last, which has been both exciting and challenging. I’m eager to see what these next few years bring to the DTC space. Whether it be the crazy advances in AI, combatting the cookie-less world or the ever-changing landscape of Meta, we continue to have our work cut out for us and I’m excited to tackle it all alongside the wider DTC community.” 

5. Kyndra Russell: Cultivating Loyalty through Innovative Campaigns

Kyndra Russell serves as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Starbucks, where she oversees brand, product, loyalty, partnerships, and licensed store marketing. 

She joined Starbucks in 2017, and since then, Starbucks has elevated its loyalty program, demonstrating the company’s ability as a marketer to integrate and enhance customer engagement and brand loyalty. 

Starbucks’ marketing strategy focuses on delivering personalized customer experiences like the “Birthday Treat” program, where app users receive tailored birthday rewards based on their purchase history. 

This strategy, which also gathers valuable location data, and strengthens customer relationships and brand preference, reflects a deep understanding of consumer behavior and the importance of personalized promotions to drive repeat business.

6. Katie Mullen: Customer-Obsessed Retail Marketing

Katie Mullen has made significant strides in her role as the Chief Customer Officer at JCPenney, focusing on enhancing the customer experience through strategic ecommerce and omnichannel development. 

Since being promoted into her role as CCO in April 2023, she has significantly revamped the retailer’s loyalty program, aligning it with the brand’s “Make It Count” strategy. This new program, aimed at enhancing customer engagement and value through more efficient reward accruals and innovative promotional events, showcases her commitment to leveraging first-party data for more targeted, effective marketing. 

Prior to this, she played a role as the Chief Digital Officer at JCPenney, where she was instrumental in leading growth and digital transformation initiatives. Mullen’s background includes serving as the Chief Digital Officer at Neiman Marcus Group, where she managed a $1 billion ecommerce business and was deeply involved in various aspects of digital marketing and ecommerce operations.

Her career is marked by a strong emphasis on using technology and digital channels to improve customer interaction and satisfaction. At JCPenney, Mullen is known for driving innovation that integrates physical and digital shopping experiences, aiming to create a seamless customer journey that leverages the strengths of both platforms​​.

Mullen’s strategies have focused on integrating digital and physical marketing tools to reach diverse customer segments, thereby driving both inclusion and accessibility in fashion. Her efforts in leading these transformative marketing initiatives exemplify why she is a noteworthy figure in the retail industry.

7. Kofi Amoo-Gottfried: Customizing Consumer Interactions

Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, the Chief Marketing Officer at DoorDash, has made significant strides in the marketing world, particularly through his innovative approaches at DoorDash. He has been instrumental in transforming the brand’s reach and influence, focusing on customer-centric strategies including personalization.

For example, DoorDash utilizes customer location and previous purchases to provide relevant recommendations. They dynamically adapt suggestions based on the user’s current location and preferences, enhancing the search experience with automatic filters for quick meals or new local dishes when traveling. This personalized approach not only improves the customer experience but also boosts conversion rates and product retention.

Before joining DoorDash, Amoo-Gottfried held prominent roles at major companies such as Facebook and Bacardi, where he developed his expertise in brand revitalization and creative marketing strategies.

His career is marked by several accolades, including being named to Ad Age’s “40 under 40” list, winning the ADCOLOR “Rockstar” Award, and recognition as one of Business Insider’s “25 CMOs To Watch” and receiving AdWeek’s “Brand Genius” award.

Amoo-Gottfried’s marketing philosophy integrates deep consumer understanding with data-driven strategies to ensure brand growth and customer engagement. His leadership extends beyond professional accomplishments, reflecting a commitment to innovation and cultural understanding, which has been central to his success in navigating the complex landscape of modern marketing.

8. Raina Moskowitz: Overseeing A Marketplace of Diverse Campaigns

Raina Moskowitz, as Chief Operating and Marketing Officer at Etsy, plays an important role in driving the company’s global growth, expanding brand consideration, and enhancing customer trust and loyalty. 

Since joining Etsy in 2018, she has played a critical role in leading its Strategy and Operations, Marketing, Member Services, Trust & Safety, International, and Impact teams. 

Moskowitz’s leadership has been acknowledged as motivating and inspiring, with a focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences and cementing Etsy as a trusted global brand.

In a recent press release, she noted that their mission to Keep Commerce Human has remained their North Star objective through a period of significant transformation and growth.

“I am excited to bring together the teams that contribute to a truly differentiated e-commerce experience to better support our community and create meaningful new growth opportunities.”

Etsy’s marketing mirrors its marketplace: diverse and ever-evolving. The company excels in informing customers about new and similar products, with a keen ability to engage through tailored promotional campaigns.

9. Esi Eggleston Bracey: Human-Centric Marketing Leader

Esi Eggleston Bracey, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at Unilever, emphasizes a human-centric approach in her marketing strategy, focusing on the company’s top brands and leveraging digital platforms to meet future challenges and opportunities. 

In the 2024 Top Women in Retail report, Eggleston Bracey emphasizes a strategic focus on growth marketing, aiming to accelerate growth and value creation across Unilever’s top brands.  

She comments, “Marketers are in the business of serving people’s needs. You have to be human-centric; think of a person, not just someone you want to sell something to.”

As a marketing leader who prioritizes familiarization with internal and market dynamics, her strategy centers on enhancing the company’s key brands and leveraging digital and AI ecommerce and retail technologies to deepen market impact.

Her prior achievements in the U.S. sector, including leading initiatives for brand innovation and societal contributions, underscore their effectiveness in driving growth and societal change. 

Notably, the CROWN Act campaign reflects a commitment to purpose-driven marketing, aligning business objectives with social values. This approach, coupled with an emphasis on diversity and meeting the evolving needs of a diverse global population, highlights a customer-centric and inclusive marketing strategy that drives both brand loyalty and social progress.

10. Carly Mansfield: Leveraging AI for Marketing Excellence

Carly Mansfield, as the Fractional CMO at A Bar Above, has effectively integrated AI to revolutionize their marketing efforts. With her rich background in DTC ecommerce marketing, she led the initiative to gamify AI adoption, encouraging the team to embrace AI through a competitive yet educational approach.

The impact of AI at A Bar Above has been significant, streamlining content creation and enhancing email marketing strategies. The team used AI to generate engaging content and visuals, reducing the need for traditional photoshoots. This approach not only improved productivity but also enriched the brand’s marketing content.

Carly’s vision extends to leveraging AI for personalized customer interactions, aiming to provide tailored advice and product recommendations. Her leadership demonstrates the potent role of AI in crafting innovative marketing strategies and delivering personalized ecommerce experiences.

Top 10 Marketers in Retail and Ecommerce: Concluding Thoughts

As we’ve seen these narratives play out, it becomes clear that the future of retail and ecommerce marketing lies in the hands of innovative leaders who are not just adjusting but actually defining the standards themselves. 

These are the trailblazers who are shaping the new trajectory for business growth and the way consumers interact. They design attractive customer experiences using data insights while opening up possibilities for marketing tactics that have not been seen before. 

Their stories are a testament to the power of marketing in the digital age and provide valuable lessons for aspiring B2C marketers everywhere.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Imagine this: you’re scrolling through your favorite streaming platform, looking for something new to watch. Suddenly, a recommendation pops up that feels like it was made just for you.

It’s as if the platform knows your taste in movies and TV shows better than you do. 

That’s the power of personalization.

In the exciting world of media and entertainment, connecting with your audience is the key to success. It’s about more than just marketing — it’s about creating an experience that resonates with customers and keeps them coming back for more. 

Personalized marketing goes beyond just delivering a great experience. It’s about building a relationship with your customers, understanding their preferences, and tailoring your messaging to meet their needs.

According to our Personalization Pulse Check Report, a staggering 58% of North American consumers are frustrated with brands that offer generic and inconsistent communication. In today’s competitive landscape, that’s a risk you can’t afford to take.

By using personalization techniques effectively, media and entertainment brands can perfect their marketing efforts. They can create targeted customer journey-based campaigns that speak directly to their audience, increasing customer satisfaction and engagement. And it’s not just about attracting new customers — it’s about retaining them too.

When customers receive tailored messaging that speaks to their interests and preferences, they’re more likely to engage with your brand over and over again.

So, how can you use personalization to take your media marketing to the next level?

Here, we’ll explore that and more, diving into strategies and best practices that will help you drive customer engagement, boost retention, and ultimately, achieve success in this ever-evolving industry.

Let’s dive in.

What is Personalization in Media Marketing?

Personalization in media marketing is a customer engagement strategy that involves customizing experiences. It’s built on targeted communication that’s sent through the right channels, at the right time and frequency, to resonate with individual customers.

According to our recent survey, 40% of media and entertainment marketers are customizing communications for different stages of the customer journey.

As such, for media and entertainment companies, personalization is all about driving traction that leads to increased engagement, retention, time in-app, subscriptions/conversions, and revenue. Efforts should be focused on sharing relevant content recommendations, curating custom experiences, serving targeted advertisements, and optimizing campaigns.

7 Benefits of Personalization in Media Marketing

As we’ve established earlier, hyper-personalized marketing can help media brands deliver communication and experiences that resonate with their audience. Here are the benefits you can reap from implementing personalization in your engagement campaigns:

1. Serve customized ads for engagement and re-engagement: Contextually relevant ads get more views, have higher click-through rates, and ultimately lead to more conversions.
2. Create memorable experiences that customers love: Tailored marketing materials that resonate with your customers grab their attention, keep them interested in your service, and build relationships based on brand loyalty.
3. Nurture leads effectively via the optimal pathway: Communicate with customers at the right time via their preferred channels to strategically guide customers in their buying journey toward a successful conversion.
4. Provide contextually relevant content & recommendations: Curate content recommendations based on customer preferences, habits, behaviors (such as browsing history and past purchases), and activities.
5. Foster customer loyalty and increase customer lifetime value (LTV): Nurture deep, authentic relationships that increase customer lifetime value and lead to brand advocacy.
6. Activate dormant or inactive customers: Send hyper-personalized messages to engage viewers, listeners, or readers with high churn risk, or reactivate those who have gone dormant by motivating them to renew their subscriptions.
7. Cross-sell and upsell effectively: Provide relevant content and product/service recommendations that are far more likely to garner an upsell or cross-sell.

Ultimately, these benefits all help work towards the goal of increasing customer engagement. 

Below, we use examples from leading brands to look at how media marketers can implement various personalization strategies to win the hearts of their customers.

6 Cross-Channel Personalized Media Marketing Examples to Increase Customer Retention

Effectively executing a personalized media marketing campaign is extremely challenging, requiring teams to perfect many different processes, from data collection and analysis to campaign planning. Organizations need to marshal detailed consumer information and behavioral data to understand and predict customer interests and preferences.

However, looking at real-life examples of leading brands in the industry can provide creative inspiration and help you learn best practices. Below, we cover some of the best real-life examples of personalized media marketing strategies from leading media brands.

1. Netflix’s in-app and on-site content recommendations

Media marketers these days know the pulse of their customers and hence focus on prioritizing personalization. As per our North American Personalization Pulse Check Report, 28% of consumers want brands to personalize their experience using purchase history. However, Netflix goes even deeper with personalized recommendations, creating fully curated lists that are customized to the individual subscriber. 

For example, the “Because you watched” filter lists content that’s directly related to a particular movie or series you’ve watched. Similarly, the “Top Picks For You” and “We Think You’ll Love These” categories are curated lists of content that Netflix believes you’re most likely to enjoy based on your previous viewing history, your reviews or ratings of movies and shows, bookmarked content, and general in-app activity.

Netflix also offers generically filtered lists, like “Blockbuster Action & Adventure Movies,” “Comedy Movies,” and many more that are personalized based on the viewer’s preferences. The categories you’ve frequently watched are prioritized, so you see them higher.

Providing customers with the content they want — and saving them time when searching for it — drastically increases engagement and (most importantly) retention.

2. Spotify’s targeted mobile push notification campaigns

Marketing isn’t just about driving an immediate conversion. It’s also about building meaningful, long-lasting relationships with customers through continuous engagement.

Spotify triggers mobile push notifications based on recent customer activity. After a listener hears a new artist for the first time, Spotify triggers a mobile push notification that advertises that artist’s biography page, motivating them to learn more about that artist, and potentially even follow their page. This increases listening time, time spent in-app, and — ultimately — subscriptions (and LTV). 

3. PGA TOUR’s streamlined, customized user experiences

The PGA Tour uses app insights to understand which golfers the viewers are most interested in, helping them improve their broadcasts. They can also directly drive app viewers to subscribe to broadcasts or attend live events, by adding customized CTA banners on the app.

App user interface and experience are core components of stickiness and retention, especially when it comes to media and entertainment consumption. That’s why the PGA Tour’s entire in-app experience is designed to deliver the content consumers care about most (as quickly, easily, and efficiently as they can). It does so by curating videos, leaderboards, and news articles based on the players they’re most interested in.

Offering a fully customized experience that provides customers with the content they want most drastically improves app stickiness, engagement, retention, and LTV. 

4. Google Play Books’ mobile push notifications with targeted discounts

Discounts and promotions are commonly used to entice new consumers or upsell existing customers. Our recent survey of North American consumers found that 18% of respondents said that getting personalized discounts and coupons delighted them the most about a brand experience. However, offering irrelevant discounts can result in wasted resources and expenses for your marketing team. 

Google Play Books uses personalized push notifications to send personalized offers for books and reading materials that customers have already shown interest in. This not only improves the customer experience by providing relevant recommendations and limited-time offers, but it also significantly boosts conversion rates by serving offers related to products and content the customers are already interested in.

5. Cineplex drives conversions with personalized email marketing

Email personalization is often — rightfully — used to craft experiences that increase satisfaction and engagement. But, when applied effectively, it can be used to drive conversions and revenue.

Cineplex sends targeted email campaigns that recommend upcoming films, factoring in customer behavior data. By using previous viewing and purchase history, they’re able to recommend content that customers are more likely to be interested in. 

In this case, since the customer previously ordered tickets for Dune through the app, Cineplex automatically triggered a recommendation when the second film in the series came to theaters.

At the end of the day, leveraging customer data allows marketers to offer highly relevant recommendations, across channels, that lead to higher conversion rates.

6. Netflix reactivates dormant customers with targeted content recommendations

When it comes to reactivating dormant customers, using the right kind of communication is crucial. Netflix understands the importance of personalized engagement and leverages it to bring back customers who have become disengaged.

Netflix employs a strategic approach by sending personalized push notifications and emails to notify customers about new content that aligns with their interests. These recommendations are based on the viewer’s previous activity, ensuring a tailored and relevant experience.

By alerting customers to new episodes and content they are likely to be interested in, Netflix makes it easy for them to return and resume their viewing experience. This focused content recommendation not only enhances the user experience but also has the potential to reactivate dormant customers.

The power of relevant and timely content recommendations cannot be underestimated. By leveraging targeted communication, Netflix significantly increases customer engagement, time spent in-app, and subscriptions.

Mastering Personalized Media Marketing with MoEngage

Unlike other industries where customer acquisition is the main objective, media and entertainment companies are more concerned with increasing engagement and loyalty. After all, this leads to more time in-app, content consumption, subscriptions, and revenue.

One of the best ways to achieve this is by offering customers uniquely personalized experiences and communication that they resonate with and find value in, so that they keep coming back.

MoEngage’s Customer Engagement platform is designed to help teams hyper-personalize all aspects of your media marketing efforts for greater impact and improved retention, across channels and throughout the entire customer journey. 

Schedule a demo today to learn how we can help you with the right customer insights and personalization capabilities to perfect your media marketing strategy.

Reading Time: 10 minutes

The dynamic Media & Entertainment industry is a playground for consumers looking to immerse themselves in experiences beyond the realm of everyday life.

However, with the endless potential for scrolling and limited attention spans plaguing today’s society, brands must find innovative ways to stand out and not only keep up with the latest trends but also be trend amplifiers themselves.

But how can these businesses anticipate consumer preferences and deliver cross-channel experiences that resonate with their target audience?

Our comprehensive survey of 730 marketers, including 95 respondents from this space, reveals intriguing insights into how this industry navigates cross-channel marketing, customer engagement, and personalization. 

What stands out most is not their fierce focus on driving customer retention and loyalty, but their advanced usage of personalization strategies, AI capabilities, and customer data to create a cross-channel, multi-touch approach.

Yet, the path toward understanding marketing channel effectiveness and the full customer journey is ridden with technological hurdles. With over half relying on manual processes, one can see why they struggle with real-time analytics and marketing channel attribution.

This article will dig into these compelling findings, exploring the balance Media & Entertainment organizations must adopt between building brand loyalty, navigating budget constraints, and consistently breaking through the noise to produce content their audiences love. 

Let’s get to it.

Who We Surveyed: Methodology + Demographics

Responses We Analyzed:

• All Responses: 730
• Media & Entertainment: 95

Roles and Company Size

The majority of respondents said they are Individual Contributors (22.1%) with 30.5% saying they are VP or C-Level executives. In terms of company size, 49.5% represent organizations with over 200 employees.

Channels

According to our broad set of survey results, the most popular engagement channels that B2C marketers use are:

1. Email (89.6%),
2. Social Media (80.3%),
3. Desktop Website (67.1%),
4. Mobile Website (65%),
5. Mobile App (49)%

When it comes to the most used channels within the Media & Entertainment industry, you’ll find that they place a higher significance on the Mobile App than the general group of respondents. 

This might be because, with more people now consuming content on their phones, apps have become a key way for the industry to connect with audiences.

They’re not just about watching videos or listening to music; they allow for a personalized experience, sending notifications and offering interactive elements that keep users engaged. 

Plus, there’s the financial side – apps can open up various revenue streams like subscriptions or ads. Also, the insights gained from app usage help shape future content and strategies, which is why mobile apps are essential for brands in this space.

Objectives

For Media & Entertainment brands, increasing customer engagement or loyalty is the top objective for 54.7% of respondents, which was significantly higher than for the general respondent group, who prioritize finding new customers above all else.

This is likely because, for these brands, the connection with the audience isn’t just a one-time deal. They aim to create lasting relationships because, in the long run, having a loyal audience can be more valuable than constantly seeking new customers.

Engaged viewers or listeners are more likely to subscribe, make in-app purchases, or consume more content, which directly affects the brand’s revenue and stability.

Let’s not forget that in this industry where choices are abundant, keeping an existing audience hooked is crucial. It’s not just about grabbing attention initially; it’s about holding onto it. This space is very dynamic and competitive, so brands that successfully maintain high levels of engagement and loyalty can stand out and ensure a steady flow of revenue, even in a crowded market. 

Two examples of media and entertainment brands that excel in customer engagement and loyalty are HBO and Netflix.

HBO, particularly with its hit series “Game of Thrones,” utilized social media to create a buzz and foster a sense of community among fans back in 2017. They shared visually stunning content and exclusive behind-the-scenes looks, and encouraged fans to share their fan art and theories using specific hashtags.

This approach helped HBO to not only engage with its audience in a fun and creative way but also to build a loyal fan base around the series​​.

Netflix, on the other hand, stands out for its use of data and personalization to keep customers engaged. By analyzing viewer behavior and preferences, Netflix creates and recommends content that resonates with its audience, making the viewing experience hyper-personalized. This strategy has been successful in keeping viewers coming back for more, thereby maintaining high levels of customer loyalty​​.

Both HBO and Netflix demonstrate how understanding and catering to the needs and interests of their audiences, through engaging content and personalized experiences, can lead to increased customer loyalty and engagement.

That’s why, compared to other industries where the push might be more towards acquiring new customers, Media & Entertainment businesses lean heavily into nurturing their existing audience base.

Of course, attracting new customers is still essential for growth, so that’s why it shows up as the second objective for brands in this space. 

AI Usage

Based on the graph, you can see that, when it comes to AI in cross-channel marketing in Media & Entertainment, one key use case stands out: 

• “Generating and selecting content”

This is not surprising because this industry is known for its vast output, where audiences crave diverse and engaging content across multiple platforms.

AI steps in as a powerhouse, capable of handling the sheer volume of content, ensuring that what gets delivered is not just relevant, but also tailored to individual preferences. This personalized approach enhances user engagement, making viewers or listeners feel like the content speaks directly to them.

On top of that, AI doesn’t just stop at personalization. It’s also about efficiency.

By automating content generation and selection, media companies can significantly cut down on time and costs, allowing for more resources to be allocated to creative and strategic endeavors. Plus, AI’s ability to analyze data in real-time means that content strategies can be constantly refined to maximize audience retention and engagement. 

Also worth noting is the disparity between how Media & Entertainment brands are using AI for trend analysis and automated engagement versus the overarching group of respondents (23.2% vs. 12.6%).

This is due to the unique needs and dynamics of the media industry. As discussed earlier, Media & Entertainment companies operate in a fast-paced environment where trends can shift rapidly, and staying ahead of these changes is crucial.

They rely on AI for trend analysis to quickly identify and capitalize on emerging trends, ensuring content remains relevant and engaging to their audience.

In contrast, industries outside of Media & Entertainment may not face the same pressure to constantly adapt to new trends or engage users at such a granular level, leading to a lower overall reliance on these AI capabilities.

For these companies, leveraging AI in these areas is not just a strategic advantage; it’s a necessity to stay competitive and maintain a strong connection with their audience.

Challenges

In Media & Entertainment, businesses were most likely to say that budget and resource constraints were their greatest challenge (48.4%), followed by lacking clarity around marketing channel effectiveness, with 44.2% noting the struggle here. 

Their focus on issues with understanding channel effectiveness stands out from the main group and could stem from the challenge of accurately measuring and attributing the impact of different channels in a multi-touch consumer journey. 

With the convergence of traditional and digital media, audiences now interact with content across multiple platforms and devices, making it harder for Media & Entertainment businesses to pinpoint which channels are truly driving engagement and contributing to their bottom line.

Also, the rapid evolution of technology and media consumption patterns means that what worked yesterday might not be as effective today.

Media & Entertainment companies are therefore more likely to feel the pressure to constantly reassess and adapt their marketing strategies to stay relevant and effective in connecting with their audience. 

This ongoing challenge of understanding channel effectiveness underscores the need for advanced analytics and data-driven decision-making in the industry.

Blind Spots

When diving into the primary blind spots for Media & Entertainment organizations, it’s interesting to note that 46.3% admitted to not knowing which customer cohorts are not converting. This blind spot appears unique to marketers in this industry.

As noted, this industry contains inherent complexities in audience behavior and content interaction. Consumer preferences shift frequently and are influenced by trends, cultural shifts, and new content releases, making it challenging to analyze conversion pathways consistently. 

Unlike industries with more straightforward product offerings, the success of content in Media & Entertainment can be influenced by subjective factors such as storytelling quality, genre popularity, and celebrity influence, which can fluctuate widely and affect conversion rates.

Technology

From our survey, we found that the majority of Media & Entertainment marketers (20%) are using spreadsheets and manual processes to manage cross-channel marketing programs.

Unfortunately, spreadsheets, while flexible, are prone to human error and can become unwieldy with complex campaigns or large data sets. They also lack real-time analytics and automation features that modern marketing platforms offer.

These challenges can prevent marketers from effectively analyzing campaign performance across channels, personalizing customer interactions, and adapting to market changes swiftly. Ultimately, this can impact the ROI of marketing efforts and the ability to compete against more advanced operations.

To tackle their blind spots, Media & Entertainment brands can lean on customer engagement software, which can help them identify patterns in their customer data. This software can stitch together data from various channels, offering a complete picture of how different customer groups interact with content. 

It helps identify who isn’t converting and why, enabling brands to craft personalized campaigns that hit the mark. It’s also great for testing out different strategies to see what resonates best, ensuring that marketing efforts are always on the cutting edge. 

Best Practices

When we explored the essentials for a successful cross-channel marketing strategy, leveraging customer data analytics for strategic marketing decisions was identified as the key factor across all industries, including within Media & Entertainment.

Digging deep into customer data sheds light on vital insights regarding consumer behaviors, preferences, and evolving trends. Armed with this knowledge, marketers are in a prime position to devise strategies that precisely target and meet customer needs.

This approach enables the crafting of personalized experiences that not only resonate deeply with the audience but also encourage their continued loyalty and engagement. It’s about striking the perfect balance between professionalism and personal touch to keep customers engaged and returning.

In terms of how these organizations are using personalization, customizing communications for different stages of the customer journey was the most popular response, with 40% of survey participants noting that they are personalizing in this manner.

It is beneficial for Media & Entertainment organizations to use personalization in this way because it aligns the content and messaging with the evolving needs and interests of the audience. 

As consumers move through the journey, from awareness to interest, decision, and loyalty, their expectations and engagement levels change. By customizing communications at each stage, organizations can ensure that they are delivering relevant, timely, and engaging content that resonates with the audience.

Something else that stands out is that only 34.7% of Media & Entertainment marketers are using basic personalization like age, gender, or location as opposed to the 42.7% of general respondents. On top of that, a higher percentage responded that they aren’t using personalization at all (12.6%).

This indicates that personalization might not be a key area of customer engagement focus for brands in this space. Unlike Ecommerce & Retail, where personalization based on demographics can significantly influence purchasing decisions, media consumption is often driven by content preferences that transcend these basic demographic categories.

For instance, a movie or a hit TV show can appeal to a wide range of ages, genders, and locations. Media & Entertainment brands might be focusing more on content preferences, viewing history, and behavioral data to personalize experiences, rather than just basic demographic information.

They might find that these factors are more predictive of what content will resonate with their audience, leading to better engagement and retention.

Something else to note is that the creative aspect of media content means that success can often be driven by broader trends and viral phenomena, which don’t always align neatly with demographic segmentation.

Brands in this space may also be cautious about over-personalization due to privacy concerns and the desire to maintain a broad appeal across diverse audiences. 

Therefore, while personalization is crucial, the approach in the Media & Entertainment industry might be more nuanced, focusing on the richness of content interaction and user behavior rather than basic demographic data.

Media & Entertainment Cross-Channel Marketing: Closing Thoughts

In wrapping up our deep dive into the state of cross-channel marketing within the Media & Entertainment industry, it’s evident that brands in this space face unique challenges and opportunities. 

The industry’s emphasis on content creation and distribution necessitates a nuanced approach to customer engagement, where understanding the dynamic nature of consumer preferences and the competitive landscape is crucial.

While personalization is still key, it extends beyond basic demographics, focusing on behavioral insights and content interaction to connect with audiences effectively. The adoption of advanced technologies like AI for trend analysis and automated engagement underscores the industry’s need to stay agile and responsive to rapidly changing market conditions. 

Overall, the Media & Entertainment industry’s approach to cross-channel marketing reflects its complex, ever-evolving nature, highlighting the importance of innovative, data-driven strategies to captivate and retain audiences in a saturated market.

The future of cross-channel marketing in this industry hinges on embracing technologies that allow these brands to foster deeper trust and loyalty, ensuring their competitive edge in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.

To discover how MoEngage’s cross-channel marketing platform can level up your Media & Entertainment business’s strategy, schedule a demo today.

Reading Time: 9 minutes

The current state of cross-channel marketing in the QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) industry is in flux, with rapid advancements in technology and changing consumer behavior. 

To help QSR marketers like you stay on top of all the changes, we decided to do another edition of The State of Cross-Channel Marketing in QSR: 2025. 

This year’s report:

• Analyzes findings from a survey of 70 QSR professionals
• Uncovers how QSR marketing has evolved from 2024 and how it compares to the broader market in 2025
• Includes insights from experts at Bottle Rocket, a digital product agency, and Radar, an all-in-one geolocation platform.
• Features cartoons from Tom Fishburne i.e., Marketoonist

Here are the top 5 findings from the report:

🍔  As QSR marketers start focusing on more sustainable marketing practices, the #1 business objective in 2025 is “increasing customer engagement or loyalty” (55.7%), with a larger number of QSR marketers prioritizing it than last year (46.8%).

🍔  The top 4 engagement channels QSR marketers are using this year are Email (68.7%), Social Media (58.2%), Mobile Website (41.8%), and Mobile App (40.3%)

🍔  The most popular way QSR marketers are using AI is for “content creation” (50%), which is a significant increase from last year (29.8%).

🍔  QSR marketers are still struggling the most with “delivering personalized experiences” (60%), and this number has grown from last year (48.9%). 

🍔  When asked what has contributed the most to helping you build an effective cross-channel marketing strategy, having a skilled marketing team (31.4%) and integrated marketing technology (30.0%) were the top responses. 

For more insights, download your copy of The State of Cross-Channel Marketing in QSR: 2025. Alternatively, you can find highlights from last year’s report below.

State of Cross-Channel Marketing for QSRs: 2024

Anyone familiar with the QSR industry knows that with ever-changing consumer preferences, brands in this space face a unique set of cross-channel marketing challenges.

In our recent State of Cross-Channel Marketing survey and report, we found that QSR brands are experiencing difficulty with executing cross-channel communications, leveraging their data to deliver personalized experiences, and attributing marketing performance. 

And despite their focus on increasing customer engagement and loyalty in the next twelve months, investment in modern customer engagement technology is lagging with spreadsheets acting as the main software of record for these types of marketing activities.

Here, we’ll take a look at the specific responses from QSR marketers to unearth the most frequently used engagement channels, the top blind spots they encounter when executing cross-channel marketing campaigns, and some of the best practices they can deploy to drive success.

Let’s jump in.

When looking specifically at the QSR industry, we found that these brands follow suit for the most popular channels they use until we get to the fourth spot. Instead of a greater focus on Mobile Website usage, brands in this space are more likely to use a Mobile App to engage and communicate with customers.

In the QSR industry, brands often give more importance to mobile apps rather than mobile websites for a few key reasons. Let me break it down for you:

First of all, mobile apps provide a top-notch user experience with features like personalized recommendations, loyalty programs, and easy ordering, which really make customers happy and engaged. 

Secondly, mobile apps are super convenient – customers can access menus, place orders, and get all the info they need with just a few taps on their smartphones. Plus, brands can send personalized push notifications directly to users, keeping them in the loop about special offers and events, which is a great way to boost engagement. 

And let’s not forget about loyalty programs! Many brands have these integrated into their mobile apps, making it easy for customers to earn rewards and enjoy exclusive deals. Having a dedicated mobile app also helps QSR brands establish a unique brand identity and stand out from the competition. 

While mobile websites are still important for providing information, the focus on mobile apps in this industry is all about delivering a personalized, convenient, and engaging experience to customers.

Objectives

When it comes to QSR brands, they have a unique focus compared to the general population of respondents. While finding new customers is still important (42.55%), these brands put slightly more emphasis on increasing customer engagement and loyalty (46.81%). 

They understand that building strong relationships with their existing customer base is key to long-term success. That’s why they prioritize strategies that foster customer engagement, such as personalized marketing campaigns and loyalty programs. They want to create experiences that keep customers coming back for more.

Interestingly enough, QSR brands also prioritize attributing marketing performance as a key objective. In a competitive industry like theirs, it’s crucial to ensure that their marketing efforts are effective and generating a positive return on investment. By measuring and analyzing the impact of their cross-channel marketing activities, they can optimize their strategies and make data-driven decisions to drive revenue growth.

These priorities stem from the unique dynamics of the QSR industry. With changing consumer preferences and evolving food and beverage trends, these brands need to stay agile and responsive. By focusing on customer engagement, loyalty, and marketing performance attribution, they can adapt quickly to market shifts and maintain a competitive edge.

AI Usage

Based on the graph, you can see that, when it comes to AI in cross-channel marketing for QSR, a few interesting things stand out. This group is using AI at a higher rate than the general group (14.9% are not using AI as compared to 22.8%), and their key use case is: 

• “AI for automated ad buying and personalization” 

But why might this be the case?

Well, as noted earlier, the QSR industry is highly competitive, with numerous brands vying for consumer attention. To stand out in this crowded market, companies are turning to AI-powered technologies for automated ad buying, allowing them to optimize their advertising campaigns and reach the right audience at the right time.

In addition, customer expectations are on the rise. Consumers today want personalized experiences that cater to their preferences and needs. In fact, according to our recent Personalization Pulse Check Report, 58% of consumers are frustrated with brands that offer generic and inconsistent communication.

That’s where AI comes in. 

By leveraging AI for personalization, marketers in this industry can analyze vast amounts of customer data to understand individual preferences, behaviors, and purchase patterns. This enables them to deliver personalized recommendations, offers, and promotions across various channels, creating a more engaging and tailored customer experience.

This level of personalization builds stronger connections with customers and increases the likelihood of repeat purchases.

Also, AI can help companies stay ahead of these trends by analyzing market data, social media conversations, and consumer feedback. This allows them to identify emerging trends and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly, ensuring they remain relevant and appealing to their target audience.

Challenges

According to the survey data, QSR brands are struggling to execute effective cross-channel communications at a higher rate than the general group of respondents. 

To dig into this further, similar to within the Ecommerce & Retail industry, the customer journey in the QSR industry is often fragmented, with multiple touch points like online platforms, social media, mobile apps, and physical locations. Coordinating and delivering consistent messaging across these channels can be challenging, especially when there’s a lack of integration or synchronization between them. This fragmentation can make it difficult to execute seamless cross-channel communications.

Another factor is the complex operations that QSR brands often have. With multiple locations, franchises, or delivery partners, coordinating messaging and ensuring consistent brand communication can be a logistical challenge. The complexity of operations can result in inconsistent messaging or disjointed customer experiences, impacting the effectiveness of cross-channel communications.

Limited resources can also contribute to the struggle. Smaller QSR brands may have constraints in terms of budget and personnel, making it challenging to develop and implement comprehensive cross-channel strategies. This limitation can affect the effectiveness of communication across channels.

Finally, compliance and regulatory requirements play a role. The QSR industry is subject to various regulations, such as food safety and advertising guidelines. Ensuring compliance while maintaining consistent messaging across channels can be a challenge. Brands may face limitations or restrictions in their communication strategies, impacting their ability to execute effective cross-channel communications.

Technology

According to our survey, a high percentage (19.15%) of QSR or Food & Beverage brands rely on spreadsheets to manage their customer engagement programs. In fact, this was the number one response. 

However, relying solely on spreadsheets to handle customer engagement programs might not be the best approach. Spreadsheets have their limitations when it comes to scalability, collaboration, and automation.

As customer data grows, spreadsheets can become a bit of a hassle and prone to errors. They don’t offer real-time updates and fail to provide a complete picture of customer interactions. On top of that, spreadsheets require manual data entry and lack the automation capabilities that are crucial for efficient customer engagement.

That’s why it’s worth considering investing in a dedicated Customer Engagement Platform (CEP). Such a platform can streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and offer advanced analytics for better decision-making and personalized experiences.

Best Practices

The top response regarding the key factor for a successful QSR or Food & Beverage cross-channel marketing strategy was the utilization of customer data analytics to make targeted marketing decisions. 

By analyzing customer data, businesses gain valuable insights into behaviors, preferences, and trends. With this knowledge, they can develop strategies that effectively engage customers and provide personalized experiences, ultimately fostering customer loyalty and retention.

From the responses we gathered, it’s evident that QSR brand marketers are implementing more sophisticated personalization strategies compared to the general group of respondents. 

In addition to basic tactics like utilizing age, gender, and location, they are taking it a step further by customizing their messages, personalizing based on previous purchases, and leveraging AI for product and content recommendations at a higher frequency. It’s worth noting that a mere 4.3% admitted to not utilizing any form of personalization at all.

There could be several reasons why QSR brand marketers are adopting more advanced personalization strategies compared to the general group of respondents.

As we discussed earlier, with a wide range of products and a diverse customer base, QSR brands often have access to rich customer data, including purchase history and preferences. This valuable information enables them to tailor their messages and offerings more effectively, creating a more personalized and relevant experience for their customers.

By leveraging advanced personalization tactics, brands can stand out from the crowd, build stronger customer relationships, and ultimately drive customer loyalty and repeat business.

Also, advancements in technology, such as AI and machine learning, have made it easier for QSR brands to implement personalized strategies at scale. These technologies can analyze vast amounts of data and provide real-time recommendations, allowing brands to deliver personalized content and product suggestions to their customers more efficiently.

QSR Cross-Channel Marketing: Closing Thoughts

In the dynamic QSR industry, brands that use AI effectively, maintain compliance while delivering a consistent brand message, and create highly tailored customer experiences will maintain a competitive edge. This is why it is critical to adapt to emerging trends and technologies. 

Using a Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) like MoEngage can provide you with the tools and insights you need to achieve your cross-channel marketing objectives.

MoEngage offers a range of solutions that can help QSR companies improve their cross-channel communication. With 2.2 billion experiences delivered monthly across multiple channels, you can ensure that your message reaches your customers effectively.

Additionally, MoEngage enables you to deliver personalized experiences, leading to a 12% increase in retention with unique 1:1 experiences. By understanding your customers’ preferences and tailoring your communication accordingly, you can build stronger relationships and drive loyalty.

Finally, our analytics and reporting suite provides brands with a holistic view of their cross-channel marketing programs, allowing them to see which channels are working and which are not so they can optimize with ease.

Schedule a demo today to see how MoEngage can help your QSR or Food & Beverage business thrive.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Editor’s Note: In 2023, we spoke to several B2C marketers about Ramadan marketing campaigns and how different industries try to maximize engagement this time of the year.

Back by popular demand from marketers (and product owners), we’re continuing Ramadan Bytes 2.0  in 2024!

Our guest for this edition is Mohamed Sayed Abd Elsalam, Group Head of CRM Marketing, Loyalty & Customer Insights at Magrabi. In our deep dive, Sayed highlights the importance of Ramadan for marketers and explains how brands with both physical and digital presence can leverage these channels to their benefit.

In this blog, we’ll try to distill his insights into bite-sized, consumable content for all marketers (and product owners) to emulate this Ramadan season!

Brief Introduction About Mohamed Sayed 

Sayed is a customer marketing professional with 14 years of experience in customer retention and acquisition strategies. He has worked in luxury retail companies like MAGRABi, telecommunications MNOs like Orange, and NGOs like The British Council.

How Brands Can Better Plan for Occasions Like Ramadan

As per Sayed, Ramadan is an important season for the Middle Eastern market for a lot of industries. This is when brands invest a lot of money in marketing campaigns to capture as many transactions as possible and have a brand presence in consumers minds. There is usually an uplift in different categories. 

During Ramadan, different shopping and browsing behaviors by customers are observed. This is when marketers should invest in a lot of A/B testing to understand the correct engagement moment. 

Brands Leveraging Physical and Digital Presence Proven to Maximize Conversions During Ramadan

Brands combining physical and digital presence can unlock lots of opportunities in the customer journey, states Sayed.

He further suggests that both channels can complement each other, where customer can start their browsing journey online at the awareness and consideration stage and then make their first purchase at the store. Another good use case for this is the BOPIS model – Buy Online, Pick Up in Store.

Having the combination of both channels can also give more convenience to customers. Ramadan can be a tough month for customers, especially those who fast, so giving the customer the space to shop and to initiate and end his journey at any channel is a much-needed convenience, especially during peak and crowded times around Eid.

Stitching Offline and Online Data Together to Build a Unified Customer View

Sayed emphasizes the importance of stitching data for brands. He says that brands want to gather all the available information about their customers as it’d help them personalize experiences and build a good relationship.

A good example of data that can be used to build a unified customer view or 360 view is the customer’s online browsing behavior and transactional data (offline). A few other insights brands can look at are: 

• Interests on social media 
• Interaction across channels like WhatsApp, SMS, and Emails 
• Other basic data like demographics, birthdate, etc.

These insights combined together can help brands understand their customer better.

At the same time, there are so many ways to gather information from both channels and merge them together. One of the efficient ways of doing it is through an engagement platform like MoEngage.

2 Cents for Marketers Building Ramadan Campaign

Sayed has the following advice for budding CRM Managers and Growth Managers:

• Have a variation of attractive offers across the month, considering that offers have to get more attractive closer to Eid
• Give customers convenient options to complete their transactions on different channels. For example, free delivery offers or store pick-up options 
• Review historical campaigns from the previous Ramadan to understand the right timing through the day to send the campaigns.

Download your exclusive Ramadan Calendar here.

Ready to Win Big This Ramadan?

As consumer behaviors evolve and become more digitally focused, the integration of physical and digital channels will be paramount for brands seeking to maximize conversions during Ramadan. By leveraging both channels effectively, brands can provide a seamless and convenient customer experience, catering to the needs of customers during this busy and important time. 

The importance of data collection and analysis will also continue to grow as brands strive to understand their customers on a deeper level. With the right strategies in place, brands can capitalize on the opportunities presented by Ramadan, improve customer relationships, and drive business growth in the future.

Readers, you can connect with M Abdelsalam for more tips and advice on customer engagement during Ramadan and how to stay on top of customer’s minds.

What to Read Next:

1. How Super Apps Build Their Ramadan Marketing Strategies
2. Driving Engagement During Ramadan with Sustainability
3. Marketing During and Post-Ramadan: Insights From Apparel Group
4. Decoding Hyper-personalization in Retail Marketing with Sharad Harjai
5. Customer Retention Strategies for E-commerce and Retail Brands [Marketer Spotlight]

Reading Time: 9 minutes

The Retail and Ecommerce industry is currently facing numerous challenges, such as increasing competition, rising acquisition costs, and budget constraints. 

But to help marketers like you stay on top of these changes, we’ve compiled an updated edition of The State of Cross-Channel Marketing in Ecommerce & Retail: 2025. 

This year’s report:

• Analyzes findings from a survey of 226 Retail and Ecommerce professionals
• Uncovers how Retail marketing has evolved from 2024 and how it compares to the broader market in 2025
• Features cartoons from Tom Fishburne i.e. Marketoonist

Here are the top 5 findings from the report:

🛍️ Retail and Ecommerce marketers continue to put great emphasis on customer acquisition, with 48.7% citing finding new customers as their No. 1 priority. 

🛍️ The top 5 engagement channels Retail marketers are using this year are Email (78.8%), Social Media (74.3%), Mobile Website (60.2%), Mobile App (51.3%), and Desktop Website (51.3%).

🛍️ Executing effective cross-channel communication was the #1 challenge this year (50.9%), with many more marketers struggling with it as compared to last year (38.3%). However, budget and resource constraints also closely followed as the 2nd biggest challenge this year (49.6%). 

🛍️ Last year, 20.7% of marketers said they were not using AI as part of their cross-channel marketing strategy, but that number dropped significantly to 4.4% this year.

🛍️ 29.2% of Retail and Ecommerce marketers credit “integrated marketing technology” as the #1 factor for building effective cross-channel marketing strategies.

For more insights, download your copy of The State of Cross-Channel Marketing in Ecommerce & Retail: 2025. Alternatively, you can find highlights from last year’s report below.

State of Cross-Channel Marketing in Ecommerce & Retail: 2024

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, Ecommerce & Retail cross-channel marketing has become crucial for engaging with customers effectively. 

With an array of channels at their disposal, brands must navigate the ever-evolving marketing landscape to stay ahead of their competition, which is why we conducted a survey to understand the state of cross-channel marketing for B2C brands.

We found that Ecommerce and & Retail brands face a unique set of challenges including difficulty understanding and fully mapping the customer’s journey, which is critical to know what marketing channels are effective and how best to use personalization and segmentation strategies to communicate with customers. 

Interestingly enough, the adoption of robust customer engagement technology is lagging with spreadsheets acting as the main program management tool, even though there is an appetite to invest more in customer retention and loyalty.

In this article, we will explore the specific responses from marketers in the Ecommerce & Retail space, uncovering the most popular engagement channels, the top barriers they encounter when executing cross-channel marketing, and some of the innovative solutions they can adopt to drive success.

Let’s get to it.

Roles and Company Size

The majority of respondents said they are a Team Lead (32.9%) with 47.3% saying they are Director/Management or another C-Level executive. In terms of company size, 45.9% of respondents represent companies with more than 200 employees.

Channels

According to our broad set of survey results, the most popular engagement channels that B2C marketers use are:

1. Email (89.6%),
2. Social Media (80.3%),
3. Desktop Website (67.1%),
4. Mobile Website (65%).
5. Mobile App (49)%

When looking specifically at the Ecommerce & Retail industry, we found that brands follow suit for the most popular channels they use until we get to the fifth spot. They’ve deviated by prioritizing SMS over Mobile App as a key part of their cross-channel marketing strategy.

There are a few reasons why this might be the case. Let me break it down for you:

First off, SMS lets brands communicate directly with their customers’ mobile devices because it is built in and doesn’t require a download. This is super handy for time-sensitive promos, flash sales, transactional messages, or any urgent updates from the brand.

Second, SMS messages have higher open and click-through rates compared to other channels like email. One study found that SMS campaigns have a 98% open rate and a 10.7% CTR. Customers are quick to open and read their text messages, so brands have a better chance of having their marketing messages seen and responded to.

Another fun fact: today’s customers are all about their mobile devices. They love shopping and interacting with brands on their phones. So, using SMS is a smart move to reach and connect with these mobile-centric customers.

Finally, SMS allows for personalized and targeted marketing. Brands can send customized offers, discounts, or product recommendations based on what their customers are into. It’s all about making the messages relevant and effective.

Oh, and here’s the cherry on top: customers have to opt-in to receive SMS marketing messages. That means the brand is reaching an audience that’s already interested and engaged. 

The conversion rates and overall performance tend to be higher compared to channels where messages might be seen as intrusive, making SMS an ideal channel for brands in this industry.

Objectives

While it’s still important for Ecommerce & Retail brands to find new customers, they actually put more emphasis on engaging and keeping their current customers compared to the general population of respondents.

Brands in this industry operate in a super competitive market where customer loyalty can make a big difference in their profitability. They’ve realized that it’s often cheaper to keep existing customers happy than to constantly chase after new ones.

And here’s the cool part: existing customers are more likely to keep coming back for more and can even become brand advocates who spread the word about the brand to their friends. 

AI Usage

Based on the graph, you can see that, when it comes to AI in cross-channel marketing for Ecommerce & Retail, two key use cases stand out: 

• “AI-enhanced subject lines and targeting” and 
• “AI Chatbots for instant customer interaction” 

But why might this be the case? 

Well, successful Ecommerce & Retail brands have a ton of customers, and they need to make their marketing messages stand out. That’s where AI comes in. 

By analyzing customer data and behavior, AI can generate subject lines that are super personalized and targeted to each individual. This means customers are more likely to open those emails and engage with the brand’s marketing campaigns.

Now, let’s talk about chatbots. 

You know those little pop-ups on websites that offer instant help? That’s AI-powered chatbots in action. For Ecommerce & Retail brands, chatbots are a game-changer. 

They can handle a bunch of customer interactions all at once, providing quick responses and even recommending products. This means brands can offer instant support and engage with customers 24/7, making the whole shopping experience smoother and more convenient.

Challenges

According to the survey data, both Ecommerce & Retail brands and the overall respondent group agree that their primary challenge is “budget and resource constraints.” 

But here’s where things get interesting. When it comes to executing effective Ecommerce & Retail cross-channel marketing and communication, these businesses struggle more than the general group of respondents (33.4%). 

Makes sense, considering all the different digital platforms they have to juggle with, to engage with their customers.

On the flip side, brands in this space appear to have a leg up when it comes to delivering personalized experiences. Only 34.7% of them find it challenging, while 39.5% of the general group have trouble with this. 

Also, Ecommerce & Retail brands express greater concern about mapping the customer’s journey. About 33.8% of them see it as a key challenge, while only 26.6% of the total respondent group feels the same way.

Along the same lines, Ecommerce & Retail brands have identified their biggest blind spot as identifying gaps in the customer’s journey, while the general respondents are more concerned about timely personalization (45.4%).

Unlike the retail experience of the past, today’s companies heavily rely on digital platforms. This means the customer’s journey can get pretty fragmented and complex. It’s like trying to connect the dots across multiple touchpoints. 

And that’s where the challenge lies for these brands. It can be tough for them to trace a customer’s path and understand the long-term impacts of their marketing campaigns or figure out which actions actually lead to conversions. Having the proper technology can help reduce these challenges, which is what we’ll discuss in the next section.

Technology

From our survey we found that a higher percentage (21.6%) of B2C Ecommerce & Retail brands are using spreadsheets to manage their customer engagement programs than the general group of respondents (however, this was the number one response for both).

Unfortunately, relying on spreadsheets to manage customer engagement programs might be a mistake because spreadsheets have limitations in terms of scalability, collaboration, and automation. 

As customer data grows, spreadsheets can become cumbersome and prone to errors. They lack real-time updates and can’t provide a holistic view of customer interactions. 

Additionally, spreadsheets require manual data entry and lack the automation capabilities needed for efficient customer engagement. 

Investing in a dedicated Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) can streamline processes, improve collaboration, and provide advanced analytics for better decision-making and personalized experiences.

Best Practices

When asked about what contributes the most to a successful cross-channel marketing strategy, “leveraging customer data analytics for targeted marketing decisions” was the top response. 

Analyzing customer data gives them valuable insights into behaviors, preferences, and trends. Armed with this knowledge, they can create strategies that hit the mark and deliver personalized experiences that customers love, which keeps them coming back for more.

Based on the data, it is clear that Ecommerce & Retail brands have realized the significance of Ecommerce personalization in their customer communications, with 91.9% employing some form of personalization. What’s interesting is that a higher percentage of these brands are now using personalization techniques based on previous purchases, compared to the general group.

So, what does this mean? These brands are going the extra mile to tailor their marketing messages and content to each customer. They take into account their past buying behavior and preferences to create a more personalized and relevant experience. This approach pays off because it increases the chances of customer engagement and conversion.

But that’s not all. 

Companies in this industry are also tapping into the power of artificial intelligence (AI) for product and content suggestions. They use smart algorithms that analyze heaps of customer data, like browsing history, purchase history, and demographic information. This allows them to generate personalized recommendations that align perfectly with each customer’s interests and preferences. 

By leveraging AI for product and content suggestions, Ecommerce & Retail brands are taking customer experience to the next level. They provide relevant and tailored recommendations that make customers feel understood and valued. And you know what happens when customers feel that way? They engage more, and that ultimately leads to increased sales.

AI can be leveraged by marketers to figure out things like “best time to send” and “best channels” to use, and also to optimize journey flows. The fact that these brands are adopting personalization and AI shows their dedication to delivering a personalized and targeted experience. 

Ecommerce & Retail Cross-Channel Marketing: Closing Thoughts

In the dynamic world of Ecommerce & Retail, brands that use AI, analyze customer data, and create personalized experiences are leading the way in innovation. To maintain a competitive edge in this industry, it is crucial to stay agile and adapt to emerging trends and technologies. 

Using a Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) like MoEngage can provide you with the tools and insights you need to achieve your cross-channel marketing objectives.

MoEngage offers a range of solutions that can help Ecommerce & Retail companies improve their cross-channel communication. With 2.2 billion experiences delivered monthly across multiple channels, you can ensure that your message reaches your customers effectively.

Additionally, MoEngage enables you to deliver personalized experiences, leading to a 12% increase in retention with unique 1:1 experiences. By understanding your customers’ preferences and tailoring your communication accordingly, you can build stronger relationships and drive loyalty.

Finally, our platform helps Ecommerce & Retail brands demystify the customer journey by providing segmented campaigns and automated workflows. 

Schedule a demo today to see how MoEngage can help your Ecommerce & Retail business thrive.

Reading Time: 11 minutes

Market leaders keep a close eye on every action their shoppers take. Netflix and Spotify know every start and stop, pause or play, and every action in between. And they use this data to inform their future recommendations.

According to Forbes, Netflix runs 250 A/B tests per year to better understand user behavior and engagement patterns. And with behavioral data from more than 300 million member profiles, they’re able to predict and recommend content more accurately. This level of personalization drastically enhances the customer experience, leading to increased conversion rates, engagement, and retention.

And quite frankly, this level of personalization is what’s necessary to succeed in the Ecommerce market today. To help you perfect your Ecommerce personalization efforts, we cover the following:

• What is Ecommerce personalization?
• The importance of personalization in Ecommerce
• Benefits of personalization in Ecommerce
• 6 Ecommerce personalization examples & their strategies
• Building an effective Ecommerce personalization strategy
• Mastering Ecommerce personalization with MoEngage

Let’s start the guide with a basic understanding of Ecommerce personalization.

What is Ecommerce Personalization?

Ecommerce personalization is the process of customizing each individual customer’s online shopping experience by serving them personalized product recommendations, advertisements, coupons, content recommendations, and more based on their preferences.

By collecting and analyzing data on customer demographics, online activity, and shopping behavior, organizations can provide customers with a unique experience designed just for them. In turn, this improves satisfaction and engagement, leading to higher conversion rates and lower abandonment.

The Importance of Personalization in Ecommerce

In a sea of options, modern consumers are looking for shopping experiences that save them time, cutting out the nonsense and helping them find the products they actually want. And more than that, they want unique, personalized shopping experiences that make them feel important and valued as a customer.

According to a research study from McKinsey & Company, 71% of consumers expect personalized communication and product recommendations from the brands and businesses they buy from; and 76% of consumers are dissatisfied without this level of personalization.

Companies that fail to offer unique, tailored experiences that foster customer engagement and develop brand loyalty will fall behind. 

While data privacy is a hot button issue, according to 2023 Statista data, “80 percent of responding consumers from across the globe stated they believed that it was appropriate for marketers to collect the brand purchase history of their clients.” 

However, less than half of respondents thought it was appropriate to collect data on a user’s important life events. Regardless, consumers are demanding personalized experiences from their favorite brands.

For organizations to succeed in today’s online retail space, they’ll need to offer Ecommerce personalization that stays within data privacy regulations and guidelines, offering customers an enhanced experience, and empowering you to drive customer engagement, brand loyalty, and sales in the process.

Benefits of Personalization in Ecommerce

Ultimately, Ecommerce personalization is all about ensuring you make the sale. But there are a number of benefits that come from offering your customers personalized shopping experiences.

• Increased conversion rates: Our recent cross-channel marketing report found that conversion rates are the #1 metric that brands in Ecommerce care about when measuring campaign effectiveness. So, you’ll be excited to know that personalization allows teams to market far more effectively and efficiently, increasing the likelihood of a sale at each touchpoint.
• Deeper Segmentation: The more insights you have, the more granular you can be with customer segmentation; allowing you to target customers with pinpoint accuracy.
• Better customer experience: Personalized shopping gives customers an enhanced user experience, encouraging them to complete a sale, return to your store, and love your brand.
• Improved customer loyalty: Customers are more likely to return to—and advocate for—businesses that offer them unique, tailored experiences. Personalized rewards programs are great ways to build a unique relationship with your customers.
• Increased brand engagement: Personalized messages increase customer engagement with your brand, leading to deeper brand loyalty, higher sales, and more repeat customers.
• Higher average order value (AOV): Personalized product recommendations, remarketing campaigns, and loyalty programs incentivize customers to add items to their cart or increase their spend, driving up the average order value and overall spend.

Ultimately, positive customer interactions lead to future engagement and higher conversions. But there are many different ways to get there. We explore some of the most common Ecommerce personalization methods next.

10 Types of Personalization in Ecommerce

When we talk about Ecommerce personalization, we aren’t just speaking about traditional audience targeting, we’re talking about delivering a unique, personalized experience for different customer segments.

Generally, Ecommerce personalization can target individuals on a one-to-one basis, or simply target customer segments, which can be as broad or granular as you want them to be.

• 1:Few Personalization: Deliver a tailored experience for different customer segments based on geographic location, customer behavior, and general interests.
• 1:1 Personalization: Deliver fully customized messaging and shopping experiences to each individual customer on a one-to-one basis.

Personalization Methods to Use

While Ecommerce personalization can range in how focused it is in its targeting, many different types of methods of Ecommerce personalization can be used:

1. Product recommendations: Serve targeted product recommendations that actually fit a customer’s interests, preferences, and previous spending habits to increase conversions.
2. Upsell & cross-sell: Improve conversion rates on upselling and cross-selling by offering targeted products that your customers are more likely to be interested in.
3. Abandonment campaigns: Remind customers they have an abandoned cart via their preferred method of communication for a higher chance of a completed purchase. You can even start them where they left off to save them time and get them right back into the buying process.
4. Location-based targeting: Serving customers with advertising that is relevant based on their geographic location is a must in the online shopping world. Failure to do so can mean you serve completely irrelevant ads that a customer doesn’t want (or can’t even be used based on where they are).
5. Personalized messaging: Give customers a personal experience with tailored messaging throughout their customer lifecycle. Welcome them as a customer when they register or make their first purchase, thank them after they make purchases, and address them individually to build rapport.
6. Omnichannel marketing: Messages customers via their preferred channel (email, push notifications, or SMS) to ensure they see your message and to increase engagement with your marketing campaigns.
7. Website personalization: Customize website experiences for users based on their preferences to improve engagement and increase the likelihood of a conversion.
8. Content suggestions: Deliver interesting, clickable content recommendations that have higher engagement metrics, improving customer retention as well.
9. Promotions & discounts: Offer customers deals, discounts, and promotions that they are actually interested in, instead of cluttering their inbox with offers they don’t want or can’t even use because of where they reside.
10. Remarketing campaigns: Reel in customers who haven’t returned to your Ecommerce store in a while with targeted remarketing campaigns that are more likely to catch their attention.

6 Ecommerce Personalization Examples & Strategies

Ecommerce personalization doesn’t happen in a vacuum. In practice, organizations rarely use one single type of personalization, instead deploying a variety of personalization tactics to gain traction and motivate the customer to stay engaged or complete a sale.

Below, we look at some leading examples of how real companies leverage Ecommerce personalization for success.

Amazon Doubled Down on Dynamic Website Experiences

As one of the world’s leading online retailers, it’s no surprise that Amazon has invested heavily in Ecommerce personalization, separating themselves from competitors by offering an unmatched customer experience.

Part of what makes this possible is the sheer amount of data at Amazon’s disposal. Amazon leverages a wealth of user data to truly understand their customers’ behavior and shopping patterns and develop personalized website experiences that put what customers want in front of them.

Amazon’s dynamic website offers product recommendations based on the user’s shopping habits, recommending related products based on what they’ve already viewed, added to cart, or purchased. Their “Frequently bought together” section compiles a curated list of items that are regularly purchased together, and may make a great bundle for the consumer.

This hyper-focused targeting creates a unique experience for the buyer, saving them time finding the things they need by instead recommending relevant products for the consumer. And at the same time, it creates incredible cross-selling opportunities that don’t direct the user away from the product they’re already interested in.

Walmart Customized Product Recommendations to Open Cross-Selling Opportunities

Walmart’s online grocery ordering service, which took off during COVID-19, has been optimized for incredible performance.

How often have you forgotten an essential ingredient for a meal? Or forget a staple item you buy week to week, just because it wasn’t on the list?

Walmart’s online grocery ordering system has addressed both of these problems. First, they offer product suggestions that are based on the items you’ve already added to your cart. So if you’ve added ‘spaghetti’, you may be recommended ‘spaghetti sauce’ or ‘parmesan cheese’. Second, they remind customers of commonly purchased items before checkout, to ensure they haven’t missed an item they typically buy.

Not only is this a great way for Walmart to leverage the customer’s previous purchase history to increase their odds of a successful cross-sell, but it also gives customers a more convenient, enjoyable user experience. Overall, it’s an innovative way to integrate personalized product recommendations and upselling into the customer shopping and purchase journey.

Sephora Perfected Personalized Shopping and Guided Shopping

In the last decade, Sephora has been at the forefront of Ecommerce personalization, providing a variety of personalization features to customers. That’s why they’ve topped Sailthru’s Retail Personalization Index for the fifth year in a row.

Sephora understands that cosmetics are extremely unique to the individual using them, customers have different skin tones and hair types, both of which affect what products they’re interested in. And the more Sephora can put relevant product offerings in front of their customers, the more their customers buy.

That’s why Sephora uses quizzes to gain pertinent information on what their customers are interested in. Combined with predictive analytics, Sephora is able to provide an extremely customized, tailored experience for its customers.

But Sephora also excels with their loyalty reward program: Sephora’s Beauty Insider club. This program offers personalized rewards for loyalty members, such as reward points that can be used to buy products, special deals, and even a free birthday gift each year!

Starbucks Fostered Customer Loyalty with its Rewards Program

As one the largest coffee company in the world, Starbucks already has a large, loyal customer base. And that isn’t by accident; Starbucks has used Ecommerce personalization strategies to make sure their customers don’t look elsewhere.

The Starbucks loyalty program is one of the best on the market—not just in their niche market. Their app offers a seamless, customized experience, making it extremely easy for customers to place orders and track their rewards points. And the gamification and personalization that Starbucks has added to this experience has only increased engagement and customer lifetime value.

And the numbers reflect this success. By October of 2022, Starbucks had 28.7 million active rewards members, 16% higher than the previous year. And these rewards members were responsible for 55% of Starbucks revenue in the last quarter of 2022.

Lifestyle Orchestrated the Customer Journey from Beginning to End

Despite having more than 1 million app installations, Lifestyle was struggling to establish an active user base of more than 15,000 users. Instead, they were seeing significant drop-offs during the purchase stage and a general lack of user activity.

To clamp down on this, Lifestyle developed an end-to-end customer engagement strategy that would keep customers in the purchase-funnel. Deep customer insights allowed them to identify opportunities to drive retention with two specific customer segments: price-sensitive customers and loyal customers. 

These groups were then further segmented based on how far they were in the purchase funnel, which allowed Lifestyle to determine the best retention strategy to deploy for each customer segment.

Personalized omnichannel messaging empowered Lifestyle to keep customers on their shopping journey, leading to a 4x increase in conversions, a 20% decline in cart abandonment, and a 30% increase in retention rates.

“MoEngage powers our end-to-end strategies for customer engagement, retention, and user journey mapping. It has helped us to reduce our cart abandonment by 20% and improved the retention rate by 30%.” – Joydeep Das, Lead Digital Marketing, Lifestyle

Cocomelody Recaptured Lost Orders with Personalized Abandonment Campaigns

After experiencing steep customer abandonment rates throughout the purchasing journey, Cocomelody was looking to mitigate these drop-offs.

To solve this, Cocomelody first identified who their abandoned customers were and what products they had left abandoned. Customers were segmented based on their purchased intent using a variety of LTV and behavioral data. An omnichannel marketing strategy that leveraged personalized email, SMS, and web push notification messaging brought abandoned customers back into the purchase funnel.

Specifically, they were able to identify that wishlisted items—despite being abandoned—had extremely high purchase intent (95%), and were able to focus their retargeting on this customer segment, increasing their repurchase rate by 27%.

“MoEngage is the best data -centralized CRM system and the best multi-channel marketing tool we’ve found. Using MoEngage, we can add as many attributes and custom events as we like to profiles, then filter customers for various campaigns and offers. It is very easy to unify data, engage and analyze our results.” – James Chen, Operations Director, Cocomelody

Building an Effective Ecommerce Personalization Strategy

Ad hoc personalization is rarely effective. It takes a deliberate, concerted effort. It needs to be well thought out to have maximum impact.

To integrate personalized marketing into your Ecommerce strategy, you’ll need to first take a step back. You will want to have an idea of what personalization efforts you’d like to employ, but you’ll need an open mind—instead allowing historical data to guide your decisions moving forward.

Below, we look at how you can integrate personalization into your Ecommerce marketing strategy.

1. Map Out Your Customer Journey Pathways

Map out each individual customer journey pathway, and analyze performance metrics around each funnel you’re currently operating. Analyze where customer engagement drops off, and at what point in the journey the customer abandons their cart. Identify where there is opportunity for personalization.

2. Consolidate Customer Data for Deeper Insights

Collect and consolidate customer purchase and behavior data to get a deeper understanding of your customers. Build customer profiles and unify data to create informative, intuitive visualizations that empower analysis and lead to meaningful insights about their buying patterns.

3. Segment Customers and Strategize Targeting

Segment customers based on their demographics, shopping behavior, and engagement patterns. Then develop targeted marketing strategies that are more likely to foster interaction, drive brand loyalty, and convert.

4. Choose the Right Personalization Strategies for the Job

The whole point of Ecommerce personalization is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to marketing. And in the same vein, the effectiveness of personalization techniques will vary based on each individual customer and scenario. Companies will need to choose the right personalization strategies (such as product recommendations, website personalization, or abandonment campaigns) to foster engagement with their customers.

5. Monitor Performance and Adapt Your Strategy

Without proper analytics on the performance of your personalization efforts, it will be impossible to know what is and isn’t working. Measure all of your operations so you can analyze and compare the impact of different campaigns and tactics, and adapt your strategy accordingly to improve retention and engagement, as well as reduce costs.

Mastering Ecommerce Personalization with MoEngage

Personalization has become a crucial aspect of the Ecommerce industry, driving conversion rates, retention, and loyalty. MoEngage’s Customer Engagement Platform empowers teams to deliver highly personalized messaging through analytics-driven campaigns that are designed to engage customers, driving clicks and conversions.

Gather customer data that powers deep insights and guides customer journey modeling. Follow—and guide—customers along the conversion funnel by providing omnichannel marketing that makes your message clear no matter how your customer interacts with you. Retarget and remarket to dropped customers and improve funnel generation at the stages that need it most by optimizing the timing, content, and channel for your messages.

Schedule a demo to learn how MoEngage can help you drill down on successful segments and design personalized campaigns that drive engagement, loyalty, and ROI.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

BFSI marketers know that their challenge is unique compared to other B2C marketers — unlike other industries, BFSI customers aren’t always thinking about their product, app or website. Consumers don’t dream about taking a new loan or credit card like they might dream about buying the newest sneakers. They only open up your app or website when they need to make a financial decision or transaction. This is why customer journey strategies are essential for BFSI marketers — your campaigns must be ultra-relevant to the customer journey, or they’re just falling on deaf ears. Imagine getting a notification about a new credit card when you’ve missed a payment on another one. Or a notification asking you for customer feedback when applying for an emergency loan.

These are some extreme scenarios, but they paint a fair picture of the need for intelligent marketing and campaigns that align with the buyer journey. If you’re wondering where to start, here are five reusable customer journey templates you can apply to your campaigns.

We’re going to list out templates aligned with these common scenarios:

1. Lead Generation
2. Profile verification
3. Important announcements
4. Reminders
5. Feedback collection

1. Lead Generation

If you had to start counting the number of banking and fintech apps out there, you’d easily run into the thousands! That’s how many options customers have when they want to execute financial transactions. This means that customers might reduce visits to your app or website at the drop of a hat and switch to a different option if they feel dissatisfied.

Here’s where customer journey orchestration can help. You can create campaigns that reach customers at the right touchpoint in their customer journey and incentivize them to convert. In fact, BFSI marketers have been able to achieve up to +30% higher lead generations using customer journey strategies like the ones listed below.

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your ‘Flow Type’ to ‘Event-Triggered’ mode, which is triggered when a desired ‘Event’ occurs. You can set the ‘Event’ to be ‘Drop Off’ so that the Flow is triggered when they drop off from your app or website.

Flow Elements

1. Conditional Split: Split your customers based on how deep they’ve moved down the lead form. The ones who have left early can be left out since the chances of these customers converting are minimal.
2. NBA: Leverage ‘Next Best Action’ to engage with customers automatically on the right channel at the right time.
3. In-app or On-site messaging: Based on whether your platform is app- or web-based, you can utilize In-app or On-site messaging to reach customers right when they’re active on your app or website. You can incentivize customers to come back with some attractive winback benefits.
4. Automation: Set up automations that nudge customers to complete the lead generation process by filling out a quick form.

Campaign Results

Here are the results a renowned Banking brand has seen by deploying the above strategy:

2. Profile Verification or KYC

BFSI brands are subject to numerous stringent regulations and processes, one being customer verification or KYC (Know Your Customer). This step is crucial to ensure that the business doesn’t violate government directives, so brands have to ensure that they have set up a foolproof process to capture profile verification.

While customers also know the importance of profile verification, many never complete the process. This could be due to a long turn-around time, a lack of motivation, or unnecessarily complicated steps. Even those who attempt this might not get it right the first time, or have issues with specific steps, such as document uploading or sharing.

Here are some ways brands have leveraged customer journey strategies to get their profile verification right.

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your Flow type as ‘Event-triggered’ and set the ‘Event’ as ‘Signup’ so that all customers who sign up are automatically directed to the Profile Verification Flow.

Flow Elements

1. In-app and OSM: Set up In-app or On-site Messaging based on whether the customer has visited your app or website.
2. Conditional Split: Leverage this feature to split your customers based on whether they have completed verification, left it halfway done, faced a failure, or haven’t initiated.
3. A/B testing and IPO: Use A/B testing and Intelligent Path Optimizer to experiment with different campaign sequences, content, and timing. This will help you automatically find the best sequence to maximize verification completions.
4. NBA: Set up Next Best Action to automatically send customers a profile verification renewal message or a first-time verification campaign if required.

Campaign Results

3. Important Announcements

BFSI marketers often have to create campaigns to announce changes to the terms and conditions of policies, loans, or credit card plans, information about upcoming products, or regulatory declarations.

Despite the importance of such announcements, many customers might never notice these or react as needed. Here’s how you can change that and ensure customers consume your important announcements using MoEngage Flows.

Flow Type: Periodic

Since these announcement campaigns run only for a specific period, you can select Flow type ‘Periodic’ here and select the campaign period and frequency accordingly.

Flow Elements

1. Conditional Split: Split your customers based on loan, credit card, or policy relevant to your announcement, and send campaigns accordingly.
2. NBA and IPO: Set up Next Best Action and Intelligent Path Optimizer to experiment with the sending pattern and content and identify the best performing one automatically.
3. Wait Till/For: Set this up to control a customer’s exit or entry time for each stage and create timeout campaigns so that customers aren’t bombarded once the relevance of the announcement is over.
4. Personalization: Personalize your campaigns using key customer attributes such as their preferred language and content settings, card or loan details, locality, or age group.

4. Reminders

Another common challenge BFSI brands face is reminding customers about renewal dates, policy expiries, or payment due dates. Customers rely on brands to give accurate and timely information so they never have a missed payment or impacted credit score. With that objective in mind, here’s how to craft your MoEngage Flows campaigns.

Flow Type: Periodic

Reminder campaigns are always centered around a specific time period, such as billing, payment, or expiry. Accordingly, you can set your Flow type as ‘Periodic.’

Flow Elements

1. Conditional Split: Split your customers based on the number of days remaining before their deadline and send them campaigns accordingly.
2. NBA/IPO: Set up Next Best Action and Intelligent Path Optimizer to experiment with the sending pattern and content and find the best-performing ones automatically.

5. Collecting Customer Feedback

As a marketer, you should always be in touch with customers and how they feel about your brand. The best way to do so is by collecting customer feedback in a timely manner, at a point in their customer journey when they’re receptive to giving feedback. You should also strive to create a feedback process with the least friction.

This means that feedback collection is a two-phase process:

1. Providing the best possible experience so that customers are happy while sharing feedback.
2. Asking for feedback at the right moment so that they engage willingly.

Here’s how you can leverage MoEngage Flows to do so.

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your Flow type as ‘Event triggered’ and set the event as ‘Goal Achieved,’ where “Goal” can mean anything specific to your brand, such as a credit card payment, account activation, loan request, customer support call, or balance inquiry.

Flow Elements

1. NBA: Most customers only engage with feedback campaigns during the first touchpoint, so it’s best to leverage Next Best Action to decide the best possible next step automatically.
2. Personalization: Personalize your campaigns so your customers know you’re asking for feedback around a specific process, experience, or product they recently interacted with.

Campaign Results

Conclusion

Navigating the intricacies of customer journey strategies in the BFSI industry can seem challenging, but these five templates should make it easy for you. By leveraging these five templates, you can tackle common challenges in your industry, such as lead generation, profile verification, making announcements or reminders, and collecting customer feedback.

You can always tweak elements to see what fits your brand better and reuse these templates for scenarios beyond those listed here. These templates also offer a good blend of personalization, timely triggers, and strategic campaign segmentation to increase the efficiency and ROI of your campaigns.

These campaigns are set up to be most effective on MoEngage Flows, the only customer journey marketing platform you’ll need, but you can also use the same principles across a preferred platform. However, if you’d like to try MoEngage, you can request a quick demo here.

Get a Demo

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Do you know of any customer journey marketing strategies that can increase your conversion rate by 10.8X? That’s 10 times more conversions than your everyday campaign — and maybe a 10X higher revenue? You do the math.

Customer journey marketing, though proven to have an impact, is still not as widely adopted as it should be. Brands are yet to adopt this magical strategy that makes customers feel understood and improves marketing campaign ROI.

But if you’re one of the rare marketers who has understood the impact of this all-round strategy, then read on for some easy, reusable customer journey templates. We’ve collated the best templates from worldwide E-commerce brands; one for each of the following scenarios:

1. Search abandonment
2. Cart abandonment
3. Special sale discounts
4. Payment failures
5. Cross-sells and upsells
6. Product or app feedback

Let’s start with the most common use-case for an E-commerce marketer:

1. Search Abandonment

$234 Billion — that’s how much E-commerce brands lost to search abandonment in the US alone, according to a study commissioned by Google. At a global level, the cost of search abandonment for retail brands surges up to $2 trillion annually, which is higher than the GDP of a large country such as Turkey!

Search abandonment causes frustration on the customer’s side as well. Over 82% of consumers avoid websites where they’ve faced search difficulties. In fact, experts argue that the search bar is one of the most important assets of an E-commerce website.

As an E-commerce marketer, if you’ve noticed a lot of search abandonments on your website or app, you can leverage customer journey marketing to bring customers back to the purchase journey.

Here’s a quick look at how you can set up your Flows on a tool like MoEngage to handle this situation:

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your ‘Flow Type’ to ‘Event Trigger’ mode, meaning that the Flow is triggered when a desired ‘Event’ occurs. You can set the ‘Event’ as ‘Product searched/Product viewed but not added to cart’.

Flow Elements

• NBA: Set up ‘Next Best Action’ to ensure your Flow engages with customers on the right channels at the right time to maximize engagement automatically.
• Wait Till/For: Set this up so you have better control over when your customers move to the next campaign stage.
• Conditional Split: Split your customers based on specific actions, events, or parameters such as their propensity to buy, LTV, location, etc.
• Intelligent Path Optimizer: Use this to swiftly experiment with different channels and Flow paths to get the best possible conversions.

Campaign Results

2. Cart Abandonment

The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is around 70.19%. That means 7 out of every 10 customers add one or more products to their cart and never complete their purchase.

E-commerce marketers know that customers who add products to their cart exhibit supremely high levels of purchase intent, and it’s easier to win back ‘abandoned cart’ customers than to convert new ones. All you need to do is to strategically remind customers of the value of the products they’ve added to their cart.

Here’s how you can leverage MoEngage Flows to do so.

Strategy A

There are two ways to approach this scenario. Let’s take a look at the first one.

Flow Type: Event-triggered

When it comes to cart abandonment winbacks, timing is of the essence. You need to remind customers of their cart at the moment when they’re most likely to come back, so turn on the Flow type ‘Event Triggered,’ with event type ‘Cart Abandonment’.

Personalization is another key factor here. Marketers who have leveraged personalization based on actions taken by the customer have seen significantly better results.

Flow Elements

• Conditional Split: Use this feature to split customers based on their language preferences and send localized communications.
• NBA: Set this up to automatically communicate to each customer on their preferred channel at the right time to maximize engagement and conversions.
• Wait Till/For: Set this up so you have better control over when your customers move to the next campaign stage.
• Personalization: Craft your campaign around the specific products added to the cart and display these to the customer using Dynamically Personalized Messaging (DPM).

Strategy B

You can also try this alternative strategy listed below, which a few brands have used to achieve a conversion rate of 30%.

Often, customers abandon their cart due to a loss of interest or a mismatch in their expected cost. To solve this, you can use MoEngage’s features to adjust your campaigns intelligently. This includes nudging them via timely campaigns to reignite their interest in a product. You can also try creating a sensation of FOMO (fear of missing out) to encourage immediate purchases.

Flow Elements

• Conditional Split: Split your customers based on their LTV and send campaigns accordingly. See if it makes sense to prioritize customers with a higher LTV since they might also have higher basket values.
• A/B Testing: Leverage A/B testing to tweak your message or image and determine which variant works best for your intended audience.
• Wait Till/For: Set this up so you have better control over when your customers move to the next campaign stage.
• Exit on Conversion: Toggle this on to remove customers once they have converted so they are not barraged with repetitive messages.

Campaign Results

3. Special Sale Announcements

Globally, brands see much higher revenue during special sale seasons than on a regular day. This is why brands invest so much in holiday marketing, festival marketing, and special sale events. As an E-commerce marketer, if your brand is doing the same, you should make as much noise about it as possible!

Here are two ways to craft your customer journeys to maximize special sale announcements.

Strategy A

Flow Type: Periodic

Since your campaigns run only for a specific sale period, you should select Flow type ‘Periodic’ here and select the campaign period accordingly.

Flow Elements

• Conditional Split: Split your customers based on their language preferences, religious or ethnic practices (if your sale is centered around a festival), and locality, and send your campaigns accordingly.
• NBA: Set up ‘Next Best Action’ to ensure your Flow automatically engages with customers on the right channels at the right time to maximize awareness.
• Wait Till/For: Set this up so you have better control over when your customers move to the next campaign stage.
• Personalization: Personalize your campaigns using key customer attributes such as their last searched product and related items that have a special sale discount.

Strategy B

Like the previous strategy, you can experiment with different channels and content based on your customer’s intent. For each level of intent, you can craft a message that resonates and reaches customers at the right time accordingly.

For example, discount shoppers can be engaged with monetary benefits such as discount coupons, and regular customers can be engaged with a loyalty discount.

Here’s how this strategy performed for a renowned E-commerce brand:

Campaign Results

4. Handling Payment Failures

Studies show that 35% of all online purchases are interrupted or canceled due to failed payments. Despite the advent of multiple modes of online payments, transaction failures are still common in a customer’s E-commerce experience.

As a marketer, you can leverage sophisticated customer journey marketing strategies to bring customers back after a payment failure and ensure they complete the purchase. One of the strategies implemented by a well-known brand has increased its conversion rates by 40%. Take a look at the strategy below:

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your Flow type as ‘Event triggered’ and set the event as ‘Payment failure.’

Flow Elements

• Wait Till/For: Set this up so you have better control over when your customers move to the next campaign stage.
• Conditional Split: Split your customers based on their LTV.
• Personalization: Add in personalization elements such as the product information, cart value, and more for context.

Campaign Results

5. Cross-sells and Upsells

Multiple research studies have proven that cross-sells and upsells significantly impact company revenue and growth. One such study found that cross-sells generate 16% more annual revenue, and another one found that upsells increase average order value (AOV) by 41%.

E-commerce marketers who have leveraged customer journey marketing via MoEngage Flows have also seen up to a 33% conversion rate. Here are some tips and strategies we’ve learned from them.

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your Flow type as ‘Event triggered’ and set the event as ‘Purchase Completion. This way, the customer enters the Flow once they’ve successfully purchased their desired product.

Flow Elements

• Personalization: Segment your customers based on language and send them campaigns in their vernacular language.
• Conditional Split: Categorize customers based on their last purchase and recommend the right products accordingly.
• Automate: Automate Flows for upselling or cross-selling based on their most recent purchase completion event.
• IPO + NBA: Experiment with IPO to automate customer allocation and use NBA to send out campaigns at the right time for each one.

Campaign Results

6. Collecting Product or App Feedback

One of the best ways to improve your business is by constantly listening to your customers and acting on their feedback. Your customers are the ones who use your products or app the most, so you should make it a point to collect their feedback and thoughts regularly and create an action plan accordingly.

But before you set out to collect feedback, you should keep the following in mind:

1. Always provide the best possible experience to your customers, even while asking for their feedback.
2. Wait for the right time and the point in the customer journey before asking for feedback.

You can solve both quickly with customer journey marketing via MoEngage Flows. A well-known E-commerce brand deployed the following strategy, which achieved a conversion rate of 23.98%.

Flow Type: Event-triggered

Set your Flow type as ‘Event triggered’ and set the event as ‘Purchase Completion. This way, the customer enters the Flow once they’ve successfully purchased their desired product.

Flow Elements

• NBA: Utilize Next Best Action to reach customers on their preferred channel at the right time to maximize engagement.
• Personalization: Personalize your campaigns to include details about their last purchase or review.

Remember, customers might take a while to respond but don’t lose heart if they don’t. You can always utilize NBA (Next Best Action) to send follow-ups via the right channel at the right time.

Campaign Results

Conclusion

These 6 customer journey templates should help you set up and deploy your journey orchestration campaigns quickly and easily. We’ve covered six of the most common scenarios faced by E-commerce marketers here, from search and cart abandonment, special sale announcements and cross-sells and collecting customer feedback.

While these templates are best used via MoEngage Flows, you can also make quick adaptations and reuse them as you need. The ultimate goal is to provide a seamless customer experience that ensures each touchpoint is a happy one.

Alternatively, if you’re looking to explore MoEngage, you can request a quick demo here:

Get a Demo

Reading Time: 6 minutes

The Scoop

According to Google, 90% of leading marketers say personalisation significantly contributes to business profitability.

And 71% of customers want businesses to provide personalized experiences. However, 76% are frustrated when this does not occur.

Today, we’re plunging head-first into a topic that’s stirring up major buzz among all Australian consumer brands: Privacy vs. Personalisation in the realm of customer experiences. This debate, as multifaceted and animated as a fiercely contested Ashes series, has marketers and consumers alike on the edge of their seats. Recently, I had the pleasure of delving into a couple of exciting panel discussions hosted by MoEngage in Australia, featuring a lineup of experts from various industries and diverse backgrounds, each bringing a wealth of knowledge and perspective to the table.

Actionable Insights from Industry Experts

• Guillaume Papillon, Head of Marketing, Mable
• Sarah Miles, Ex Chief Privacy Officer, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
• David Fodor, Head of Strategy – FSI, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Raj Shah – National Key Account Manager, Vonage
• Nick Eshkenazi – Ex Chief Digital Officer, Prezzee
• Chris Brinkworth – Managing Partner, Civic Data
• Richard Knott – General Manager, Infosum
• Sathya Upadhyaya – Chief MarTech Officer, Lution
• Michael Ricciardone – Country Manager – ANZ, MoEngage

Understanding the Personalisation Paradox

Guillaume Papillon from Mable (a bit like the Uber of the disability and healthcare sector), a platform that connects folks with disabilities, older Australians, etc., to support workers, highlighted the critical role of personalisation. He painted a picture of personalisation not just as a marketing tool or method but to use engagement touch-points (signals) throughout their customers’ journey. They then optimised their channels with the right messages for both (online and offline) to better cater to their customers’ needs and experience.

They also segmented their customers on these signal-focused cohorts to ensure that personalisation is leveraged correctly and simply delivers better results.

According to a McKinsey study, companies that thrive at personalisation earn 40% more money from these activities than their competitors.

Imagine traversing the dense Daintree Rainforest with its lush canopies and hidden wonders. Personalisation is like having a seasoned guide who not only knows the trails but also understands your pace, interests, and fears. This guide is adept at reading subtle cues, ensuring the journey is enlightening and respectful of your boundaries. When executed with finesse, personalisation enhances customer experience just as a skilled guide enhances your rainforest exploration.

The Privacy Shield: Navigating Legal and Ethical Boundaries

Sarah Miles, representing ABC, highlighted the importance of data governance and regulatory compliance. You can liken it to the rules of cricket – you need to know them to play the game right. In the digital world, these rules are the privacy laws and ethical standards businesses must adhere to. Like a cricketer respects the game’s laws, companies must respect these boundaries to maintain customer trust.

The Role of Informed Consent

90% of customers are open to disclosing their behavioural data in exchange for extra perks that make purchasing cheaper or more straightforward. But that doesn’t mean customers shouldn’t be informed about the behavioural data they are handing over to brands. 

A significant takeaway from the discussion was the significance of informed consent in data collection and usage. Brands are encouraged to have a transparent dialogue with their legal teams to understand the implications of privacy laws on their marketing strategies. This transparency also extends to the consumer level, where customers should be clearly informed about how their data is being used. This increases trust between the customer and the brand, boosting your retention, loyalty, and customer lifetime value.

Transparency: The Heart of Trust

Transparency in data handling is as crucial as honesty in a game of Two-Up. It builds trust when brands clearly understand why they collect data and how it benefits the customer. It’s about being as transparent as a pristine Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Customers appreciate knowing what’s happening with their data, much like a snorkeler enjoys clear waters to view the marine life below.

Tackling Fraud and Ensuring Data Security

A McKinsey study found that 87% of customers would not do business with an organisation if concerns were raised about its security policies.

Raj Shah from Vonage underscored the importance of security in customer data handling, especially in the banking sector. He highlighted innovative measures like location-based data validation and multi-factor authentication to combat fraud. This approach reflects a growing trend in the industry towards leveraging advanced technology to enhance data security.

The Future of Data Handling: Tokenisation and Minimisation

David Fodor from AWS brought an interesting perspective on the future of data handling. He suggested a shift towards tokenisation, where data is not stored by third parties but accessed via tokens issued by the data owner. This approach significantly reduces the risk of data breaches and aligns with the principles of consumer data rights.

Balancing Personalisation with Privacy in Financial Services

David points out that the financial services sector is relatively advanced in balancing data privacy with personalisation. The industry’s inherent risk management nature means it has long been adept at using data responsibly. However, there’s an ongoing need for improvement in explicit and implied consent areas.

Transparency in targeted advertising can increase revenue by 38%.

Preparing for the Inevitable: Data Breaches

Insights from UK-based analysts Juniper Research estimated that Australian businesses had lost at least $US 1.97 billion to ad fraud in early 2023 (estimated to be tripled by the end of  2023), far surpassing the $US 1.32 billion defrauded in 2022.

Data breaches are the thunderstorms of the digital world – often unexpected and potentially destructive. Sarah Miles stressed the need for a robust plan to handle these crises. Like preparing for a bushfire season, businesses must be ready to act swiftly to minimize damage, protect their customers, and restore normalcy as quickly as possible.

On the flip side, Sathya Upadhyaya  says “data management and security technology are evolving rapidly” with particular importance on the following:

• To be future-ready
• Investment in data clean rooms
• Identity resolution
• Profile unification
• Effective management and disposal of data

The brands that can firmly establish themselves with the aforementioned criteria and processes are the ones that will thrive and achieve personalisation-led growth. 

Distinguishing Security from Privacy

Richard Knott of Infosum shed light on differentiating security from privacy. It’s like comparing Rugby League to Rugby Union – related but distinct. Security is the how, and privacy is the what. It’s essential to have strategies for both, like different game plans for each sport.

The Evolving Role of AI and Machine Learning

Nick Eshkenazi from Prezzee addressed the role of AI and ML in this balancing act. He warned against jumping on the AI bandwagon without understanding the basics of data management. It’s akin to using advanced cricketing gear without mastering the basics of the game. AI and ML can be game-changers for your brand, but only when used on a solid foundation of data integrity.

Future Trends and Predictions

What does the future hold for privacy and personalisation as we look toward the horizon? 

It’s evident that Australian brands must adapt to a new landscape where privacy is not just a compliance requirement but a core aspect of customer trust and brand reputation. This adaptation requires a deep understanding of new privacy laws, a commitment to transparent data practices, and a willingness to innovate in personalisation techniques that respect customer privacy.

When it comes down to it, it’s all about how much data your customers are willing to share to have a personalised experience. Your brand’s perception and trust among customers can show you how much data your customers are willing to share. MoEngage, as your friendly neighbourhood personalisation expert, can help you strike the right balance.

What Next for Australian Consumer Brands?

Wrapping up this topic, it’s clear that privacy and personalisation are two sides of the same coin. They’re like a well-cooked Pavlova – needing the right balance of crispness (privacy) and softness (personalisation) to be perfect. Businesses must navigate this landscape with care, transparency, and a focus on customer needs. 

More importantly, Aussie brands are now realizing and leveraging the importance of agile customer engagement platforms (CEPs), where all the privacy and personalisation standards have been set in place, gaining customer trust. This partnership ensures they can walk the privacy vs. personalisation tightrope with balance, never constantly looking down or back at past challenges. Cheers to mastering this balance!

Talk to a MoEngage personalisation expert today!