With rising inflation, rising interests, and an uncertain economic climate, 2023 will be dominated by brands doubling down on retention marketing by employing customer-led marketing and next-level personalization to grow the lifetime value of existing customers. Make sure you’re prepared for the new year with these six resolutions
2022 has been a whirlwind of a year for both B2B and B2C brands out there. Large, medium, and small enterprises included.
As we step into the new year, opportunities for growth and success arise as companies approach what is expected to be a challenging year.
Here are some best practices for B2C brands to take their marketing to the next level this year.
So, B2C marketing professionals, here’s what should be among your 2023 New Year’s resolutions.
Let the countdown begin.
#6 – Go from campaign-led marketing to customer-led marketing
Customer-led marketing has one basic rule: start every marketing action with the customer. Not with a campaign, product, or promotion. This approach helps brands gain their customers’ loyalty and has proven to boost customer lifetime value by 33%.
To integrate this approach into your marketing plan, think – “Instead of blasting my entire database with the same email – I should divide customers into segments with similar DNA, personal characteristics, and historical data. Then ask yourself, “What should I tell each of them? How do I get them to do what I want on this day?”
That, more than anything, will be the key to success in 2023.
To help brands focus on retention and employ a customer-led approach to marketing, Optimove spent 2022 significantly expanding our CRM capabilities, adding more marketing, and advertising channels, and enhancing capabilities.
#5 – Measure what actually matters
Marketers who accurately measure incrementality in 2023 will excel at demonstrating marketing impact and defending budgets.
A recent Gartner report states, “Incrementality measurement provides marketing leaders with the linchpin directly connecting marketing actions to improved business outcomes, protecting marketing budgets as they fall under increased scrutiny.”
The report explains that in times of economic uncertainty, brands should put ROMI (Return On Marketing Investment) at the forefront of their marketing strategy. We couldn’t agree more. ROMI should be a strategic KPI to drive growth and by doing so, shield marketing budgets.
So – as we welcome 2023, incremental measurement must be given higher consideration across the board, as it’s crucial to understanding the effectiveness a given campaign has on your business.
With Optimove, any data point that you have available can be turned into a campaign KPI. And this can significantly improve the relationship between your campaign’s CTA and the evaluation of your measurement.
#4 – Be more efficient (achieve more in less time)
Even as the calendar flipped to January 2023 on Sunday – manual work and wasted effort will still be a part of many CRM marketers’ day-to-day roles. And, for such businesses, there’s no better time to reevaluate your strategy and approach to marketing while establishing your goals for the new year.
This direct access to unified historical, real-time, and predictive customer data allows marketing teams to save time, money, and energy – all while delivering the most effective messages every time, on every channel.
Optimove’s integrated suite of products allows easy access to unified data from every touch point, providing marketers with a deeper understanding of each and every customer along with the ability to personalize messaging and campaigns at scale on one platform.
#3 – Track acquisition beyond the first conversion
Here’s another (very important) New Year’s resolution for you: get conversion tracking as far down the funnel as possible. That means tracking everything from booked calls to submitted forms and new paying clients.
Those who don’t have the marketing capabilities to track acquisition beyond the first conversion are likely to make wrong or misguided decisions regarding following campaigns in your customer journey.
For example, in the graph below, Campaign C has a lower conversion rate than A and B, but the customers it does convert have a higher average LTV. Only when you track conversion as far down the funnel as possible will you understand that Campaign C provides more long-term growth opportunities for your brand.
So, in the new year, looking at more in your funnel than initial conversion is a must, and tracking LTV is no less important.
#2 – Focus on retention over acquisition
In 2023 – a year of economic uncertainty and low consumer confidence, retaining existing customers is crucial, perhaps even more important than acquiring new customers. Though there surely needs to be some balance, retention marketing, at its core, largely contributes to loyalty and lifetime value and ultimately maximizes revenue for businesses.
So, what have we learned? Investing in existing customers should be a priority for marketers across all industries this year.
#1 – And don’t forget to personalize!
Though true multi-layered personalization requires a lot of work, start by laying the foundation with these three levels:
Audience personalization, also known as micro-segmentation, is a more advanced form of segmentation that groups small numbers of customers into precise segments based on historical, transactional, demographical, and real-time behavioral data.
Channel personalization ensures that each micro-segment you build is engaged via the right channel/s: email, SMS, mobile push notifications, in-app messages, web push messages, etc.
Message personalization lets customers know you know them. Each customer within each segment has a slightly different desire. Catering to these desires will let your customers know you care.
Marketers can achieve true 1-to-1 personalization, such that allows for highly personalized predictive analysis and marketing action optimization with Optimove’s powerful AI-based customer data platform.
So, now that you’ve gone through six great New Year’s resolutions for B2C marketing, you’re more than ready to take on 2023. For sure.
Dafna is a creative marketing content writer and editor who produces strategic content for various online industries. With over ten years of professional writing experience, she helps brands grow and increase profitability, efficiency, and online presence. Dafna holds a B.A. in Persuasive Communications from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya).
