As Halloween looms closer, there are some chilling challenges lurking that can send shivers down the spines of marketers — but fear not – there are solutions as well.

Below are six of these “horrors.” Many were uncovered in our 2023 Marketer’s survey that are below. Respondents included 221 executives at companies, and included CEOs, CMOs, and SVPs of marketing. Others originate from our 2023 Marketing Fatigue survey. Others are just plain, scary stuff. 

This is followed with six solutions to consider keeping customers loyal and not scare them away. 

Six Frightening Issues 

1. Budget Misallocation Nightmare:  

Marketers are caught in a never-ending nightmare – the allocation of their budgets. For the second consecutive year, our survey reveals a spine-tingling trend: marketers are directing a disproportionate share of their budgets towards costly acquisition marketing, while the crucial retention efforts are left in the shadows. The results revealed that 54% of marketers have chosen to allocate more than half of their marketing budget to new customer acquisition. In contrast, only 13% have opted to invest over half of their budget in customer retention. The remaining 33% split the budget evenly. The truth is that acquiring new customers costs at least five times more than the cost of retaining existing ones. 

Fright Level: 

2. Data Strategy Dilemmas: 

Marketers are wrestling with a ghostly absence—a lack of a robust first- and zero-party data strategy. Nearly half, or 49%, lack a strategy for collecting zero-party data, while 42% are without a first-party data strategy. The fundamental data collection is integral to building a robust customer data platform (CDP) that can equip a multimedia marketing hub (MMH) in the delivery of real time relevant, personalized messaging to existing customers. 

A surge in digital marketing investments is seen as a remedy to scale personalization and salvage dwindling retention rates. 

Respondents emphasized the importance of quick response time in nurturing customer relationships. Detecting, prioritizing, and executing responses to real-time events has become a top priority. 

Fright Level:

3. Marketing Fatigue Scares 

When customers are tired of marketing, marketers should be scared. Marketing blunders that negatively impact brands include overwhelming customers with excessive messages, leading to marketing fatigue, and conflicting messages and promotions across various channels. 

An overwhelming 88% of marketers have increased or plan to increase automated marketing campaigns to deliver more personalized messages. 

They see the need as our survey of consumers regarding marketing fatigue  revealed that two-thirds of consumers (66%) want fewer marketing messages, and 27% feel they are bombarded by marketing messages. When asked if they would like to receive fewer marketing messages in 2023 versus 2022, 73% noted they wanted less.   

Fright Level:

4.  The Ghosts of Mobile Mistakes  

According to Pew Research, roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults (76%) say they ever buy things online using a smartphone, while a somewhat smaller share (69%) say they ever make purchases via desktop or laptop computers.  

With smartphones taking center stage as the platform for customer relationships, here is one colossal fear facing marketers in not optimizing this opportunity. 

The average mobile app loses nearly 77% of Daily Active Users (DAUs) within the first 72 hours of installation.  

Fright Level:

5. The Frightening Intimidation of Marketing AI 

While AI holds incredible potential to revolutionize customer engagement and personalization, it can also be an intimidating prospect. Marketers often grapple with concerns about data privacy, the ethical use of AI, and the fine line between delivering tailored content and becoming overly intrusive. However, like any good thriller, understanding the technology’s intricacies and harnessing its power can turn fear into an advantage. But marketers should carefully consider what AI can offer them today.  
 
The following laundry list of capabilities comes to mind: unprecedented ability to carry out deep analysis of unimaginably large data sets, accurate marketing attribution, predicting behavior, churn, and lifetime value, orchestrating and self-optimizing marketing campaigns, and putting an end to campaign cross-firing (partial list). We can only imagine what it could do ten years from now.  

There’s some hope though, as according to our 2023 B2C Marketers survey, however, 57% of marketers said they plan to invest more in AI and marketing automation in the coming year.  

Fright Level:

6. The Terrible Unsubscribe Button 

In the world of marketing, there’s a chilling fear that sends shivers down every marketer’s spine – the fear of recipients clicking that dreaded “unsubscribe” button. It’s the haunting specter of disengagement, the loss of a valuable connection with your audience.  

79% of consumers in our 2023 Marketing Fatigue survey said they unsubscribed from retail brands in the past three months. In addition, 61% of consumers have unsubscribed from three or more retail brands due to too many marketing messages. Why is this happening? 76% of consumers said they unsubscribe because a brand sends them offers over and over – while the same offer exists elsewhere online. In other words, personalization and relevancy of marketing messages is the most critical key to getting consumers attention, engagement and future business.  

Fright Level:  

Six Spellbinding Solutions to consider:  

Friction-free onboarding:

Ensure your app provides a friction-free onboarding experience. Users should be able to understand and navigate your app effortlessly from the moment they install it. Complicated or confusing initial interactions are a surefire way to lose users early on.  

Embrace personalization throughout the user journey:

Users want to feel special and valued by your brand. Leverage user data and behavioral insights to tailor content, recommendations, and messages specifically to each user’s preferences and needs.  

Deliver Valuable, Relevant Content:

Consistently deliver valuable and relevant content that compels users to engage with your app. Whether it’s informative articles, exclusive promotions, or personalized product recommendations, content should add value to users’ lives and keep them coming back for more.  

Reward User Loyalty:

Implement a robust loyalty program that rewards users for their continued engagement with your app. Offer incentives such as discounts, special offers, or loyalty points that can be redeemed for exclusive benefits. Recognizing and rewarding user loyalty can significantly reduce churn.  

Identify and Fix Leaks:

Utilize analytics tools to identify points in the onboarding process or the user journey where users are dropping off or disengaging. Are there unclear calls-to-action (CTAs), too many push notifications, or other obstacles? Swiftly address these issues to improve user retention.  

Embrace generative AI’s potential

to automate content creation, optimizing efficiency for tasks like product descriptions and personalized recommendations. Maintain human oversight to preserve brand consistency. Utilize AI to free up your team for creative and strategic work. Guard against misuse and misinformation, respecting data privacy and ethics, and communicate transparently with customers. Stay informed and adaptable in a changing landscape, aligning AI-generated content with evolving consumer expectations through continuous learning and customer feedback. (we have a lot more to say on this later, so stay tuned) 

Now is the time – before the holidays to address these frightening issues. Overcoming haunting issues will sweeten Halloween. 

Published on October 5th, 2023

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Rob Wyse

Rob Wyse is Senior Director of Communications at Optimove. As a communications consultant, he has been influential in changing public opinion and policy to drive market opportunity. Example issues he has worked on include climate change, healthcare reform, homeland security, cloud transformation, AI, and other timely issues.