Tips for Brick-and-Mortar Retailers to Improve Revenue Amidst COVID-19
Jan 11, 2021
10 min read
The arrival of COVID-19 has made all the predictions regarding 2020 go astray. All the businesses that were expecting growth and profit during 2020 have to come up with new survival strategies since COVID-19 has changed many things for most of the industries. You will be surprised to know that about 60% of the businesses from all over the world have been closed because of COVID-19 and this number is going to keep on increasing.
Although each and every type of industry has been affected because of COVID-19, the one particular sector that has been affected the most because of the arrival of the virus is the retail sector or what people call as brick and mortar retailers. If you are running a similar kind of store and finding it difficult to keep your business alive then it's high time to come up with new strategies in order to improve revenues.
The year 2020 might have turned out to be a big opportunity for online businesses but the same year has turned out to be a nightmare for brick and mortar retailers. But in order to make things easy for you, in this blog post, we will not only discuss possible solutions for retail stores to improve their revenue but also go through the current situations and look at the most common issues.
The effects of COVID-19 on the retail sector
When the dust will settle and COVID-19 will be gone completely, a new normal will arrive in the market and this new normal will include drastically changed human behavior and habits. One such change in human behavior and habit will be a shift from impulse buying to planned purchase. Window shopping will keep on decreasing and this will lead to reduced sales in retail shops.
Another trend that you will see on the rise is crisis spending where customers will be restricted to purchase only essential products because of the economic slowdown. The crisis spending will continue to be a part of the consumer habit even after the end of the virus.
Another change that we are currently encountering is focused on individualism. For example, you will see that there is a sudden decrease in the demand for group items since gathering is being completely avoided.
Tips for improving revenue amidst COVID-19
Just because the current situation is tough and you will have to go through many changes, this doesn’t mean that you should also belong to the 60% of the business mentioned at the outset of the article. There are many retail shops out there that are still surviving and making improvements to their overall revenue.
Source: Unsplash
Here are some of the tips that you can use in order to improve revenue amidst COVID-19
Increase customer engagement via various mediums
If you are running a retail store then you must be aware of the fact that only 20% of your customers produce 80% of your revenue. Since these customers will always remain important for the survival and growth of your business, it is crucial for you to pay special attention to these customers, especially during the current situation. The loyalty of these customers will keep your retail store alive during the pandemic and this is why you can’t ignore them.
Whether it is emails, blogs, articles, or newsletters, you will have to use all the mediums possible in order to stay connected with these customers as they should be your main focus, especially when you are struggling to survive. If you succeed in illustrating that you are there for your loyal customers during a tough time, you will be able to nurture your loyal customers. Identify your loyal customers and start making changes to your current strategy.
You can follow down on the path of focusing your investment towards marketing efforts and build a presence online. This will help your customers connect with you more easily and you will be able to boost engagement. It will also help you target new customers who are looking for viable options. Localizing your digital marketing strategies will enhance the chances of people finding you and it will eventually bring in business.
Leveraging social media
Social media engagement has increased multifold over this past year. If you own a brick and mortar retail business, it becomes essential for you to garner an audience for yourself. You can also leverage the platforms in educating the masses about latest trends that you follow or the sanitization process you use to keep you customers safe and whatnot. If you are having trouble bringing in business, do not get disheartened and work towards building a brand. You need to think long-term and set up a digital base for yourself. No matter how local your brand is, you would need to establish a presence digitally to survive what this pandemic has brought on you.
Gift cards
This might look like a marketing tip from the 90s but you should know that it works really well even during the current situation. Gift cards provide all the different types of retailers with an immediate injection of cash and in addition to this, it also improves repeat purchases among customers as well. You should know that gift cards are an amazing way to stay in front of the audience and it can also be helpful in acquiring new customers as well. Even during the current situation, you can easily send digital gift cards to all your customers and make them feel special. But your digital gift cards shouldn’t be limited to your customers only as you can use them even for your prospects.
Enhance your digital presence by structuring your messages
The importance of messaging has increased by many folds just because of the current situation. All the firms out there now need to be more sensitive when it comes down to customer’s needs and this can only be done when firms will start reworking their marketing and advertising strategies.
If you were running a campaign that included the gathering of people, you will need to make some changes to those campaigns as you will need to show the reality of the current situation through your marketing campaigns. You can’t keep using the same marketing campaign if it doesn’t fit according to the current situation.
But this doesn’t mean that you will have to completely change your core branding message as all that you will need to do is to make sure that your campaigns fit like a glove in the current situation. Instead of being opportunistic, you will have to stay authentic during these tough times. Common and regular mistakes in your marketing campaign will mean that customers are less likely to interact with your company. This would be the best time to invest in making your marketing efforts more aligned. You can even get your digital marketing outsourced to save up on the extra expenditure.
Working on shipping cost
If you are planning for any type of cost-cutting then you should consider your shipping department for such a purpose. If possible, you should start looking for fulfilling your orders manually and you should never forget including local shipping features.
If the customers that you are serving are close to your firm then you can offer them a local delivery option in which the local rates will be applied to selected zones. You will have to align the shipping cost according to the current situation.
The NEED to move online
You should know that because of the shift in consumer behavior during the lockdown, most of the consumers have moved online to purchase goods. There are many countries out there that are still going in for a lockdown because of the second wave of the coronavirus and this will further fuel the growth of online usage.
Even people who restricted digital platforms in the past are now moving to it because they have no other options. When the dust settles, people will get into the new normal, the usage of the online platform will keep on increasing.
Because of this you will have to shift to the online platform and it doesn't mean complete closure of your brick and mortar shop, it just means having another platform for the consumers to buy your goods.
You can simply start by choosing a website developing company and get your website built in a professional manner. There are maximum chances that the website developing company may provide SEO services through which you will be able to rank up in the search results and this will further boost your digital presence. Soon after the shift to the digital platform, you will witness a robust growth in your revenue.
Get ready for the new normal because even after the end of the pandemic as consumer behavior and habit will continue to evolve. Now, if you are ready to step ahead and evolve with them, connect with Saffron Edge now!
Drive Exceptional Growth without an In-House Marketing Team
We drive business growth by optimizing every inbound channel to attract and convert high-quality clients for you
Share with Friends
Automate Marketing to Drive Higher ROI
Targeted campaigns designed to deliver measurable outcomes and elevate your business.
Talk to Experts
The Top SEO Trends And Techniques You Need To Know!
The search engine market leader "Google" has a market share of 87.76%; therefore, a significant update in Google Algorithm means a drastic shift in SEO trends and techniques. It won't be wrong to say that SEO is quite unpredictable. Why? Because it keeps evolving year after year. It involves making specific changes to the web page design and content that make a site attractive. There is so much happening in the world of SEO that marketers are always on their toes. They have to ensure that their websites are following the top SEO trends and techniques. It allows them to keep their website rankings under their control. You see, online businesses don't want to end up on the wrong side of the new algorithm. As marketers, we understand the potential impact of vital search engine changes on websites. The following SEO strategies shall make you aware of the latest SEO trends likely to impact online businesses in 2021. Source: Pexels SEO is an exact science; it's more of an evolving art that hinges on the latest trends and forces of Google itself and the actions of other SEO. A huge aspect of SEO revolves around competitor analysis and determining the ranking factors behind any given keywords and phrases. As an increase in the online competition continues and new websites are being launched day by day, you have to rethink your content marketing strategy and invest in SEO. Web pages must meet specific requirements set by search engines like Google, and this is where SEO becomes very important. You must know what SEO trends are on the horizon to update your website accordingly and ensure that more customers and prospects find you in the search engine results. What Are The Top SEO Trends And Techniques of 2021? 2021 is here; it's the exact time to reflect on an eventful year for organic search and how to use that knowledge to create better SEO strategies for the upcoming decade. As an SEO company and services provider, you must stay aware of emerging latest SEO trends. It helps you incorporate them into your SEO strategies or website plan projects and ensure you are providing your clients with creative, sound business advice. As SEO professionals, you have to keep your clients informed of these business trends as well. So, let's dive into the 5 SEO trends that you need to know for 2021. Zero-clicks searches in top SEO trends: Google has evolved in recent years to deliver a better search experience for the end-user, like through Featured Snippets. Featured snippets, Knowledge graphs, Google's Local Packs, and so on, more than half of all searches are now "zero-click searches." Featured Snippets usually appear as number 1 organic result, commonly called Position 0. To take advantage of this feature and drive more clicks to your web page, you need to provide clear answers to commonly asked questions on your web page. Featured Snippets are evaluated and boosted to the top depending on their quantity and quality, which Google has a way of determining. Don't take this trend lightly, as 54.68% of clicks from Google originate from Featured Snippets, proving that they take more than half of search engine clicks. Featured Snippets represent an excellent opportunity for content writers since it gives you the ability to generate organic traffic even if you are not ranking at the number 1 position. Utilize influencers for boosting SEO People often feel inundated by intrusive advertisements, and they are looking for information that they can trust and authentic reviews. It leads to a rise in influencer marketing. Media companies and digital marketers are increasing their investment in influencer marketing because it has produced excellent results. Partnering or hiring with an influencer can help you amplify your content reach and create even more traffic to your website. They can also help you build valuable backlinks for your page. Backlinks are one of the most important factors that Google uses when calculating a web page's ranking. When generating your influencer marketing strategy, consider what type of content you want them to develop and how it can link back to your webpage. Be sure to partner with influencers that are relevant to your industry and your end-user. If they are an authority with a solid digital presence, their backlinks can be absolute gold. If you invest in influencer marketing, you will not only generate leads and improve brand awareness, but you will also boost your search engine rankings. Website security has become a necessity End-user safety is another trend that doesn't seem to do with SEO, but it is essential to the web page user experience. If visitors don't feel safe visiting a website, they're very likely to leave quickly. If a user sees a not secure warning appear, they may decide not to proceed to your website. As a result, bounce rates could affect the position of that website in the organic search listing. It is essential to enable the HTTPS protocol for your site. HTTPS gives web page users a secure connection that is both authenticated and encrypted. Google wants to provide its visitors with a secure browsing experience, so those that implement HTTPS may experience a minor SEO boost. If you collect personal information from your end-users on your web page via a web form, you have to protect their privacy. It's essential to assure your visitors that it will protect their data as long as they stay on the website. There are still many vulnerabilities on the page, but there are new security measures that one can implement every day into your web page. Is your website optimized for voice search? Before smartphones, people usually searched by plugging words into search engine boxes on their computers. With the high usage of mobile devices, voice searches have become a popular trend among internet visitors. These voice searches are done on phones and can be performed on home voice assistants such as the Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Echo, Voice Pod, etc. Knowing how to optimize your webpage for voice search can help you create more organic traffic if you understand and implement conversational searches into your SEO trend strategy. When using voice searches, the search engine must do a lot of work to get the relevant information that the visitor is looking for at that moment. This change is imminent, considering that by the year 2021, it is expected that 50% of all internet searches will be initiated through voice search. Your content should adapt to this new trend to stand ahead in the current search engines. Mobile UX will determine your ranking A webpage that does not have a mobile version may lose most of its visitors in the coming years as mobile websites are a growing SEO trend that will get even more popular in 2021. Since more people worldwide are obtaining smartphones as more mobile phone towers are being built with better connectivity and range. However, people collect information through their mobile phones is getting so advanced that it's not enough to have a mobile webpage. The interface has to be easy to read, grab visitors' attention, and provide an answer to their questions or at least keep them entertained. Since more people are searching from their mobile phones than from computers, it's crucial to have a mobile version for your webpage to reach many people interested in your product. You must optimize your pages for handy devices if you want to keep up with your competitor companies. And keep in mind that the higher you are in the Google mobile page index, the more famous your page will be. Conclusion The core mission of Google remains the same, providing end-users with relevant search results from the most trusted sources. Understanding this helps digital marketers to adopt SEO strategies to give an excellent user experience without any compromise. While Google continues to gain high market share and increase its value on the internet, it's no secret that a part of this valuation comes from ad revenue on their search engine results page. You should keep yourself updated with the latest SEO trends to keep your position ahead of your competitors. It would be best if you continue to target zero-click searches like featured snippets. It remains one of the best ways to dominate your competitors in the SERPs. You have to invest in influencer marketing because it has produced excellent results and creates more traffic to your webpage, which increases your bounce rate. Make sure that the users are visiting your page, and your webpage should secure the data provided by them. You should optimize your webpage for voice search by considering queries people may search and building out informational content around those queries. Your website should provide a mobile page and an interface that grabs the user's attention and provide them with a required answer. Are you looking for the ?best search engine optimisation agency? Contact our highly skilled SEO professionals; we offer fast, proven, and efficient solutions that align with the top SEO trends. We can give you excellent results and help you take your company to the next level. ...
read more
Your Official Guide to Lead Management Automation
According to HubSpot , companies that use marketing automation can generate up to 451% more qualified leads than those that don't. Companies that effectively manage and nurture leads have a distinct competitive advantage, ensuring a smoother path to conversions and long-term customer relationships. This is where lead management automation comes into play. By automating the lead management process, businesses can optimize their lead generation efforts, enhance productivity, and ultimately boost their bottom line. This guide will explore lead management automation, its benefits, how it differs from automated lead generation, and the top lead generation automation tools that can revolutionize your business. What is Lead Management Automation? Lead management automation uses software tools and technologies to streamline and automate the capture, tracking, and nurturing of leads throughout the sales funnel. This involves everything from identifying potential leads to converting them into paying customers with minimal manual intervention. By automating these processes using lead nurturing and marketing automation services, businesses can ensure that no lead is left unattended and that each is given the appropriate attention based on its stage in the sales funnel. Once leads are captured, automated lead nurturing sequences can be triggered to engage with them, providing personalized content and interactions that guide them through the conversion journey. This level of automation streamlines lead management and ensures consistent and timely follow-up, leading to higher conversion rates and improved efficiency in the sales pipeline. The Importance of Lead Management Automation Here are some key reasons why lead management automation is essential: Increased Efficiency To leverage automation for increased efficiency, you can start by identifying repetitive tasks in your sales and marketing processes. Once identified, research and implement automation tools such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, email marketing platforms, and chatbots to streamline these tasks. Training your teams to use these tools effectively will also maximize efficiency. Improved Lead Nurturing To enhance lead nurturing through automated workflows, map the customer journey and define the touchpoints where leads interact with your brand. Create personalized content that aligns with each customer journey stage and set up automated triggers to deliver this content at the right time. Regularly review and optimize your workflows based on performance metrics to ensure continuous improvement. Better Lead Scoring and Segmentation Implement lead scoring models that assign values to different lead behaviors or characteristics to prioritize high-quality leads. Use automation tools to track lead interactions, assign scores, and segment leads into specific categories based on their conversion likelihood. Regularly review and update your scoring criteria to ensure relevancy and accuracy. Reporting and Analytics Leverage automation tools to centralize data from various marketing channels and sources, such as website analytics, email performance metrics, and social media insights. Set up customized dashboards and reports to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and generate actionable insights. Use these insights to optimize your lead generation strategies and refine your targeting approaches. Scalability To scale your lead management efforts with automation, start by documenting and standardizing your lead management processes. Invest in automation tools that offer scalability features, such as handling larger volumes of data or leads without compromising performance. Regularly review and optimize your workflows to accommodate growth and changing business needs while maintaining efficiency and quality standards. By leveraging lead nurturing and marketing automation , businesses can efficiently scale their lead management efforts without compromising quality, ensuring personalized attention and timely follow-ups for leads at every sales funnel stage. Let’s break through your revenue hurdles We find your primary growth blockers, build expert-led strategies, and provide custom data-driven solutions to help you hit your revenue goals. Set up a 1:1 strategy call How Lead Management Automation Works? Automated lead management involves essential steps that streamline the lead nurturing process and enhance conversion rates. Leveraging marketing automation services enables businesses to efficiently capture, score, nurture, segment, distribute, and track leads. These steps are vital in driving successful automated lead generation and maximizing the effectiveness of B2B SaaS marketing strategies. Lead Capture Automated lead management begins with capturing leads across multiple channels, including website forms, social media, email campaigns, and more. Automation tools seamlessly integrate these channels to gather and store lead information in a centralized database for further processing. Lead Scoring Automation tools assign scores to leads based on predefined criteria such as demographics, behavior, and engagement levels. This automated lead generation tactic helps prioritize leads with a higher likelihood of conversion, enabling sales teams to focus on high-potential prospects. Lead Nurturing Automated workflows trigger personalized interactions with leads based on their scores and actions. For instance, when a lead engages with a specific piece of content, they can be entered into a customized lead nurturing sequence that delivers relevant information to move them further down the sales funnel. Lead Segmentation Leads are categorized into different segments based on their attributes and behavior. Segmentation allows for targeted marketing efforts tailored to each group's unique needs and preferences, leading to more effective communication and engagement. Lead Distribution Qualified leads are automatically routed to the appropriate sales representatives based on criteria such as lead score, location, or product interest. This automated lead generation process ensures that sales teams can promptly follow up with promising leads, increasing the chances of conversion. Lead Tracking and Reporting Marketing automation services provide comprehensive insights into each lead's journey, tracking their interactions with your brand and their progress in the sales funnel. Detailed reports and analytics help businesses optimize their lead management strategies and make data-driven decisions to drive successful outcomes in automated lead generation and B2B SaaS marketing initiatives. The Difference Between Lead Management Automation and Automated Lead Generation While lead management automation and automated lead generation are closely related, they serve different purposes in the overall lead management process. Lead management automation deals with what happens after the leads are generated. It involves nurturing, scoring, segmenting, and distributing leads, ensuring each is properly managed and guided through the sales funnel. Automated lead generation focuses on attracting and capturing leads, often through digital marketing strategies such as content marketing, social media advertising, and search engine optimization. Lead generation marketing automation aims to generate a steady stream of qualified leads for your sales team to pursue. While lead management automation streamlines the existing leads' journey, automated lead generation aims to bring new leads to the system. Both are essential to a successful sales and marketing strategy, working together to drive growth and conversions. To summarize it: Automated lead generation involves bringing leads into your pipeline. Lead management automation involves effectively managing those leads once they are in your system. Benefits of Lead Management Automation As businesses continue emphasizing the importance of effective lead management, implementing lead management automation has emerged as a game-changer in streamlining and optimizing this critical process. Organizations can revolutionize how leads are nurtured and managed throughout the sales funnel, leading to compelling benefits. The implementation of lead management automation offers several compelling benefits: Improved Lead Conversion Rates: Automation ensures that leads receive personalized engagement at each sales funnel stage, increasing the likelihood of conversion. This targeted approach enables businesses to deliver the right message at the right time, effectively guiding leads towards a purchasing decision. Time Savings: Automating repetitive tasks like lead scoring, segmentation, and follow-up emails liberates valuable time for sales and marketing teams, allowing them to redirect their efforts toward high-value activities that demand a human touch. Consistent Lead Nurturing: Businesses can establish consistent and personalized nurturing sequences for their leads through automation. This guarantees that each lead receives tailored content based on their interests and behaviors without manual intervention. Data Accuracy: Automation significantly reduces the risk of human error in lead management processes, ensuring that data remains accurate and up-to-date. This enhances decision-making and facilitates improved targeting in marketing campaigns. Increased ROI: Lead management automation has the potential to substantially increase return on investment (ROI) by enhancing lead conversion rates, reducing manual labor, and optimizing marketing endeavors. The integration of lead management automation revolutionizes lead nurturing and management and unlocks many powerful advantages. From improved lead conversion rates to enhanced data accuracy and increased ROI, automation's impact on lead management is undeniable, cementing its status as a pivotal tool in modern sales and marketing strategies. Turn website into high paying customers We drive business growth by optimizing every inbound channel to attract and convert high-quality clients for you Set up a 1:1 strategy call Top 5 Lead Management Software Solutions Effective lead-generation automation tools are crucial in modern marketing and sales strategies. They enable businesses to capture, track, and nurture leads for improved conversion and customer engagement. Here are five leading lead management software solutions that offer powerful lead generation, nurturing, and CRM integration capabilities. 1. HubSpot HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of inbound marketing, sales, and customer service tools. Its lead generation features include forms, landing pages, and email marketing, all integrated into a powerful CRM for seamless lead management. 2. Marketo Marketo is a part of the Adobe Experience Cloud, a leading marketing automation platform that helps businesses generate and nurture leads through personalized campaigns and scoring. 3. Pardot Pardot, a Salesforce product, is a B2B marketing automation tool that offers lead generation, lead nurturing, and lead scoring capabilities. It's particularly powerful for businesses already using Salesforce CRM. 4. ActiveCampaign HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of inbound marketing, sales, and customer service tools. Its lead generation features include forms, landing pages, and email marketing, all integrated into a powerful CRM for seamless lead management. 5. Salesforce Sales Cloud Salesforce Sales Cloud provides robust lead management capabilities, including lead capture, lead scoring, and seamless integration with CRM tools. It offers a comprehensive platform for businesses to manage their leads and sales processes effectively. Whether you're looking for comprehensive inbound marketing tools like HubSpot or advanced automation features like ActiveCampaign, there's a solution to your needs. Best Practices for Implementing Lead Management Automation Businesses need to understand how to manage lead generation automation and management tools. So, here are some best practices you need to follow to get better results. Evaluate your current lead management process Conduct a comprehensive audit of your current lead management process to identify pain points, inefficiencies, and areas that can benefit from automation. Analyze how leads are captured, nurtured, and converted to understand the gaps that automation can address. Assess the quality of leads generated and the conversion rates to determine where automation can make the most impact. Select the right automation tool for your business Research and compare different lead management automation tools to find one that aligns with your business needs, goals, and budget. Consider factors such as scalability, integration capabilities with your existing systems (e.g., CRM), ease of use, customization options, and customer support. Seek recommendations from industry peers or consult with experts to ensure you choose a tool that will effectively streamline your lead management processes. Develop clear workflows and automated sequences Map the customer journey from lead acquisition to conversion and design automated workflows aligning with each journey stage. Define trigger points for automated actions based on lead behavior, such as email opens, website visits, or form submissions. Create personalized content and messaging corresponding to different segments of leads to enhance engagement and drive conversions. Train your team on how to use the automation tools effectively Provide comprehensive training sessions for your team on effectively using the chosen automation tool. Highlight key features, functionalities, and best practices for maximizing the tool's capabilities in lead management. Encourage continuous learning and exploration of new features to ensure your team stays updated on the latest advancements in automation technology. Monitor and optimize your automated processes regularly Set up key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your automated lead management processes. Review performance metrics, such as conversion rates, lead engagement, and ROI, regularly to identify areas for improvement. A/B test all the automated sequences, workflows, and content to optimize your lead management strategy and ensure ongoing success. By following these best practices, businesses can effectively implement lead management automation and harness its benefits to drive growth and improve conversion rates. Challenges and Considerations for Lead Management Automation Implementing lead management automation tools comes with its own set of challenges and considerations, particularly in the realm of B2B lead generation. 1. Data Security and Compliance Data Protection Laws: Ensuring compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA is crucial to maintaining leads' trust and safeguarding their personal information. Secure Data Handling: Implementing robust security measures and encryption protocols to protect sensitive lead data from cybersecurity threats and unauthorized access. Data Retention Policies: Establishing clear guidelines for data retention and deletion to adhere to legal requirements and prevent unnecessary exposure to risks. 2. Integration with Existing Systems Compatibility Issues: Addressing potential challenges in integrating lead management automation tools with legacy systems, CRM platforms, and other software used within the organization. Data Synchronization: Ensuring seamless data flow between different systems to maintain accuracy and consistency in lead information across platforms. Customization Requirements: Customizing integration processes to align with specific business needs and workflows for optimal performance and functionality. 3. Adapting to Changing Customer Behaviors Real-time Insights: Monitoring and analyzing shifts in customer preferences, buying patterns, and communication channels to adapt lead management strategies accordingly. Personalized Engagement: Tailoring lead engagement tactics based on individualized customer behaviors and interactions to enhance relevance and effectiveness. Agile Approaches: Embracing agile methodologies to quickly pivot and respond to evolving market trends and customer expectations for more agile lead management practices. 4. Continuous Training and Updates Employee Skill Development: Providing ongoing training and resources to equip staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively utilize lead management automation tools. Platform Evolution: Staying informed about updates and enhancements to automation platforms and technologies and proactively implementing changes to optimize performance and efficiency. Feedback Mechanisms: Establishing feedback loops to gather insights from users and stakeholders, enabling continuous improvement and refinement of lead management automation processes based on user experiences and recommendations. By being mindful of data security, integration needs, customer behavior adaptation, and the importance of continuous training and updates, organizations can harness the power of marketing automation and email marketing to optimize their lead management processes. Future Trends in Lead Management Automation As businesses increasingly rely on data-driven insights and automation to streamline their lead management processes, several key trends are shaping the future of lead management automation. 1. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Expanding Role: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are revolutionizing lead management by enabling more personalized and predictive interactions with leads. Lead Scoring: AI-powered algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to predict lead behavior and assign scores more accurately, helping prioritize high-quality leads for sales efforts. Behavior Analysis: Machine Learning can track lead interactions across channels and identify patterns that indicate buying intent or interest, allowing for timely and targeted engagement. 2. Predictive Analytics for Lead Scoring Data-driven Insights: : Predictive analytics leverages historical data and trends to forecast future lead behavior and outcomes, providing valuable insights for more informed decision-making. Scalable Solutions: By utilizing predictive models, businesses can automate lead-scoring processes and adjust strategies based on real-time data, leading to more efficient and effective lead management. Increased Conversion Rates: Predictive lead scoring can help identify the most promising leads, enabling sales teams to focus their efforts on prospects with a higher likelihood of conversion. 3. Omni-channel Automation for Holistic Customer Engagement Integrated Experience: Omni-channel automation ensures consistent and seamless communication across multiple channels, such as email marketing automation , social media, websites, and chat platforms, offering leads a cohesive brand experience. Personalization: By integrating data from various touchpoints, businesses can create personalized customer journeys tailored to individual preferences and behaviors, enhancing lead nurturing engagement and building stronger relationships. Multi-channel Attribution: Omni-channel automation allows for tracking lead interactions across channels, providing a more comprehensive view of the customer journey and enabling more accurate attribution of conversions. By using AI, ML, predictive analytics, and omnichannel automation, organizations can drive enhanced customer experiences, improve lead conversion rates, and optimize their overall lead management strategies for long-term success through lead generation and content marketing. Conclusion Lead management automation is one of the most effective strategies for organizations that want to grow their business, improve customer interactions, and increase sales. Automating lead generation and nurturing processes saves valuable time, reduces human errors, and ensures no potential customer slips through the cracks. At Saffron Edge , we specialize in helping businesses like yours harness the power of lead management automation. Our customized solutions are designed to meet your unique needs and integrate seamlessly with your existing systems to deliver tangible results. Ready to improve your lead management? Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discover how we can transform your processes. ...
read more
Engage and Nurture East Coast Prospects Insights
Are analytics showing a spike in the number of viewers/visitors on your website? Amazing, isn’t it? But this is just the first step to a cyclic journey that never ends. After all, the marketing world runs on the systematic approach to attract, engage, convert, and retain. And while attracting them with judicious strategies is a challenging task, going further uphill from there to engage and nurture the audience is as essential as it is even more difficult. Why do you ask? Because your audience will take a microsecond to move to your competitor if your website is not able to engage them with the right information and services that add value to their lives. Did you know engagement is the driving force behind a 23% share of profit, revenues, and maintaining the relationship between business and customer? Yes, the right engagement strategy can take your business to greater heights! But before we dive into our tips that will boost your ability and empower you to engage and nurture prospects going forward, lets touch upon the basics, shall we? So, how would you define customer engagement and nurturing? Engagement and nurturing are two aspects of marketing that are responsible for forging and fostering trust and building long-term relationships with consumers. With the aim to enrich customers’ experience, engagement in the simplest form can be defined as the process of interacting with the customer, keeping two visions in mind- one of fulfilling customer’s needs and second, yours, of checking the list of the unique set of goals. Why is customer engagement important? The unique interaction between the customer and the brand, which lays the foundation of a relationship is important in the long run. It goes beyond just communicating and using tailored and customized processes to serve the audience and convince them to move towards the buying and retention end of the sales funnel. The touchpoints at which engagement goes beyond communication are marketing, shopping, and purchasing, and this is where you can make the difference. How your business and brand is perceived is what makes the targeted audience choose you over others and build loyalty. Price(81%), quality(80%), and convenience(55%) drive engagement while loyalty is ensured by likeability(86%) and trust (83%). It is necessary to keep the customers interested and show them how committed you are to deliver to their personalized needs and how every product and service is aligned to resolve their issue and add value to their purchasing cycle. Proactive and personalized communication through email, messaging helps both ways- the consumers can better understand your business. With regular communication, your business can devise strategies that hit the bull’s eye. This ensures customer loyalty. If put in the right manner, customer engagement strategies with defined and periodically tracked metrics can continuously grow and improve. The defined metrics will help your team, work towards dedicated factors for customer satisfaction. So what should you practice? Don’t overlook the impact of feedback. Not gathering and implementing feedback will become a roadblock in your business’s growth and development. Be clear with your message, make it readable, easy to understand, and even easier to retain. This will guarantee retention marketing is done right. Connect with the audience with a personal tone. Take, for instance, address customers by their first name, or go for app-style chats, which give off the personal vibes. What you should avoid? Businesses often lack or don’t make enough effort to establish a human connection with consumers. We understand bots have made the work efficient, but nothing can replace the human touch. If your business does not have a case-by-case flexible solution and system that resolves issues, then the standard one-size approach will ruin the customer experience and affect the loyalty of your customer base in the long run. Having covered the basics, now let us move to some effective customer engagement tips that will help you maintain and grow a loyal customer base in 2020: What are some of the customer engagement strategies that will drive your business in 2020? Let us look at them: Conduct Surveys: Surveys are an effective form of communication that will not only engage your audience but also devise and implement strategies based on these surveys to improve your business’s brand engagement and loyalty. This will help you identify what process or system is the audience most satisfied with and want changes in. Utilize multiple channels: Keep your brand active on every possible channel where your target audience is. This will broaden the scope of awareness amongst your followers and widen the loyalty base. But it is essential to keep in mind that you need a different strategy to engage the audience on the respective channel. What would attract the Instagram audience might not be likeable to the Twitter crowd. Omnichannel engagement strategies have proven effective in retaining an average of 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies not utilizing engagement seriously? <!-- --> Keep Customers Updated: To keep your customer base engaged, it is essential that you keep them well informed about any new service that is being launched or if you are coming up with a new update of a product. Pre-renewal communication and offering personal discounts will keep your customer base stay loyal to your brand. Now that you know the what, why, and how of customer engagement, let's move on to nurturing. So, what is lead nurturing? While many businesses can generate leads and begin through the first step of the sales funnel, they find themselves stuck with how to convince those who visit but do not buy. This is where nurture marketing comes to rescue. Nurturing goes one step ahead, which taps on the consumer's experience to understand better and devise effective strategies that can build a loyal base of customers who will become advocates of your products and services while they are moving through the sales funnel. Why is nurturing important? This nurturing marketing through effective communication empowers your brand's standing as the authority after the consumer is done with the researching across the channels for the product that desire to invest. Some of the common examples that effectively used nurture marketing to convert prospects into buyers are Nike Run Club, Amazon, Helix, etc. Amazon, take, for instance, sends emails to remind you of the products you have added to cart or a wish list but didn't go through the purchase. While it takes time to deliver results, incorporating nurturing in your sales and marketing strategy will result in an exponential increase in return on investment. Effective nurture marketing increases the number of opportunities that enter the pipeline and further enhances response to the campaign. When incorporated right, nurture marketing plays a crucial role in improving prospect segmentation and push the conversion rate to a higher level. The Annuitas Group reported a 47 % increase in the purchase made by leads that were nurtured throughout the sales funnel compared to those that weren't. With nurtured leads, companies can shorten their sales cycle by 23% and generate 50% more sales leads at a 33% low cost per lead. As the marketing landscape gets competitive, research shows that compared to before, 48% of businesses now need a more comprehensive cycle for nurturing their leads before they convert. What should you practice? Make use of marketing resources to pique interest in the users and how your product/service will add to the customer's life. Keep track of the step where your consumer is in the buying process so that you can confidently send relevant, targeted content. Take a cue from Apple with the way in which it asks people to create free content which enhances the personalized buying process. This drills the company's name in the consumer's mind, affecting their purchase decision. What shouldn't you do? Don't skip the research. It is important that you know that thorough research of the prospect is important, not just in capturing them but also in building long term relationships. Don't go all sales-ey the minute you receive a lead’s contact information and overwhelmed with information about your products and service. Never overlook email campaigns in the lead nurturing. Take Amazon, for example, which makes use of captivating email reminders if the consumers have shown interest in certain products but didn't, but it or have abandoned their cart. Now that you are aware of the basics, allow us to help you with the tips to create an effective lead nurturing process that will deliver in the long term: Segment the audience: Do you know what is a good way to lose your customer? Trying to sell your product and service without keeping into consideration the stage of which the audience is, in the buying process. This is why you should first segment your audience on the basis of their buying behaviour, which can include the blogs they read, the material they downloaded, or the video they watched. The audience segmentation will lay the foundation for a strong nurturing campaign. Go Multichannel: Consumers now spent more than half of their time online. It only makes sense to be present to get the maximum return on investment from the nurturing campaign. Retargeting, social media monitoring, website content are just some of the ways which will help you build brand awareness and reach out to a broader spectrum of prospects. Automate email marketing: Invest in an automated email marketing system to boost the impact of your nurturing campaign impact. You can opt for drip-feed or event-based trigger email campaigns. When compared to standard marketing rates, automated email messages generate 70.5% of enhanced open rates and an increase in the number of clicks by 152%. The aim should be to make consumers feel valued, especially in this testing times of COVID, by devising strategies to approach with the products and solutions in a way that culminates into a long term relationship. The aforementioned strategies should help influence retention marketing and convince consumers to repeat the purchases. You can always reach out to a team of digital marketing specialist of Saffron Edge for effectively engaging and nurturing your prospects with the maximum possibility of a higher return on investment. ...
read more
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get fresh stories, case studies, and
advice
from successful creators and industry experts.
Subscribe now
Automate Marketing to Drive Higher ROI
Targeted campaigns designed to deliver measurable outcomes and elevate your business.
Talk to Experts