7 marketing errors that cost your business a lot of time and money and how to avoid them
Some professionals make their marketing actions rely on old methods that are nowadays no longer helpful and tend to ignore what really interests their customers. Many of these errors are based on “proven” marketing techniques that were good five or ten years ago but have lost their effectiveness these days. Let’s have a look at seven of these common mistakes and how to avoid them.
#1. Making decisions based on insufficient data
One of the main challenges in marketing is to design a buyer persona, which basically is a unique customer profile. However, its value will always depend on the data used for its creation. So, for example, by focusing on only general demographics like age, salary, and location, you might be missing what really makes your customers unique: their behavior and interests.
Solution
Track a user’s behavior and interests in real-time, store them in a single source, and use the data for future communications.
For example, the AI technology allows Las Tijeras Mágicas to collect data about every user’s behavior and interests and to use them to personalize the customer journey on all the website’s pages. That lets the store create a unique shopping experience at every customer interaction, not only on the website but also in email marketing campaigns, increasing the online shop’s KPIs.
# 2. Transferring “wrong” data to a good system
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can reveal how to change your marketing strategy to increase communication efficiency. But, keep in mind that the effectiveness of the results obtained will be directly proportional to the quality of the data feeding the system. Be especially careful with the use of third-party sources of information. Many marketers try to change advertising campaigns based on outdated, inaccurate, or incorrect data, which will be affecting the effectiveness of the actions.
Solution
Get the most from your customer base by using the AI and pay special attention to working with data and verifying when a new customer connects to the platform by constantly monitoring the ongoing integration status. Why is this crucial? Because data collection is the basis to generate quality recommendations and create a unique shopping experience, with a consequent increase in customer satisfaction and revenue for your business.
# 3. Focus on attracting new customers without paying any attention to retaining existing ones
Retaining your customers is less costly than attracting new ones. However, some professionals devote too much time planning new marketing campaigns and too little thinking about their impact on LTV and customer loyalty.
Solution
The key is a shift in focus from attracting new buyers to growing KPIs such as Retention Rate and Lifetime Value. That will help the customer move up first through the sales funnel and then repeat purchases over and over again. Although motivating new buyers to become loyal customers is not an easy task, working on this will be pretty effective in the long run.
The communication strategy must be developed to provide relevant content for every user, which is sent at the right time and channel. Thanks to AI technology’s capabilities, the Ralf Ringer online store sends its subscribers email newsletters and push notifications with personal recommendations, choosing the best channel for every single one based on their interests and behavior.
# 4. To look or not to look in the “rearview mirror” and to be afraid of experimenting
There are two extremes that some marketers fall into: some of them endlessly analyze past campaigns, while others launch new ones without taking into account previous marketing actions. None of these cases will allow you to focus on what is really important: optimization and iterative improvements.
No matter how good your marketing strategy is, it can be made even more effective. The key is to find how to improve every action. There are no ready-made methods for it, but there are tools to test hypotheses that enhance the customer experience.
Solution
One of the effective techniques is the use of HADI cycles. These consist of generating a hypothesis, testing it (for example, using A / B tests), analyzing the data, and drawing conclusions from the results. Successful hypotheses can be scaled and optimized and then repeated over and over again.
Toy.ru online store strives to improve each activation scenario by testing how each detail affects conversion. In this way, it managed to significantly increase the effectiveness of trigger-based emails for different scenarios. For example, by removing the product category menu from the header of the abandoned cart email resulted in a 41.5% increase in conversion.
# 5. Complicated marketing architecture using multiple services
The more new technologies emerge and the more martech tools are used, the more complex the marketing architecture becomes. Integrating various services and platforms requires significant development efforts and analyzing the effectiveness of every single one: combining data into an overall picture becomes a tedious quest. That explains the desire of companies to use “one stop shop” services that combine several vital functions at once.
Solution
We recommend choosing a few essential services that cover all the needs of your marketing strategy.
An all-in-one platform will allow you to collect and store customer data, use it for segmentation and personalization, and build long-term communications based on this information. All this helps to systematically work on customer retention, increasing LTV, and repeat purchases.
# 6. Failure to track the customer base’s status
We have already mentioned the importance of tracking users’ activity, behavior, and interests to create marketing campaigns. You can use this customer data not only to build an individual communication strategy but also to identify behavior patterns and segment the audience based on the information obtained.
Solution
Segment your customers by frequency and number of purchases, and analyze the data over time. The Customer Intelligence will let you do this automatically and track key metrics for every segment: average order value, retention rate, LTV, etc., so you objectively know how to improve your marketing strategy.
# 7. Underestimating the importance of a personal approach
Personalized communications with customers is much more than just addressing them by name. Personalization involves knowing their habits, needs, and behaviors. It is the capability to change the marketing and communication strategy with customers in real-time, adjusting to every buyer’s current needs in any channel. Moreover, it is about predicting users’ behavior and interests and building long-term communication based on predictive analytics.
Solution
“The best offer for every customer, at the right time and on the right channel” is the mantra of the modern marketer. This all is possible thanks to the capabilities offered by the implementation of real-time personalization with Artificial Intelligence.
Conclusion
We have seen that for every possible mistake, there is a solution. That shows that the biggest error of all is undoubtedly repeating the same actions over and over again, expecting different results. We face a constant digital transformation that also changes communication rules for brands and their customers, letting you carry out real-time data-driven marketing campaigns.
Do you want to get the most out of your customer base with automated workflows? We recommend using Artificial Intelligence, which will allow you to make the best decisions for your marketing campaigns with no margin for error.