Loyalty requires a long-term approach and the best use of your strategy. This is what makes our work so challenging, every single day. When it comes to our clients loyalty experience, we make sure to do it strategically and to the highest possible standard, and, more specifically, using operational applications that can make the difference.

A good example of the sort of innovation we embrace is marketing automation, in cooperation with our sister company iConneqt. We talked about this to Koen de Groot, who works as a Business Development Manager at iConneqt. We asked him about marketing automation, and what opportunities he believes this offers.

“Marketing Automation is about automating processes. We deploy our marketing systematically, even though it’s mainly the target group data that really makes the difference. It enables us to use targeted advertising, based on much more than a traditional segment consisting of, for example, men or
women in a particular age group.”

It’s the data that provides the real value, enabling us to better understand the target group, and then tailoring the marketing communications to this group. Koen continues: “Almost all of our clients focus on lead generation, but they’re looking for ways to make it work in the most practical way. Marketing automation is an excellent tool, which offers both a personal and a targeted approach to potential target groups.”

Answers to ‘Mr. Zeeman’
When we ask for an example iConneqt is particularly proud of, it doesn’t take long for him to think of one. “We did a cool campaign for Zeeman, specifically to reach young European mothers,” he tells us. As a brand, Zeeman stands for high quality and low prices, aimed at babies and children. This was about the garments for these target groups, and so the communication is naturally focused on the (young) parents who buy the items. The retail chain developed a long-running digital campaign aimed at familiarising expectant European mothers in particular, with the range. It appeared that they were not always aware of what the brand had to offer, despite potentially being an incredibly valuable target group for Zeeman.

A marketing automation campaign was developed in cooperation with iConneqt to allow young (expectant) mothers to pick up a free romper for their child at a nearby shop. When collecting the romper, the mothers were asked to complete a number of details, which Zeeman then used to start a personalised email flow. The emails were sent multi-locally, by linking customers to one of the 1,300 shops in their area. This created a personalised approach, which contributed significantly to its success.

“We sent out an email containing a coupon with a barcode. Naturally, this was just the start, because after that we sent a personal email every month anticipating the growth stages of the little one.” iConneqt developed emails in which the name of the child was mentioned, the current growth phase was anticipated and Zeeman’s specific product range was shown. It was very successful, both in sales and in the really nice personal emails we received in return.”

Email marketing reinvented
Email marketing has been reinvented, thanks to very specific targeting methods. Naturally, this can be done based on traditional data, as with geo-personalisation, to communicate very locally, for example. With geo-personalisation, it’s possible to link customers and newsletter subscribers to local branches. This creates a personalised offer, while technology makes it possible to email multi-locally from a central region.

Part of the loyalty experience
At Loyalty Makers, we create the optimal loyalty experience for our customers. This means that we are always thinking a few steps ahead in order to give our customers the best possible advice. Along the way, we use specific operational possibilities, such as marketing automation, for a more personal approach. Together, we ensure that from beginning to end, the experience is finalized.

LET’S SHOW – article / October 2020 / marketing automation