In today’s evolving, competitive retail landscape, customer engagement can make or break a brand’s success. 

The reasons are myriad. For one, customer loyalty is both harder to come by and more crucial for long-term business success. Second, as consumer expectations continue to rise, retailers large and small are recognizing the significance of building strong connections with their customer base in order to become the customer’s preferred brand. 

As customers seek personalized experiences and meaningful interactions on their channels of choice, the role of customer engagement marketing has expanded far beyond just driving transactions. Top retail brands are making substantial investments in cutting-edge customer engagement platforms to gain a competitive edge and foster long-term relationships with their audience. 

Read on for the three key reasons why leading retail brands are prioritizing these platforms and reaping the benefits of personalized customer engagement.

#1: Enhancing Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty stands as the cornerstone of success for any retail brand. Cultivating a loyal customer base not only guarantees repeat business but also transforms satisfied customers into brand advocates, driving positive word-of-mouth and organic growth. Top retail brands understand that building and maintaining this loyalty requires the creation of memorable experiences and meaningful connections with their customers. This is where customer engagement, and thus, customer engagement platforms, come into play.

Customer engagement platforms can offer marketers a plethora of tools and strategies designed to nurture customer loyalty. From personalized recommendations based on browsing history and purchase behavior to exclusive loyalty offers and relevant communications, these platforms enable brands to tailor their interactions according to individual preferences. 

By curating a unique shopping experience for each customer, a good customer engagement platform anchors the emotional bond between the brand and its audience. Even better, they facilitate seamless post-purchase engagement, enabling brands to provide ongoing value through post-purchase recommendations, product education, and support. As customers feel valued and understood, their loyalty deepens, resulting in long-lasting relationships that translate into sustained business growth.

Examples of successful customer loyalty programs

Sure, loyalty is a great idea in theory, but how does it work in practice? Read on for some real-world examples of brands who leaned into growing customer loyalty and reaped the benefits.

Total Tools

Total Tools is Australia’s largest professional tool retailer, selling to customers of different trades. They are a franchise network with more than 100 stores across Australia and an online offering of more than 20,000 products. Although they were engaging with customers through a variety of channels across the customer journey, before focusing on growing customer loyalty, they weren’t able to drive a seamless omnichannel experience or achieve a unified customer view. 

With Emarsys’ Customer Engagement Solution, Total Tools unified all of their data points into one cohesive customer view, allowing them to accelerate their 1:1 personalization. By using the Emarsys automation center and pre-built tactics, Total Tools was able to create a more engaging loyalty experience and enhance their omnichannel marketing. 

Read the full success story to delve into how Total Tools achieved their remarkable results.

Pizza Hut

As one of the biggest pizza chains in the world, Pizza Hut has worked to develop its cross-channel marketing strategy to drive sales across 380 franchisee-owned Pizza Huts. Their strategy in the competitive UK market is focused on being relevant to their customers and providing a distinctive offering, but scaling their marketing has proven to be a challenge. 

Using Emarsys, Pizza Hut increased repeat purchases by encouraging loyalty program customers to unlock their next reward, and informing them of the number of slices of pizza they have earned from their returning orders. The brand drove their loyalty program by launching an A/B tested, interactive campaign that gave customers the option to choose a free pizza instead of just getting a free side. The result was a 195% increase in loyalty program sign-ups.

Read the full success story to delve into how Pizza Hut improved customer engagement using Emarsys’ Customer Engagement Solution.

#2: Boosting Sales and Revenue

Driving sales and revenue is a constant priority for brands. But these days, it’s about more than getting a potential customer to click on an ad and then hit “buy.” In the pursuit of revenue, customer engagement emerges as a potent strategy that not only fosters customer loyalty but also directly impacts the bottom line. Engaged customers who have a positive regard for your brand are more likely to convert, spend more, and become repeat buyers. 

One of the key ways customer engagement platforms contribute to increased sales is through the use of data and analytics. A good customer engagement platform collects and analyzes a wealth of customer data, or integrates existing data, ranging from purchase history and browsing behavior to demographic information and social media interactions. By gaining insights into these patterns, retail brands can develop a comprehensive understanding of their customers’ preferences, needs, and purchase triggers. This knowledge empowers brands to craft highly targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with individual customers on a personal level.

Moreover, customer engagement platforms enable real-time engagement through various communication channels such as email, social media, and mobile apps. Retail brands can leverage these channels to deliver timely offers, discounts, and product recommendations that align with customer preferences and meet customers where they prefer to engage. By strategically nudging customers towards complementary products or enticing offers, these platforms drive upselling and cross-selling opportunities, driving up the average order value, and ultimately, driving revenue.

How companies are boosting sales and revenue with customer engagement platforms

Customer loyalty is important, but at the end of the day, nothing is higher priority than driving business growth. Thus, one of the key metrics of any business is sales and revenue. Here are a few examples of brands using their customer engagement solutions to achieve business results. 

PUMA

PUMA is one of the world’s largest sportswear brands, boasting a loyal customer base from everyone to “sneaker freaks” to holiday shoppers, and, especially with the recent shift to digital, a whole host of new digital customers. 

But the brand had a problem. 

Before partnering with Emarsys, PUMA would send a standard, generic email newsletter to all their contacts on a weekly basis. They had nothing set up in terms of marketing automation, personalization, or customer lifecycle strategy. With their CRM strategy in its infancy, they faced the complexity of serving personalized experiences to customers across multiple segments and countries in a variety of languages — and with only a lean marketing team.

Their 3-pillar strategy of delivering the right message, to the right person, at the right time needed to be implemented quickly. They had an expectation to delight their customers with personalized experiences that are expected from a brand like PUMA. With Emarsys’ Customer Engagement Platform, the brand scaled marketing and CRM operations to identify and target high-value segments and grow the CRM database, leading to a 5X increase in revenue from email in a six-month period. 

Read the full success story to delve into how PUMA achieved this.

Feel Good Contacts

Feel Good Contacts is the UK’s most popular online contact lens retailer. Founded in 2008 by optometrists, the company provides contact lenses and eye care products at affordable prices. Eventually the brand launched a mobile app with the intention of improving customer experience and allowing for more touchpoints with the customer.

Before partnering with SAP Emarsys, Feel Good Contacts sought to improve their understanding of their customers’ needs. This deeper understanding would enable the brand to deliver customers the right products at the right time in their buying journey. Feel Good Contacts’ personalization was not automated or efficient, and they wanted to increase basket upsells. They wanted to create a seamless experience that kept their customers coming back for all their eyewear needs. As a result of their efforts, they increased revenue year over year 26% in their welcome journey and abandoned basket campaigns. Read more about this and other great results. Check out their success story. 

#3:  Personalized Customer Experiences

The days of widespread success using batch and blast emails are long behind us. Customers are no longer content with one-size-fits-all interactions; they seek tailored experiences that resonate with their unique preferences and up-to-the-minute purchase needs. That’s why it’s become imperative for top retail brands to turn to customer engagement platforms to orchestrate personalized interactions at scale.

A good customer engagement platform helps brands deliver personalized marketing, making it not only more manageable but also efficient for retailers to cater to each customer’s distinct journey. By harnessing the power of data-driven insights, customer engagement platforms empower retailers to offer personalized recommendations, content, upsell opportunities, and real-time offers that elevate the customer experience and foster a stronger emotional connection with the brand.

Emarsys Understands How to Achieve Customer Engagement

If you’re a retail marketer looking to deliver more growth and revenue for your business, customer engagement needs to be a top priority. Turning to martech solutions that focus on personalized customer engagement might be the magic key to unlocking the business results you seek. 

The Emarsys Customer Engagement solution helps brands create and deliver seamless, personalized experiences to customers throughout their entire lifecycle, ensuring more satisfied customers and long-lasting loyalty. 

Discover what Emarsys can do for your brand. Watch the 3-minute demo now.