Increasing online conversion rates is, of course, critical to business success — and delivering high-quality customer experiences is a key part in achieving conversion. However, customer experience no longer exists in a vacuum, and the ever growing digital touchpoints require brands to think beyond UX and customer service in delivering great experience.
Promotions, offers and discounts are the hard working backbone of any digital marketing strategy, but in the majority of cases, the customer experience of finding and using coupons and cashback isn’t great. So what if you apply the same CX principles to promotions? Can delivering an improved Promotion Experience, or Promotion EX, deliver considerable gains?
In this article, we’re going to dive into all things Promotion EX, from what it means on how to promote eCommerce products and provide a Promotion Experience for your customers effectively, and more importantly, how this is driving material uplift to conversion. Let's jump right in and see how you can delight customers and supercharge conversions in an impactful way.
What is Promotion EX?
Promotion EX is all about creating a seamless promotional journey for customers, from discovery to conversion. From being in the right place in the moments that matter to the right promotions that are messaged and activated throughout the customer journey, Promotion EX is not just an evolution in how you deliver successful campaigns — it’s driving conversions in a way that even the deepest discounts can’t match on their own.
In the last 20 years, business growth has been less about product and more about how you meet and exceed customer expectations digitally. We used to buy physical box-sets, call up the local takeaway and send people cheques in the post. Now we just stream it, click it and transfer it. The products are the same but the experience has changed — it’s more convenient, intuitive and simple.
Customer experience has never been so critical in attracting and retaining customers, and with digital dominating how we engage today, delivering a great customer experience is no longer just about brand values or your website. With brand and performance sitting closer than ever before, the metrics that have long been a staple measurement of digital marketing now also apply to brand and experience. Promotion EX is just one example (and a critical one) of how you can bring both performance and brand activity much closer together, uniting CX with conversion strategies, to deliver exceptional results.
Suggested reading: Want to learn how to improve customer experience in eCommerce? Read our blog '5 Ways to Improve Customer Experience in eCommerce'.
Be accessible online
Implementing Promotion EX allows you more chances to get in front of your target market by understanding where your customers are most likely to be. Nowadays, that’s almost definitely going to be online.
Promotions tend to fall into the bottom of funnel activity, so they’re often overlooked as an important part of a customer’s experience. But if you provide a curated online promotion journey that reaches the various touchpoints of that digital experience, your customers are much more likely to remember that exchange.
The state of online sales
Over recent years, the online shopping landscape has increased hugely. In 2014, there were 1.32 billion online shoppers, which has increased to 2.05 billion in 2020. Industry experts predict that this will only continue to grow and by 2040, nearly 95% of purchases will be made online.
Life during the pandemic is driving an even bigger spike in online shopping than there was in previous years. In Q2 2020, new stores created on the Shopify platform for eCommerce grew 71% since Q1. With so many shops now online, it’s even more important to make sure you’re drawing customer attention to your products and delighting them.
Optimise your various touchpoints
Every digital touchpoint your potential customer hits needs to deliver a satisfying experience — at the very least. One way to entice customers is ensuring a smooth and speedy website experience. Website conversion rates drop by around 4.5% with every additional second of website load time, which is why it’s key to have high-speed response times online. But even seamless digital experiences just aren’t enough on their own to win online conversions anymore
All of your connected services are now seen as an extension of your brand, and all of your connected experiences need to be seamless and engaging. These can be anything from payments and distribution to marketplace selling. Brands that curate their customer journeys throughout the entire ecosystem of touchpoints are the ones making lasting impressions..
Delivering Promotion EX
Promotions are a part of the customer experience that needs fixing. Humble discounts, partnerships, affiliates, rewards and referrals all need a shake-up if you’re going to improve brand engagement and conversion rates. For example, a dud code is most likely to stop a conversion in its tracks. It’s a bad experience that’s detrimental to not only your sales, but your brand as well.
Customers want codes that work for exclusive promotions, delivered in the moments that matter, in a connected and streamlined journey. In essence, they demand great Promotion EX. Thankfully, there’s a way to get there!
How to deliver Promotion EX
Implementing the best Promotion EX possible is achievable when you consider four crucial stages. Let’s quickly go through them here.
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Get control — When you lose control of your campaigns, with codes being leaked and shared into places you didn’t intend, it dilutes your margins, burns your budget, and stops you being able to run deep, targeted promotions. Whilst generic codes have their place — for driving volume and promoting deals — they can’t match the impact of creating exclusive campaigns for driving conversions. And that’s because customers love getting something tailored and unique. This is the foundation for creating Promotion EX.
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Accelerate discovery — The next step is engaging existing and finding potential customers and providing them with your controlled promotions smoothly, whether that be through your own channels, social media or through partners. With control, you can be confident in sending deep discounts to existing customers and creating exclusive campaigns with authorised partners, fully integrated for seamless delivery.
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Advanced code validation — Whether creating product-level discounts or simply getting more creative with types of promotions, advancing your campaigns provides limitless opportunities to deliver great Promotion EX.. Things like site-wide discounts are — to be blunt — boring when that’s all you offer. There are so many more advanced promotion ideas to encourage customers to convert. Some examples are exclusive promotions around demand, mystery codes and time-based discounts, to name a few. Personalisation is also a top tactic. It’s the number one choice for email marketers to improve performance. That’s no surprise when emails with personalised subject lines have a 50% higher success rate. Using segmentation or a visitor’s search activity to personalise promotions has a greater impact on conversion.
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Activate — An effective Promotion EX is all about curating the customer’s journey. Customers will click on the discount but not follow through if you don’t make it clear how they can do that. Signpost and message your promotion throughout their journey with site overlays, pre-applied discounts on prices and co-branded banners for partner promotions. Communicating your promotion at every step is the way forward. Promotion automation technology provides better-targeted customer communication, which 70% of companies report is its most important benefit
Evolve with the consumer and increase conversion
So when customer experience has been elevated by Promotion EX, you’re more likely to delight customers and encourage repeat purchase. It’s a sure way to compete with the growing number of stores performing online.
That’s why Promotion EX is so important when it comes to maintaining and excelling in your conversions. It can be the next evolution in your performance strategy and create an end-to-end, seamless journey that leads your customers from discovery to redemption. To make it even easier to deliver Promotion EX, consider using a Promotions Management Platform, like Uniqodo’s.
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