The AU chapter of Retention Uncensored hit different. On 3 October, more than 70 ecommerce marketers flocked to the Ivy Sunroom for an afternoon of peer-driven learning and bonding over all things Retention. MC’d by firebrand podcaster and ex Australian Ninja Warrior Katie Williams, Retention Uncensored Australia saw attendees build their own (un)agendas covering 8 retention marketing related topics over 3 rounds. Choose your own adventure, anyone? Here’s a look at the key points discussed over the course of the day.
Slide Into Your Customers’ Inbox Like a Pro
Biggest issues in Email and SMS marketing: unpacked | Moderated by Growth Gurus
Challenges around email attribution and managing internal stakeholder expectations continue to be a big one for brands. CRM and email teams are often under-resourced, juggling building the strategy and execution of campaigns. Deliverability was a hot topic as was Outlook’s aggressive spam filter. In addition to segmentation, attendees also talked about frequency of email and SMS campaigns they were sending.
Omni-Channel (but make it very mindful, demure)
How to meet your customers where they are – everywhere | Moderated by MindArc
With more digital touchpoints, the need for a centralised place to store data was a hot topic but but brands said legacy systems inevitably meant integration issues. Inventory management across channels remains a challenge for brands and clienteling software and integration with tools like Yotpo were also discussed.
Post-Purchase Power Moves
How do we keep the love alive after the sale? | Moderated by Yotpo
Post-purchase engagement isn’t just a box to tick, it’s important to look at what’s working and what’s not from time to time and course correct. The unboxing experience was identified as being an underlooked and underappreciated form of post-purchase optimisation. Examples of brands leveraging Facebook groups post-purchase to build community, such as Tree of Life and others, were also shared.
AI & Tech That’s Not Just Hype
Leveraging AI to improve experience and strengthen Retention | Moderated by Shopify
Attendees shared how AI solutions are being developed for every key function in eCommerce. From training AI to speak like humans to support burdened customer service teams to using the magic of AI to turn photos into videos to better showcase products and leveraging AI tools to empower customers post-purchase: attendees agreed that this area will see even more innovation in upcoming months.
Metrics That Pack a Punch
Key metrics for measuring customer retention effectively | Moderated by Elephant Room
To understand retention performance is to zoom further into and out of traditional metrics like LTV and customer retention rate to better understand customer behaviours. Which CTA is getting you the clicks and why and what does the time between purchases tell you? Are your most loyal customers really the ones in your loyalty program or does your active customer rate tell you a different story? Combining more than one metric can help inform your strategy too. For example, check your CAC to CLTV ratio to see how much you’re spending to acquire customers relative to their lifetime value.
Loyalty Programs That Don’t Suck
Loyalty programs built for long-term success | Moderated by Convert Digital
Most brands are moving AWAY from discounting in their loyalty plays to focus on things like personalised recommendations and implementing GWP (gift with purchase). Pop-ups, and other exclusive experiences to drive loyalty such as treating frequent shoppers and high spenders to pre-launches via gated pages, even making dedicated products just for loyal shoppers, were also discussed.
Hello Segmentation, See ya ‘Spray & Pray
Personalising comms is key | Moderated by Reload Media
There seemed to be agreement that ‘hyper-personalisation’ was a bit of a buzzword and a more realistic goal for brands is personalise email communications based on interests and lifecycle stage. Brands said they also ranked customers and created a series of segments based on their recency, frequency and monetary value of shopping behaviour.
Keep ‘Em Hooked Even When Money’s Tight
Retention is spelled ‘CX’ | Moderated by Moustache Republic
Demand may be low but it doesn’t mean you can’t still engage shoppers. Brands shared that instead of exclusively using email campaigns to get customers to become more aware of their brand and what they stood for (and didn’t). Increasing conversion rate of pages to reduce CPA was a table-favourite discussion point.
Want to keep the learnings going and connect with like-minded retention marketers? Join the Retention Uncensored community on Slack! Share insights, ask questions, and stay updated on the latest trends in retention marketing.
