Automation: Inactivity Promotion

Definitions:

Automated Email Campaign: A series of scheduled, personalized emails triggered by specific customer actions.

Inactivity Promo Campaign: Registered cardholders who have made a transaction and have not returned to transact again in the set number of days you specify (typically 30,60, 90, 120), are funded a promotional value that is automatically applied to their registered card.

 

How does it work?

Every customer who meets the inactivity criteria will trigger an automated action you have defined via email or SMS using the Marketing Hub.  Customers will receive a communication with your described offer that is triggered on the date of the customer's birthday.  The promotion will apply to the customer's registered card. Ex. You're customer has loyalty points that are going stale in their wallet. You want to encourage your customer to return to retain their patronage.  After the customer meets the criteria of not returning for (60) days, you decide to fund them a $50 promo  to spend on their next visit.  Be sure to make the promotion valid for a limited time to encourage urgency.  

 

The automation works for both Ackroo loyalty and gift card-style programs, and is available to all Marketing Hub users, regardless of subscription tier. You can run an Inactivity Promotion campaign for a specific time period or indefinitely.  

 

Offering your loyalty program members an inactivity bonus can be a strategic move with several potential benefits for your business. Here are reasons why offering an inactivity bonus can be a good idea:

1. Reactivation of Dormant Customers:
Inactivity bonuses can serve as a powerful incentive to bring back customers who have become inactive. When people receive a bonus, they may be motivated to re-engage with your brand, make a purchase, or participate in the loyalty program again.

2. Customer Retention:
Preventing customer churn is often more cost-effective than acquiring new customers. By offering bonuses to inactive members, you can potentially retain valuable customers who might otherwise have drifted away.

3. Positive Customer Experience:
When you surprise inactive members with a bonus, you demonstrate that you value their previous engagement with your brand. This can lead to a positive customer experience, even if they had previously disengaged due to a negative one.

4. Brand Recall:
Re-engaging inactive customers can reignite their awareness of your brand. This can lead to increased consideration and future purchases, as they are reminded of your products or services.

5. Word of Mouth:
Satisfied customers who receive inactivity bonuses may share their positive experience with friends and family, potentially bringing in new customers through word of mouth.

6. Data Relevance:
An inactivity bonus campaign can also serve as an opportunity to update customer data. When customers engage with your brand to claim their bonus, they may provide updated contact information or preferences, improving the accuracy of your customer database.

7. Competitive Advantage:
Offering inactivity bonuses can differentiate your loyalty program from competitors. It shows that you are committed to retaining and re-engaging customers, even after a period of inactivity.

8. Encourage Exploration:
Inactivity bonuses can encourage customers to explore any new products, services, or features your brand may have introduced since their last interaction.

9. Feedback Opportunity:
When customers return to claim their bonus, you can use the opportunity to solicit feedback on why they became inactive in the first place. This information can be invaluable for improving your offerings and customer experience.

10. Segmentation:
Inactivity bonuses can be tailored to different segments of inactive customers, offering personalized incentives based on past behavior and preferences.

It's important to carefully plan and execute inactivity bonus campaigns to ensure they align with your business goals and financial resources. Consider factors like the duration of inactivity that qualifies for a bonus, the value of the bonus, and the communication channels through which you'll reach out to inactive members. Additionally, regularly analyze the effectiveness of such campaigns to assess their impact on customer re-engagement and overall ROI.

 

How to set up a customer Inactivity Promo campaign:

Step 1: Create a campaign

Log into your Marketing Hub account. Click > + Create Campaign.

 

Step. 2: Define your campaign parameters.

 

• Campaign Name
• Campaign Start & End Time
• Campaign Type
• Campaign Frequency
• Target Frequency

To review these parameters, please refer to the following documents:

Campaign Overview
Creating a New Email Campaign

Please note:
If you would like to run your campaign indefinitely, do not add an "end date & time".

 Click > save & Next to continue.

 

Step 3: Select your automation.

Click > the dropdown arrow to select "6 Months Since Last Visit" > "+ use automation."

The automation will appear in a new line underneath the selection box:

Click > Save > Save & Edit Creative to continue.

 

Step 4: Create an action for your automation.

In this step, you will decide what you want to happen when a customer qualifies for a communication.  Your options include:

• Fund a unit
• Send and Email
• Fund a Promo
• Convert Points to a Coupon
• Fund Loyalty

In the case of a Inactivity Bonus, you will most likely want to choose "send an email, fund a promo/loyalty".  If you choose to Fund a Promo, you can expire the promo value, which will place urgency on the customer to use the promo dollars funded. You can read more about Actions HERE.

Click > the dropdown labeled "Choose and action for your audience" > "+ Add Action". repeat for multiple actions you need to perform.

1.

2.

3.

 

Step 5: Update your Creative

Now that you have selected your actions, it's time to input or create your creative (email content) & define the parameters of your promotion.

Please refer to the following guides for additional resources:

Actions: Send Email

Templates: Create a template

Ackroo offers a generic template you can customize for a registration campaign named "Inactivity + Promo". You can select it in the template dropdown on the "send email" action. You can also start from scratch and choose BLANK template (EN/FR).

 

Template example:

You are able to change any element in this template. Is is simply a guide to get you started.  

Click > Save on your creative > "< Back to Actions" to continue.

 

Step 6: Update your Fund Promo details

Please refer to the following guides for additional resources:

Actions: Fund Promo

 

Step 7: Publish your campaign.

Navigate back to your Campaign parameters page. Click > the  Draft slider to publish your campaign.

You will receive a warning that you are about to publish. Click >Yes.

Your campaign will now show a Published status: