Article Summary:
What is event-based marketing, and how can it help your website return-on-investment?
Large-scale email campaigns may be wonderful sales tools, but they're not gearing to addressing the changing needs or interests of individual customers. So, what about event-based marketing (EBM)? It puts you in the right place at the right time based on a customer's own actions.
What is EBM?
Event-based marketing systems automatically trigger pre-determined email messages based on a customer's activity on your site. For example, a buyer purchases a business suit. Your event-based email follows up with a special offer for a coordinating piece - a shirt, tie, or even a snappy new briefcase.
Many marketers use a purchase threshold as a simple EBM trigger. Customers who spend more than $250 in a single visit, for example, receive a "thanks for your business" email with a coupon good for their next purchase.
The secret? Allowing enough time between the transaction and the follow-up so customers feel flattered, not stalked.
Sales opportunities galore
Because it focuses on timing, EBM excels at promoting consumables, add-ons like extended warranties, and cross-selling related products. Best of all, all messaging is automated. Once you outline the possibilities and create the messages themselves, technology takes over to deliver them.
EBM can also be used to showcase content. When a customer registers at your site and indicates a particular area of interest - technology, for example - your "thanks for registering" follow-up could include a link to a relevant article from your site. Content can also be used to support previous purchases and encourage new ones. If your product warrants it, consider providing creative tips for its use in a subsequent email.
From keeping in touch with relevant content to encouraging repeat sales, EBM offers endless - and nearly effortless - possibilities for increasing web ROI.
Copywriter Lisa Fahoury, a Certified Business Communicator and principal at West Orange, NJ-based Fahoury Ink, is the editor of "Creative Compost: Where Great Marketing Ideas Grow", a quarterly newsletter focusing on offbeat marketing and sales promotion strategies. She is also the creator of the "Think Like a Fish" seminar series on creative thinking. Fahoury can be reached at 973-324-2100 or at www.fahouryink.com
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