Experience-based retail marketing leads to loyalty
By Kirsty Bisset, HYH Durban MD. A real-life interaction with your brand encourages customers to connect with it, which leads to higher sales.
By Kirsty Bisset, HYH Durban MD. Experience-based retail marketing presents a great opportunity for businesses to get creative. A real-life interaction with your brand encourages customers to connect with it, which leads to higher sales. With COVID-19 concerns continuing to shift consumer behaviour, real-world moments and in-person experiences are in high demand. According to a study by UTA IQ, one in three consumers say they now attend as many events as possible post-pandemic.
In addition, studies show that consumers become more loyal to brands after attending events and experiences, which can have a significant impact on loyalty programs. In order to meet your customers’ needs and encourage repeat business, experiential marketing can take a variety of forms, keeping in mind that the most important thing is to tailor it to your audience. By doing so, your brand can build a long-lasting relationship with your customers by determining what works best for both of you.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is, you can still have an impactful, enjoyable and memorable experience. Your business might benefit from one method over another when it comes to curating experiences and boosting customer loyalty.
Collaboration over competition
Experiential marketing can have profound effects on your business and your customers when two or more unrelated businesses collaborate and use it as a co-branded opportunity. Starbucks and Spotify forged an innovative co-branding partnership to build a “music ecosystem”, offering artists greater access to Starbucks consumers and giving Starbucks access to Spotify’s expansive discography. Through the initiative, Starbucks employees get a Spotify premium subscription, with which they curated playlists (that patrons can access through the Starbucks Mobile App) to play throughout the day in the shop. This music ecosystem was designed to expand the coffeehouse environment that Starbucks is known for while giving artists greater exposure to Starbucks customers.
The “musical-ecosystem” partnership is mutually beneficial, allowing the companies to reach the other’s audience without sacrificing their brand. If you choose the right angle, you can create an experience that complements the other brand or competes with it in a playful way. Ideally, the brands should never compete directly.
Gamify it
In the words of Taylor Swift, And you love the game, gamified experience can incorporate elements such as augmented or virtual reality to keep audiences connected. A great use case is Benefit Cosmetics – their Virtual Reality Platform lets users use augmented reality to find tokens in the space, which be exchanged for consults with their team. Victoria’s Secret Pink Nation allows customers to play trivia games for points on the app.
Gamified loyalty programs can maintain the momentum gained from gamified experiences. Even when customers aren’t actively buying, these engagement strategies encourage them to engage with your brand and consequently, engaging customers with your brand can easily result in money spent.
Give to get
You can easily deepen a relationship with your customers by providing them with exclusive access to your brand. An example would be a beauty brands offering DIY makeup classes or one-on-one makeup lessons. For clothing retailers, pop-up shops could offer custom, exclusive merchandise.
And, of course, these strategies can be interpolated into your loyalty programs. A tiered program provides exclusivity since the perks or discounts are directly related to a customer’s spending level. Your brand can be explored at different levels while simultaneously exploring the interests of your customers.
Sources:
https://unitedtalent.app.box.com/s/fcaha4xzcbvqtvcs3q9e03esmvhqaab1
Receive the Retailing Africa newsletter weekly • Subscribe here.
