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Create a theme for the form by choosing the appropriate color scheme. Change the style and color of the text. Add photos and YouTube videos to the form. To do this, insert additional code into the required tag.

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<Img
img="/uploads/Lead_Scoring_c068e89b5d.jpg"
alt="Lead Scoring"
/> 

There are no companies that have unlimited funds. When there are more customers' requests than managers can process, a collapse happens. What is the usual way to solve this problem? Managers call customers according to a list. Customers can be sorted by the date of their request or, for instance, alphabetically. But what if that very customer who is ready to make a purchase has a surname starting with the last letter of the alphabet. In that event, such a customer will get a phone call when another company is already rendering services to them. What should be done to avoid such scenarios? It is suggested that lead scoring should be employed in your marketing. It will allow you to prioritize your customers by their importance. In this piece we are getting into the notion of scoring, why and how this method is used in business.

## What is lead scoring

The scoring system originally appeared in banks to assess a client who applies for a loan. Banks examine their customers' paying capacity, credit record and other aspects. According to the collected data every customer gets their own credibility rating. This practice was later borrowed by marketers.

In marketing, lead scoring is ranking leads by certain features that determine their value.

In this term,

- **lead** stands for a prospective customer
- **scoring** stands for ranking a customer and giving them special points.

In layman's terms, lead scoring allows you to determine whether a client is ready to close the deal or not.

Each client receives a scoring point for some action: visiting a website, subscription and so on. These special criteria are chosen by the company before scoring. Then the points are summed up and a scoring rate is obtained. According to it, a company determines which customer is more important. The higher the score, the more likely this customer will make a purchase. After that, managers contact other customers, whose score is lower.

To make the process clear, all leads are divided into several categories.  The easiest way to do it is to classify all leads by their degree of «warmth»:

- **«Cold» leads** do not know much about the brand. They have just started to interact with it: clicked on the ad, visited a website, signed up for the newsletter. It is unlikely that such a person will buy something right after the manager's call.
- **«Warm» leads** are a bit closer to making a purchase, they have the need to do it. However, they may have some doubts. Or, such a person chooses between several options.
- **«Hot» leads** are those who are ready to make a purchase here and now. All you have to do is to remind them about it and make a favourable offer.

<Img
img="/uploads/classification_of_leads_b8f7877b25.jpg"
alt="Classification of Leads"
/> 

Another way of ranking your customers is to picture them in terms of a funnel:

- **At the top of the funnel** are the users who have just become acquainted with the brand: signed up, subscribed to social networks or newsletters.
- **The users who have shown their interest in the product**: got a lead magnet, and are actively interacting with the brand.
- **The proven leads that have been forwarded to the sales department.** Marketing has already worked with them and «warmed them up» enough. They are almost ready to make a purchase, but their objections need to be worked out.
- **Leads at the bottom of the funnel are those who are ready to buy something here and now.** These users have already explored the ways to order a product and/or added some items to favorites or to cart, but have not completed the order yet.

In both of these categories, the most important ones are those leads who are ready to make a purchase: «hot» leads/leads at the bottom of the funnel. Lead scoring will help to identify who is who on the basis of data, and not on such abstract thoughts as «these leads are more important because I think so».

## Why do you need lead scoring

Lead scoring saves businesses from wasting resources:

- human ones — it saves the time of a manager who calls irrelevant customers in vain;
- financial ones — the salary of this manager and the cost of the channels to communicate with customers.

You need to employ a scoring system when:

**Your business has a long purchase cycle and a complex system of working with clients.** When it is not quite clear which client is more important, and a lot of criteria should be taken into account.

**When your company has a large influx of incoming requisitions, and managers cannot cope with them.** Even if there are no urgent matters yet, there may come a moment X, when there are not enough resources. Lead scoring will help to prevent such a situation.

**When a specialist who processes the requests is a high-skilled one.** If such a specialist wastes their time, the company invests more in the employee than it gains.

## Lead scoring also helps to:

### To evaluate the effectiveness of customer acquisition channels

If a channel brings you thousands of leads, it is not effectiveness yet. Out of a thousand requests only ten people can actually make a purchase, and CAC will not pay off. Quality assessment of your leads will show which channel actually brings you profitable ones.

### To decline irrelevant requests

Not everyone who has responded to your marketing efforts will be your customer. Some will say that your products are too expensive, others will not understand the offer. Besides, some people can click the links accidentally. Scoring identifies unsuitable leads before you start actively working with them and assigns them the lowest priority.

### To optimize your work

Without lead quality assessment you can be trapped in one opinion, that is of your supervisor who thinks that these customers are more important than those customers, and it cannot be the other way round. Even employees themselves do not always know which customer will be more valuable. Scoring will help you to evaluate leads objectively basing on analytics. This approach will establish order in the joint effort of marketing and sales department. It will always be clear with what kind of client your manager works, whether their interest needs to be heightened or you can offer them to purchase something immediately. With proper evaluation of leads, one department will not do the work for another.

### To evaluate your managers' work fairly

It may be that some managers are doing their job better than others. And it is not always about efficiency and skills. If one manager always gets «cold» customers and the other one always gets «hot» ones, it will be easier for the latter to close sales. Scoring is an opportunity to redistribute leads more fairly.

The main benefit of scoring is a rise in profits of the company, which will no longer lose «hot» leads and learn how to optimize the work of employees.

## How to conduct lead scoring

For scoring, you need to describe what kind of lead is of good quality for your business. Besides, you need to determine the evaluation criteria, establish a certain value for each, and then conduct the evaluation.

<Img
img="/uploads/how_to_conduct_lead_scoring_beb05c00ed.jpg"
alt="How to conduct scoring"
/> 

### Step 1. Determine the criteria

Two types of data are usually distinguished. Explicit — external information about customers: their characteristics or data of companies where they work. Implicit — a customer's actions that a company can track on its platforms. All data is grouped into a customer profile. It is a kind of benchmark with which you will compare your leads during evaluation.

What criteria can be used:

**Demographics** — gender, age, interests, habits and other features of your audience. If your audience are men over 35 who have cars, a person who does not own a car will be a lower priority in your evaluation.

**Information about company** is relevant for B2B, when your customer is a business representative. You can include place of employment, position, size of the company and its industry in your criteria. For in-depth evaluation, you can add a customer's experience, income of the company and its location (if it is important) to the list.

**Users' behaviour**: how they interact with ads and newsletters. For evaluation, the number of clicks per user, subscriptions, information requests, lead magnet downloads, sending contact information and even attendance at online brand events are taken into consideration. Users' «last seen», their reaction to advertising campaigns and posts on social networks are also examined.

**Data quality.** Sometimes a customer can turn out to be a spammer or an agent of dishonest competitors who want to spoil your statistics with their actions. So, leads with incorrect, false or insufficient data find their way into your database. For example, a set of random characters instead of an email address is a sign of spam. Besides, poor quality leads are those who have left a personal email instead of a corporate one, though the information is for corporate customers.

### How to understand which criteria are really important

**First of all**, ask your employees to arrange a brainstorming session or to conduct a survey. Salespeople work closely with customers and know their needs well.

**Secondly**, ask your customers themselves what influenced their decision to buy.

**Thirdly**, focus on the analytics and see which customers bring you more profit. It is useful to employ [**attribution**](marketing-attribution-models).

### Step 2. Determine values

Each criterion should have its own weight on a selected limited scale. The higher weight will be given to the criteria of more profitable leads, whose conversion rate is better.

For example, we know that customers with higher education purchase twice as much on average as those with secondary education. In this case, the lead with higher education gets a higher score.

Negative criteria (minus values) are also important. Even the highest quality lead can «burn out» and stop being active.

Minuses in the scoring should be given for:

- unsubscribing from the newsletters;
- visiting a career page on the website: a person may hunt for a job and is not going to buy anything from you;
- a lead's position or industry does not fit your customer profile;
- a lead is from a competing company;
- low activity — a person stopped clicking on your newsletters.

### Step 3. To conduct evaluation

You have criteria, you have points. Now it is time to evaluate. But you should start with threshold values. Determine from what number of points your customer is assigned a low, medium, or high priority.  Do not over- or underestimate the values. Start with an average one and adjust it in the process.

Scoring can be conducted by one manager or a team. In case of the latter, the points of all participants in the assessment are summed up. At the end of evaluation, customers are ranked from higher priority to less valuable ones.

**Example of customer evaluation**

Let's imagine a prospective customer N, who has left their data.

Now let's set priorities according to the number of points:

High — 15–20 points.

Medium — 10–15 points.

Low — up to 10 points.

The maximum score a customer can get is 20.

Below you can see an example of a simple table with customer’s evaluation.

<Table>
<table>
      <thead>
          <tr>
              <th>Criterion</th>
              <th>Status</th>
              <th>Score</th>
              <th>Concordance (+)</th>
          </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
           <tr>
              <td>Email</td>
              <td>Corporate</td>
              <td>+6</td>
              <td>+</td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Personal</td>
              <td>+1</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Not stated</td>
              <td>-2</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td>Phone</td>
              <td>Stated</td>
              <td>+3</td>
              <td>+</td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Not stated</td>
              <td>-1</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td>Position</td>
              <td>Supervisor</td>
              <td>+6</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Manager</td>
              <td>+3</td>
              <td>+</td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Other</td>
              <td>+1</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Not stated</td>
              <td>-3</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td>Company</td>
              <td>Stated</td>
              <td>+3</td>
              <td>+</td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Not stated</td>
              <td>-2</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td>Activity</td>
              <td>Subscribed to newsletters</td>
              <td>+2</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>No subscription</td>
              <td>-1</td>
              <td>+</td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td></td>
              <td>Unsubscribed</td>
              <td>-2</td>
              <td></td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td colSpan = 3>Total score</td>
              <td>14</td>
          </tr>
           <tr>
              <td colSpan = 3>Priority</td>
              <td>Medium</td>
          </tr>
      </tbody>
  </table>
</Table>

## Tools for lead scoring

Lead scoring can be conducted in two ways:

**A simple but time-consuming one**: Google Sheets or Excel. In this case, you will have to calculate the results manually or set up formulas, which is quite time-consuming. You will also have to transfer all your customers’ data into sheets/tables.

**An automated one**: marketing platforms make it possible to conduct lead scoring simply and quickly. [**Altcraft Platform**](/en) is no exception.

The platform pixels track users' activity on company resources and third-party resources: websites, social networks, blogs, mobile apps and services in the browser, even the company's CRM.

Each action counts as a target for which a certain value or weight is assigned. Lead scoring is conducted according to these values. On our platform, you can track data on anonymous profiles, which will be later added to a user's official profile.

## Conclusion

Companies dream of streams of clients, but once the dreams come true, they cannot handle it sometimes. Prioritizing customers by their value during peak times is a sensible approach. Although it is better to foresee certain situations to prevent a disaster, such as lost customers, downgrade of service and even employees' nervous breakdowns. Everything is possible if you do not arrange work properly.

Lead scoring helps to optimize different processes and not to waste time on unprofitable customers, to coordinate the work of the marketing department and the sales department, and as a consequence, to earn more.

In this piece we are getting into the notion of scoring, why and how this method is used in business. Learn how to conduct lead scoring.

large_Lead Scoring.jpg

medium_Lead Scoring.jpg

small_Lead Scoring.jpg

thumbnail_Lead Scoring.jpg

Lead Scoring.jpg

Lead scoring helps to optimize different processes and not to waste time on unprofitable customers and to coordinate the work of the marketing department and the sales department.

Why Do You Need Lead Scoring and How to Conduct It

Lead Scoring: What Is It and Why Is It Useful for Marketing

<Img
img="/uploads/Marketing_Automation_for_Insurance_Companies_d5f6116a5f.jpg"
alt="Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies"
/> 

The Internet has provided marketers with special tools for customer acquisition and customer retention. Marketing automation platforms are becoming one of the most powerful tools for the above-mentioned activities. The emergence of [**CDP**](/features/cdp) has brought about global changes that make it possible to work with clients on a whole new level. It goes without saying that these changes have influenced such a large field as the insurance business.

In this piece we are getting into the reasons why insurance companies need marketing automation and share five effective strategies of automation in this business field.
 
## Why does the insurance sector need marketing automation?

As we have already mentioned in the article about [**marketing automation**](what-is-marketing-automation-and-how-it-affects-business-development), this industry will increase to $8.42 billion by 2027. It means that automation will become an essential component of brand promotion in the market, without which companies will be uncompetitive.

The insurance business is developing rapidly nowadays, and companies feel the need to improve their strategies of insurance marketing. That is why they tend to introduce automation. For example, launching personalized campaigns makes it easier for a client to go from clicking on a promotion banner to purchasing an insurance policy. A unified marketing automation platform provides companies with the following advantages:

- work processes optimization;
-  customer acquisition;
- customer retention;
- client data enrichment;
- cross-sell automation;
- all data sources integration in a unified platform (makes it possible to promptly segment the client base into targeted audiences);
- complete analytics for evaluating results and optimizing strategies.

When key work processes are automated, specialists make fewer errors and have more time to solve more global problems. Thus, the primary task for a marketer is to develop strategies that will promote insurance services for target audiences.

## Five strategies of marketing automation for insurance companies

So, we present to you five strategies of marketing automation for the insurance sector.
 
### 1. Prolongation of OSAGO (CMTPL insurance)

OSAGO is an abbreviation that can be translated as “compulsory motor vehicle third-party liability insurance”. It guarantees that in case of a road traffic accident a culprit’s insurance company will pay compensation for damage to victims. The insurance is issued for a term of one year, and it comes into force three days after it is issued. Thus, it is suggested that policyholders should apply for renewal in advance to avoid interruptions in insurance.

“What does it have to do with marketing automation?” you may ask. And the answer will be the following – OSAGO and marketing automation are most directly related. By automating the process of insurance prolongation you get rid of the necessity to make notification calls. You just need to set up a prolongation script once, and your clients will be notified on time. All they have to do is click the right link and send their application to the insurer.

Our Altcraft Platform makes it possible for you to implement marketing automation workflows of any complexity. It will greatly facilitate your work with clients because you will not have to send newsletters to them – the platform will do this work for you. You should interact with your clients, tell them about discounts and promotions, give them [**promo codes**](/features/loyalty-programs) and special offers. Just be beneficial to your clients so that they can be beneficial to your company.

<Img
img="/uploads/jpg_osago_ae10f15d07.jpg"
alt="Prolongation of OSAGO"
src="«OSAGO prolongation» strategy "
/> 

### 2. Cross-selling of CASCO Insurance

While OSAGO is compulsory insurance for the owners of motor vehicles, CASCO policy provides voluntary motor vehicle insurance. In this case, marketers in insurance companies have to develop different [**strategies**](/features/personalization) for cross-selling of CASCO.

Different companies prescribe their own rates for this policy, which depend on certain factors, such as driver’s experience and age, age of a motor vehicle, insurance period, etc. So, promoting CASCO, marketers apply some sales gimmicks, for example, they offer installment plans to their regular customers.

<Img
img="/uploads/Cross_selling_of_CASCO_Insurance_9ad94f4b35.jpg"
alt="Cross-selling of CASCO Insurance"
src="«Cross-selling of CASCO Insurance» strategy"
/>

### 3. A «Calculator-on-hold» scenario

Nowadays, clients do not need to call their insurance company to find out the price of the policy, for there are special calculators on the website of the company.

Imagine that a person by the name of Ivan Petrov, for instance, calculated the price of CASCO, which turned out to be acceptable, but a sudden call from work forced him to leave home on urgent business. To make sure Ivan does not forget about it later, your company needs to set up a “Calculator-on-hold” script so that you can remind your client of yourself.

<Img
img="/uploads/A_Calculator_on_hold_scenario_3819452138.jpg"
alt="A «Calculator-on-hold» scenario"
src="A «Calculator-on-hold» scenario"
/> 

### 4. Promotional codes and bonus points

Nowadays, people are interested in different types of insurance. Some people take out building insurance so that they can protect themselves from undesirable expenses in case of an unforeseen situation in their apartment or house. Tourists buy a travel insurance policy, and more and more people are choosing to take out health insurance.

You should motivate your clients not to delay taking out an insurance policy: offer them promo codes and bonus points that they can use to pay for a certain percentage of a policy price. If additional bonuses do not encourage your client to buy a new service, you should apply retargeting. The process of retargeting is easy to set up on our marketing automation platform – [**Altcraft Platform**](/en). Just take the data from necessary segments on the Platform and then add them to Yandex.Audience and Facebook Audience. In their turn, these services will launch targeted advertising according to the collected data. Thus, you will always stay in touch with your clients, and they will remember you at the right moment.

<Img
img="/uploads/Promotional_codes_and_bonus_points_07bef8d8d0.jpg"
alt="Promotional codes and bonus points"
src="«Promotional codes and bonus points» scenario"
/> 

### 5. Prolongation of VHI and cross-selling

VHI is voluntary health insurance that is actively used by the residents of big cities. It is issued for a term of one year, and people consider many factors when it is time to decide whether it is worth being renewed. You should help your clients to make a choice in favour of their health: give them promo codes, send them customer satisfaction surveys and take all [**responses**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales) into account, remind them in advance that their policy is about to expire.

If your company uses Altcraft Platform, you will not have to resort to any outside services to create a questionnaire or a survey. For these purposes, we have developed our own internal tool – Forms. The Forms builder is intuitive, so you do not need any professional knowledge to create a questionnaire, a test or a survey. Moreover, you can customize the logic of the [**Form**](/features/forms-and-surveys) in the editor. It means that respondents will go to different pages depending on which answer they choose.

<Img
img="/uploads/Prolongation_of_VHI_and_cross_selling_256b22578d.jpg"
alt="Prolongation of VHI and cross-selling"
src="«Prolongation of VHI and cross-selling» scenario"
/> 

## Conclusion

On the one hand, marketing is moving onwards and upwards in the field of insurance. On the other hand, it is difficult for marketers in this sphere to stand out from competitors and develop an individual approach to clients at the same time. So, in this case, it is important to choose a solution that will make it possible for you to promptly and flexibly automate the strategy and communicate with customers without limitation.

Russian insurance market leaders [**AlfaStrakhovanie**](case-how-altcraft-platform-helped-top-insurance-company-increase-sales) and Soglasie are already successfully using our marketing automation platform to implement their marketing ideas.


In this piece we are getting into the reasons why insurance companies need marketing automation and share five effective strategies of automation in this business field.

medium_Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies.jpg

small_Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies.jpg

thumbnail_Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies.jpg

Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies.jpg

Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies | 5 Strategies

Marketing Automation for Insurance Companies

<Img
img="/uploads/Mobile_Marketing_101_Push_Notifications_98b970d15c.jpg"
alt="Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications"
/>

Today, a significant majority of the global population access the internet through mobile devices rather than laptops or desktops. In the past, mobile marketing has been described as "the latest marketing trend" or "future of marketing." The truth is mobile has become an undetachable part of life, and for this reason alone, mobile has come to rule the world of marketing.

In this mobile-dominant landscape, where millions of apps compete in app stores, customer retention is now the biggest challenge for brands. Enter mobile push notifications – a new-age marketing tool with the ability to revolutionize the way you engage with and retain customers, whether potential, existing, or lapsed.

Let’s demystify mobile push notifications by explaining how they can play an instrumental role in shaping the fate of your business.

## What Are Mobile Push Notifications?

Every time you get breaking news updates, extreme weather notifications, or updates about your Amazon delivery on your smartphone – that’s a push alert conveyed directly to your device based on your personal preferences.

What is a push alert? Push alerts are actionable, attention-grabbing messages sent to your device through an app. They can potentially include a customized notification tone, brief personalized messages, and the ability to complete certain actions without opening the app.

<Note>
It’s important to understand the difference between [**web push**](in-depth-guide-on-web-push-notifications) and mobile push notifications. Web push notifications are the messages sent to users through desktop or mobile web. These alert-style messages typically slide onto the top or bottom right-hand corner of a desktop screen. On a mobile device, web push notifications are received on the notification screen. On the other hand, mobile push notifications are the messages that pop up on mobile devices from installed applications.
</Note>

A basic mobile push notification typically consists of some text and a deep link embedded within a call-to-action. Over time, mobile push has evolved to include enhanced visual and functional options. Today, with [**rich push notifications**](updates-telegram-bot-facebook-ads-manager), you can attach media such as music, static images, animated gifs, or short videos (on iOS) for a more engaging experience.

<Img
img="/uploads/rich_push_cc7d29f13c.png"
alt="Rich push"
src="Rich push preview in the Altcraft editor"
/>

App push notifications have become exceptionally important for re-engagement campaigns, especially when paired with deep linking technology, which seamlessly routes users to the desired conversion action within the app.

In a deeply competitive mobile landscape, mobile push is a dynamic marketing tactic that introduces an easier, better way to communicate with customers directly. Push messages are a way to connect with your audience and promote long-term, high-value engagement.

In essence, mobile app push notifications are used to engage, re-engage, and retain customers.

<Img
img="/uploads/Average_App_User_Retention_For_Push_Enabled_Users_Vs_Push_Disabled_Users_9d3c4e3564.jpg"
alt="Average App User Retention For Push Enabled Users Vs Push Disabled Users"
/>

## How Do Push Notifications Work?

Characteristically, push notifications are contextual, timely, personalized messages featuring a quick-to-the-point alert or call to action. They can pop up at any time; users don’t have to be using the app or their devices to receive them. More importantly, they look like your everyday SMS text messages on the notification panel.

<Img
img="/uploads/push_notification_on_ios2_a75cbfbcb8.png"
alt="Push notification on iOS"
/>

Now, the push notification journey begins at user install. When a person downloads an app, they typically receive a prompt to either block or allow notifications – it’s a preference they can change whenever they want to in their app or phone settings.

So push notifications can only be sent to users who’ve installed your app and enabled notifications. Each mobile platform has a service that supports push messages. For instance, Altcraft relies on push notification providers to deliver notifications:

1. Apple Push Notification (APN) service for iOS platforms

2. On Android:

- FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) for Google-enabled devices, and
- HMS (Huawei Messaging Service) for Huawei devices

The great thing about app push notifications is that they can be targeted to specific demographics of your user base.

## Benefits of Mobile Push

Push notifications can significantly enhance your customer experience allowing you to grow and retain your customer base.

As a communication channel, push notifications facilitate a timely flow of information, allowing businesses to easily interact with their audience. And they’re considerably less intrusive than other forms of user engagement.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why you should add mobile push notifications to your marketing mix.

- **You can send messages even when users aren’t actively using your app.** All that’s required is an internet connection.

- **Easy opt-in experience.** Usually, users must subscribe or opt-in to the service to receive these messages. All they have to do is simply select "Allow" when prompted.

- **Increased engagement since messages are sent in real-time.** And this is how push notifications increase app engagement numbers and the number of visitors returning to a website.

- **Higher conversion rates.** The messages are personalized, offering users a great non-invasive experience that boosts conversion rates.

- **Reduce efforts in the customer journey.** With deep links and a powerful CTA, you can direct users to certain actions within the app – another way to boost conversion.

Nothing is perfect – not even mobile push notifications. Some of the disadvantages of this marketing channel include:

- Users must opt-in, and almost one-third of them choose to opt-out or disable notifications which can impact marketing reach.

- Are easily confused with ads which can make them feel invasive.

- They have a character limit. Basically, they're one-liners making it difficult to communicate effectively.

Even with their shortcomings, mobile push notifications are still a vital element of any mobile marketing strategy.

## Mobile Push Notifications Strategy

How do you increase app engagement? First, let’s start with the mistakes that tend to derail push notification campaigns.

- **Too many notifications** – You don’t want your messages to come across as spam. The fewer the notifications, the more likely you are to engage rather than irritate your customers.

<Img
img="/uploads/Estimated_number_of_weekly_push_notifications_that_make_people_stop_using_the_app_b37d256f3f.jpg"
alt="Estimated number of weekly push notifications that make people stop using the app"
/>

- **Ignoring time zones** – It’s not just about tailoring message content. You also have to send the right message at the right time. Poor timing will more likely get your app uninstalled.

- **Poor copy** – Push notifications are designed to be brief, so make sure the information delivered is relevant and intriguing.

- **No expiration** – If the sale is over, get rid of the notification from the system. Otherwise, it could lead to terrible experiences for customers.

Push mobile notifications are one of the best marketing tools you have at your disposal for re-engaging users. Here are some tips to help you design a user-centric push notifications strategy.

### 1. Market to people, not devices

People want personalized and relevant push notifications. Generic messages are nothing but an annoying distraction. To engage your users, you must first understand them. A great example of this is Netflix. Based on user streaming habits, the Netflix app sends push notifications informing users of shows they'd like or when new seasons of their favorite shows become available.

<Img
img="/uploads/netflix_app_push_7f7507c266.png"
alt="Netflix app push"
/>

To do this, start by [**mapping**](customer-journey-map-visualization-tools) user behavior. Did they view a product or read a post? How long was their app session? The Altcraft platform, by way of [**AK-Pixel**](ak-pixel) technology, collects, analyzes, and enriches user data allowing you to deliver push notifications that are personalized to user behavior. This way, you get to increase engagement and build a relationship with your audience.

### 2. Segment your audience

Good marketing is [**personalized**](/features/personalization) marketing. Accurate audience segmentation allows for perfectly tailored messages that suit your user behavior and needs. It's the era of big data – details about user demographics, browsing habits, and interests are readily available for you to customize your messages.

### 3. Get the Opt-In

Returning to the subject of operating system push notification services, it’s important to note that the APN service requires iOS users to grant permission for an app to send them push notifications. Android does not. The majority of iOS apps show a standard opt-in message when the app is first installed.

A better approach would be to create a customized welcome message that briefly explains the value of opting in. It's important to make a great first impression.

## Big Impact, Low Effort

Yes, mobile push notifications are worth all the hype. App push notifications expand your marketing reach, and they take very little time and effort to set up. So, what are you waiting for?

In a deeply competitive mobile landscape, mobile push is a dynamic marketing tactic that introduces an easier, better way to communicate with customers directly.

large_Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications.jpg

medium_Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications.jpg

small_Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications.jpg

thumbnail_Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications.jpg

Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications.jpg

Enter mobile push notifications – a new-age marketing tool with the ability to revolutionize the way you engage with and retain customers, whether potential, existing, or lapsed.

Mobile Push Notifications | Benefits for Your Business

Mobile Marketing 101: Push Notifications

<Img
img="/uploads/An_In_Depth_Guide_on_Web_Push_Notifications_71f911b97c.jpg"
alt="An In-Depth Guide on Web Push Notifications"
/> 

In the current competitive business environment, most small, medium, and large businesses face challenges in creating engaging channels that provide customers with relevant information for more clicks. This explains why more than 70% of online shoppers don’t return to online stores. If you have been struggling too, take advantage of web push notifications.

## What are Web Push Notifications?

Generally, push notifications, which includes web push and mobile push notifications, are rich-text messages, just like SMS, sent to devices from third-party applications. They are a one-way form of communication sent to alert or inform your prospects and customers. That said, it is worth noting that web push notifications are different from mobile push notifications.
Just to mention, mobile push notifications in the phone come from mobile applications, such as a notification from Gmail about a new letter, while web push notifications are sent by sites through the user's browser, such as a desktop device or on a smartphone, and you do not need to install the application to receive these notifications.

However, while both types of push notifications can be received on a mobile device, only web push notifications can be received on the desktop.

## How web push notifications work

A web push notification refers to a message delivered to a user's device from your website. The message is delivered as soon as they start browsing your site, on desktop or mobile. This content format alerts the user of generous offers and features—and the notification appears immediately when a user opens your website.

To use a web push notification, you need a set up with a web push notification service provider, who will also handle all the technical aspects related to delivery, activation, and content moderation.

Once you activate web push notifications, your website visitors will be prompted to subscribe. All they are needed do is click allow on the "Allow Button." Once they are subscribed, you can schedule notifications for them.

<Gallery>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/aliexpress_push_a48f1e683d.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/aliexpress_push_a48f1e683d.png"
description="Request for permission to send notifications on AliExpress"
/>
<GalleryItem
original="/uploads/Screenshot_from_2021_10_07_16_12_20_6be88570cb.png"
thumbnail="/uploads/Screenshot_from_2021_10_07_16_12_20_6be88570cb.png"
description="Request for permission to send notifications on Altcraft website"
/>
</Gallery>

Push notification is triggered by external scripts that are triggered even if the web page is not being used at the moment. The user will be notified as soon as his mobile device or computer connects to the network.

## Pros of Web Push Notifications

Below are the reasons you should use web push notifications:

- They reach web visitors, whether they are on your site or not
- Hooks both web and mobile visitors
- No email addresses required
- They encourage and accelerate conversion actions
- Subscribers are loyal to this information because they agreed to receive it
- Messages are not covered by [**spam filters**](how-to-send-millions-of-emails-and-avoid-spam-filters)
- Easy to manage
- There are no fake contacts to deal with
- Best for companies without mobile apps
- Cons of Web Push Notifications
- Users must agree to opt-in ([**one-third of web users**](https://www.airship.com/resources/infographic/accengage-push-notification-in-app-message-benchmark-for-mobile-apps/) disable push notifications)
- Ignoring or opting out is easier
- Some people prefer ads or [**emails**](how-to-build-an-email-database)

## How to Use Web Push Notifications for Business

Like any other digital marketing strategies, the underlying use cases for web push notifications are majorly determined by business objectives. As such, markets and businesses across multiple industries, especially affiliates, eCommerce, banking, media, and travel, can leverage web push notifications to achieve their business objectives. Below are some ways that businesses can use web push notifications.

### Customer Engagement and Retention

Currently, marketers across all industries have understood the value of existing customers and thus focus on improving user engagement and customer retention. For instance:

**Ecommerce** businesses can send notifications with discounts and offers for high-level engagement. Trivial messages, such as welcome notifications, help build customer trust. They are also best for the cart abandonment response strategy. The same applies to flash sales, where businesses can send push notifications with the seasons' collections and new arrivals to spark customer interest.

**Banking and financial** service providers can encourage their prospects to visit their site by sending notifications about special discounts, [**bonus reward points**](customer-loyalty-program) that customers can redeem, and cashback opportunities.

**Entertainment industry** – usually, entertainment industry-related websites are either blogs, news channels, sports channels, which have their individual websites. You can send the users notifications and updates in the entertainment industry to attract visitors to your entertainment websites. For instance, you can:

- Send visitors news about the latest releases — an album, movie, or a book by a celebrity.
- Update your subscribers about the latest trailer release
- Track your subscriber’s activity and segment their interests to match their favorite celebs
- Send notifications and updates to your sports fans about the most awaited match, send live scores

<Img
img="/uploads/which_industries_use_web_push_notifications_8c9a05e25e.png"
alt="Which industries use web push notifications?"
/> 

### Content Marketing

Currently, more than [**91% of B2B businesses**](https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdf) use content marketing to create awareness, guide buyers through their sales funnel, and aid decision-making. Digital marketers have increasingly turned to web push notifications to communicate to their clients with the main goal of building trust and driving leads. Businesses use push notifications for content marketing in the following ways:

- **Awareness-driven campaigns** – educating your clients about various aspects in your industry, such as how to use a product/service or defining complicated jargon, makes you an industry leader. Push notifications can simplify this.

<Img
img="/uploads/image_2021_10_07_16_04_02_38a87f964d.png"
alt="Web push notification about new blog article "
/>

- **Product/service updates** – you should inform your customers about new products or services and how these products suit their needs. Web push notifications can perfectly facilitate this.

Web push notifications can also be used for behavior-based communication, transactional updates, and product promotion.

## Web Push Notifications Best Practices

Push notifications are probably the best communication tools for various reasons. However, like any other digital marketing strategy, some tips improve its effectiveness. Below are tips for perfecting your web push notifications campaign:

- **Content**

Web push notifications allow businesses to broadcast information according to user behavior and interest. Therefore, you should ensure that these messages are tailored to suit the context. Consider all information available about the subject to [**personalize**](dynamic-content) these messages. Remember that there isn't much space to explain your message in detail. You are just prompting users to take a certain action.

Fortunately, [**rich push**](updates-rich-push-i-formy) functionality can ease this task. As the name suggests, rich push platform allows users to send push notifications with rich media statements. With rich push, you can create web push notifications for different browsers and operating systems. That aside, it allows users to send push notifications of several characters with images, audio, videos, and other interactive element attachments.  

<Img
img="/uploads/updates_rich_push_1918dff001.gif"
alt="Rich push editor"
src="Rich push editor in Altcraft Platform"
/> 

- **Timing**

Accurate timing of push notifications is crucial to maximizing customer engagement. Therefore, depending on text content, you can send notifications as a response to customer actions. Similarly, if you want to target dormant visitors, time the sending perfectly. Timing is especially important for brands with a worldwide audience.

As such, you should do a time zone check before sending out notifications. The time and day of the week matter. For instance, business and finance-related communications are best sent in the morning and at the beginning of the week. Gaming and entertainment perform better during the evenings and weekends. Fortunately, automation can help you plan and schedule these notifications in advance.

- **Distribution**

You should make sure that push notifications are delivered to the right audience. As such, you should have a clear understanding of your audience to run an effective push notifications campaign. Understanding your audience makes it easy to send finely targeted messages that are appropriate for specific scenarios. For instance, notifications sent to retain or lure old customers shouldn’t reach new customers who recently opted in. Newcomers should get a “welcome” message instead.

## Conclusion

Web push notifications are a precise online marketing tool. It provides a high level of precision when targeting specific users and groups. Besides, they are very visible and hard to ignore. Reaching your users on their phone or desktop, whether they are browsing your website or not, isn't an opportunity to overlook.

That said, you should consider using a third-party tool for your web push notifications. For this, consider using [**Altcraft Platform**](/en), an omnichannel marketing automation software. We provide businesses with multiple communication channels, including push notifications.

Web push notifications are contextual, timely, personalized messages featuring a quick-to-the-point alert or call to action. 

medium_An In-Depth Guide on Web Push Notifications.jpg

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Web push notifications are contextual, timely, personalized messages featuring a quick-to-the-point alert or call to action. Businesses use these messages to drive engagement back to the website.

An In-Depth Guide on Web Push Notifications

<Img
img="/uploads/influencer_marketing_e4e8fafe8f.jpg"
alt="Influencer marketing"
/> 

Influencer marketing is on the rise. From 2016 to 2020, investment in this type of marketing increased from $1.7 billion to $9.7 billion. Such brand trust proves that influencer promotion works. Let’s try to figure out what influencer marketing is and how to build a strategy for working with influencers and track the result correctly.

## What is Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing is promoting products or services through opinion leaders, or influencers. An influencer is not only a celebrity but also a blogger, an expert in his field, who runs social media. You don't need to have a million followers to become an influencer.

The effectiveness of influencer marketing does not depend on the number of subscribersю The engagement of the audience in the influencer's content — that’s what matters. Now people trust small bloggers whose audience does not exceed 3000 subscribers, more than large ones. Why? There are no strangers and you can feel free.

By audience size, influencers are divided into several groups:

- nano-influencers — 1,000 followers or less;
- micro-influencers — 1,000 – 100,000 followers;
- macro-influencers — 100,000 – 1 million followers;
- mega-influencers — more than 1 million followers.

The difference between influencer marketing and direct advertising in a native way. Product promotion doesn't look like advertising. From the point of view of the subscriber, a blogger is just a friend who recommends what he likes: products, places, entertainment. Advertising becomes part of the content, and the audience perceives it loyally. The influencer knows his audience well — he knows what topics subscribers like, so his account is a ready-made channel for communication and promotion on social media.

## Influencer Marketing Campaign Types

**Direct** recommendation is a call to follow a link or take a desired action.

**Review** is a detailed description of your product, or several products along with yours to make it look more natural.

**Product placement** is a technique where the brand is mentioned natively in a frame. Bloggers took this technique from the cinema industry. Remember what brand of sneakers Marty McFly wore in the second part of the trilogy? That's right, it was Nike!

**Unboxing** is a format when an influencer receives a product from you to test it out in front of his audience.

**Giveaway**  — contests on Instagram. You supply bloggers with your product or service and he promises to give this present to the followers who subscribe to his sponsors.

<Img
img="/uploads/giveaway_9bc7a81966.png"
alt="use giveaways on Instagram"
src="Lifebox Food and Punks and Chancers use giveaways on Instagram"
/>

## Influencer Marketing Strategy

Influencer promotion is a type of social media marketing, and proper marketing is impossible without a strategy. You can't just pick the most popular blogger and invite him to promote your brand. Even if an influencer has a million followers, the return will be minimal if his audience does not suit you. To start social media promotion through influencers, find the influencers in your niche, set the budget and goals of your campaign.

### 1. Find influencers and decide on the payment

It is easy to find a blogger with a suitable audience if you deal, for example, with beauty topics. For complex technical products, you will have to spend more time searching.

Three ways to find an influencer in your niche:

- Use special services. Look for bloggers on the topic you need through paid platforms: [**Epicstars**](https://ru.epicstars.com/), [**GetBlogger**](https://getblogger.ru/), [**LabelUp**](https://labelup.ru/), [**Adlab.io**](https://adlab.io/), [**Easyprbot**](https://easyprbot.com/#/reviews/), [**Efir.io**](https://efir.io/ru), [**trendHERO**](https://trendhero.io/ru/). These tools provide topics, account statistics, and ad prices.
- Blogger agencies. For example, [**Feedstars**](http://feedstars.ru/), [**Blogger Brand**](https://bloggerbrand.ru/) can help you select the influencer that suits you, but you’ll have to pay a commission for the service.
- Search yourself in thematic communities and specialized media or in the list of speakers at conferences. It is not the fastest option, but cheap.  

The advantage of cooperation with influencers is the ability to work on a barter basis. Usually, micro-influencers with a small number of subscribers agree to such conditions.

**Check influencers**

Not all bloggers are really popular. In fact, their audience may not be real.

Social media promotion is also a "dark" method that creates the appearance of success and misleads advertisers: bot followers, fake likes, bought comments. The platforms try to struggle with cheating, but it’s not always effective. That’s why before collaborating with an influencer, you should check it yourself.

- Boost subscribers, likes and comments

There are 10 thousand subscribers, but only 20 likes on the post. Looks suspicious, doesn’t it? Perhaps most account followers are bots. A lot of inane comments — “awesome content", "nice", and just emoji are also signs of cheating. How to check if you are looking at the account that employs bots? Use [**Panda Rank**](https://pandarank.com/ru/), [**LiveDune**](https://livedune.ru/), [**Hype Auditor**](https://hypeauditor.com/en/), [**FakeLikeInfo**](http://fakelikeinfo.ru/) and other services.

- Audience engagement

The normal engagement rate is 8-10%. When the indicator is lower, subscribers are not interested in the content. If the percentage is higher, it’s time to suspect cheating. The exception is peak situational moments of popularity growth.

For example, before the participation of the Italian group Måneskin in Eurovision 2021, there were no more than 3 thousand comments on the posts in their account. During the competition, the number increased to 10 thousand. On the publication with the winning award, subscribers left a record 27 thousand comments.

### 2. Assess the risks of working with bloggers

Influencers are non-professional advertisers. Some of them do not even understand what social media marketing is. In most cases, the audience liked their content because it appeared at the right time. Not everyone is good at advertising. What could go wrong?

Just because an influencer's content is successful doesn’t mean the ads for your brand will be the same. Before offering, find previous advertisers and ask them for [**feedback**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales) on working with the blogger, see other ads that were made by this blogger. Ask yourself if you are satisfied with its quality.

How to avoid mistakes? Set a clear task and agree on the approval of advertising before publication, provide additional materials and examples. But don't write a detailed script. Let the blogger do his things. His audience subscribed to his content. If he goes along with the script, like a puppet, the followers will notice it. They are unlikely to be happy.

### 3. Set your budget and stick to it

Some influencers can ask for a payment over your budget. In this case, offer barter plus payment or percentage of sales. But don't overestimate the influencer. Expensive is not always good. Remember, sometimes several micro-influencers are better than one macro-influencer. 

One ad integration with a very famous blogger will have a short-term effect — people look and forget. With several bloggers, you can test different ad formats and create the effect of your brand's presence everywhere. That’s how RICHE did this on Instagram.

<Img
img="/uploads/influencer_marketing_richecosmetics_13967dd424.jpg"
alt="Advertising campaign of the brand on Instagram"
src="RICHE advertising campaign on Instagram"
/>

How much does social media influencer marketing cost?

- The unspoken industry rule is $100 per 10,000 followers
- Another way is to count based on actual engagement: likes, comments, shares. Influencers that follow this pricing model charge $250 to $750 per 1000 engagement, on average.

Of course, any division is conditional, and the real price may differ from the general rules.

### 4. Set promotion goals

Promotion is a process that should always start with goals. Why do you need Influencers? What kind of result do you expect from them?

Possible options for the goals of influencer marketing:

- [**Brand awareness**](povyshayem-uznavayemost-brend-ustanavlivayem-avatar-email-otpravitelya) — more people will know about your product and not confuse it with another.
- More sales — increasing in units sold during the campaign.
- Increasing [**brand loyalty**](customer-loyalty) — the number of people who trust your brand speak positively about it.
- Engaging your audience in your content. A blogger can advertise not a product, but your resources and useful guides and other materials, which will later lead to a purchase.
- Increasing the number of subscribers in your social media accounts.

### 5. Track influencer campaigns

Assessing the effectiveness of influencer marketing depends on your goal.

**How to evaluate sales:**

- Give a unique [**promotional code**](/features/loyalty-programs) to an influencer. This way, you will find out how many purchases his audience made.

<Img
img="/uploads/promo_code_173d9a13fd.jpg"
alt="Promocode on Instagram from bloggers"
/>

- Use UTM in the link to track not only the fact of the sale but also the movement along the conversion funnel: from clicking on the blogger's link to actions in the cart of the online store. Such an analytics tool as  [**Google Analytics**](https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/provision/#/provision) will help you.
- Ask the influences for statistics, but you need to be sure of his honesty.

**How to track results on other goals:**

- Brand awareness can be measured by the number of searches in search engines for your brand, such as  [**Google Trends**](https://trends.google.ru/trends/?geo=RU). Compare results before, during and after the campaign.
- If it comes to track brand loyalty, you should measure the number and tone of comments on your publications and the blogger's post, or compare the ratio of likes and dislikes on YouTube.
- Audience engagement and retention is counted by the change in the number of likes, reposts and content shares during the campaign. For videos on Youtube, you can check how many people keep watching the video at the moment of advertising. If there is no fall, the audience accepts the advertisement positively.
- If you want to know how the number of subscribers is changing in your accounts, calculate the dynamics before and after the campaign and estimate how much you spent to get a customer.

## Conclusion

Influencer Marketing is an effective tool for brand promotion, but it is not a magic pill. The blogger does not give a guarantee of the result and may get out of your control, for example, to advertise not in the way you expect or even damage the company's reputation. Therefore, preparation is important — build a strategy, study the statistics and reputation of the influencer. Remember, you are going to make that person the face of your brand for the duration of the campaign.

We talk in detail about Influencer Marketing: what it is and how to build a strategy for working with influencers

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We will tell you what influencer marketing is and how it helps companies to promote.

What is Influencer Marketing and How to Use It for You Business

Influencer Marketing: How to Build Your Strategy

<Img
img="/uploads/marketing_attribution_definition_and_models_201442c7a1.jpg"
alt="What Is an Attribution Model"
/> 

The user goes to the website, sees the ads and immediately buys the product. That’s what every business wants. Unfortunately, this rarely happens — 98% of people do not visit a company’s website for the first time to make a purchase. On average, a purchase requires seven touches, and among these touches, each channel will more or less influence the user's decision. How do you know which channels are the most effective? Select and use a marketing attribution model.

## What is Attribution in Marketing

Attribution modeling is the distribution of value (weight or points) across the channels that led to the conversion. Attribution shows the [**customer journey**](stroim-customer-journey-map) from the first touch to the desired action.

**What does it mean?**

Let’s take a look at John. He saw an ad for sneakers on Facebook, became interested and clicked on the ad. On second thought he decided not to buy it yet. Later, John was shown a banner ad for the same sneakers, but this time on Google. He went to the website again and even added the product to the cart, but forgot about it. After 5 days, he saw an advertisement again. This time on Instagram. He even took a screenshot so as not to forget and look later, but he did not click on the advertisement. Later that evening, John found a model of the sneaker on Google and finally bought it.

**Which channel brought the client?**

If you think it was organic search, then this is one type of attribution. But what if it was the first touch on Facebook ads? Then it is another type. Evaluating all channels equally is the third one.

Attribution is a tool that helps to track touches with a brand and understand where to invest money, and on which channel the budget is not worth spending.

Also, with attribution models, a conversion window is set — the period of time between the first touch and the purchase. There may be options: from 1 day to 28 or more. It depends on the length of the sales cycle.

Let's say we are launching a campaign to sell a certain brand of cars. In this case, the attribution window should be at least 28 days, because hardly anyone decides to buy a car spontaneously in 3-7 days or less.

How to track customer touches with a brand? Different platforms collect only their own data: Facebook, VK, Google services and others. If you want to track what result each channel brings, you can use a [**tracking pixel**](ak-pixel). It is a piece of code that collects information about user actions. All you need to do is to add this code to the pages of your company website.

## Why You Need to Use Attribution in Marketing

The [**customer journey**](customer-journey-automation) to purchase, where he saw and bought, is rare, especially if the product is complex and expensive. After the first acquaintance, your customer goes through several stages: clicking on a banner ad, subscribing to a newsletter, searching for a product and information about it on Google. If the company does not know how the customer actually comes to the purchase, then it risks investing the budget in the wrong channels.

**How marketing attribution helps businesses:**

- The ability to properly distribute the marketing budget between channels and reduce the risk of losing money, as well as increase ROAS and ROI.
- Better [**personalization**](/features/personalization). The more you know about your customers, the more likely you offer them what they need and do this using the right channel — the customer-friendly one.
- Building a relationship with a client. Relationship marketing is the key to long and profitable relationships with users or partners. This type of marketing has replaced the paradigm of fierce competition and conflict. The built relationship with the company retains the customer and helps to personalize purchases and services.

## Types of Attribution Models

When it comes to marketing attribution, one size doesn’t fit all. The same model will not work for every business. For example, for the real estate industry, counting the last click is a bad idea. It can take several months from the first touch to the purchase of an apartment. Let's look at different types of attribution models and discuss their pros and cons. 

### First Click Attribution

The first interaction with the user, such as a click on a banner ad, gets the most value per conversion. It is estimated that the platform, where the first touch took place, brought the desired action. The rest of the channels are not taken into account. 

**Pros:**

- Easy to understand and implement. 
- Opportunity to evaluate brand awareness campaigns and demand generation.  

**Cons:**

- It's not an advanced model, there are optimization limitations. In other words, we always evaluate only the first channel. Is it effective or not? Should we increase the budget for it or limit it? 
- “Accurate” and “impartial” — it is not about this model, because First Click Attribution does not take into account the merits of other touches. 

<Img
img="/uploads/first_click_attribution_7c5d93a800.jpg"
alt="First Click Attribution"
/>

### Last Click Attribution

The main value goes to the source that the user visits before making the desired action. Last click attribution has long been the most popular and even now it is the default setting in Google Analytics. 

**Pros:**

- A good option for tracking purchases that happen quickly and spontaneously.
- The model is accurate and easy to evaluate. For example, if users clear cookies, all data will be lost. But with the last touch attribution model, it’s not a deciding factor, because the period between the last click and the moment of conversion is short.

**Cons:**

- Other types of interactions are not counted, so you might draw the wrong conclusions about your campaign.

<Img
img="/uploads/last_click_attribution_5aff535620.jpg"
alt="Last Click Attribution"
/>

### Last Indirect Click Attribution Model

This model is similar to the previous one, but it gives more value not to the click, but to the last marketing action before lead conversion.

**Pros:**

- The model filters direct traffic that may have been the result of campaigns providing more informative and accurate data.

**Cons:**

- As with last-click attribution, we can’t track the customer journey.

<Img
img="/uploads/last_indirect_click_attribution_e2364b28d4.jpg"
alt="Last Indirect Click Attribution Model"
/>

### Linear Attribution

The value is distributed across all touchpoints. The linear model seems more impartial than last-click and first-click attribution, but it remains controversial because all channels cannot be equally effective.

**Pros:**

- Simple but more advanced than single-channel models. 
- A balanced view of your entire marketing strategy.
- It will show which channels have value — it will display each channel that participated in the path to conversion.

**Cons:**

- Although we can see all the channels that participated in the conversion, we will not be able to find out which one worked better. In other words, the model is useless if you need to distribute the budget for each channel in terms of efficiency. 

<Img
img="/uploads/linear_attribution_2105cd6457.jpg"
alt="Linear Attribution"
/>

### Time Decay Attribution

More weight in this model belongs to interactions that were closest to the conversion. The first touches are less valuable.

**Pros:**

- Scientific and logical model.
- Suitable for transactions with a long sales cycle, such as purchases in B2B or in the real estate industry.
- Helps evaluate customer relationship building campaigns.

**Cons:**

- It is almost impossible to define which channels brought the user first.
- The risk of overestimating the merit of a channel. The last visit before buying is not always decisive.

<Img
img="/uploads/time_decay_attribution_103b2b8beb.jpg"
alt="Time Decay Attribution"
/>

### Position-Based, or U-Shaped Attribution

The first and last touchpoints receive 40% of the value each, while the remaining 20% is divided between any touches that occurred in the middle of the funnel.

**Pros:**

- A powerful tool for the businesses that initially have a plan for multiple touchpoints before buying, rather than fast conversions.
- The most important channels receive value: the user's first acquaintance with the product and the last touch that motivates him to buy.

**Cons:**

- It doesn't consider marketing efforts beyond lead conversion. The first touch is not always successful. For example, the user doesn’t always understand what you are selling after the first touch. In this case, the following touches will introduce him to your product. Sometimes the actions in the middle of the funnel are more significant: notifications about a new price, newsletters about new products, perhaps, motivate them better than direct advertising.

<Img
img="/uploads/position_based_attribution_7dc46aaffa.jpg"
alt="Position-Based, or U-Shaped Attribution"
/>

### Data Driven Model

It is an algorithmic attribution model that uses machine learning to evaluate the customer's actions before he makes a purchase. Algorithms choose the most effective ads, keywords, and campaigns. In this attribution model, the patterns that led to the purchase or, conversely, prevented it, are found and compared.

**Pros:**
 
- The model is advanced and provides accurate data.
- Opportunity to assess all channels that you use to communicate with the customer.

**Cons:**

- It’s difficult to set up and work with it. You’ll have to find powerful software and competent analysts.

<Img
img="/uploads/data_driven_attribution_142be320fa.jpg"
alt="Data Driven Model"
/>

### W-Shaped Attribution

The model looks like a U-Shaped attribution, but this time it’s not only extreme points that get weight. We have an additional touchpoint. It’s a touch in the middle of the path, where there is a possibility that the client will become a buyer. For example, a company launched a mailing list, held a private sale, and so on. These points receive 30% each, and the remaining 10% is divided among other touches in the funnel.

**Pros:**

- Evaluating potential touchpoints that could have induced a customer to purchase in the middle of the journey. It gives you an opportunity to optimize a campaign, add or exclude broken channels.
- Suitable for lead generation campaigns.

**Cons:**  

- It is not always clear how the customer met the brand in the middle of the journey, 10% of the value for all other touches is negligible.
- Complexity of customization.

<Img
img="/uploads/w_shaped_attribution_e05ec5b80c.jpg"
alt="W-Shaped Attribution"
/>

### Full-Path, or Z-Shaped Attribution

The Z-shaped model takes the concepts of the W-shaped model. So we have the first touch, the last one and the stage of the conversion opportunity. But this time you get a touchpoint where the user becomes a lead: he subscribes to the newsletter or sends his email in exchange for something (usually content). 22.5% of the value is divided between four touchpoints, and the remaining 10% — between the rest.

**Pros:**

- Accurate and complete tracking of the customer's path to conversion.
- More opportunities to define strategies that work.

**Cons:**

- Difficulty in implementation. The model is only suitable for companies where marketing and sales are fully synchronized, and marketing deals directly with existing sales opportunities.

<Img
img="/uploads/z_shaped_attribution_f95dc2e0ac.jpg"
alt="Full-Path, or Z-Shaped Attribution"
/>

### Custom Attribution

A model works for companies with well-built marketing and sufficient resources: technology and competent analysts. The value is assigned manually for each interaction, but only after deep analytics of a large amount of data.

**Pros:**

- A complete picture of the customer journey with all the nuances.

**Cons:**

- This model is for advanced teams because it’s difficult to set up.
- It requires a lot of data to analyze, which takes time. Therefore, the model will pay off for a large sales cycle.

## Conclusion

Working with attribution models requires resources: time, team knowledge, advanced software. Used correctly, the attribution model will become a reference point for the company. A successful business knows not only the portrait of its client but also his path to purchase, which means it gets more chances to offer its product or service to the customer at the right time and in the right place.

How do you know which channels are the most effective? Select an attribution model and collect data from all customer touchpoints.

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How do you know which channels are the most effective? Choose and use an attribution model.

What Is an Attribution Model in Marketing and Why Businesses Need It

Marketing Attribution: Definition and Models

<Img
img="/uploads/blog_3032affa13.jpg"
alt="How to Use Customer Feedback to Increase Sales"
/>

Marketers have been in back-to-back crisis meetings over the past few years. Hackneyed solutions reached a dead end — a long time ago. Consumption patterns are erratic, and brand loyalty is fluid like never before. For these and other woes that bedevil the marketing department, experts preach one solution — data driven marketing.

## What Is Data-Driven Marketing? Why Is It Important?

This is using customer information to optimize business advertising and marketing communications. In data-driven marketing, marketers collect consumers' data and run them through data analytics tools to predict what the buyers need, why, where, and how.

Data-driven marketing is used by many brands to better [**segment**](how-to-build-an-email-database) their audiences. When brands have the right data, they can identify which consumers participate in their marketing efforts, identify the best channels and narrow down the times of the day customers are most receptive.

In addition, through data-driven marketing techniques like [**A/B/n testing**](/features/mvt),  brands can test-drive twin campaigns and choose one with the best reception among customers.  This saves companies a lot of money in the long run and guarantees a bigger return on investments.

A key advantage of data-driven digital marketing is [**personalization**](/features/personalization). Brands can now create personalized marketing strategies using the data gleaned from customer interactions. The end goal is to maximize the return per dollar of advertising.

When businesses gather and analyze customers' data, they can discover trends and customer needs. The new information then helps to determine what kind of advertising and selling methods to employ.

<Img
img="/uploads/Data_Driven_Marketing_Objectives_1a971fec4b.jpg"
alt="Data Driven Marketing Objectives"
/>

A daily life example of this is OTT platforms. To suggest other movies, films, music videos, and videos to their subscribers, Over The Top media platforms such as [**Netflix**](https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-marketing-strategy-brand-deals-campaigns-partners-details-2019-6) and YouTube constantly analyze their customers' preferences.

Data-driven marketing also played a significant part in the Lion King campaign's success. In November 2018, more than 2M mentions on social media as well as more than 5,000 media mentions revealed the importance of highlighting [**James Earl Jones'**](https://www.thephuketnews.com/a-roaring-success-the-lion-king-remake-a-cinematic-masterpiece-to-change-cgi-forever-72250.php) return!

## How to Build a Data Driven Marketing Strategy?

The challenges of data-driven digital marketing are also numerous. Many conditions must be fulfilled for such a strategy to work effectively. The most crucial step is to build a foolproof data-driven marketing strategy—for this, you need to map out your sales funnel, find the right data-driven solutions and assemble a competent team, including professionals who specialize in audience amplification or predictive analytics.

**The main actions in designing a data driven marketing plan are:**

- **Find your target audience.** Identify who your target market is in this section of the project. You will need to specify demographic information such as location, age, gender, and interests of your target audience.

- **Define goals.** There are many potential objectives you can choose from, such as increasing sales, growing brand awareness, driving more traffic to your website, or improving customer satisfaction.

- **Collect data.** You can get data from your CRM, sales histories, message applications, and customer survey results. If you are looking for a tool to unify profiles and store customer data in one place, pay attention to a [**Customer Data Platform**](/features/cdp) (CDP).

- **Analyze data.** According to Forbes, almost 36% of companies do not use their big data to the full extent, and 47% plan to introduce a data analysis tool in the future. You need to analyze the harvested data to identify the answers to your research questions.

- **Implement the insights.** After the data-driven analysis follows implementation. This stage uses insights from digital marketing data to optimize the [**customer journey**](customer-journey-automation). Study findings show that 80% of respondents prefer companies that offer personalized experiences. This is possible through data-driven content distributed across different channels.

- **Analyze results.** The data-driven approach requires regular and rigorous [**measurement**](/features/analytics) of results. Tracking the behaviors of your customers is the only way to tailor your strategy to their needs. Remember to keep testing after reviewing the first results and refine your campaign approach as appropriate.

## Data-Driven Marketing Metrics

<Img
img="/uploads/data_driven_metrics_1f9cf365d1.jpg"
alt="Data-Driven Marketing Metrics"
/>

Do not fly blind. For your company's data-driven strategy to succeed, it is essential to select key performance indicators (KPIs). These are the crucial data-driven analytics metrics that warrant your precious attention, efforts, and finances as a marketer.

- **Traffic sources**

Your business has a lot of opportunities to convert traffic (website visitors) into customers, so it's essential to measure your traffic month after month. Setting realistic conversion goals can help you achieve them.

What is the source of your website visitors? Your website may receive traffic from various sources, including organic keywords, direct traffic, links social media, or email. Focus your efforts on your biggest source of traffic.

- **Return on investment (ROI)**

Simply put, calculating your ROI means answering this question: did we make a profit after all our marketing expenses? You can calculate ROI by subtracting expenditures from gains.

- **Customer acquisition costs (CAC)**

You can measure how much money your strategy costs per customer to convert. Customer acquisition costs can silently destroy your business if they are too high.

- **Customer lifetime value (LTV)**

LTV represents a customer's lifetime spending capacity on your product. As a result, this can be a powerful metric to help you decide how much money to invest in customer acquisition - if you spend more than you earn, you'll lose money.

- **Customer churn rate**

A company's customer churn rate means the number of customers who leave the company. This metric is also known as the customer rate of attrition. It is critical for digital marketers to track this measurement as it is a litmus test of marketing efforts.

- **Customer satisfaction (CSAT)**

Customers' satisfaction is a metric that shows how pleased customers are with a company's products or services. With this data at hand, marketers can improve customer experience or feedback insights to teams in product design. There is nothing better to find out if the client is happy with your product than to ask him about it. That’s why it's really important to collect [**customer feedback**](how-to-use-customer-feedback-to-increase-sales) correctly.

## Conclusion

A data-driven marketing approach can lead to extraordinary business growth. Big data is captured, marketing metrics are used, data science and analytics are harnessed. Success follows soon!

Are you ready to optimize your marketing with data-driven insights? Contact us for a [**demo**](https://altcraft.com/setupDemo).





In data-driven marketing, marketers collect consumers' data and run them through data analytics tools to predict what the buyers need, why, where, and how.

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What Data-Driven Marketing Is | Build a Data-Driven Strategy

Data-Driven Marketing: Strategy and Metrics

<Img
img="/uploads/blog_8746406d02.jpg"
alt="How to Use Customer Feedback to Increase Sales"
/>

A customer review is a feedback from customers on your products or services and an obligatory attribute of the business. However, companies do not always understand its significance: they do not collect, they only react to positive reviews and do not work with negative ones. This approach is a mistake. Reviews build customer loyalty, inform users about the product smoothly, help identify flaws, improve the product and drive sales. We are about to tell you why customer feedback is important and how to get it correctly.

## Why customer feedback is important

[**89%**](https://www.oberlo.com/blog/online-review-statistics) of buyers read reviews before a purchase, so ignoring customer reviews is a bad idea. 

**Reviews build customer trust.** A product without reviews is suspicious, as the one that has only positive comments. Companies are afraid of criticism, so they often publish good impressions on their websites. However, users do not believe such "sterile" responses and go to third-party sources: Google Maps, [**Tripadvisor**](https://www.tripadvisor.com/), [**Yelp**](https://www.yelp.com/). Another way to get to the truth is to check out social networks.

Unscrupulous companies ignore and remove negative reviews, but this approach cannot do anything but annoys customers. Don’t be afraid of bad reviews, react to such feedback. 45% of consumers say they’re more likely to visit a business that responds to negative reviews.

<Img
img="/uploads/examples_responding_negative_reviews_1b1e2d5a3b.webp"
alt="Example of how to respond to negative reviews"
src="Example of how to respond to bad reviews correctly"
/>

**Customer feedback** is also an increase in sales. Nine out of ten online orders are made by people after reading reviews. A good, detailed commentary is more convincing than any ad campaign. It helps customers understand if a product is right for them. Research from "AliExpress Russia" showed that 65% of buyers turn to someone else's opinion for this purpose. People read user stories and find information that is not in the standard description. For example, you can find out that shoes are small in size only from the reviews in the product card on the company's website or marketplace.

Reviews are the basis of Booking and Airbnb services for booking hotels and daily accommodation. No descriptions and beautiful photos will help you if someone writes about cockroaches in the room.

<Img
img="/uploads/Screenshot_from_2021_07_30_17_36_18_c4c4ef6294.png"
alt="Reviews on Airbnb"
src="Reviews on Airbnb"
/>

## How to get customer feedback

The best way to get feedback is to ask. People don't always write them by themselves. Some of them don't think it's important, others just forget. They are also more likely to leave bad feedback and not share positive impressions.

The feedback formats:

- **Text reviews** — a description of the product or service by the client. It can be an opinion or a detailed review.
- **Photo reviews** — photos describing a product or service. Sometimes buyers even take pictures of the unpacking process and pay attention to the packaging.
- **Video reviews** — in the format of a "talking head" or professional reviews, for example, in blogs on Youtube.
- **Audio reviews** are not the most popular, but easy, because the user does not need to formulate the text or waste time shooting a video.


### How to ask for feedback

**Send an email asking to describe the buying experience.** This is what sellers on Amazon often do when a buyer has received an order.

<Img
img="/uploads/amazon_message_template_96a0b225ae.webp"
alt="Amazon seller request for review"
src="Amazon seller request for review"
/>

**Use website pop-ups or special forms.** Sometimes a user wants to capture his impression but does not understand how to do it on your website. Make it easy for the customer — don't hide the feedback form. If the feedback is negative, your managers should see and process it than wait until users leave such a review on popular platforms.

**Call the customer once he makes a purchase.** For example, banks and Internet providers ask clients to rate a consultation as soon as they help them deal with a problem. With modern tools, a call from a living person is not even required, a robot will do everything for you.

**Conduct a survey on social media**. Ask a series of questions, either short-answer or multiple choice.
 
**Ask for a review in person** at the moment of receiving the purchase. In this case, you can take a photo of the customer with the product, record a video, or just conduct a quick survey. However, don't insist if the client doesn't want to film or leave feedback. Everything should be voluntary and honest.
 
**Collect feedback from customer chats** when they write to you personally about their problem. It's also a good way to deal with negative customer experience before it goes public.

**Look for reviews on social media — on the accounts of users or in the comments.** Do it using requests or special services: YouScan, SemanticForce, IQBuzz and others. They show mentions of the company by keywords. You can also process negative reviews and respond to user questions.

## How to encourage customers to write reviews about a company, products and services

You can ask for feedback over and over again. There’s no point. Users stuck in a rut forget about you, or they just do not want to waste time on a review. This is where thanks for the feedback as a bonus comes in handy.

What should be offered to customers for feedback:

- Discount for the next order or gift. If there is a discount for a related product, then you will also make an upsell.
- Bonus for a recommendation on social media or to a friend. If a client publishes a review on his account or tells a friend about you (for example, sends a promo code or a referral link), he will receive a discount, points to a bonus account, or a freebie. In our marketing automation platform [**Altcraft Marketing**](https://altcraft.com/en), it’s easy to generate personal promotional codes and award points for a referred friend in the loyalty program management [**module**](https://altcraft.com/features/loyalty-programs).
- Competition for the best, detailed, creative product review, for example, in the form of a review.

You can also show reviews of other clients. The principle of social proof works here — people often make decisions or do something because they look at others.

## What matters when collecting feedback

**Leaving a review should be as simple and fast as sending a message on Facebook.** For example, you cannot fail to notice the section for rating the film on Netflix. All you need to do is to tap a star. And it doesn't matter if you watch a movie on the website or in a mobile app.

<Img
img="/uploads/netflix_5a0bd5d5cb.webp"
alt="Reviews on Netflix"
src="An example of collecting ratings for movies on Netflix"
/>

**Make sure to thank your customers for their feedback.** They have spent their time on you, so appreciate it and you will get their loyalty in return.

**Don't write puff pieces.** If you buy a review, people will notice this, and it will cause only negative emotions. Especially if you recently received bad comments and immediately decided to cover them with a few positive ones. Hundreds of reviews about a young company that has just appeared on the market will be suspicious as well.

**Explain what you want to get from the customer in the review**: product photo or detailed description. General phrases in the response are not credible; they are useless for the company.

"I liked everything. I recommend it.” — this is a poor choice of words for a review. Why did you like it? What are the features of a product or service? Likewise with "I didn't like it." What exactly? To get detailed answers, the client needs to be given a hint through questions. You can ask the following questions:
- Why did you choose our product?
- What problem did you want to solve with our product? What was the result?
- What expectations did you have from the product and did it live up to them?
- Would you recommend our product?
- What would you like to change?
-  What did you like the most?

## Benefits of collecting customer feedback

A product that makes the customer happy sells well. Solve the user problem, address his needs and you will make him happy. The only way to find out if your product has worked is to ask consumers. Therefore, customer reviews are the key to increase sales.

What’s your profit from collecting and analyzing customer feedback?

- **Feedback will help you improve your product or service.** You will find out what your customers like and what annoys them, what prevents them from using your product. Reviews will give unexpected insights.

- **Increased customer loyalty.** Asking for and responding to feedback is a way to show that you hear the customer and care about them. Bad responses should be responded to constructively, not ignored. The correct answer and analysis of the situation can turn a disgruntled client into a brand advocate. Other users will see the answer and make a mental note: “This company is not indifferent to customer problems”.

- **Reviews find "breaches" in a product or service and seal them off.** When launching a product, you rely on [**marketing research**](how-to-do-market-research), and this is reviews that complement them in the process. Through them, you will study consumer behavior in reality, and not in a simulated situation.

- **Returning customers and increasing revenue.** If the buyer is disappointed in the product, received a poor-quality service and writes about it, then the answer will not only reduce the negative, but also bring the client back. How? Offer to fix everything and do it 100%. Then the client will buy from you again. He may even recommend your product to his friends and acquaintances.

- **Building future strategies of the company based on feedback from customers** and creating products for the needs of people.

- **Additional promotion.** Reviews are unique content that mentions your brand and does not repeat itself in descriptions on different websites. Take reviews on your website and use them on social media.

## What Altcraft Marketing offers

Altcraft Marketing has its own built-in service for creating surveys. This tool is called [**Forms**](updates-telegram-bot-facebook-ads-manager). Using it, you can easily collect the customer data you are interested in. If you know in advance what your customers are unhappy with, you will be able to quickly react to negative reviews and maintain a positive opinion of your brand.

Implement an NPS survey through "Forms". In a Net Promoter Score survey, customers are asked to answer the question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague?”. Those who gave a score of 9 or 10 are promoters; 7 or 8 — passives; less than 7 — detractors. Such a survey is considered to be very useful in measuring [**customer loyalty**](customer-loyalty).

The survey can be posted on a separate page or embedded in the site as an iframe code. When it is published, its analytics will open for you.

<Img
img="/uploads/NPS_survey_in_Altcraft_NPS_dbacab3a8b.png"
alt="NPS Survey in Altcraft Marketing"
src="NPS Survey in Altcraft Marketing"
/>

## Conclusion

Customer feedback is the key to increasing sales. Of course, this is not a guide to action, but only opinions that need to be filtered and analyzed. Reviews let you know how your product or service works and what customers actually want to see. Get to know your audience. This way, you will improve the product or service and fine-tune it to better meet customer expectations.

Why is customer feedback important? In a new article, we will tell you why customer reviews are important and how to collect them correctly.

Customer feedback is important to a brand. We will tell you how to collect reviews and use them to increase sales.

Customer Data Platform

Omnichannel Marketing

Loyalty programs

Drag-and-drop email designer

Personalized mailings

MVT and A/B testing

Real-time analytics

Integration and WebHooks

Forms and Surveys

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