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<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/richecosmetics_70130493b6.png"
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

medium_influencer marketing.jpg

small_influencer marketing.jpg

thumbnail_influencer marketing.jpg

influencer marketing.jpg

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.

medium_marketing-attribution-definition-and-models.jpg

small_marketing-attribution-definition-and-models.jpg

thumbnail_marketing-attribution-definition-and-models.jpg

marketing-attribution-definition-and-models.jpg

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 It Data-Driven Marketing | 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 Feedback: How to Collect and Use to Increase Sales

How to Use Customer Feedback to Increase Sales

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img="/uploads/blog_f8e91e069d.jpg"
alt="How to Do Market Research"
/> 

You can’t launch an advertising campaign and build a marketing strategy without sufficient information — it's a business risk. Successful marketing research will help launch products that are interesting to the audience. It's not always low-cost to do research, but to enter the market with a product that the consumer doesn't need is an even bigger loss of money. Find out in this article what marketing research is and how to do it correctly. 

## What is marketing research?

Marketing research is the collection, classification and analysis of information about the market situation: prices, competitors, customers and more. Market data allows businesses to build strategies and minimize uncertainty. Market research is carried out by individual companies and specialized agencies; for example, [**Deloitte**](https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-consulting-global-marketing-trends.pdf), [**BCG Group**](https://web-assets.bcg.com/3d/c7/1a2d0ffb480d8d4eb45412854116/20201009-consumer-sentiment-wave-3.pdf) and others.

<Img
img="/uploads/Deloitte_Insights_741394b2ef.png"
alt="Market research example"
src="Market research examples of Deloitte"
/>

## Why is marketing research important?

Internal marketing analytics answers the question "what is happening", whereas marketing research tells you "why this is happening."

Imagine, some analytic data shows that 30% of users abandon an item in an online shopping cart. It’s marketing analysis that can explain the reason: too high of delivery costs, inconvenient checkout process, competitors were cheaper, and so on.

**Marketing research is necessary to:**

- Identify trends and best practices in the market and repeat successful experiences.
- Get to know your potential customers and their needs, and give them what they want.
- Plan new products, services and changes in the company, not in isolation, but together with consumers.
- Run more effective marketing campaigns: marketing is still numbers, not just creative ads.
- Get to know competitors and work with them correctly; understand strengths and weaknesses.
- Build pricing correctly.
- Adjust business strategies if market trends change.

The market research volume is projected to [**grow**](https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/market-research-services-market) to $83 billion by 2023. For comparison, it was $76 billion in 2019. This means that companies are putting less and less trust in the intuition and authority of leaders, and are instead trusting the data.

<Img
img="/uploads/Prognoz_rynka_marketingovyh_issledovanij1_ab8c39cb5d.jpg"
alt="Forecast for marketing research till 2023"
/>

## Primary and secondary research

Marketing research is divided into two types: primary and secondary. They differ in the way the information is collected.

### Primary marketing research

Such research is conducted from scratch by the companies themselves. They do not use information from third-party sources. Primary research answers specific questions, and the research purpose is always aligned with the company's business. This type of research is reliable because the company knows exactly how the data was collected and what methods of counting were used. However, primary field research is not always within budget.

### Secondary marketing research

Secondary research is a search for information among already existing materials from both official and unofficial sources: reports of other companies, agencies, consulting companies and government organizations (IBISWorld, CB Insights). The downside is that you cannot be sure of the accuracy of the information and the correctness of the calculations. Additionally, the data from such research quickly becomes outdated.

## Types of market research

There are dozens of types of market research. Due to the development of digital technologies, there is a need for new ones. Let's talk about the most popular types of research.

<Table>
| **Type** | **Description** |
| ------ | ------ |
| **Market Research** | Exploring opportunities, mechanisms and market trends in order to make appropriate business decisions. The position of competitors and potential obstacles are also assessed. As a result, the company can find the right niche and assess the profitability of the business in the current environment. |
| **Macrosystem Research** | Analysis of external conditions — all markets in the industry that can indirectly affect the results of the company. | 
| **Buyer Persona Research** | Identification of the target audience — age, gender, income, social status, interests, education and other parameters  — in order to determine the correct segmentation of the audience. Research gives you a deep understanding of the audience's problems in order to offer a solution as a product or service. |
| **Competitor Research** | Allows you to identify the weaknesses and advantages of competitors and assess the possibilities of cooperation. Analyze competitor's prices and advertising campaigns. Competitive analysis helps you understand your place in the market, separate yourself from competitors, and ultimately outrun them. |
| **Product or Service Use Research** | Product researchers study the specifics of how consumers use the product: how they react, what difficulties they have in the process, etc. Research drives product improvement. |
| **Pricing Research** | Price research is the study of the cost of similar goods on the market: what price the buyer expects and what price he is actually ready to pay. The purpose of the study is to find the price at which the company will receive the maximum profit in the current environment. |
| **Brand Awareness Research** | Helps you understand whether the target audience knows your brand, whether potential customers perceive you correctly, and how you could improve your positioning. |
| **Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research** | Assessing the level of customer satisfaction with a product, service or company. The research shows whether the customer's expectations match reality and what flaws are experienced with your product. As a result, the company receives an answer on how to make the level of loyalty such that the customer comes back to make a repeat purchase. Besides, these studies help to adjust advertising campaigns and find ways to improve customer experience. |
| **Market Segmentation Research** | The company defines consumer segments in the industry. This way, it can offer each segment a product according to their interests, habits, and product needs. By analyzing each segment, you can identify narrow niches and create a product entirely for the client. |
| **Campaign Research** | Research and analysis of past campaigns takes place through an experiment that is carried out with existing clients and potential audiences. A research analyst explores the elements of campaigns that generate the greatest response in order to use them in future projects. |
</Table>

## Marketing research methods

Among the classic marketing research methods are observation, focus groups, polls, interviews and experiments.

**Observation** — Researchers observe a person who uses a product under real or simulated conditions.

**Focus groups** — Several people in a group of 6-10 test out the product and then discuss it with a moderator. This method can cost you a pretty penny, and there is a risk of dishonesty from the participants because of the influence of other people in the group and the authority of the moderator. Another flaw is that focus groups cover a rather narrow audience.

**Survey** — the easiest and most popular way to research. The respondent is asked to answer a series of questions, either short-answer or multiple choice. There is the potential for false results because buyers might report loyalty to some brands in the survey, but buy others.

With the development of technology, market research methods are becoming more digital and the research process is accelerating. Online surveys are very easy to conduct, and companies actively use this option on websites and social networks.

The marketing automation platform [**Altcraft Marketing**](/en) has its own service for creating surveys, questionnaires and applications. This service is called [**Forms**](updates-in-the-altkraft-marketing-platform). Using directly obtained data, you will make targeted advertising and get new customers. In addition, if you are aware in advance of what your customers are unhappy with, you can quickly react to negative reviews. This way, you’ll be able to keep a positive public opinion about your brand.

<Img
img="/uploads/aviasales_ad6e8b5536.png"
alt="Example of a survey on the Aviasales website"
src="Example of a survey on the Aviasales website that users see while the ticket search is loading"
/>

**Experiment** — A method that studies a change in some familiar parameters: packaging, prices, elements, configuration, etc. One or more variables are changed and the results observed. This method can be costly, especially if the price is changed for the experiment.

**Interview** — A one-on-one conversation with respondents. This method helps to dive deeper into the client's difficulties. What’s more, interviewers can read non-verbal signals during an in-person meeting. The method can bring about unexpected conclusions; for example, one may learn opinions about the product that the company did not even know about.

## Marketing research steps

In the classic marketing research process, there are 6 steps.

### Step 1. Identify the problem

The first step in the marketing research process is to decide what problem we must solve with the help of research: an advertising campaign is ineffective, demand for a product is decreasing, a new product is released that needs to be made successful, and so on. Then we define the research purpose. The purpose should answer the question of how to solve the problem or correctly identify it. Based on the goals, we set tasks — the actions that will lead to the goal.

Let’s say we have a company. We’ll call it Company N. Company N’s competitors released a new product, and sales dropped. The purpose of the research may be to determine the competitive advantages of a competitor's product, and then use the collected data to refine your product. Tasks are comparing prices, analyzing reviews for each product, and more.

### Step 2. Research plan

To avoid possible mistakes, the plan should be detailed and include the following points: research budget, methods, sources of information (primary or secondary), description of the audience for the sample, and methods of collecting information.

### Step 3. Collecting data

This is the longest stage, and also where the most mistakes occur. Here you can face bad faith of respondents, market researcher bias and even incorrect data collection. Detailed preparation for research helps you to minimize errors.

### Step 4. Data analysis

Researchers analyze the data they obtained using electronic means, market research tools or on their own (for example, open questions in surveys). Based on the analysis, the results are formed.

The analysis includes:
- data verification: surveys with questions, viewing interviews and so on;
- editing: excluding incorrect answers and those that cannot be processed;
- classification of responses and coding them into a more understandable form;
- transfer of data to the analysis tool: tables, special services;
- data cleansing and work with missing answers, data correction;
- the data analysis itself.

### Step 5. Presentation of results

The customer of the study receives the processed data in the form of clear and formalized results and conclusions. The report also includes a description of the objectives, research methods, and recommendations.

### Step 6. Making decisions

After checking the results, the customer draws conclusions and makes business decisions regarding the problem that the research is supposed to address. In some cases, research can actually reveal a new problem.

<Img
img="/uploads/6_steps_to_successful_marketing_research_b9b7479034"
alt="Marketing research steps"
/>

## Conclusion

Marketing research is a pillar for business and a kind of compass that indicates the right direction of development. No method can give a 100% guarantee that your business decisions are correct. But with research, there is a better chance of getting an objective picture and avoiding the [**HiPPO Effect**](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/10/26/data-driven-decision-making-beware-of-the-hippo-effect/?sh=571fc6780f9f), when a business makes decisions based only on the opinions and intuition of managers. Data is a more reliable advisor.

Successful marketing research will help launch products that are interesting to the audience. Learn about the steps of the marketing research process in our new article.

You can’t launch an advertising campaign and build a marketing strategy without sufficient information — it's a business risk. This is where market research comes in handy.

Marketing Research: What It Is and How to Do It

How to Do Market Research

![update-telegram-bot.jpg](/uploads/update_telegram_bot_819beb18b9.jpg)

«Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal», — Henry Ford once said. The goal of our team is to create a dream platform for marketers. That’s why we are not afraid of obstacles and every day we make our product better.

Today we want to talk to you about the latest innovations in the platform. Perhaps you have already paid attention to these updates and now you’re busy using them.

## New Channel: Telegram Bot, Telegram Group

The [**Altcraft Platform**](/en) has two new sending channels: a telegram bot and a telegram group. Now you can be even closer to your customers. Use a bot or a group to send the necessary information on a schedule and invite users to buy a product in a few clicks.

What is the difference between a bot and a group?

A bot is a communication channel that allows you to send messages to subscribers who have joined it. And besides, in the bot, followers do not have the ability to communicate with each other.

The group is a chat with an unlimited number of participants who can discuss the content posted there.

To start using the telegram bot in Altcraft Platform, you need to create a resource and add the telegram bot token to it. When a subscriber connects to a bot by clicking the word «Start» in it, this bot will send messages to the user. To do this, you will have to manually collect Subscriber IDs and import them into the platform.

The bot can also be attached to a telegram group or channel. Take the id of the group or channel, add it to the platform and take your time posting through Altcraft.

The following message options are available in the template: text, photo, audio file, document and video. You can attach buttons with links to the resources you need to the text message. You can also send gif images.

<Video
url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LJgqbGv3uMY"
/>

## Facebook Custom Audiences Integration

There is a new type of integration in the Altcraft Platform. Sync Altcraft Platform static segment data with Facebook custom audiences for retargeting. To do this, you need to create a new static segment in the platform for each Facebook custom audience.

To add synchronization, click on the word «Integrations» in the main menu. At the top of the page, click the «+ Create» button, and then select the type of integration — Facebook. For detailed configuration of the integration, go to our [**documentation**](https://docs.altcraft.com/display/UD/Facebook+Ads+Manager).

## Sending Push via HMS (Huawei)

A new provider, Huawei Mobile Services, has become available for platforms based on Android and iOS. Now you will not ignore the Huawei products, because, as you know, you can send [**push notifications**](updates-rich-push-i-formy) to their devices only through HMS.

<Img
img="/uploads/sending_push_via_Huawei_cdb2553d41.png"
alt="Sending Push via HMS (Huawei Mobile Services)"
/>

## Conclusion

We hope we manage to make your work in the platform easier and more convenient, so we are waiting for your [**feedback**](mailto:sales@altcraft.com). Tell us what you like and what causes difficulties. We will be happy to answer your questions. 


New features of Altcraft Platform: communicate with customers in Telegram, sync segments with Facebook custom audiences and send push notifications on Huawei devices.

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Today we want to tell you about the latest innovations in the platform. Perhaps you have already paid attention to these updates and you are busy using them right now.

Updates: Telegram Bot and Facebook Ads Manager in Altcraft

Altcraft Marketing Platform Update: Telegram Bot and Facebook Ads Manager

<Img
img="/uploads/what_is_marketing_automation_1200_630_bb9965c4c3.jpg"
alt="What is marketing automation for business"
/>

Today, various businesses are actively implementing marketing automation into their businesses. According to Cision PR Newswire, the marketing automation industry will reach $8.42 billion by 2027. This suggests that automation will become an important part of brand promotion in the market. In other words, without it, companies will no longer be able to be competitive. 

In this article, we'll explain in detail what marketing automation is, what opportunities it gives to your brand, and how you can implement it in your business.

## What is Marketing Automation and Why Do You Need It

**Marketing automation is the use of software to automate marketing processes in order to save labor force and time resources.** Companies use marketing automation to send automated messages to customers via email, social media, and other communication channels.

By automating repetitive processes — emails, social media posts, ad campaigns, and more — you are able to promote your brand faster. This increases your sales as you engage with customers in the regular shopping process. The efficiency of the employees work also increases: this means they have enough time to solve more complicated problems, and the number of errors is greatly reduced.

The software helps marketers to attract leads and influence customer retention by delivering useful content on time. Let’s imagine John Doe goes onto your website and subscribes to the newsletter. From now on, the system starts automatically sending him letters with information he is interested in. If John opens the messages and follows the links, it’s most likely that he will take the targeted action you need, for example, a purchase.

Another indisputable plus of marketing automation is [**personalization**](https://altcraft.com/features/personalization). Let's go back to our John Doe. To create a personal offer for him that he cannot pass by, you need to know not only his personal data but also what he does, what he dreams of, where he works, etc. This is where automation comes in handy. With the help of automation, you will be able to quickly collect the necessary information about the consumer, process it and use it for a unique offer. This will happen with all clients, even if you have thousands of them.

**According to SharpSpring, nearly 90% of brands consider their marketing automation strategy to be successful.**

<Img
img="/uploads/research_on_the_success_of_marketing_automation_strategies_bff652e9ac.jpg"
alt="SharpSpring research on the success of marketing strategies across brands"
/>

## What Does Marketing Automation Do

So why is marketing automation useful for businesses?

### 1. Implements complex strategies

An important point in marketing automation is tracking marketing communications. You need to make it clear when and what interactions with customers and potential buyers are most effective.

Usually, companies use drip marketing. In other words, they send people a chain of letters, created in advance that take into account the actions of subscribers. However, there are business automation tools that allow marketers to work on more complex strategies.

For example, on the marketing automation platform Altcraft Marketing, there is a special tool for automating marketing processes and creating [**Customer Journey**](stroim-customer-journey-map) in digital environment — scenarios. You will be able to build a customer journey and set different conditions for running scenarios based on audience engagement. These conditions include an abandoned cart, a registered goal on the website, and others.

<Img
img="/uploads/Onboarding_ecom_en_3892c6f53b.png"
alt='First Purchase Scenario in Altkraft Marketing Automation Platform'
src="Example of First Purchase Scenario in Altkraft Marketing Automation Platform"
/>

### 2. Targets email marketing

Divide your subscriber database into segments. It's easy to do with the right software. Segments will increase the chances of your content and product offerings hitting the target. As a result, each lead will receive the information that will allow him to make a purchase decision faster.

In the [**Altcraft Marketing**](/en) platform, you can segment your audience by various parameters: by geolocation, by the history of subscribers' actions (opening email / SMS, any click in email / SMS, etc.), by subscriptions (email, SMS or push). You will also have the opportunity to segment data from your CRM / stores and billing systems without placing it on the platform.

### 3. Identifies qualified leads

Automation allows marketers to assess the likelihood of a potential customer making a purchase. For example, the sales team uses the platform to monitor the actions of a potential buyer towards your brand. If he opens all emails, subscribes to some events and visits the pricing page on your website — this is a "warm" option. If a potential client rarely opens emails and does not visit your site, this is a "cold" option.

<Img
img="/uploads/potential_customers_56dc2513e3.jpg"
alt="Warm and Cold Leads"
/>

### 4. Accumulates, processes and protects client data

Some companies store data on different systems. This means that the information is in parts in unprotected places. When a large amount of information accumulates, employees begin to get confused. In addition, a data leak can occur that will not even be noticed, or it will be noticed, but too late. With marketing automation in [**CDP**](https://altcraft.com/features/cdp), data is stored in a single platform, which allows you to keep it protected and controlled.


### 5. Provides analytics of ongoing communications

The platform provides [**analytical data**](https://altcraft.com/features/analytics) to measure performance. With the help of this data, you will be able to make a decision on further actions. For example, you can decide to improve your marketing campaign or predict future customer behavior.

### 6. Saves time and resources

Marketing and sales automation will save your company's workforce. The employee will set up a marketing strategy once and then it will be automated in the platform. All you have to do is regularly check the analytics and, if necessary, make adjustments. In addition, in today’s world, people are looking for products and services 24 hours a day. The software always works and will provide consumers with your offer on time.

## What Marketing Processes Should Be Automated

When you come to the decision to automate your marketing, consider your business goals. Smart workflows for different functions can help you to achieve the results you want.

### 1. Newsletters

The first thing you have to do is automate your mailings. If you are still sending email to clients through Outlook, you have absolutely no analytic data. Did the client open the letter? Did they click on the link? Did he perform the actions the company desired? Without tracking customer actions, you don't understand the result of your strategy and therefore you are wasting your time. The platform not only automates mailings but also provides you with analytics, thanks to which, you will increase your marketing efficiency over and over again.

Let's say you want to send a welcome email when someone fills out a sign-up form on a blog page. When a visitor clicks the "subscribe to the newsletter" button, he will immediately receive a welcome letter or a confirmation email.

Let's take another example. If a customer does not complete a purchase from your online store, you can send him a reminder email. Just create an abandoned cart scenario once and your customers will be reminded when they stop halfway through a purchase.

### 2. Ad campaigns

Use marketing automation to launch targeted digital ads across multiple platforms, such as search engine contextual advertising or social media ads.

Another thing you can automate is [**retargeting**](https://altcraft.com/features/omni-channel-marketing). Retargeting allows you to attract leads or remind people of the products they viewed on your site. This way, you will help them to find their way back to your store and make a purchase.

Altcraft Marketing platform synchronizes audiences for retargeting from VK, Yandex.Direct or Facebook. It is also possible to customize any platforms you want.

### 3. Social media posts

Always keep in touch on social media. Publishing posts manually is a long and tedious process, especially if you post them through multiple communication channels or you have a lot of content. With automation, posts can be scheduled at the perfect time in a single platform.

### 4. Mobile marketing

According to DataReportal, in January 2021, there were 5.22 billion active mobile users. So mobile marketing is very relevant in today’s world. First of all, we recommend automating push notifications to your mobile application. [**Push notifications**](ak-push) are a cheap channel for communicating with customers on a mobile device, which saves on SMS costs. It is also important to process and store the events that the client commits in the mobile app. In the future, you can use this data to target your audience and personalize offers.

Altcraft Marketing platform has a [**push notification editor**](updates-rich-push-i-formy) where you can create push message templates for different OS. You are able to notify a customer about any action, talk about promotions or sales, share news and trending articles. Thanks to push notifications, you will be able to achieve the following goals: increase sales, inform people about upcoming events, help customers complete a targeted action.

## How to Implement Marketing Automation

As we already discussed, creating campaigns through a variety of tools and managing your digital marketing strategy in a single platform will simplify the life of your business. However, this process takes time and training.

Here are a few recommendations to consider when implementing marketing automation:

### 1. Set your goals

What can you automate to save time and improve efficiency? What strategies will increase your ROI? How will automation improve these strategies through all stages of the marketing funnel?

Once you've identified your goals, decide on your marketing budget. If you don't have a marketer, it's time to find a qualified specialist, because he will be the one who will develop a great marketing strategy for your business.

### 2. Get to know your audience

What do your customers dream about? What do they lack that they need to improve their quality of life? Build a customer persona before implementing marketing automation workflows.

### 3. Track the customer journey to purchase

Customer satisfaction is an important factor. If you don't know what is stopping a customer from becoming your client, there are clearly gaps in the strategy. Plan the buyer's journey and make sure the automation simplifies the work steps.

### 4. Prep your content strategy

You should decide on content at different stages of the customer journey ahead of time. This way you will know exactly what tools and methods to use in your marketing campaign.

### 5. Plan your solution deployment

Consistency is the key to implementing automation into a business. Think about the actions in plenty of time so that you have enough time to test them.

### 6. Check implementation results regularly

Analyze workflows every month, quarter and year. Your automation needs to change with your business.

<Img
img="/uploads/results_of_marketing_automation_implementation_884584b953.jpg"
alt="Results of the implementation of marketing automation into businesses"
/>

## How to Choose the Right Marketing Automation Software

Before implementing a solution, you should make sure that the chosen tool is suitable for the business. Please note a few points before purchasing.

### Functionality

Ensure that the platform has the required functionality before implementation. Here are some of the features you shouldn't be without:

- automation of all mailings in a single platform (Email, SMS, Push, Telegram, etc.);
- combining customer data from different sources;
- tracking customer actions in all communication channels;
- flexible audience segmentation based on collected data;
- [**Customer Journey**](customer-journey-automation) automation;
- [**A/B/n testing**](https://altcraft.com/features/mvt);
- detailed analytics.

### Integrations

The software should simply [**integrate**](https://altcraft.com/features/integration) with the tools you already use. Perhaps you have a program that you want to integrate with the new platform. For example, if you connect a platform to a transactional data warehouse, you will gain tangible benefits.

### Training

At first glance, it may seem that the chosen platform is easy to use. However, your team will still need training to get up to speed with the tool and start using all the features. This is an important point, because in order to unleash the potential of the platform, your specialists must feel at home with it. Ask the vendor for a detailed [**demo**](https://altcraft.com/setupDemo) and provide the necessary materials for further training.

### Tech support

The software provider should provide you with support. If a company only has email support and you have to wait for a response for a few days, take your time choosing such a platform. Just think, you may go unanswered at the worst possible time. That’s why, you’d better give preference to a vendor with support via online chat without a long wait.

### Scalability

Choose a marketing automation solution that adapts to your growth. The fact is, platforms have limitations, for example, a limit on the amount of data collected or campaigns sent. This is a signal that at some point you will not be able to download information or send a new message. The best choice is a platform with unlimited downloads and customer communications.

### Cost

The [**cost of the solution**](https://altcraft.com/prices) is no less a decisive factor than everything else. Think about this: you can choose a solution based on the number of customer profiles or the number of communications. If the number of your profiles is less than 500 thousand, pay attention to a cloud solution, or Private Cloud. There are platforms like Altcraft Marketing where you will pay for the amount of data you store but have unlimited amounts of sendings. Accordingly, the more profiles you have, the higher the price.

If you have more than 500 thousand subscribers, put your mind to an [**on-premise solution**](on-premise-or-saas) without restrictions on the number of stored profiles and communications. Of course, the cost of such a tool is higher than the cost of a cloud one, but all of the data and the whole process will be under your control.

## Examples of the results after marketing automation implementation

Today it is difficult to argue with the value of sales and marketing automation in the digital space. A well-thought-out strategy and well-chosen software will help to take your sales to the next level. We invite you to check the experience of implementing the CDP platform. Take a look at the following cases.

### [**How Altcraft Marketing Helped AlfaStrakhovanie Group Increase Repeat Online Sales by 49%**](case-how-altcraft-platform-helped-top-insurance-company-increase-sales)

Our client's objective was to implement a marketing automation platform to operate with large amounts of data within the company's Intranet. Altcraft Marketing, in tandem with the CDI system, creates micro-segments and launches triggers using known customer information. This made marketing campaigns personalized and maximized customer engagement.

One year of collaboration brought the following results:

- A combination of machine learning, segmentation and micro-personalization created effective advertising campaigns templates.
- High rates of micro-personalized communications performance were reached: OR — 42% and CTR as high as 36%.
- The rate of contract renewals increased by 49%, that meant more frequent subsequent purchases.
- Revenue for products sold online increased by more than 30%.

<Img
img="/uploads/kejs_alfastrahovanie_776_517_21b0968b89.jpg"
alt="Case study on the implementation of marketing automation in Alfastrahovanie"
/>

### [How Otkritie Broker JSC Has Automated Communications with Clients Using Alcraft Marketing Platform](how-otkritie-broker-JSC-has-automated-communications-with-clients-using-Altcraft)

The company was looking for a tool for marketing automation to centralize all communications in a single platform and work with large amounts of client data within the corporate network. And Altcraft has provided Otkritie Broker with this opportunity.

Using the platform, the company launched triggers based on client data and personalized email messages. After sending the first full trigger, Otkritie Broker received the following results:

- the indicators of micro-personalized communications have increased: Open rate increased to 75%, Click rate - 27%;
- traffic via email channel increased to 27%;
- 26% of clients were reactivated via emails.

Thanks to the use of the built-in email template editor, Otkritie Broker was able to create more than 20 email templates that could be changed when new products appeared. In the end, we managed to achieve great results:

- Open rate — 75%;
- Click rate — 49%;
- more than two readings of the letter per client.

<Img
img="/uploads/kejs_otkrytie_broker_1f98a167dd.jpg"
alt="Case study on the implementation of marketing automation in Otkrytie Broker"
/>

## Conclusion

Process automation greatly simplifies marketing management. It saves time, resources and money, and helps you to make your life and the lives of your customers happier.

Good automation takes into account the changing needs of potential customers, their behavior and interactions with you across all communication channels. Using behavioral factors from social media or specific page views provides marketers with information that helps them better understand leads.

Effective marketing automation uses a variety of media to communicate, so the success of your campaign depends on all the channels that influence the buyer's decision.

If you want to dive deeper into the topic or learn more about the Altcraft Marketing platform, write to our [**mail**](mailto:experts@altcraft.com). We will be happy to answer your questions.

Find out all the details about marketing automation: what it is, how to implement it into your business, what processes should be automated

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Nowadays without marketing automation, companies will no longer be able to be competitive. We will tell you what opportunities brands get by implementing automation into their business.

The Role of Marketing Automation | Develop Your Business

Marketing Automation: What It Is and How It Affects Business Development

![neuroscience-in-marketing.jpg](/uploads/neuroscience_in_marketing_acf0e571b2.jpg)

Our thoughts, feelings and actions are simply the results of neural activity in the brain. Marketers widely use insights from neurobiology to guess consumers' desires.

Thanks to neurobiology, it is possible to predict consumers behaviour and even manipulate their decisions. Neuromarketing used to be considered an unconventional approach, but in recent years results of neurobiological researches have become much more popular among marketers. For example, they show that users rely on intuition when it comes to making risky decisions (such as buying from an unreliable online store) and that advertising banners on social networks attract more attention than those on blogs.

**According to Marketing Charts, 70% of marketers in 2020 used Facebook for advertising and 41% used Instagram.**

![Social media advertising.jpg](/uploads/Social_media_advertising_aa7153ae24.jpg)

## Neuromarketing techniques that worth trying out

### Loss aversion

For human beings, the pain of loss is stronger than the pleasure of acquisition. Think back to Black Friday: consumers are not only passionate about making a purchase because of big discounts on a product, but the idea that they will miss out on a good deal plays an important role. Amazon uses the same neuromarketing method when it lists products that will soon run out of stock.

### Decision paralysis

Consumers have a hard time making purchasing decisions. Paralysis theory explains it this way: when we have a large assortment of products in front of us, the brain actively analyzes them and eventually freezes into inaction for fear of making the wrong choice.

Usually, consumers are provided with a long list of goods, and so they get lost in front of the assortment. If you divide the list into groups that are easier to perceive, the result will surprise you.

## A scientific approach to marketing

Let’s turn to statistics. Creative agency Fabrik cites the following data:

- 90% of consumers' purchasing decisions are made subconsciously;
- human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text;
- marketers spend up to 70% of their time attracting the attention of customers.

There are researches proving that advertising with people is more effective than advertising without them. Consider the packaging of Lay’s potato chips or Kinder Chocolate milk chocolate. On the former, you can see celebrities, on the latter — smiling children.

<Note>
Google, Disney and CBS have already invested in neurobiological marketing. If such «giants» are serious about neuromarketing, it makes sense to follow suit.
</Note>
![neuromarketing-based packaging.jpg](/uploads/neuromarketing_based_packaging_4d3fd31e1f.jpg)

### We suggest 4 ways to use neuroscience in digital marketing:

**1. Effective marketing requires emotions.** When your brand evokes a certain emotional response from the audience, people will subconsciously remember you as soon as the right trigger is launched. This is where visual neuroscience can be helpful.

**2. Pay attention to prices.** Have you ever wondered why the prices of many products are, for example, 299.99 or 399.90 euros, and not 300 or 400? Our brain subconsciously sees such numbers not close to the value, but quite different. The lower the price seems, the better consumers feel about it.

**3. Motivate your customers to share their experiences with you.** That way you’ll get new customers who already [**trust**](customer-trust) the brand thanks to the advice of their friends. Positive reviews will tell consumers more about your product than any commercial advertising.

**4. Different people choose different things.** It’s convenient to think of consumers as one large community, but different people react differently to the same service or product. Each person chooses what suits better his/her interests and maximizes the benefits. Think about how to capitalize on the preferences, emotions, and moods of different consumers in your marketing strategy.

![neuromarketing prices.jpg](/uploads/neuromarketing_prices_d69ad2f133.jpg)

## How to use neurobiology while creating content

You’ll engage with your customers on a deeper level if you take into account the psychological characteristics of your customers when developing your content marketing strategy.

**First**, look at people’s internal needs. Do you know a single person who doesn’t want to be satisfied and happy? Content that evokes positive emotions has great success.

**Second**, become an old acquaintance to customers. When we see something familiar and relatable, the brain produces dopamine, causing pleasure. So, use colors, fonts and graphics in your content that remind of you as a pleasant experience.

**Third**, avoid complexity. Content should be understandable. Anything your brain deems complicated turns into an unpleasant task. Simplify text with subheadings, bullets, and lists. It will end up being easy to read and better digested by the visual part of the brain.

**Fourth**, surprise the reader. Keep novelty in mind when developing content. Don’t just use the same words and phrases in a new way. Add images to articles and experiment with formats.

**According to HubSpot, more than 92% of marketers consider video an important part of their marketing strategy. That’s the highest figures since 2015.**

![Video in marketing strategy.jpg](/uploads/Video_in_marketing_strategy_f9e6d6ed46.jpg)

## Summary

Neuromarketing has come a long way in the last 15 years. Neurobiological research has proven to be a powerful tool in understanding human behavior. [**We’ve**](/en) provided examples of how to operate with visual neurobiology to increase [**brand recognition**](povyshayem-uznavayemost-brend-ustanavlivayem-avatar-email-otpravitelya) and emotion to awaken the brain. Follow the latest research in neurobiological marketing and put it into practice.

Thanks to neurobiology, marketers can predict consumers behaviour and even manipulate their decisions. Let's talk about the role of neurobiology in marketing strategy.

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