In October 2023, Google and Yahoo announced their new bulk sender rules. 

These rules, which effectively drew a line in the sand when it came to spam complaint rates, were a big change in that this was the first time any big email provider had given specific directives. 

The new rules?

• Mandatory digital email signing (domain authentication)
• 0.3% spam complaint rate threshold
• Easy unsubscribe and prompt unsubscribe processing

The updates began to be rolled out starting on February 1, 2024, and were a surprise to many, presenting new challenges for email marketers – especially outbound email marketers.

We’ll dive into an outline of the Gmail and Yahoo Mail requirements as well the implications and needed updates by email marketers in this article, and how Customers.ai helps brands ensure peak deliverability.

Jump to the sections with the links below or read on:

1. How to Prevent Spam Penalties
2. Average Spam Complaint Ranges
3. April 1st Domain Authentication Requirements
4. June 1st Unsubscribe Requirements

How to Prevent Spam Penalties

First, one of the main reasons emails get marked as spam is because the recipient has never heard of the sender. 

Our inboxes are already so crowded – don’t bother me with something I’ve never even heard of, right?

That’s where Customers.ai comes in. 

We identify people who are already on your site. 

People who are engaging with high-intent pages.

People who haven’t received an email or ad previously.

These are the people you want to target. 

Forget the cold email lists of the past you had to buy. These are the people who are going to open your emails, engage, improve your email deliverability, and drive up revenue!

Second, Customers.ai has a built-in email deliverability test.

After you’ve authenticated your email sender through Customers.ai, get your email deliverability score.

We’ll report back to you how many of your emails are landing in the inbox vs. the Promotions tab vs. the spam filter.

And provide you with recommendations you can use to improve your email deliverability, pointing out if you are missing the newly required digital email signing and domain authentication.

Average Spam Complaint Ranges

As we dug into just how these new rules would impact outbound marketers, we found that a lot of people were going to be in real trouble.

The thing is, since the announcement of the new guidelines, we haven’t seen much chatter about it. 

Until now. 

It seems this is more of a slow rollout than a big change that would have an immediate impact, starting with domain authentication. 

April 1st Domain Authentication Requirements

According to Gmail’s group product manager, Neil Kumaran, all bulk senders* will be required to authenticate their email beginning April 1, 2024. 

What’s key here is the word required.

While email authentication should certainly be the norm by now, the fact Google is requiring it shows how serious they are. 

They are so serious that they are flat-out going to reject emails that don’t meet the requirements!

From Forbes:

“Starting from April 1, Google will reject emails from bulk senders unless they meet new authentication requirements. This strict rule is aimed at reducing the amount of spam that lands in Gmail inboxes and enhancing the security of Gmail users. By implementing these new requirements, Google is aiming to prevent malicious actors from using unauthenticated or compromised domains to deliver their dangerous payloads and reduce unwanted spam.”

As you can see, there are real repercussions here for those who choose not to adhere to the Google guidelines. 

Sounds like it’s time to get your emails in line if they aren’t already.

*Note: Current bulk sender rules refer to 5,000+ email sends to Gmail users

Staying in Line with New Google Guidelines

Authenticating your email account is simple and honestly, the majority of ESPs have this capability built in. 

Here are links to a few of our partner sites:

• How to Authenticate Your Email with Sendgrid
• How to Verify a Domain with Sendlane
• What is DMARC and How Do I Set it Up on Klaviyo?

Along with ensuring your email is authenticated, there are other parts of the spam rules that still need to be adhered to, including unsubscribe links. 

In our original deep drive, we noted that clear unsubscribes were crucial. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe and they are less likely to mark you as spam.

June 1st Unsubscribe Requirements

And come June 1st, not only do bulk senders need to have an unsubscribe, they have to have a one-click unsubscribe option that is processed within 48 hours.

As for the spam complaint rate threshold?

I think we are going to see more about that as these updates continue to roll out. 

In the meantime, make sure you are creating an outbound email marketing program that focuses on warm leads, personalized messaging, and best practices.

Ready to see how we can help?

Sign up for free and start identifying visitors who actually want to hear from you and use state-of-the-art email deliverability testing to ensure your emails reach their intended recipients.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Gmail Bulk Sender Rules: Preparing for June Updates & Beyond appeared first on Customers.ai.

In fact, 80% of companies that use segmentation report increased sales.

Why? 

Segmentation has a ton of benefits but at the end of the day, a good segmentation strategy leads to more effective marketing, a better customer experience, and stronger attribution.

To help you better understand the current ecommerce landscape and improve your marketing performance, we brought in experts from ATTN Agency, Hawke Media, and Perill Agency to share their tips on intelligent audience segmentation.

Let’s dive into what they had to say.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

• Build a unified customer view with first-party data to enable hyper-relevant targeting.
• Segment audiences based on granular factors like purchase behavior, engagement, and interests.
• Dynamically customize content, offers, and messaging for each micro-segment.
• Connect your full martech stack for a cohesive, personalized experience across touchpoints.
• Leverage quizzes and self-reported data to enrich customer profiles and personalization.

[Get the full webinar replay]

1. Build a Holistic Customer View with First-Party Data

As third-party cookies phase out, capturing and activating first-party data has emerged as the new gold standard for ecommerce success. 

After all, the foundation of advanced segmentation lies in building a unified, holistic view of your customers. 

To achieve this, you’ll need to:

• Leverage tools like the Customers.ai Website Visitor Identification platform to identify anonymous site visitors and capture their browsing behavior.

• Enrich customer profiles with demographic data, interests, purchase history, and real-time behavioral signals.

• Sync this unified customer view across your marketing platforms for a consistent experience.

With a 360-degree customer view enabled by first-party data, brands can deliver hyper-relevant targeting and personalized experiences that drive conversions and foster loyalty like never before.

2. Create High-Value Audience Segments

Once you have a comprehensive customer view, it’s time to slice your audience into granular segments based on factors like purchase behavior, engagement levels, and interests for maximum impact.

As Nate Tower, President at Perill points out, it’s important to move beyond the standard segments and remember that all segments aren’t the same.

High-Impact Segments to Consider:

• Frequent purchasers (target for loyalty programs and upsells)
• Lapsed frequent buyers (winback campaigns and incentives)
• One-time buyers (encourage repeat purchases with tailored messaging)
• Non-buyers (test incentives and nurturing flows for first purchase)
• Full-price buyers (avoid discounting, focus on value messaging)
• Promo-code buyers (ensure deals and promotions in messaging)
• High lifetime value/profit margin customers (prioritize engagement and retention)

Segments to Remove from Daily Emails:

Just like it’s important to focus on specific segments, Amber Doughty, Senior Director, Lifecycle Marketing Hawke Media notes it’s also important to NOT  focus on specific segments. 

Here are a few segments to keep out of your daily messaging:

• Bounced at least 2x
• Purchased Last 3-5 days
• Email cadence preference
• Customers with an open support ticket 
• B2B/wholesale accounts

3. Test Offers and Messaging Per Segment

It’s important to remember that testing is your friend and you want to make sure you are testing frequency, messaging, and offers within your various segments. 

This means:

• Customize offers, creative, and messaging cadence for each micro-segment.
• Continuously test and optimize to find the sweet spots (bigger discounts don’t always drive more sales).
• Use control groups to validate your winning strategies and measure incremental impact.

4. Connect the Full Marketing Stack

As Andrew Buckley, Partner at ATTN Agency tells us, customers are everywhere and it’s our job to get in front of them. 

This means creating a cohesive experience across touchpoints through a unified tech stack. 

• Connect data flows for personalized touchpoints across email, SMS, ads, and more.
• Retarget engaged site visitors, suppress existing buyers from prospecting flows.
• Cross-pollinate between platforms for a seamless customer journey.

Remember, effective segmentation isn’t restricted to Email and SMS. You can use your existing customers and data for:

1. Retargeting Non-Converters
2. Exclusive Offers to Brand Advocates
3. Prospecting Lookalike Audiences
4. Exclusions at Every Level

At the end of the day, customers want a seamless experience and with this, you can give it to them.

Start Building Your Advanced Segmentation Strategy

Becoming customer-obsessed and mastering segmentation is non-negotiable for ecommerce brands. 

Leverage first-party data to build a unified customer view, slice audiences into granular segments, dynamically customize content and offers, connect your full marketing stack, and use quizzes to self-enrich profiles. 

By implementing these advanced segmentation strategies, you can boost sales, foster loyalty, and deliver exceptional customer experiences that set you apart from the competition.

Time to get started!

Miss the webinar? Catch the full replay here and don’t miss any of our ecommerce marketing events. From cookie deprecation to email deliverability to Facebook Ads and more, we have you covered!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Ecommerce Segmentation Secrets to Accelerate Store Sales appeared first on Customers.ai.

The post was written in response to Google’s VP of Global Advertising Strategies telling everyone it was time to move on from third-party cookies. 

That there would be no more delays and marketers needed to shift their focus before it was too late. 

And then…

Ah, Google.

It turns out there would in fact be more delays and the new timeline is somewhere in 2025…maybe.

Here’s the thing.

Cookies are going away. It might not be 100% by the end of the year and it might not be 100% at the end of next year, but they will go away. 

While the US certainly lags behind the EU when it comes to privacy, there are still concerns and tech companies are continuing to adapt their technologies to ensure these concerns are addressed. 

What does this mean for marketers?

We’re going to give you the same advice we have been giving – focus on first-party data.

First-party data is your data to own. 

You don’t have to worry about if or when Google decides to make a change. 

Plus, first-party data lends itself to SO MANY things, including:

• Personalization
• Segmentation 
• Ad Targeting
• Customer retention
• Campaign optimization
• Attribution
• Website optimization
• Customer experience

And more! 

Marketers can’t keep relying on Google delays. We have to move forward.

How to Collect First-Party Data  

It’s easy for me to sit here and tell marketers to move on from third-party data but I understand the reality of the situation – collecting first-party data comes with its own set of challenges. 

• How do you get people to give you their info?
• How do you store their info securely?
• How do you connect your first-party data?

Yes, it’s certainly important to have the right tech stack in place but when it comes to actually collecting first-party data, it’s easier than ever!

Starting with website visitor identification. 

Website Visitor Identification + Your Website = First-Party Data

Just by adding one line of code to your website, you can start identifying your website visitors and gathering first-party data. 

This includes names, emails, phone numbers, job titles, companies, and more. 

What makes this so cool is that a platform like Customers.ai not only helps you identify the people, but also gives you important information about them. 

You can get demographic data and business data, and you can even track the customer journey!

On top of being able to collect the data and enrich it, Customers.ai allows you to send the data directly to your CRM, directly to your marketing automation system, directly to your ad campaigns, etc. 

You have the ability to build true customer profiles and get real attribution data without needing third-party data! 

Look, there has never been an easier way to collect first-party data in a compliant manner. 

If you aren’t using this, you are truly missing out.

The best part? It’s easy to set up!

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Other Methods of Collecting First-Party Data

We are (obviously) partial to website visitor ID tools because well, that’s what do (and for the record, it’s SO easy). 

But that isn’t the only way to collect first-party data. Let’s look at a few other ways:

Email Campaigns

“Fill out your email for a 25% off discount.”

“Sign up for our newsletter and get a free [insert offer]”

“Enter your email for a chance to win [insert prize]”

There’s a reason for these things and the reason is first-party data. 

Email not only can give you personal identifiers but metrics from campaigns (think open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, etc), are great for understanding shopper preferences. 

Surveys & Quizzes

Surveys and quizzes sure are fun!

They are also brilliant methods of collecting user data. 

The key is making it simple enough and interesting enough that your customers want to complete it. 

Be sure to only ask for the information you need. 

Remember, you can build customer profiles over time so you don’t need to ask everything in one place.

Customer Feedback & Reviews

Soliciting reviews through emails, social media, or on your own website is another avenue for collecting valuable first-party data. 

Reviews can be associated with specific customers to build customer profiles and can help you better understand what they like and dislike.

Don’t Let Google Make You Complacent

While I’m sure marketers are taking a collective breath at another delay from Google, we think it’s important not to get complacent. 

Change is hard and shifting the way we do things takes time.

Use this time you have to innovate without the ticking clock of cookie deprecation.

Use this time to better understand how you can not just collect first-party data but use it to gain deeper audience insights, and, yes, actually get ready for a cookie-less world.

We are here to help and if you want to see how you can start collecting data in under 90 seconds, sign up for a free trial today!

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

Get The X-Ray Pixel

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post What Does Google’s Cookie Delay Mean for Marketers? appeared first on Customers.ai.

Between the phase-out of third-party cookies to the rollercoaster of Facebook Ads and Google’s algorithm whims, things are in a constant state of flux.

The good news is that while it might feel like chaos, we as marketers simply see these changes as new challenges we can overcome, new puzzles we need to figure out. 

We’re nothing if not adaptable! 

What makes this “chaos” so interesting is that while frustrating, it’s also exciting and ripe with opportunity.

These challenges are forcing us to adapt and innovate. They are forcing us to find new ways to reach customers and new ways to identify and understand the customer journey. 

They are forcing us to become better marketers!

So, why not buckle up and dive into these challenges with the goal of not just surviving, but thriving in this chaotic ecommerce marketing world?

1. Third-Party Cookies & Attribution

One of the biggest challenges for ecommerce marketers is the loss of third-party cookies. 

While we’ve talked about this several times (here, here and here), the impact really can’t be understated, especially when it comes to attribution and revenue tracking.

For years we’ve relied on the likes of Google Analytics and third-party pixels to keep us honest and help us understand how our ad dollars were being spent. 

Unfortunately, without third-party cookies, that becomes much more difficult. 

Cross-channel tracking is messier, personalization isn’t nearly as personalized, and even some ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Klaviyo, which have built-in attribution toos, can’t give us the full picture.

It’s why ecommerce marketers are focusing on first-party data and why the phrase has grown so much in the past few years.

First-party data means you own your data. 

You have control over it, you can measure it accurately, and you can target individuals much more effectively than with third-party data. 

First-party data is one of the biggest selling points of Customers.ai and what marketers value the most.

Not only do we identify who is visiting your site but we give you that data. It’s YOUR data!

It’s your data to use in your email campaigns, ad campaigns, direct mail campaigns, etc. etc. 

And when synced with your CRM, you can uncover some unbelievable customer journey insights and build really personalized campaigns.

For ecommerce marketers who are still wondering how to deal with the loss of cookies, this is the answer, and it’s free!

Want to try it out?

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up, go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

2. Facebook Ad Issues & Targeting Limitations 

If you’re an ecommerce marketer running ads on Facebook, you know how unbelievably frustrating it’s been.

Let’s forget the performance issues for a second (which are all over the place) and simply look at the reduction in targeting options.

According to Meta,

“Starting January 15, 2024, we’re removing or consolidating some detailed targeting options that relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive. Existing ad sets with impacted targeting options will continue to run until March 18 2024, but will require you to update your targeting selections. After this date, we will stop delivering ads to the discontinued detailed targeting options, and impacted ad sets may be paused.” 

What makes this so difficult is that Meta didn’t tell us which targeting options they were getting rid of, leaving us to just….guess?

As Social Media Today pointed out, this reduction in targeting pushes people toward broad targeting and Advantage+, forcing advertisers to rely on Meta.

Unfortunately, as we’ve touched on in the past, without cookies and without Click IDs, targeting is much less effective and much more expensive. 

Unless…

What if we could bring in that first-party data we just talked about?

One of the powerful features of Customers.ai is the Restore tool. It’s essentially our ‘Cookieless Facebook Ad Pixel Replacement’ that collects all of your website visitor data and sends it directly to Facebook.

Harvest Hosts, an RV Hosting & Camping service, recently started using Restore and they have already seen some amazing results. 

The reason for this type of improvement is that with Restore and first-party data, you are targeting people who are genuinely interested in your service. 

With Customers.ai, you can also create extremely segmented audiences and send them directly to your Facebook custom audiences, allowing for very specific retargeting campaigns and better ROAS. 

Facebook can only work with the data it has but so can you. Take your first-party data and make it work for your ad campaigns!

3. Retention & Loyalty

We all know that the cost of acquiring a new customer isn’t cheap. 

In fact, according to a report from FirstPageSage, the average commerce CAC is over $60. 

New customers are not only more expensive than existing customers, they are also less likely to purchase. 

Retention and loyalty are key to ecommerce success and while most of us know this, it’s certainly easier said than done. Especially with customer expectations higher than ever.

So, how do we improve retention and drive return shoppers?

There are certainly a few keys (customer experience, loyalty programs, engagement, etc.) but what it really comes down to is understanding the customer, what it is they want, and engaging them with the right message at the right time. 

For example, a new customer comes to your site, finds a product, adds it to the cart, and leaves before checking out. 

While they are a high-intent shopper, you aren’t going to send them the same message you would send a returning customer who did the same thing. 

Instead, you might give the return customer a bigger discount or encourage them to use their rewards to finalize their purchase. 

Of course, this entails having the right techstack and flows in place to act but if you truly want to improve your retention and drive up return visitor revenue, it’s time to get started.

[Learn more about customer journey tracking]

4. Google Updates 

Ah Google. Our savior and nemesis. When things are good, they are good and when things are bad, well…it goes without saying.

Like all of the other major tech companies, Google has plenty on the radar this year. 

We already touched on cookie deprecation in Chrome but there are also things like algorithm updates, new email rules, and ad changes impacting ecommerce revenue left and right. 

Let’s take a look.

New Bulk Sender Rules

We’ve talked about the new bulk sender rules pretty extensively, including our Spam Complaint Rate Report, but it’s still a really big deal for anyone sending emails. 

Google (and Yahoo) have effectively drawn a line in the sand when it comes to bulk senders and Gmail addresses.

If you aren’t adapting to these new rules, which include a below 0.3% spam complaint rate along with domain authentication and unsubscribe requirements, then you are in trouble. 

Make sure you are up to date (see here). 

Google Algorithm Updates & SGE

Remember the days when SEO was easy and the right content and architecture could land your site in the top spot on Google?

Yeah, those days are long gone and if you’ve been paying attention, you know there are some big changes impacting ecommerce performance.

Helpful Content Update

Google is always pushing out some new update but the big one in 2024 is the Helpful Content Update. 

I am not going to get into the nuts and bolts of it but if you are interested, read this piece from Lily Ray at Amsive or this piece on how HCU is impacting ecommerce.

The gist? Search results aren’t great and it seems like Google is still figuring things out. 

Unfortunately, a number of sites have seen big drops in ranking leading to less traffic and lower revenue. 

SGE

SGE, or Search Generative Experience, is the next phase of Google Search, focused on integrating AI into the search experience.

If you aren’t famiiar with SGE, I highly recommend you read this article from iPullRank. It does an amazing job breaking down what SGE is, how it works, and the impact on site performance. 

At this exact moment in time, the results are a bit unknown but with rumors that this could roll out this year, ecommerce marketers need to be prepared. 

Rising Google Ad Costs

As we’ve seen across all ad platforms, costs are rising, and this is certainly the case with Google Ads. 

Why?

Well along with the general economics of supply and demand, if you paid any attention to the Google antitrust trial, you’d know Google has been trying to “shake the cushions” when it comes to generating ads revenue. 

Google is beholden to stock holders and that means a focus on profits and higher costs for advertisers. 

For years ecommerce marketers and advertisers alike have relied on Google to help us drive sales. While that certainly isn’t changing in the immediate term, how we interact with their platform needs to. 

5. Privacy & Trust Concerns

Isn’t privacy really the theme of the last few years? Yes, but it’s also a huge challenge this year.

It’s what has led to these huge changes in the tech platforms and the challenge to attribution and marketing – the removal of any personal identifiable information. 

We all know about the EU regulations and now we have Google enforcing consent mode. 

For any store doing business internationally or even here in the states, there is a lot to keep up with!

A few months back, Courtney Fenstermaker of InfoTrust joined us to talk about some of these issues and she specifically called out how hard it is to stay on top of the changes. 

She suggested using tools like the IAPP US State Privacy Legislation Tracker to keep track of state to state updates.

She also suggested making sure you understand your risk to avoid any legal issues (for more awesome tips from Courtney, get the replay here).  

Privacy is complicated but imperative to the success of any ecommerce business. Make sure you are keeping up with trends to avoid fines, loss of revenue, and more. 

Future-Proofing Your Ecommerce Store 

Sure, we love to think we can future-proof our business but can we?

We think so. 

While you can’t predict the future, you can certainly plan, and that means adapting to what is happening and getting ahead of it.

Heck, Google told us they were deprecating cookies in June 2021 and people barely batted an eye. Now they are scrambling to figure out how to deal with this change and it’s impacting a lot of businesses. 

The key to ecommerce success this year and beyond is understanding the overall landscape, understanding your customers, and putting the right technology in place to be successful.

If you are looking to capture first-party data, get back your ad audiences, lower CPAs, and improve retention, then Customers.ai should be part of your stack.

Request a demo or sign up for free and see how we can help your ecommerce store grow!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post 5 Ecommerce Marketing Challenges Impacting Revenue in 2024 appeared first on Customers.ai.

It was a great conversation between two brilliant minds and two platforms that work really well together (check out Sendlane integration if you haven’t already). 

While we aren’t going to recap the entire thing (you can get the full replay here), we did want to cover a few of the highlights and showcase how ecommerce companies can drive more revenue with visitor identification and audience segmentation. 

Let’s dive in! 

Expanded Cart Abandonment Recovery

For ecommerce brands, capturing abandoned cart revenue is imperative. 

After all, with nearly 70% of people leaving their cart before purchasing, there is a LOT of money being left on the table. We’re talking $4 trillion dollars left on the table!

The problem is, you are only able to recapture a small percentage of people who abandoned their carts.

Why?

Well, unless they leave their email or they are already signed in, you don’t know who they are!

Until now.

With website visitor identification, you can capture an additional 20-30% of visitors who abandon their cart.  

Those people can be added directly to your existing abandoned cart flows, recaptured, and boom…more revenue!

It seems like a small thing but think about the incrementality of it all. 

If 100 people abandon their carts and you are currently only able to capture let’s say 20 of them, with Customers.ai, you are now capturing an additional 20-30 people. 

That is a big opportunity and one ecommerce marketers certainly don’t want to be missed.

[Check out our abandoned cart recovery capabilities]

Convert Facebook Ad Clicks to Email Revenue

We know that digital ads have gotten expensive. Between demand and pressure for tech platforms to be profitable, ad costs are at an all-time high.

Additionally, the loss of cookies and click IDs has made reach and performance a lot more difficult. (Don’t believe us? Check out this Facebook ads group.)

The problem is, with the average website retargeting signal degrading by +85% since 2019, we can’t rely on Facebook Ads like we used to. 

That doesn’t mean it’s not valuable though. 

In fact, with visitor identification and segmentation, you can 10x your Facebook ad reach and lower costs. 

Here’s how:

Expand Your Facebook Retargeting Audiences 

Capture your lower-intent website visitors and send them directly to your Facebook remarketing audiences (see here).

Turn Website Traffic Campaigns into Email Campaigns

Instead of running conversion-focused campaigns that tend to cost more, run website traffic campaigns, capture the visitor data of those people, and put them into targeted email campaigns. 

It’s simple and can save you a lot of money in the long run.​

Create Advanced Audience Segments for Engagement

Good marketing is all about intent.

I mean, how many times have you heard “right person, right channel, right time”? 

With advanced audience segmentation, you can do this much more effectively. 

Here are two examples using Customers.ai. 

Example 1

A visitor comes to your site. They find a Boston Celtics hat they like, add it to the cart, and leave the site before checking out. 

They don’t leave their info but we’re able to identify their email and immediately add them to our cart abandonment flow. 

We are also able to add them to our Boston Celtics hat audience and sync it to Facebook, showing anyone who has viewed a Boston Celtics hat an ad featuring…you guessed it…a Boston Celtics hat. 

Because the intent is high here, these very specific emails and ads don’t feel obtrusive. They match the shopper intent and are personalized to the visitor. 

Example 2

A visitor comes to your site. They browse the Boston Celtics section of the site but they never visit an actual product page. 

We’re able to identify their email and we add them to our general Boston Celtics audience. 

This audience is then synced to a Facebook remarketing campaign targeting anyone who showed interest in the Boston Celtics. Our ad focuses on Boston Celtics sale items vs. any specific product.

The intent is low here so we need to be a bit careful of how we step. We want to bring them back but we don’t want to be too specific. 

The key is to segment your audiences are much as possible, giving you the best opportunity to reach them in a way they want to be reached. 

Maximize Your Ecommerce ROI with the Right Tools 

There is so much opportunity out there for ecommerce marketers when it comes to capturing more revenue. And we aren’t just saying this because we can help do it!

By combining Customers.ai with technologies like Sendlane and Facebook, you can make big gains with small changes. 

Don’t believe us?

Check out our case study with the Rich Dad Company. In just 30 days they saw real results and continue to use Customers.ai and Sendlane to this day.

See how we can help your ecommerce business maximize ROI and improve overall marketing performance. 

We have a free trial and are always happy to do a demo. Reach out to our sales team today!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Maximizing Ecommerce ROI with Visitor Identification & Segmentation appeared first on Customers.ai.

That’s especially true in the world of B2B marketing. 

From privacy updates to ad platform changes to new regulations and more, there are always changes afoot.

To help our customers (and ourselves!) stay on top of this crazy industry, we sat down with five experts to talk about what’s in and what’s out this year when it comes to B2B marketing and advertising.

To say we got some great tips would be an understatement! 

From email to MQLs to LinkedIn and even design, our panelists absolutely brought it.

While we aren’t going to dive into every tip our panelists provided (you can watch the webinar for that), we are going to give you a few of the highlights. 

So, let’s dive into these expert tips and kick your B2B marketing and advertising strategies into high gear.

B2B Email Marketing

Larry Kim, CEO & Founder, Customers.ai

Email is a complicated channel. There is so much that goes into it and honestly, we could do 100 webinars on the topic and still not cover everything you need to know!

That being said, when we look at email marketing in the B2B space, it’s pretty clear what is out and what is in.

Out: Outbound Emailing

With the recent changes to Google and Yahoo’s spam algorithms, outbound email campaigns are only getting more complicated. 

As you can see in the image above (and in our B2B Spam Complaint Rate Study), spam complaint ranges are nowhere near the new thresholds set by the platforms, leaving B2B marketers in a precarious position.

The result? We can’t keep sending relying on outbound.

While cold emails have been a work horse for decades in the B2B space, they have higher chance of being marked as spam and as a result, a higher chance of getting your domain penalized. 

In: Intent-Driven Outbound Emailing

If outbound emails are out, that must mean inbound emails are in…right? Sort of.

What’s in is treating outbound the same as you would inbound. 

What makes inbound work? Warm leads!

People who have heard of you are less likely to mark you as spam. 

Using Customers.ai, you can start identifying high-intent visitors on your website who haven’t made a purchase, haven’t filled out a form, or haven’t previously received a message from you.

These are warm leads and these are the perfect people to consider for your outbound emailing. 

[x-ray banner]

Paid Advertising Spend

Molly Staats, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Lucky Orange

Paid ad spend has been on this rise the last few years and with the demise of third-party cookies and click IDs, it isn’t likely to get any better without some significant changes. 

That certainly doesn’t mean that there aren’t options. What is means is advertisers have to rethink how they are currently doing things and evolve past third-party cookies. 

Out: Rising Ad Costs & Third-Party Cookies

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know third-party cookies are slated to be removed from Chrome by the end of 2024. 

You also know that Apple removed click IDs with iOS17 and that since iOS14, Facebook advertising hasn’t been the same. 

All of this, combined with demand has led to rising ad costs across platforms like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

As we head into the remainder of 2024, it’s time to say enough to these and start adapting to what’s in. 

In: First-Party Data & Owned Media 

Companies need to focus on collecting first-party data. Heck, even Google agrees with that! 

First-party data allows you to create better lookalike audiences, custom audience segments, and reach buyers in a much more cost-effective and efficient way. 

First-party data also allows you to focus on high-intent audiences – those who are truly interested in your business. These are the people who can be turned into subscribers and the people you can build real relationships with. 

For 2024, B2B marketers need to rely less on the platforms and focus on owned assets and media. First-party data is how we get there.

LinkedIn Advertising

AJ Wilcox, Founder, B2Linked.com

For B2B advertisers, LinkedIn has been a staple in the toolbox for years and they continue to get better. 

While it’s true we’ve seen rising ad costs there as well, their targeting capabilities have far outweighed that of Facebook and Google for B2B in recent years. 

LinkedIn continues to innovate and as a result, we are seeing new opportunities come in, and old ones head out the door.

Out: Single Image Ads & Corporate Videos

For years, LinkedIn advertisers have used single image ads, which, despite being straightforward to create, pretty much blend into the background. 

And with an average cost per click ranging from $10 to $16 and a click-through rate of less than half a percent, they aren’t exactly the low-cost ads they once were. They are out.

The same goes for video. 

While it’s great to see marketers evolving to video (we know the impact video ads can be extremely positive), it’s time to move away from those boring corporate videos. 

People want to feel a connection and traditional corporate videos tend to lack that emotional engagement. 

In: Thought Leadership Ads & Personal Videos

What do these two things have in common?

They feature real people!

That’s right. LinkedIn Thought Leader ads allow you to promote posts from actual employees (and coming in April 2024 – anyone). 

People are more likely to click on a post from a person than a company. This gives you an opportunity to connect with your target audience in a more effective way and guess what? It costs less! These ads perform 10x better than company posts and carry a much lower CPC.

As for video, the same thing applies – be a human! 

Focus on UGC or personal video posts to reach your customers. 

Personal videos can help you forge a genuine connection with your audience and they’re proven to be cost-effective and significantly impactful.

ABM Campaigns

Anastasia Warren, Senior Director of Paid Media, Walker Sands

ABM has been the hot buzzword for a few years and with good reason – as targeting capabilities became worse and worse, people needed to figure out a way to reach their audience. 

The focus? Accounts. 

But here’s the thing – it’s time to move past account-based marketing and focus on the people themselves (we call this contact-based marketing). 

Out: Siloed Campaigns & Generic Retargeting Lists

Single-phase campaigns, reliance solely on retargeting without segmentation, and broad, undifferentiated messaging are officially outdated.

People want personalization and they want to feel a connection to the brands they care about.

This means you can’t treat everyone the same and you must to build cohesive campaigns across channels. 

The time for generalization is over. 

In: Full-Funnel Campaigns & Segmented Audiences

We talk a lot about audience segmentation here and there is a reason for that – it’s a marketing must for B2B and B2C advertisers alike. 

With the right segmentation strategies in place, you can build really strong campaigns that target buyers throughout the funnel with personalized messaging and content that resonates. 

Look, with businesses needing upwards of 200 touchpoints to close a deal, you must ensure you are creating a full-funnel strategy.

Advanced segmentation and custom audiences are the way to do just that.  

B2B Messaging

Nica Latto, Content Marketing Strategist, Semrush

Whether you’re in B2B, B2C, DTC, or any other acronym, you know how difficult it can be to find the right messaging. 

You need messaging that resonates with your audience, captivates them, and gets them on board with your brand. 

Easier said than done. 

The right messaging also requires staying up to date with common vernacular, adapting to your audience, and evolving as language evolves. 

Out: Too Much Focus on Product Features 

The use of complex jargon, an overemphasis on product specifications without context, and the prevalent “Corporate Memphis” design style have got to go! 

These methods fail to resonate with modern B2B audiences seeking clarity and connection and are relics of a past world where B2B was treated differently than B2C.

B2B buyers aren’t the stiff, boring people we tend to treat them like. 

They are humans and they need to feel the same connection as any other customer out there.

In: Value to Customer

The key is to focus on relatable copy that emphasizes storytelling, highlights the value of products to customers rather than dry specifications, and incorporates unique design elements and colors. 

It can really be broken down into four key components:

• Shift to Customer-Centric Messaging: Focus on what the customer gains from the product vs. the brand itself.
• Humanize the Brand: Use real customer stories and UGC to add authenticity.
• Incorporate Humor: Don’t shy away from adding humor to resonate more deeply with the audience.
• Testing and Adaptation: Continuously test different aspects of your campaigns to discover what resonates best with your audience.

At the end of the day, it’s about the customer and that’s what your messaging needs to reflect.

A Shifting B2B Marketing Landscape

The B2B marketing world is not immune to changes happening across the board. 

Technology platforms are putting a hard focus on privacy, customer expectations have shifted and continue to shift, and what worked last year (or even six months ago) no longer works as effectively.

All of our panelists gave us some amazing tips for moving forward. From a focus on first-party data to better outbounding to more efficient ads and messaging, there is plenty of work that can be done.

These aren’t all the tips though!

Sign up for the webinar replay and you will get not only the video itself, but you’ll also get more insights into our new B2B consumer directory.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post B2B Marketing in 2024: What’s in & What’s Out appeared first on Customers.ai.

The reality is, this has been a long time coming and unless advertisers start thinking outside the box, it isn’t going to get much better. 

Cookies aren’t coming back. Click IDs aren’t coming back. The Facebook pixel of 2018 isn’t coming back. 

Without abundant user data and a need to focus on privacy, ad platforms have turned to AI to create audiences they think will work. 

And that’s the thing – we’ve trusted the ad platforms to find the right people because they have. But not anymore.

It’s time for advertisers to take matters into their own hands and this starts with first-party data and advanced segmentation techniques. 

The Rise of First-Party Data 

We don’t need to dive too deep into the whys and hows of first-party data but we’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss its importance.

First-party data has always been the gold standard. After all, it’s your data to do what you want with (with privacy in mind of course). 

The thing is, for many advertisers, especially those on the agency side, access to first-party data has always been varied. Some clients may give it to you but not all. Hence advertisers’ reliance on third-party data, tools, and experience.

With third-party data on its way out and the unreliability of ad platforms, collecting first-party data has become a priority for many.

According to a study from Acquia, 88% say first-party data is more important to organizations than two years ago.

Clearly, people are realizing they need first-party data and they are figuring out ways to collect it (here are a few pre-cart abandonment strategies that also help you collect first-party data).  

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First-Party Data & Audience Segmentation for Facebook Ads

What’s the saying? It’s not the tools in your toolbox but how you use them. 

The same goes for first-party data. 

It doesn’t matter how much data you have if you aren’t utilizing it appropriately. 

For Facebook Ads, this means segmenting your data for better audience targeting.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of how you can use first-party data for better ad performance:

Retargeting Audiences

As we’ve written about in the past, retargeting really took the brunt of the privacy updates. Here are a few posts that dig into the issue:

• How to Recover Ad Retargeting Audiences After iOS 17
• Future-Proofing Your Meta Ads Retargeting Strategies
• Facebook Retargeting Isn’t Dead. It Just Needs a Jump Start
• Revolutionizing Facebook Advertising: The Top 7 Ad Hacks for 2024

That doesn’t mean we should simply forget about retargeting, it just means we need to go beyond the Facebook Pixel. 

See where I’m going with this? First-party data!

Using a website visitor identification tool like Customers.ai, you can capture 20-30x more users than the Facebook pixel and segment your visitor data into custom audiences. 

And with our official Meta partnership, you can then send those audiences directly to your ads campaigns. 

These audiences can even be used in conjunction with the Facebook pixel. 

The point being, by directly capturing website visitor data, you are not relying on the ad platform to build your audience for you.

You are creating much larger retargeting audiences that specifically feature users who have visited your site!

Want to go even deeper?

We can create specific audiences based on intent and even demographics. 

Customers.ai doesn’t just capture visitor data, we enrich it, giving you insights into who the person is beyond their name and email. We also track the customer journey, so we know what pages they visited.

With this data in hand, our ability to create custom audiences is limitless! We can create audiences for people who visited certain pages or categories, we can create audiences for people who fit a certain demographic, we can create audiences for people who are existing customers but haven’t bought in two years, etc. etc. 

We can make retargeting work like it used to. We just have to help it along.

Don’t believe us? One customer added 58k new people to their Facebook retargeting audience in a week using website visitor identification and Restore!

Custom Audiences

Custom audiences, in my opinion, are one of the best features of Facebook Ads. 

With all of the targeting options that have been removed, this is our best chance of reaching people we know we want to reach. 

The thing is, much of the first-party data we have is that of customers or people who are already familiar with us. What about new customers? What about people who don’t know our brand? How do we reach them?

There are certainly ways to do that through the platform but as most of us know, it’s nowhere near as precise as it once was.

That’s where our intent-based consumer directory comes in. 

Especially for B2B organizations, the ability to source audiences based on attributes like occupation, income, etc., is extremely valuable. 

Consumer Directory gives you the ability to build audiences based on demographic and intent-based data. 

These audiences can be turned into custom Facebook audiences and used to reach new customers. 

Advantage+ Audiences

Are Advantage+ audiences amazing? Not really. Are they good enough? Sure.

What if you could make them better?

Look, one of the biggest benefits of AI is its ability to learn and improve. The more data you can give it, the better. 

That’s where your first-party data comes in.

Create a custom audience from your CRM – names, emails, etc. of high-value customers – and add it to an Advantage+ audience.

These are the types of people you want Advantage+ to find. Give it the data it needs and improve your overall ad performance. 

Make Facebook Ads Work for You

We know there are a lot of issues happening with Facebook Ads but we also know that it still has so much value for advertisers.

We encourage you to keep iterating, keep pushing, and don’t overlook first-party data.

First-party data is going to help you be successful across all channels and with the right segmentation in place, you can build some really strong multi-channel campaigns.

Interested in learning more about how Customers.ai can help restore your retargeting audiences? 

Request a demo and our sales team will be happy to show you just how amazing this really is.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Why Advanced Segmentation is a Must for Facebook Advertisers appeared first on Customers.ai.

This is reflected in conversion rate data. 

With average organic conversion rates hovering around 2.35% across industries, it’s clear a significant portion of organic traffic is just passing through, often too top-of-the-funnel, or landing on pages without a clear path to conversion. 

Unfortunately, without the right technology or tools in place, the majority of those visitors are lost to the ether, never to return again. 

But fear not, this is where innovation comes in. 

By weaving together creativity, technology, and data-driven strategies, there’s a huge opportunity to transform these visitors into loyal customers. 

Let’s look at three ways you can convert organic traffic into real revenue.

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1. Website Visitor Identification

One of the biggest hurdles in converting organic traffic is the anonymity of website visitors. 

Without knowing who’s visiting your site, tailoring the user experience to meet their needs and interests becomes a shot in the dark. 

Herein lies the power of website visitor identification technology—a game-changer when it comes to personalized engagement and boosting conversion rates.

With website visitor identification, you can get data on each individual visitor – names, emails, domains, etc. 

By connecting these visitors to your CRM, you can start to create (or expand upon) a customer profile. 

We can see if they are a return visitor, if they’ve downloaded an asset, if they’ve made a purchase, etc.

With this information in hand, we can market to them in a more effective way. 

Example:

Let’s say someone comes to your site through Google and lands on a blog post featuring tips for running in the heat. 

We have no record of them in our CMS but we can see the page they landed on and exited.

We can then add them to our retargeting audience list and show them ads featuring equipment for running in warm weather.

This is amazing stuff!

It also lends perfectly into the next section – customer journey tracking.

[Did you know we integrate with Semrush?]

2. Customer Journey Tracking

If you remember the old days of using Google Analytics to track the customer journey, you know how impactful it was.

The ability to understand how users interacted with your content and how they navigated through your site was immensely helpful.

Unfortunately, with the rollout of GA4, this is much more difficult to see and almost impossible to understand.

Instead, you need a tool that does this for you. 

And…here’s our shameless plug (hey, it’s our blog, we can plug if you want).

With Customers.ai, you can not only see who is visiting your site, but you can also track their journey.

We can see what pages they visited, what emails they opened, what products they were interested in, if they abandoned a cart or form.

THIS IS GOLD!!!

Look, customer journey tracking is not just a tool for understanding your audience, it’s critical for increasing revenue from organic traffic. 

By meticulously mapping the journey from the first touchpoint to conversion, we can unlock real insights and build strategies that directly influence the bottom line.

The Power of Tracking in Conversion Optimization

Let’s look at how customer journey tracking can help optimize conversions:

• Optimize Each Touchpoint: By identifying what content and which channels are most effective, you can direct more resources towards what truly works, increasing efficiency and ROI.

• Reduce Friction, Boost Conversions: Identifying where potential customers hesitate or abandon their journey allows for targeted interventions. Whether it’s streamlining the checkout process or clarifying product information, small tweaks can lead to significant increases in conversion rates.

• Tailor the Conversion Path: Use insights from journey tracking to customize the path to purchase for different segments of your organic traffic. Personalized content and offers that resonate with the specific needs and interests of these segments can dramatically improve conversion rates.

• Segment Your Audience: Adjust your marketing and content strategies to address the unique needs of different audience segments.

• Improve Attribution: Organic doesn’t always get the credit it deserves. With customer journey tracking, we can see what is successful and allocate marketing spend more effectively.

Customer journey tracking is key to turning organic traffic into revenue by understanding and optimizing the conversion path. By focusing on the journey, marketers can not only attract but convert and retain customers more effectively, directly impacting revenue growth.

3. Advanced Segmentation and Targeted Messaging

When it comes to converting organic traffic to revenue, advanced segmentation and targeted messaging stand out as key tactics. 

With website identification and journey tracking already in place, advanced segmentation becomes a breeze. 

You can create segments based on pages visited, demographic data, intent, and so much more.

With these audiences in place, you can create custom messaging throughout the rest of their journey.

Example:

Let’s look at another example using the fitness company we mentioned above.

You created a page on dealing with runner’s knee. 

The page ranks exceptionally well and drives a ton of organic traffic. 

However, since visitors are likely looking for information vs. looking to make a purchase, the conversion rate on that page is very low. 

With website visitor identification in place, we can see just who those people are visiting the page and if they’ve had any previous interactions with your brand. 

For those who have, we can send them into an email automation, offering them key products for dealing with runner’s knee and personalizing the email based on their information (ex: men’s sneakers vs. women’s sneakers).

For those who haven’t, we can create targeted ads that touch on the same subject and take them back to a page featuring products to help with runner’s knee.

The messaging is targeted, it’s relevant, and when done right, it’s helpful!

If you are looking to create advanced segments and implement targeted messaging, here are a few things to consider:

• Leverage Behavioral Data: Use your first-party data to track how different segments interact with your website and content. This data forms the basis of your targeted messaging, enabling you to address the specific needs and interests of each segment wherever they are.

• Personalize the Experience: From email marketing to website content to retargeting ads, ensure that every touchpoint is personalized. Use the insights gained from deep segmentation to tailor your messaging, whether it’s offering a solution to a common problem or highlighting a product that a particular segment shows interest in.

• Test and Optimize: Continuously test different messages with your segments to see what resonates best. A/B testing can reveal invaluable insights into preferences and behaviors, allowing you to refine your approach and boost conversion rates.

Advanced segmentation and targeted messaging are not just tactics, they are components of a sophisticated strategy to convert organic traffic into revenue. 

By understanding the needs and behaviors of your audience segments, you can craft messages that resonate deeply, engage effectively, and ultimately drive conversions. 

Converting Organic Traffic to Revenue

At the end of the day, capturing organic traffic is only the first step. The real challenge, and opportunity, lies in converting these visitors into customers. 

Using innovative technologies that support website visitor identification, customer journey tracking, and advanced segmentation, marketers can better reach our audience and improve overall conversion rates. 

Ready to get started? Get demo from the team and learn how Customers.ai can help you convert that coveted organic traffic into real revenue.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post 3 Innovative Tactics for Converting Organic Traffic to Revenue appeared first on Customers.ai.

After all, agencies are tasked with one thing – driving results – and with less data to work with and without the ability to truly understand the impact of campaigns, driving results becomes much harder. 

The good news is, there’s no need for panic. While this shift may feel monumental (and let’s be honest, it is), it does present marketers a chance to revolutionize their approach to client campaigns across the board—from email and digital ads to social media and direct mail. 

The key? 

Your website visitor data. 

Whether it’s the rich potential of first-party data or your website analytics data, there is still plenty we can do to ensure campaigns are successful and clients are happy.

Understanding Website Visitor Data

At the core of any successful marketing strategy is a deep understanding of our audience. 

Unfortunately, many of the privacy changes made by the tech platforms have taken away much of our audience data (looking at you GA4). 

That doesn’t mean we don’t have data to work with though. In fact, it means we need take a look at the data we do have to understand how we can paint a complete picture of our website visitors. 

Let’s look at three types of website data:

• First-Party Data. First-party data includes information directly collected from your audience, such as names, email addresses, preferences, and behaviors on your website. This data is gold in the marketing world, allowing for unparalleled personalization and targeting.

• Website Analytics. Analytics data can help shed light on broader patterns, such as which pages are most visited, the average time spent on the site, and the journey users take through your content. Analytics data helps identify what captures interest and drives action.

• CRM Data. While technically ‘first-party data’, CRM data can provide a historical view of customer interactions, purchases, and feedback, enabling a 360-degree view of the customer journey. For that, it’s worth calling out on it’s own. 

How to Capture First-Party Data

While we could create a whole blog post around this (see here, here, and here), we think it’s important to emphasize in this post as first-party data is the truly a life saver when it comes to overcoming the loss of third-party cookies (even Google agrees). 

So we aren’t going to go into every method of collecting first-party data but we do want to look at a few.

Website Visitor Identification

We are obviously partial to this as it’s the core of our product but it’s also a game-changer for marketers when it comes to collecting data.

With a website visitor identification tool, you can collect the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of your potential customers without them ever having to fill out a form.

And with a solution like Customers.ai that enriches the contact data, you can get information on demographics, business insights (company, revenue, LinkedIn profile), and more, giving you a huge amount of details on your website visitors. 

Interested in trying a website visitor identification tool for yourself? 

We have a free trial and you can be up and running in 90 seconds.

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Exit Intent or Promo Popups

Positioned to activate when visitors indicate they’re about to depart, exit-intent pop-ups serve as a prime chance to gather first-party data.

By providing special offers, attractive discounts, or compelling content, popups encourage users to divulge their personal information, giving you real-time data on your website visitors.

Lead Magnets or Newsletters

We’ve all seen them – the reports we had to fill out our personal information to download, the pages we had to add our email addresses to in order to read the full page, the newsletter we had to give our firstborn to to receive. 

But look, they work!

Your visitors get something they want and in return, you get first-party data. 

At the end of the day, there are any number of creative ways and methodologies to capturing first-party data. The key is making it as easy and as seamless as possible for your visitors.

How to Use Website Visitor Data in Your Client Campaigns

All right. We know what type of data we are looking for and we know how to capture the data. Let’s look at a few ways we can use our website visitor data in client campaigns.

Leverage First-Party Data for Personalization

Personalization is key to connecting with your audience. It’s also what they want!

Customers want personalization in their emails, they want targeted ads, they want product recommendations that make sense for them, and they want businesses to speak to them in a way that resonates and doesn’t waste their time, 

First-party data is how we do this!

Let’s look at an example of just how this can be implemented. 

A woman visits a fitness website and browses several articles on running but doesn’t make a purchase. 

Using a website visitor identification solution like Customers.ai, we can identify who the user is (name, email, etc.) and what pages she visited. 

With our first-party data in hand, we can then add her to our retargeting audience and build a campaign around those who have visited articles about running but have not purchased.

Now what if she instead visited the running shoes page, added the shoes to the cart, but then abandoned before giving us her info?

Well, given we have her name and email and we know what shoes she looked at before visiting the cart page, we can send a highly personalized email reminding her about the shoes she left behind. 

That is the power of first-party data. 

Identify Messaging Effectiveness with Analytics Data 

While platforms like Google and Facebook have taken away much of the analytics data we used to have access to, they are still helpful when it comes to understanding the effectiveness of content and campaigns. 

By examining patterns, such as which blog posts drive the most engagement or what path users typically follow before purchasing, agencies can tailor their strategies to match user behavior and understand which messaging resonates best with each client’s audience.

Let’s look at another example using the same fitness site as above. 

Using analytics, the agency sees that a high percentage of visitors who come to the site through a blog post about minimalist running shoes, make a purchase.

They also can see that the minimalist running shoe category page has a much lower conversion rate. 

By comparing the messaging on the blog to the messaging on the category page, they can see that the pages are not cohesive. The category page uses less descriptive language and does not showcase the value of the shoes the way the blog does.

The agency is able to make a recommendation on how to update the category page and improve the overall conversion rate.

Understanding what resonates with customers is tricky, especially from an agency perspective where you don’t necessarily have access to customer support or the CRM.

By using analytics, we can better understand what’s working and what’s not.

Segment Audiences for Targeted Campaigns

Effective segmentation is crucial for delivering relevant content. For example, segmenting users based on their engagement level—such as new visitors, frequent browsers, and past purchasers—allows for campaigns that speak directly to where they are in the customer journey.

This is also where we can integrate our CRM data. 

Let’s look at another example, this time using a B2B software company. 

A B2B software provider uses CRM data to segment its audience based on industry, job role, and previous engagement with the website. 

For high-intent visitors, they create tailored email campaigns for each segment, offering relevant whitepapers and case studies, which leads to a higher open rate and more qualified leads.

For visitors at the top of the funnel, they create custom audience segments that can be used in their LinkedIn campaigns. 

The more segmented you can get, the better. 

As an agency, getting access to CRM data is always challenging but when positioned the right way and with case studies in hand, you can show your clients exactly how effective that data can be.

Making Visitor Data Work for Your Clients

The importance of website visitor data in crafting targeted, personalized marketing campaigns cannot be overstated. 

By effectively leveraging first-party data, analytics, and CRM insights, marketing agencies can significantly enhance their client campaigns, driving better results and building stronger customer relationships.

Look, while none of this is really all that groundbreaking, it is a new way of thinking about how we use the data we have and agencies that adapt now are going to be in a better place and ultimately have happier clients. 

Remember, the key to success is adaptability, personalization, and a relentless focus on the data that matters most – the insights directly from your audience.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post How to Use Website Visitor Data in Your Client Campaigns appeared first on Customers.ai.

Yet, here we are in 2024 and people still aren’t ready. 

In fact, according to Dan Taylor, Google’s VP of Global Advertising Strategies, only 30% of marketers feel prepared for third-party cookie deprecation and both advertisers and publishers have been reluctant to invest in cookie alternatives.

Well, guess what? There is no more time and Google’s latest announcement is a wake-up call for marketers. 

There will be no more delays, third-party cookies are on their way out, and marketers had better adapt. 

But how? 

While we don’t often find ourselves nodding our heads so enthusiastically at statements from Google, we can’t help but smile at this one. 

Per Taylor, advertisers can overcome signal loss by prioritizing the following:

• AI investment
• Refined targeting
• Measurement and ad delivery strategies

We feel the same way Google. These are the exact things Customers.ai is solving for!

So let’s jump in and look at how marketers can start moving toward a cookieless future. 

1. Hop on the AI Train

I think at this point we can all agree AI isn’t just another trend. It’s big and it’s here to stay.

For marketers, AI opens the doors to not only a whole new level of scalability but also a new level of audience engagement. Imagine being able to predict what your customers want before they even know it themselves. AI can help do that!

But that’s just one power. 

Here at Customers.ai, we are using AI to capture first-party data, create personalized messaging at scale, build and refine ad audiences, and so much more. 

If you are just starting to experiment with AI technology or have started testing out new tools, here are a few quick tips to consider: 

• Lean into AI tools that can sift through data and uncover insights faster than any human could.
• Personalize your approach. Use AI to tailor your marketing messages so that they resonate deeply with each individual in your audience.
• Experiment and Learn. Start with a mindset geared towards experimentation. Start small with AI-powered tools for insights or automation, and learn as you go. It’s about trial, error, and ultimately, discovery.

2. Collect First-Party Data Like It’s Gold (Because It Is)

For years we’ve relied on third-party data to help us make decisions, validate theories, distribute ad budgets, and so on and so forth. 

While that was all well and good when there was loads of data coming in but now with less and less third-party data available, we can’t rely on it to make important decisions. 

First-party data on the other hand is your ace in the hole. 

Names, emails, preferences, demographic data, psychographic data, website activity —this info comes straight from your audience and it’s as valuable as it gets.

That’s what we are doing here. With the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel, you can capture exactly what we just mentioned without the need for pop-ups or widgets.

First -party data is also essential for creating custom audiences that can be used across your marketing channels.

After all, a person who abandoned their cart should not be treated the same as someone who merely read a blog. 

As Dan Taylor mentioned, refined targeting is a must and in order to do it effectively, you need first party data. 

Want to start capturing website visitors for free? 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up, go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

3. Turning Insights Into Action

The loss of data really means a loss of insights and a loss of accountability when it comes to marketing performance. 

But with AI and first-party data, there is so much we can do! 

It’s important to remember that AI is your ally. It’s not about replacing human insight but enhancing it.

Take the insights AI and first-party data provide and turn them into actionable tactics and strategies. Here are a few examples:

• Get Personal. One of the best things about AI and first-party data is the ability to get granular and create specific audience segments. For example, Customers.ai not only tells you who is on your site but also enriches the data, giving you more insights into each individual. These custom audiences allows you to craft messages that don’t just sell but connect on a human level.

• Make Data-Driven Decisions. Use first-party data to make informed decisions about your marketing strategies. This data tells you what your audience loves (and doesn’t), helping you to refine your approach continuously. Plus, with customer journey tracking, you can actually see which channels are working and what is driving the path to sale.

• Test. Test. Test. Combine AI with your data to supercharge your testing. AI can help identify trends and patterns you might miss, enabling you to optimize campaigns in real-time.

Let’s Redefine Marketing with AI & First-Party Data

When it comes to dealing with the loss of third-party cookies, marketers need to adapt now. There is no more time. 

By embracing AI and valuing first-party data, you can not only adapt to change but you can also redefine your marketing strategy as a whole. 

At the end of the day, the departure from third-party cookies may feel like a huge loss but we need to look at it as an opportunity. An opportunity to redefine digital marketing, to build deeper connections with our prospects and customers, to create more personalized experiences, and to focus on the data we have – the data that we own. 

So why don’t we simply embrace this new era with open arms and innovative minds? The future of marketing is exciting and AI is leading the way!

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Can AI Help Overcome the Loss of Third-Party Cookies? Google Thinks So appeared first on Customers.ai.

The gradual demise of the Facebook ad pixel, compounded by stringent privacy updates, has significantly hindered performance tracking and audience targeting capabilities. 

As signal degradation approaches a critical point, with an estimated 80% loss expected to reach 100% in the coming months, advertisers are desperately looking for innovative ways to overcome these new challenges.

Enter Larry Kim, founder and CEO of Customers.ai, who, during the Ad Universe Summit, gave us a pretty compelling narrative on the future of Facebook advertising. 

Surrounded by some of the best minds in the digital ad space, Larry unveiled a strategic blueprint designed to counteract these challenges and reclaim the lost art of precision targeting.

The theme? The top seven Facebook ad hacks for 2024. 

As we dig into each of these ad hacks, it’s important to understand the context that necessitates their emergence – the fading efficacy of the Facebook ad pixel, the introduction of Advantage+ audience targeting, and the Conversions API (CAPI). 

Each of these reflects an industry in transition, grappling with the imperative to adapt or die.

So, let’s jump into these Facebook ad hacks and see if we can’t redefine Facebook advertising in 2024!

1. Custom Remarketing Audience Restoration

Remember the golden days of remarketing? Low costs, high-intent audiences, great ROAS.

Well, good news advertisers, we’re bringing them back! 

With the advent of the Cookieless Facebook Ad pixel, advertisers can now restore the remarketing prowess we once enjoyed. 

This pixel doesn’t just recapture lost audiences, it makes remarketing campaigns work again. 

Look, remarketing audiences convert 2-3x more than non-remarketing ad targeting. Take back your remarketing power!

2. Email Retargeting of Facebook Ad Clickers

Tired of seeing your precious ad spend go to waste? 

Larry’s second hack focuses on a pretty significant problem – costs have skyrocketed and conversion rates from clicks to leads/sales are ridiculously low!

The key is taking advantage of low-cost ads and pushing them through the customer journey. 

Let’s look at an example. 

Instead of running lead gen campaigns to identify emails, use awareness campaigns paired with the Customers.ai pixel. 

While lead gen campaigns can cost $0.46 per engagement, awareness campaigns only cost $0.03. 

Then, with the Customers.ai website identification pixel, you can capture the identities of Facebook ad clickers who make it to your site and engage them with targeted email follow-ups. 

This strategy not only boosts your conversion rates but also significantly enhances your ROI.

3. First-Party Data Enrichment

The third hack extends the capabilities of data enrichment beyond Facebook to platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn. 

One of the problems with third-party tools, is there is no data enrichment. With the loss of cookies and click IDs, that means less information is passed to the ad platforms and audiences aren’t as robust.

Instead, we want to own our data. 

Your first-party data can then be enriched and sent back to the ad platforms for better audiences and more targeted, effective campaigns that resonate with your audience on a deeper level.

4. Advanced Visitor Audience Segmentation

Segmentation is your secret weapon. 

With rich, first-party data at your disposal, you can create nuanced audience segments based on behavior, engagement, and more. 

Segmentation allows for more personalized, effective marketing strategies that speak directly to your audience’s interests and needs.

And as we’ve noted previously, segmentation and targeting are key to not just ensuring you are reaching the right people, but ensuring you are reaching them in the right place with the right message.

You don’t want to target the person who abandoned their cart the same as the person who read a blog post. The intent is different therefore the channel, message, and strategy should be different.

5. Identifying Repeat Visitors

Hack number five zeroes in on the crème de la crème of your audience: repeat visitors. 

These are your most engaged prospects or existing customers. 

By identifying and targeting this segment, you can see significantly higher conversion rates and foster long-term relationships.

The key here is to ensure you are personalizing the experience for them as much as possible. 

It’s not JUST about being a repeat visitor – it’s about their intent.

6. Eliminating Ad Fraud

According to Statista, global ad fraud costs are expected to increase from 88 billion in 2023 to 172 billion U.S. dollars in 2028.

That is a lot of wasted dollars and one our sixth hack provides a much-needed antidote to.

By employing your own web pixel, you can effectively cloak your ads from bots, preserving your budget for real, engaged customers. 

This strategy not only safeguards your investments but also ensures your ads reach genuine prospects.

7. Leveraging User Journey Tracking

The final hack invites you to embrace the full potential of user journey tracking. 

Remember the days when you could see how your customers were moving and engaging across channels?

Well, unfortunately, the privacy updates have made that pretty complicated. 

Not with Customers.ai.

By mapping every interaction, you gain invaluable insights into your audience’s behavior and preferences. 

This enables you to tailor your marketing efforts for maximum impact, put ad spend where it’s having the most impact, personalize the user experience, and create a true cross-channel marketing strategy.

Making Your Facebook Ad Campaigns Work for You

As we look to the future, we know that more changes will be coming and ads will only get more complicated. It’s inevitable. 

But with change comes opportunity. 

By adopting these seven hacks, you can not only adapt to the new digital ad ecosystem but thrive within it.

Join us in embracing these innovative strategies and propel your Facebook advertising into a new era of success. 

Want to see how Customers.ai can help you take your Facebook ad campaigns to the next level? Start your free trial or contact us for a demo!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Revolutionizing Facebook Advertising: The Top 7 Ad Hacks for 2024 appeared first on Customers.ai.

Cookie deprecation alone could cost publishers $10 billion and that’s just publishers! 

A study from Google showed 75% of people expect the removal of third-party cookies would have a significant impact on core drivers of performance from audience matching to campaign management to reporting to user acquisition.

Unfortunately, this loss of data is a big deal in the digital advertising space. 

Ad targeting becomes much less effective without cookies and click IDs and while platforms like Google and Facebook are turning to AI to build audiences, they are not nearly as accurate as our old audiences.

It’s why advertisers must make a push toward combining what third-party data they have, with first-party data. 

Why Rent When You Can Own?

At Ad Universe Summit, Customers.ai founder and CEO Larry Kim introduced the idea of renting vs. owning your data.

The gist of it is that for years, we’ve relied on ad platforms for their pixel-tracking capabilities. We grab their pixel, slot it into our site, and let it feed data back to their servers. 

And guess what? It worked!

The problem now is that without cookies and click IDs, the pixels don’t work the same. Match rates often disappoint, there is no data enrichment, and audience sizes are much smaller.

We need to have our own pixel that can capture first-party data, enrich it, and send it back to the ad platforms. 

Let’s hear Larry break it down:

By capturing first-party data, you have more control over not only what you do with it, but you also have more data to feed the ad platforms. 

First-Party Data is Critical for Ad Audience Targeting

Let me state the obvious – audience targeting is a huge part of ad performance. 

The problem is, that if we aren’t able to track users from one website to the next, it’s awfully hard to retarget them or reach them in a cost-effective manner. 

Let’s take Performance Max campaigns as an example. 

Going back to Ad Universe, both Menachem Ani and Areen Mayelan discussed how with PMax, there is no pure audience targeting. You have to give Google the data on who your target customer is. 

That means using the first-party data you have. This can be through a CRM connection, uploading audience lists, or using a tool like Customers.ai to send your data directly to the platform. 

Without this first-party data, you will be forced to rely on affinity and in-market audiences, which tend to be very broad. 

The more data you can provide the ad platforms, the more targeted you can get. 

Whether you are creating new custom audiences or informing the AI audiences within the platform, you want to get as targeted as possible. 

Don’t waste money on the wrong audiences.

First-Party Data is Critical for Ad Personalization

A McKinsey study showed companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue from those activities than those that don’t.

That same study shows that personalization can deliver 5 to 8 TIMES the ROI on marketing spend — and lift sales by 10% or more.

Look, we know that personalized ads perform better. We also know that you need data to create personalized ads. 

The thing is, the amount of data being captured by ad platforms has shrunk thanks to the privacy updates we mentioned earlier. 

The data that used to be picked up by the ad platform pixels is no longer. The majority of it is blocked. 

That’s where first-party data comes in.

By capturing first-party data and creating specific audiences based on behavior, you can create really personalized messaging.

That personalized messaging means a better experience, more revenue, and even customer loyalty.

First-Party Data is Critical for Scaling Ad Campaigns

A lot of the sessions at Ad Universe touched on scaling. From how to scale creative to how to scale budgets and so on.

Many of those same sessions also touched on first-party data. 

By leveraging insights from your own audience (think purchase history, website interactions, customer feedback), you can refine your targeting strategies to reach similar prospects more accurately. 

For example, a SaaS company might use first-party data to identify common characteristics among its most loyal subscribers. They can then scale ad campaigns by creating lookalike audiences and teaching the AI audiences what to look for. 

This not only enhances the customer experience but also optimizes ad spend, ensuring that marketing budgets are allocated towards high-converting audiences. 

And as campaigns expand, the continuous collection and analysis of first-party data creates a feedback loop that enhances the campaign’s effectiveness over time. 

First-Party Data is Critical to Third-Party Data 

Ok, that sentence might not make a lot of sense without context. But as we touched on before, the ad platforms are now relying on the data you provide. 

And if you can provide the ad platforms with really solid first-party data, the audiences they build based on the third-party data they are able to capture will be much better. 

Like we’ve been saying, more data is better. 

IPG’s Magna and Acxiom agree. According to their study, combining your first-party and third-party data is actually the best idea! 

What’s important to note here is that the reason first-party data has become so important, is that third-party data is gradually becoming less and less. 

As marketers and advertisers, we need to stay ahead of the game to ensure our ad campaigns are running at maximum effectiveness.

Are You Ready to Capture First-Party Data for Your Ad Campaigns?

Customers.ai website visitor identification can help you identify 20-30% of your anonymous website visitors. 

Those visitors can then be segmented into custom audiences and sent to ad platforms, CRMs, and marketing automation tools.

The result? Let’s look at what others are seeing:

You can get started today for free. Sign up and get 500 free contacts at no charge. Try it now!

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Why First-Party Data is Critical to Ad Campaign Success appeared first on Customers.ai.

Bringing together 22 top-notch advertising experts, we dove deep into everything from crafting killer ad creatives to mastering Facebook and Google ads, not to mention YouTube and LinkedIn strategies. 

It wasn’t just about the big names, though. With over 2000 registrants, the summit truly was buzzing with enthusiastic marketers eager to level up their game. 

Now, we could go on for days and days about the sessions and the information provided, but we don’t have that kind of time and neither do you.

Instead, let’s look at 21 key takeaways from the summit that you can add to your marketing strategies right now.

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1. Don’t Rent. Own Your Ad Pixel – Larry Kim

CEO, Customers.ai

Until not too long ago, the standard approach was to rely on ad platforms for pixel tracking. You’d grab their pixel, slot it into your site, and let it feed data back to their servers. 

But this method has its drawbacks: match rates often disappoint, data enrichment is non-existent, and the decline of cookies is shrinking audience sizes.

The game-changer? Bringing your own data to the table and directly supplying it to the ad platforms.

2. Go All in on Influencer & User Generated Content – Ezra Firestone

Founder of BOOM Beauty

Want an old-school strategy that not only works but scales? It’s time to fully embrace influencer and user-generated content. 

That means allocating at least 10% of your marketing budget to influencer efforts. These images and videos make super-effective ads, enrich email content, and enhance blogs.

3. Combine First-Party Data & Audience Signals – Areen Mayelan

Vice President, Paid Media Strategy at Hawke Media

Audience signals are one of the few levers we have to drive growth with Performance Max. When it comes to these audience signals, a mistake people make is that they use very broad data indicators – affinity and in-market audiences. 

You should be using your first-party high-value audience data (think customer lists). Seeing the most growth in PMax.

4. Protect Your Geotargeting with Exclusions – Navah Hopkins

Brand Evangelist at Optmyzr

Google recently made adjustments to zip codes and zip codes are starting to be considered personal info. We know what that means…there is a good chance it’ll be removed. 

So if you need to target a narrow geographic location, make sure you use exclusions to do so. It’ll essentially protect the targeting you have in place.

5. Create Trust Through Localized Experiences – Mark Yeramian

Co-Founder, CEO of Moast

Localized experiences are helpful to connect customers and build trust with your brand. They can also be really powerful, especially for certain product categories.

For example, if I am looking for outdoor furniture, I might want to connect with people who own that in my area. Does it hold up to Seattle rain? What about the heat and humidity of the northeast? Make it easy for your customers to find localized reviews and user-generated content.

6. Forget 80/20. It’s 95/5 for B2B Marketers  – Andrea Cruz

Sr. Director, Client Strategy at Tinuiti

It’s time to get real – it’s no longer an 80/20 world for marketers. The reality is 95% of your prospects aren’t ready to buy. Does that mean you shouldn’t target them? Not at all. We need to stay top of mind for those who aren’t yet ready to buy while also being mindful of our budgets. 

The solution is simple – make sure your audiences are highly targeted. Go beyond job titles and layer in as much data as you can. 

7. Microtarget Your Audience with Twitter Ads – Dennis Yu

CEO of BlitzMetrics

Want to capture the attention of your audience and not blow through your budget? With the right content and promotion tactics, Twitter can be a great place to do just that. 

Twitter allows you to create really narrow audiences through geotargeting. Want to target just one company? Run an ad targeted to the location of their corporate office. 

8. Combine AI and First-Party Data for Amped Campaigns – Mati Ram

CEO of AdScale

First-party data is king. By pairing it with AI, marketers can elevate their campaigns to unprecedented heights. 

Leverage AI to pinpoint growth opportunities and diagnose barriers, craft highly targeted campaigns, and optimize budgets and bids around the clock across all channels.

9. Use AI for Unlimited Ad Creative – Nick Shackelford

Chief Revenue Officer of Structured

Creative is often the hardest part of ads. It’s time-consuming, requires design skills, and can be really hard to scale. 
But what if you could create great ads and scale creative at the same time?

You can with A, the right tools (Figma, Google Sheets, GPT) and some simple configurations. Honestly, it’s hard to put this process into words.

Watch the replay for more details from Nick.

10. Reduce Bounce Rates with Mirrored Landing Pages – Steph Carcamo

Partner Marketing Manager at Justuno

How many times have you clicked on an ad only to be taken to a generic landing page? As a user it’s frustrating. As an advertiser, it’s a bad look.

Create a cohesive experience for your customers by mirroring your landing pages and ads. Mirror the offer, the CTA, and make sure any other exclusions noted in the ad are repeated on the landing page. This type of mirroring can reduce bounce rates by 20% and improve time to sale. 

11. Get the Spam Out of Your PMax Campaigns – Menachem Ani

Founder, CEO of JXT Group

The key to PMax is giving the system the right audience signals. Because there is no pure audience targeting with PMax, you need to give the system data on who your target customer is. Remember, Google doesn’t know what is good and what is bad so the most important thing you can do is give it your data, whether through a CRM connection or uploading audience data. 

To prevent spam and avoid the “feedback loop of doom, make sure to install a spam filter on your landing page so conversion tracking never gets triggered.

12. Boost Your Budget with Thought Leader Ads – AJ Wilcox

CEO of B2Linked.com

One of LinkedIn’s newest ad formats, thought leader ads are low cost, high visibility, and they drive results! 

The reason? Thought leader ads come from real people vs. a company page. When people see the post in their feed, they are more likely to stop and actually engage vs. scrolling past.

Thought leader ads can be used for all stages of the funnel and audience targeting is the same as other ad types.

13. Reward High Value Customers with Special Offers – Parya Behrouzian

Sr. Director of Revenue Marketing at AdRoll

Zero and first party data is essential to personalization and loyalty. Using the data you have and the tools in your tech stack, create personalized ads that can be served to your best customers. 

Offer exclusive promotions and rewards to motivate repeat shoppers to keep coming back or sign up for a subscription.

The result? A better customer experience, increased sales, and increase LTV.

14. Create Custom Rules to Avoid Google Partner Network – Greg Kohler

Sr. Digital Marketing Manager at ServiceMaster

By creating custom rules in Google Ads editor, you can scale rules across campaigns. For example, if you want to ensure your ads aren’t shown on the Google Partner or Display network, a custom rule can be put in place, preventing it from showing. 

The same thing can be done for things like location targeting and even broad match. Custom rules make life easier and help scale campaigns. 

15. Use AI to Test New Markets – Jason Dodge

Founder, CEO of BlackTruck Media

When testing new markets, you can spend hours upon hours analyzing data to determine if it’s a fit. With some basic prompt engineering, you can cut down on that time. 

For example, a hotel company might want to know the most popular destinations from a particular airport to determine potential new locations. Instead of spending hours gathering info, AI tools like GPT can not only give you the data quickly, it can also layer on affinity data. More data = better.

16. Use Modular Creative to 10x Ad Output – Maxwell Finn

President at Unicorn Traffic

Ad iteration and testing is critical for ad success. Unfortunately, it can also be time consuming. Not with the Ford method.

The Ford method works by iterating on successful creative. The goal is to not just find a winning ad and move on but instead, to make what’s working, work better. By making your creative modular (think elements like hook, CTA, body, text overlay, etc.), you can change small variables for continuous improvement.

17. Focus on Your CAC and LTV Ratio – John Moran

Co-Founder of Solutions 8

While platforms like Google and Facebook are good ad platforms, they aren’t good measurement platforms. And with the deprecation of cookies, attribution isn’t going to get better. 

To get a better sense of how your ads are performing and determine where to put your budget, look at your CAC to LTV by channel and holistically. You can more quickly understand how much money you can afford to spend and know where to spend it.

18. Turn Your One Hit Wonders into Loyal Customers – Sabir Semerkant

Founder of Growth by Sabir

Turning one-time buyers (or as Sabir calls them, one hit wonders) into loyal customers is every company’s dream. Repeat customers cost less than new customers and they tend to be higher value.

To turn your one hit wonders into loyal customers, you need to treat them as their own audience, separate from your repeat customer base. Identify your one hit wonders, segment them into their own audiences, and create hyper-personalized messaging. Remember, personalization is the key. Without it, you won’t see the results you want.

19. Use Financial Day Trading Zone Strategy to Optimize Budgets – Scott Desgrosseilliers

CEO of Wicked Reports

Hitting your budget sweet spot can be tricky. Each day you check your goals, make adjustments, and it can easily result in overreactions.

The better way is to set a range, similar to day trading, and automate the actions based on that range. For example, if you have Meta ads running, you can set a rule that if your CAC hits the upper part of the range, you reduce budget but if it hits the lower part of the range, you up it. The result? A more efficient and effective budget strategy.

20. Focus on Profit Margin, Not ROAS – Saptarshi Nath

Co-Founder & CEO of Airboxr

Advertisers often get caught looking strictly at ROAS and ignoring actual profits.

After all, not all products have the same profit margin. Some may have 10% margins while others have 80%.

Take a look at which products with ad spend are driving sales and have a higher profit margin. Those are the products you want to put more budget towards.

21. Leverage YouTube Reach for Growth – Justin Buckley

Co-Founder of ATTN Agency

Vertical videos are everything right now and platforms are battling for the views. Upload the shorts you’re creating for TikTok and Meta into YouTube. 

They are cost-effective (Justin is seeing as low as ONE cent short placements), they can be targeted, and they can drive real engagement. Even better, if you hook up your Google Ads to creator/influencer channels, you can access their audience insights and build retargeting audiences.  

Whew! Is Your Brain Full Yet?

These are just a few of the many tips and tricks that were shared at the Ad Universe Summit. Be on the lookout for more summit content and if you missed it, be sure to register for the replay!

If you want to learn more about Customers.ai and how we can help take your ad campaigns to the next level, talk to our sales team or sign up and start your free trial!

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

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Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post 21 High-Powered Takeaways from Ad Universe Summit appeared first on Customers.ai.

As technology evolves and privacy concerns continue to intensify, advertisers tasked with maximizing ROI must continuously refine their approaches. 

This means going beyond the basics and focusing on things like advanced segmentation and targeting, AI and machine learning for optimization, creative testing, and more. 

The thing is, we know how much potential there is in the Facebook ecosystem, it’s why we are an official Meta partner. When done right, advertisers can see really exceptional results.

So let’s dive in and look at how we can maximize performance and take our Facebook ad strategies to the next level. 

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Advanced Segmentation and Targeting 

We are big fans of segmentation here at Customers.ai. 

After all, detailed audience segmentation allows advertisers to create and deliver highly relevant content to specific audiences. By looking at demographics, interests, behaviors, and more, you can significantly increase engagement rates and improve overall campaign effectiveness. 

Seems like a good thing right?

There are several ways you can add advanced segmentation strategies to your ad campaigns. Let’s look at three: Custom Audiences, Lookalike Audiences & Advantage+ Audiences.

Custom Audiences

Custom audiences are created from existing data on your customers (think email lists or users who have previously interacted with your content).

While Facebook is pushing advertisers to Advantage+, we think custom audiences are way more valuable. After all, they are YOUR audience. 

And with the right data, you can create fantastic segments with highly targeted creative. This includes:

• Website Traffic: Create custom audiences from users who have visited specific pages of your website. For example, with the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel, you can identify over 20% of site visitors, even if they don’t give you their information. That data can then be used to retarget individuals on Facebook. With Restore, you can get an even higher match rate (check out this post).

• Engage Past Customers: No one wants a one and done buyer. Target users who have previously made a purchase with ads for related products or exclusive offers. Is it time for a refill? Is there an update on the product they purchased? Get creative and make your segments work for you.

• Segment by Intent: We know that not every buyer is ready to make a purchase. That’s ok! That’s what ads are for. The ads for visitors who hit the shopping cart should be much different than the ads for visitors who hit the T-Shirts page. By being able to track which pages your users visit, you can create really specific segments based on intent. 

Lucky for you, our tools make all of this not just possible, but easy. Including our customer journey mapping feature which shows you all the pages your buyer visited.

And our Facebook integration which allows you to send audiences directly to your Facebook campaigns:

Lookalike & Advantage+ Audiences 

Lookalike audiences allow you to reach new people whose interests and behaviors are similar to those of your existing customers while Advantage+ audiences use Meta’s advanced AI to build your campaign audience.

The thing with both of these audiences is that they are only as good as the data you populate them with. 

So whether you are still using lookalike audiences or have made the switch to Advantage+, you want to keep the following in mind:

• Start with a High-Quality Source Audience: You want to reach those most likely to buy right? That means your source audience must be people who…you guessed it, bought! Use your best-performing customer segments, such as those with high engagement or conversion rates, as the basis for creating lookalike audiences or informing your Advantage+ audiences.

• Specify Audience Size and Similarity: In the case of lookalike audiences, size matters. While Facebook generally recommends a source audience between 1,000-5,000 people, smaller audiences can actually perform better. For Advantage+ audiences, more data is usually better. The more data you can “train” Facebook’s AI with, the better.

• Update and Refine: Like anything in marketing, it’s important to continuously update and refine your source audiences to ensure your segments remain relevant and effective. 

Whatever kind of audience you decide on (maybe all of them!), segmentation not only elevates the efficiency of your ad spend but also drives superior conversion rates by aligning your content with the distinct needs and interests of each audience segment.

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Leveraging AI and Machine Learning for Optimization

AI and machine learning are revolutionizing how Facebook ad campaigns are optimized. 

We’re talking automated bidding processes, campaign data analysis, and real-time campaign optimization. AI algorithms can predict outcomes based on historical performance and real-time data, adjusting bids in milliseconds to maximize ad visibility and engagement. 

These dynamic capabilities ensure that advertisers not only reach their target audience more effectively but also optimize their ad spend, reducing CPA and increasing ROI. 

Here are a few examples of how AI is being used (and can be used) in Facebook advertising:

• Dynamic Creative Optimization: AI can be used to automatically test different combinations of ad elements such as images, videos, headlines, descriptions, and CTAs. By analyzing the performance data in real-time, the system identifies the most effective combination for each segment of the audience. Even if you aren’t doing dynamic ad creation, AI tools can be really helpful for creative. 

• Predictive Analytics for Audience Targeting: Facebook uses AI to analyze data on things like user behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns. This analysis helps predict which users are most likely to take a specific action (think making a purchase, clicking on a link, or engaging with content) and ensures ads are shown to these particular people. 

• Audience Expansion: We already touched on how AI is driving audience expansion above but it’s worth noting just how big of an impact this is now having in ads. With iOS 14 and now the loss of cookies, Facebook audiences have shrunk dramatically. AI is helping Facebook (and you) to build back those audiences and ensure targeting capabilities don’t completely fade away. 

AI is here to stay and as and advertiser, you can use it to your advantage or you can let your competitors use it to their advantage. 

Creative Testing and Iteration

Testing isn’t exactly an “advanced” technique in the general sense. However, the process of creative testing can be. 

Testing allows you to understand which elements of your ads resonate most and it allows you to see results quicker. 

Let’s look at a few creative testing strategies:

• A/B Testing: At its core, A/B testing is simple – compare two versions of an ad and see which performs better. The key here is variable isolation; change one element at a time—be it the image, headline, ad copy, or CTA—while keeping all other variables constant. By doing it this way, you can get clear insights into which specific changes improve ad performance.

• Multivariate Testing: For a more comprehensive analysis, multivariate testing lets you test multiple variations of several elements at once. While it can be a bit more challenging, this approach can show how different elements interact with one another and their combined effect on ad performance. The key to multivariate testing is a large audience and statistically significant results.

• Sequential Testing: Sequential testing involves giving your audience a series of ad variations over time. While more time-consuming than A/B testing, this strategy can be particularly useful for understanding how changes in creative elements impact ad fatigue and engagement over longer campaigns. The goal – figuring out the optimal frequency and timing for refreshing ad creatives.

In the analysis phase, having the right tools in place is key. Whether it’s Facebook’s analytics tools or third-party platforms, you will need something to understand ad performance and test results. 

By prioritizing creative testing and iteration, advertisers can significantly enhance the effectiveness of their Facebook ads. This cycle of analysis and iteration ensures that ad strategies remain dynamic, targeted, and continually optimized.

Making Facebook Ads Work for You  

As we said earlier, there is so much potential in Facebook Ads. I think sometimes we forget there is actually a whole Meta ecosystem of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, giving us multiple places to reach our audience.

But we won’t be successful if we rely on old strategies. 

In order to make Facebook ads work for you, you must go beyond the basics. We need advanced segmentation and targeting, we need to capitalize on AI technology, and we certainly need to remember to test, test, test.

And if you really want to go above and beyond, you need Customers.ai. 

Our Restore product can skyrocket your Facebook reach and allow you to target website visitors you had no idea existed. 

Want to learn more? Try it free or contact our sales team for more information.

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

Advanced Facebook Ads Strategy FAQs

Q. How do I use lookalike audiences to improve Facebook ad targeting?

Lookalike audiences can be created by leveraging the characteristics of your existing customers or high-value users to target new users with similar behaviors and interests, effectively expanding your reach to a more relevant audience.

Q. What strategies can enhance the performance of my Facebook video ads?

Optimizing video ads involves creating engaging content within the first few seconds, using captions for silent viewing, and tailoring the video length to your campaign objectives and audience preferences.

Q. How does the Facebook pixel improve ad targeting and conversion tracking?

The Facebook pixel collects data about user actions on your website, enabling you to create targeted ads based on this activity and measure the effectiveness of your advertising by tracking conversions.

Q. Can I use AI and machine learning to optimize my Facebook ad campaigns?

Yes, AI and machine learning can automate bidding strategies, optimize ad placements, and personalize content, improving efficiency and ad performance.

Q. What are the best practices for A/B testing Facebook ads?

Best practices include testing one variable at a time, using a statistically significant audience size, running the test for an adequate duration, and analyzing results based on clear KPIs.

Q. How do custom audiences work, and how can they improve my ad campaigns?

Custom audiences allow you to target ads to users based on your own data, such as email lists or users who have interacted with your content, leading to more personalized and effective advertising.

Q. What impact do privacy regulations have on Facebook ad targeting?

Privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA limit how advertisers can collect and use data, necessitating more reliance on first-party data and privacy-compliant targeting methods.

Q. How can I leverage Facebook’s dynamic creative feature for my ads?

Dynamic creative automatically tests different combinations of your ad components, identifying the most effective variation for different audience segments.

Q. What are the advantages of using Facebook’s Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO)?

CBO automatically distributes your campaign budget across ad sets to favor the best-performing ones, improving overall campaign efficiency and ROI.

Q. How can cross-platform advertising be effectively managed within the Facebook ecosystem?

Effective management involves understanding the unique attributes of each platform, maintaining a consistent brand message across all, and using unified metrics for comprehensive performance analysis.

Q. What techniques can be used to combat ad fatigue on Facebook?

Techniques include regularly refreshing ad creative, targeting new audience segments, and utilizing dynamic ads to keep content fresh and engaging.

Q. How does Facebook Attribution help in measuring ad performance across devices and channels?

Facebook Attribution provides cross-device and cross-platform tracking, offering insights into the customer journey and the impact of different marketing efforts on conversions.

Q. How can I optimize ad delivery for specific conversion events?

By setting up custom conversion events in Facebook Ads Manager, you can tailor your ad delivery strategies to prioritize these actions, optimizing your campaigns for higher conversion rates.

Q. What role does video play in advanced Facebook ad strategies?

Video content is crucial for capturing attention, engaging audiences, and improving ad performance, especially when optimized for mobile viewing and designed to convey the message even without sound.

Q. How can I ensure my Facebook ads are GDPR compliant?

Ensuring compliance involves obtaining explicit consent for data collection, being transparent about data use, and providing options for users to view, edit, or delete their data.

Q. How do I use Facebook’s ad relevance diagnostics to improve my campaigns?

Ad relevance diagnostics provide insights into the quality, engagement, and conversion rates of your ads, allowing you to identify areas for improvement and optimize for better performance.

Q. What strategies can I employ to increase the click-through rate (CTR) of my Facebook ads?

Strategies include using compelling visuals, clear and actionable CTAs, personalized ad copy, and targeting improvements to make your ads more relevant to your audience.

Q. How can I use Facebook Insights to refine my advertising strategy?

Facebook Insights offers detailed analytics on your ad performance and audience demographics, helping you make informed decisions about creative content, targeting, and campaign adjustments.

Q. What is the significance of ad placement optimization in Facebook advertising?

Ad placement optimization ensures your ads appear in the locations most likely to drive engagement and conversions, whether on Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, or Messenger.

Q. How can retargeting campaigns on Facebook increase conversions?

Retargeting campaigns target users who have previously interacted with your brand, reminding them of their interest and nudging them towards conversion with personalized ads.

Q. What are the best practices for creating effective Facebook ad copy?

Effective ad copy is concise, focused on benefits, includes a clear call to action, and is tailored to the target audience’s interests and needs.

Q. How does the use of emojis affect Facebook ad engagement?

Emojis can increase engagement by adding personality and emotion to your ad copy, making it more relatable and attention-grabbing, but should be used judiciously to match your brand tone.

Q. Can Facebook ads drive both online and offline conversions?

Yes, Facebook ads can drive both by using online campaigns to increase web conversions and using offline conversion tracking to measure the impact of ads on in-store visits and purchases.

Q. How do I measure the ROI of my Facebook advertising campaigns?

Measuring ROI involves tracking conversion events attributed to your ads, calculating the revenue generated from these conversions, and comparing it against your ad spend.

Q. What are the challenges of international Facebook advertising, and how can they be overcome?

Challenges include language barriers, cultural differences, and varying legal regulations. Overcoming these requires localized content, cultural sensitivity, and adherence to local laws.

Q. How can storytelling be incorporated into Facebook ad campaigns?

Storytelling can be incorporated through sequential ad placements that narrate a brand story across multiple interactions, engaging users and building a deeper connection.

Q. What is the importance of mobile optimization for Facebook ads?

With the majority of Facebook users accessing the platform via mobile, optimizing ads for mobile ensures better user experiences, higher engagement rates, and improved ad performance.

Q. How can I utilize Facebook Groups in my ad strategy?

Facebook Groups can be targeted through ads to engage with niche communities and foster a sense of belonging, but it’s important to respect group norms and contribute value.

Q. What strategies can be employed to lower the cost per acquisition (CPA) on Facebook ads?

Lowering CPA involves optimizing targeting, ad creative, and bidding strategies, as well as focusing on high-conversion actions and refining audience segments.

Q. How does the choice of Facebook ad format impact campaign success?

The ad format should align with campaign objectives, whether it’s driving engagement, conversions, or brand awareness, as different formats offer varying benefits for specific goals.

Q. How can advanced segmentation enhance Facebook ad campaigns?

Advanced segmentation allows for precise targeting based on detailed criteria, ensuring ads are shown to the most relevant audience, improving engagement, and conversion rates.

The post Maximizing ROI with Advanced Facebook Ad Strategies appeared first on Customers.ai.

Achieving that coveted spot in the inbox requires more than just sending messages; it requires navigating spam filters and privacy laws, all while writing copy that drives opens and keeps engagement high. No easy feat.

Email deliverability has long been a challenge and unfortunately, without the help of technology, it’s not going to get any easier. 

That’s where AI comes in. 

AI isn’t just helping to improve email deliverability. It’s turning the concept on its head, offering new strategies to help marketers deal with new changes and reach the inbox. 

Let’s explore the transformation from basic deliverability tactics to cutting-edge, AI-enhanced strategies that are setting new benchmarks in email marketing success.

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Looking Back at Email Deliverability

In the early days of email marketing, deliverability hinged on one thing – avoiding the spam folder. 

There weren’t promotions tabs or super-sophisticated filters. You didn’t have to worry about having too many links in your message or using characters incorrectly and ending up in the spam folder.

The biggest challenges were crafting non-spammy subject lines and managing bounce rates while the strategies were straightforward – focus on list hygiene and mass distribution without much nuance.

Ah, simpler times. 

But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

As email became ubiquitous, the landscape began to grow more complicated. 

The introduction of Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) marked significant milestones and new challenges for email marketers.

These authentication protocols, designed to verify the sender’s identity and combat phishing, also made deliverability much more difficult. 

At the same time as new protocols were being put in place, ISPs were evolving and adopting more sophisticated algorithms to filter out spam. 

All of this together led to one thing – the need for an email deliverability strategy.

These changes really forced email marketers to rethink how they got messages to the inbox and placed a greater emphasis on sender reputation and engagement metrics. 

What began as a simple battle to reach the inbox has become a complex endeavor to ensure emails are welcomed by recipients and trusted by email providers.

Contemporary Challenges in Email Deliverability

With the glory days of email marketing behind us, today’s email marketers have to navigate a whole new set of challenges to achieve deliverability. 

The sophistication of spam filters has reached unprecedented levels, employing AI and machine learning to scrutinize every aspect of an email, from technology to content to sender behavior. 

These filters aren’t fooled by basic tactics. They demand genuine engagement and relevant content. 

They also demand a clean sender reputation and adherence to privacy guidelines. 

Sender Reputation

Sender reputation is a huge part of deliverability.

ISPs and email services meticulously score senders on various metrics, including open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints. 

This scrutiny means that maintaining a clean, engaged email list is more crucial than ever. 

A drop in sender reputation can lead to emails being sent to the spam folder, or worse, blocked entirely.

Privacy Regulations

GDPR and CCPA have really reshaped the email marketing landscape by mandating compliance.

These regulations don’t just suggest consent for data collection, they require it. In fact, violations risk hefty fines.

With these new challenges, email marketers must employ more nuanced and sophisticated strategies. 

It’s a balancing act – ensuring compliance with privacy laws, maintaining a positive sender reputation, navigating the intricate algorithms of spam filters, and requiring innovation and adaptability.

The Role of AI in Enhancing Email Deliverability

AI has ushered in a new era for email marketing.

From predictive analytics to personalization, AI is helping email marketers navigate all of the crazy changes taking place.

Predictive Analytics

I think we can all agree that predictive analytics has revolutionized email marketing, particularly when it comes to send time and frequency. 

Instead of having to manually analyze data and test assumptions, AI can take your data and predict the optimal moment for email engagement. The results? Higher open rates and improved deliverability.

Personalization

Personalization is another area where AI is making its mark. 

Through NLP, AI email writers can help craft email content that resonates with readers while steering clear of spam filters. 

They can analyze the effectiveness of subject lines, call-to-actions, and overall content, suggesting improvements that enhance engagement rates. 

Sender Reputation Management

The ability to predict and adapt content for better engagement and compliance is invaluable not just for getting your messages delivered but also for maintaining a healthy sender reputation.

Machine learning models can forecast potential deliverability issues before they even happen. 

By analyzing email interactions, AI can identify patterns that may lead to blacklisting or spam complaints, allowing marketers to adjust strategies proactively.

Way better than being blacklisted right?

AI is already making waves when it comes to email deliverability and it’s only going to get better. 

Marketers leveraging AI-driven platforms report significant improvements in open rates, reduced spam complaints, and enhanced overall campaign performance. 

In fact, during a 2023 survey carried out among email marketers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and other European countries, it was found that ~51% of respondents believed that AI-supported email marketing was more effective than traditional email marketing approaches.

These advancements are not just about overcoming challenges; they’re about setting new benchmarks in email marketing effectiveness.

AI for Improved Email Deliverability 

The evolution of email deliverability, from its simplest forms to the sophisticated, AI-driven landscape of today, shows us that email marketing is in a constant state of flux. 

The challenges that once seemed impossible have given way to innovative solutions and opportunities for growth and engagement.

The role of AI in this evolution cannot be overstated. 

It is now a pivotal tool, giving marketers the ability to navigate the many, many complexities of modern email marketing with unprecedented precision. 

AI-driven insights and technologies are not just enhancing deliverability, they are reshaping the very foundations of email marketing strategies, offering a glimpse into a future where personalization, engagement, and compliance are seamlessly integrated.

For strategic email marketers, the message is clear – embracing AI-driven insights and technologies is no longer an option but a necessity for staying ahead. 

The future of email deliverability lies in the ability to adapt, innovate, and harness the full potential of AI to create meaningful, engaging, and successful email campaigns.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post The Evolution of Email Deliverability: From Basics to AI-Driven Insights appeared first on Customers.ai.

And it turns out it feels that way because well, they aren’t. According to Martech, 75% of marketers still rely heavily on cookies and another 64% plan to increase their spending on cookie-based activations this year.

It may seem kind of backwards, relying on a technology that’s being phased out, but the reality is that marketers need ad platforms for leads, customers, sales, and revenue. 

That isn’t going to change.

What is going to change (and already has) is the ability to measure campaigns effectively, allocate budgets appropriately, and reach the right people in the right places. 

The bad news is it’s only going to get more challenging.

Which is why we brought together our Founder and CEO Larry Kim and InfoTrust’s D2C Industry Team Manager Courtney Fenstermaker to discuss what advertisers need to do to survive this so called cookiepocolypse.

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Let’s jump into what they had to say.

Start Stockpiling Your First-Party Data

The demise of third-party cookies signals a return to first-party data supremacy – the data that you own and no one can take from you.

According to Kim, marketers and advertisers need to develop robust first-party data strategies to maintain and enhance customer engagement and targeting precision. 

While that can sound overwhelming (and expensive), it’s actually easier said than done. Here are Kim’s tips for gathering and stockpiling your first-party data.

1. Invest in a Tracking Pixel to ID Visitors

In the wake of third-party cookie deprecation, tracking pixels are the solution for marketers aiming to gather actionable insights about their audience. 

A pixel like Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray can help you not only identify up to 20% of your visitors but will also allow you to retarget, email, and add these visitors directly to your CRM. 

Here are a few benefits of having a visitor tracking pixel in place: 

• Direct Data Collection: Custom tracking pixels enable businesses to collect data directly from their website visitors without relying on third-party sources. This first-party data is more accurate, relevant, and compliant with privacy regulations.

• Enhanced Customer Journey Mapping: This is perhaps one of the biggest losses of the removal of cookies. But by implementing your own tracking solution, you can gain a comprehensive view of the customer journey across their digital ecosystem. Just like the old days, this detailed mapping allows for the identification of key touchpoints, preferences, and behaviors, enabling more effective targeting and optimization of the customer experience.

• Privacy Compliance and Trust: With growing concerns over privacy and data protection, custom tracking pixels offer a way to respect user consent while still gathering valuable insights. By controlling the data collection process, businesses can ensure transparency and build trust with their audience.

2. Use First-Party Data to Restore Ad Retargeting & Attribution

We’ve talked a lot here about retargeting (here, here, and here for instance). 

The privacy changes over the past 5 years have all but decimated retargeting campaigns and this latest focus on cookies is only going to make it worse. 

The cool thing is, first-party data makes retargeting work again! 

We know that remarketing engagement is 2-3x higher than non-remarketing and certainly more cost effective. 

By capturing visitor information directly on your website and pumping it into your remarketing campaigns, you can retarget like it’s 2019!

3. Create Advanced Audience Segments with Your First Party Data

Larry Kim’s third tip for navigating the end of the cookie era focuses on using first-party persistent identifiers to create sophisticated audience segmentations and connecting these segments to specific marketing actions. 

Again, it’s actually much easier than it sounds! 

Let’s use Customers.ai as the example again. 

A visitor comes to your site, the tracking pixel is able to identity them. 

You now know their name, email address, business role, company, LinkedIn profile, and much more. 

Based on their actions, let’s say visiting your request a demo page, they are put into your existing automation for people who request a demo. 

We are able to track if they opened the email, what other pages they might’ve visited, what actions they might have taken, and all of this is sent to your CRM.

Here’s another example. 

A visitor comes to your site and reads a blog post about lead generation. 

They are not a high-intent visitor so shouldn’t be put into the email automation but they are a great fit for a retargeting campaign focused around anyone who visited pages about lead generation. 

The key here is using the first-party data you have to not just create sophisticated audience segmentations, but to connect these segments to specific marketing actions. The result is better targeting, better attribution, and more money.

It’s Time to Adapt to a Privacy-First World

While Larry Kim focused on some of the more tactical things you can do to capture first-party data, Courtney Fenstermaker offered a broader view of the issue, focusing on adapting marketing strategies in a privacy-centric landscape while maximizing data utility. 

Here are Fenstermaker’s tips for doing just that:

1. Actioning Data with a Privacy Lense

While this tip might seem broad at first glance, it’s all about recognizing the gold mine we’re sitting on: our data. 

Fenstermaker reminds us that, even in a world where privacy is king and data is being removed, there’s still a ton we can do with the data we have, from deep dives into analytics to fine-tuning our ad targeting. It’s really about seeing the full spectrum of possibilities and making the most of what we’ve got, without stepping on anyone’s privacy toes.

First off, she’s big on using data to get the lay of the land. What’s happening with our audience? Who’s engaging, who’s not, and why? This isn’t just number-crunching; it’s about telling the story of our users’ journey with our brand. 

And then there’s A/B testing—our primary weapon for figuring out what works and what doesn’t, right there on our own turf. 

That leads into how we can take our data game to the next level with modeling and AI. AI really has the ability to give us the edge we need to stay ahead. And when it comes to enriching our data, she’s all about mixing and matching datasets to get a fuller picture of our audience, which is pure gold for targeting.

Last but not least, what this is all really about is reaching our customers in ways they actually appreciate. It’s about reading the room (or the data) and knowing whether to slide into their emails, pop up in their social feeds, or nudge them with a push notification. 

It’s this blend of savvy data use and genuine respect for privacy that can help us nail our marketing goals while keeping our audience’s trust intact. 

2. Be Aware of Privacy Legislation Updates

Courtney Fenstermaker’s second tip may seem obviously but is actually one of the most challenging parts of the whole privacy issue.

Staying on top of privacy changes from state to state is almost impossible. 

Not with the IAPP US State Privacy Legislation Tracker. 

The tracker can help marketers staying on top of privacy laws in the US quickly and easily. So, whether you’re in Pennsylvania or pitching to folks in California, this resource is your go-to for navigating the complex world of privacy laws without missing a beat.

3. Question Your Data & Assess Your Risk

The challenge is real: identifying users and tailoring marketing strategies has never been trickier, potentially dialing down the effectiveness of our tactics. 

Yet, within this challenge lies an opportunity to rethink and revamp how we connect with our audience. It’s about diving deeper, beyond the surface data, to truly understand and segment our customer base, focusing on creating more meaningful connections. 

Whether it’s leveraging AI, modeling, or just getting smart with the data we have, the goal is to refine our approach to reach even those who remain elusive. 

This strategic shift isn’t just about adaptation; it’s about reimagining our engagement to keep pace with the industry’s evolution, ensuring our marketing remains relevant and impactful.

Additionally, a practical tip is to simply ask, “What now?” 

Dive into your website and do a full inventory. 

Pinpoint which platforms and tools you’re using and how they’re affected by the new privacy rules. 

Often, we overlook the extent of our reliance on various technologies, from analytics to customer engagement tools. Understanding which ones might be at risk helps clarify how prepared (or not) your business is. 

Fenstermaker calls it a data compliance or cookie assessment—a deep dive to see where you stand and how to adjust. 

A Path Forward in the Post-Cookie World

This webinar really was a goldmine of tactics for marketers struggling with the cookie apocalypse. 

The key here is to adapt and shift. 

It’s all about doubling down on first-party data, putting privacy at the heart of everything we do, and using tech to really get what makes our customers tick. 

With Larry Kim and Courtney Fenstermaker guiding the way, we’ve got ourselves a solid game plan to keep our marketing strong, legal, and totally on point in this new era.

Interested in learning more about how Customers.ai is helping marketers adapt their strategies and future-proof their marketing campaigns?

Contact our team for more information or install the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel right now. 

It’s free, it takes less than 90 seconds, and you can capture up to 5,000 contacts for now charge.

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post The Advertiser Survival Guide for the End of the Cookie Era appeared first on Customers.ai.

However, with recent shifts in the digital space, notably the phasing out of third-party cookies and increased privacy regulations, marketers and businesses of all sizes are taking notice of this technology. 

In fact, a staggering 87% of marketers agree that identity resolution is key to future-proofing their campaigns! 

As tools like Google Analytics evolve and restrict access to once readily available data, marketers are leaning into identity resolution to navigate attribution.

It makes us wonder, “Is identity resolution the future of marketing?”.

The answer. It certainly feels like it.

Let’s dig a little deeper and find out just why identity resolution is so important to the marketing landscape and this new age where data is sacred and attribution feels impossible.

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Understanding Identity Resolution

At its heart, identity resolution seems pretty simple. But there is a lot to it and understanding what it is and its role in business and marketing is important.

What is Identity Resolution?

Identity resolution is a data processing technique used by marketers to aggregate and analyze interactions and touchpoints from various sources to build a singular, cohesive identity of a consumer. 

This process involves matching customer data points, such as email addresses, social media profiles, and device identifiers, across different channels and platforms. 

By doing so, it allows businesses to understand and track an individual’s journey with their brand, enabling personalized marketing efforts and a more comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior.

Ok…that’s the boring definition. 

Identity resolution basically takes all the things you know about your customers and prospects and puts them into one place (think name, email, address, business role, family connections, hobbies, etc).

For marketers, this is GOLD!

What are the Two Types of Identity Resolution?

It’s important to note there are two types of identity resolution: deterministic and probabilistic.

Deterministic matching operates on the principle of exactness, linking customer records by pinpointing exact matches among identifiers such as email addresses, phone numbers, or usernames. This method is best when there’s a wealth of first-party data at one’s disposal.

On the flip side, probabilistic matching takes a more nuanced approach, estimating the probability that different identifiers—think IP addresses, device types, browsers, or operating systems—belong to the same customer. While this approach might not offer the certainty of deterministic matching, it opens doors when first-party data is scarce or when expanding reach is the goal.

While no one likes what essentially feels like “guesswork”, sometimes probabilistic is the only way to go.

What Technologies Are Used in Identity Resolution?

There are a lot of technologies that go into identity resolution. After all, to get a true picture of an individual, you need to track them both online and in real life. 

Here’s a breakdown of how to think about it:

​​The Collectors: Data Management Platforms (DMPs)

DMPs collect and organize data from a variety of sources, enabling marketers to better understand and segment their audiences. They are essential for targeting and personalization efforts in marketing campaigns.

The Organizers: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

CRMs store and manage customer interactions across different channels, providing a unified view of the customer journey. This helps businesses tailor their communications and improve customer relationships.

The Brainiacs: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

AI and ML technologies analyze data to identify patterns and predict future behaviors. They enhance identity resolution by improving the accuracy of matching customer data across various sources.

The Connectors: Identity Graphs

Identity graphs compile data from multiple channels and devices to create comprehensive profiles of individual customers. They are key to understanding customer behavior and delivering consistent marketing messages.

The Protectors: Blockchain Technology

Blockchain offers a secure and transparent way to manage identity data. Its decentralized nature helps protect against fraud and ensures the integrity of customer information.

These technologies collectively empower marketers to achieve a holistic understanding of their customers, driving more effective and efficient marketing strategies.

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The Benefits of Identity Resolution for Marketers

Over the past few years, marketers have seen more and more of their data disappear. 

In 2020, we saw iOS 14 wipe out ad audiences and in 2024, we are seeing cookies crumble to the wayside. 

Oh, and did I mention GA4? 

The result is an urgent need for a solution that gives us our data back and helps us make smarter marketing decisions. 

Let’s look at a few ways identity resolution benefits marketers.

1. Personalized Marketing at Scale

With identity resolution, marketers can move beyond broad segmentation and generic messaging to tailor their outreach with precision. 

This capability is only possible because of the rich, unified customer profiles that identity resolution provides – preferences, behaviors, interaction histories, and more. 

With this data, marketers can craft messages that speak directly to the needs and interests of each customer, enhancing engagement and fostering loyalty.

Additionally, the scale at which personalized marketing can be achieved with identity resolution is totally unprecedented. 

Automated technologies and sophisticated algorithms allow for the processing of huge amounts of data, ensuring that personalized experiences can be delivered to not just hundreds, but millions of customers simultaneously. 

This scalability ensures that businesses of all sizes can leverage the power of personalization to compete effectively in their markets.

2. Enhanced Targeting and Retargeting Campaigns

As we’ve discussed many times, one of the biggest victims of privacy changes is retargeting. 

Campaigns that used to perform unbelievably well now barely make a dent. Unless you have extremely targeted and segmented first-party lists, you might as well kiss retargeting success goodbye.

That’s where identity resolution comes in. It gives you the first-party data you need to retarget efficiently. 

That first-party data can be put directly into your retargeting campaigns, allowing you to reach the right people, with the right message, in the right place.

The real bonus is that by accurately identifying and understanding customers across devices and platforms, marketers can ensure that their advertising dollars are being spent on the most receptive audiences. 

3. Attribution and Customer Journey Mapping

Remember when Google Analytics would tell you which pages a user landed on, which pages they visited, and which channel they converted from?

That feels like a lifetime ago and I hate to tell you, it’s not getting any better. 

Unless….

You guessed it – identity resolution!

Identity resolution gives us back some of the attribution and customer journey mapping data we used to have. 

If you are using the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel for example, you can see the pages each user visited, if they were sent an email, and if they made a purchase. Crazy right?!

By accurately linking each interaction to the same individual, we can map out the entire customer journey, from initial awareness through to conversion. 

This granular view allows marketers to attribute conversions and other key actions to the specific channels, campaigns, and messages that influenced them, providing invaluable insights into what works and what doesn’t.

Even better, understanding the customer journey at this level helps marketers to optimize their strategies in real time, reallocating resources to the most effective channels and touchpoints. 

The role of identity resolution in marketing cannot be overstated. By leveraging the comprehensive insights provided by identity resolution, marketers can deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time, maximizing impact and driving sales.

Future Trends in Identity Resolution

Identity resolution may not be a new concept but it does feel like it’s starting to make waves in the marketing space.

Previously, CDPs and identity resolution platforms were only accessible to big companies with big budgets. 

Not anymore. 

Emerging trends and technologies, such as AI and blockchain, are making this technology more accessible and redefining how marketers understand and interact with their audiences. 

These advancements promise not only to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of marketing programs and reshape consumer experiences in exciting new ways. Let’s look at a couple trends impacting the future of identity resolution. 

The AI Revolution in Identity Resolution

AI is already taking identity resolution to new heights (hello….CUSTOMERS.AI). 

With its ability to process and analyze data at unprecedented scales, AI is improving the accuracy of matching algorithms, enabling more precise identification of individuals across devices and platforms. 

This leap in precision will allow for even more personalized marketing strategies, as businesses will be able to understand their customers’ needs and preferences in real time, responding with tailored messages that hit the mark every time.

Moreover, AI’s predictive capabilities are set to revolutionize customer journey mapping, forecasting future behaviors based on past interactions. 

Blockchain: Privacy and Security

Customers.ai is a 100% privacy-compliant solution but we do understand people’s concerns when they hear about this groundbreaking technology.

As consumers become more aware of their digital footprint, the demand for transparent and secure data practices continues to rise.

Blockchain technology offers a promising solution to the growing concerns around privacy and data security in identity resolution. 

By creating a decentralized record of customer identities, blockchain can provide a secure framework that respects user privacy while still allowing for personalized marketing. 

This balance between personalization and privacy is the holy grail for marketers, and blockchain could be the key to achieving it.

Marketing Technology Integrations

The potential for identity resolution to integrate seamlessly with other marketing technologies is immense. 

The goal? A unified marketing ecosystem where every piece of customer data is leveraged to its fullest potential, delivering a cohesive and personalized customer experience across all touchpoints.

Such a connected ecosystem would not only streamline marketing operations but also provide deeper insights into customer behavior, enabling more strategic decision-making. 

As identity resolution becomes more intertwined with other marketing technologies, we can expect to see a more holistic approach to customer engagement, where every interaction is informed by a comprehensive understanding of the individual’s journey.

Implementing Identity Resolution in Your Marketing Strategy

If you aren’t convinced identity resolution is the future of marketing, we encourage you to continue exploring the data that is out there. 

If are you, and you are ready to take the next step, then Customers.ai is a great entry point:

Contact Capture & Data Enrichment

At the heart of Customers.ai is our ability to identify website visitors. This includes names, emails, business profiles, company data, LinkedIn profiles, and more. 

Additionally, once we have contacts captured, we can enrich each individual with additional data points.

Precision Targeting and Personalization

With Customers.ai, precision targeting becomes more than a buzzword—it’s a reality. 

Our X-ray tool allows you to not only capture visitor data but also segment into specific audiences. 

This capability allows for the delivery of highly personalized content, offers, and messages that resonate with the individual preferences and needs of each customer.

Enhanced Attribution and Journey Mapping

The attribution and customer journey mapping that was taken away…no longer. 

By providing a clear and cohesive view of the customer journey across channels and devices, marketers can attribute conversions accurately and understand the impact of various touchpoints. 

This insight is invaluable for optimizing marketing strategies, reallocating budget to the most effective channels, and tailoring customer experiences to encourage loyalty and repeat business.

Ready to Take the Next Step in Your Identity Resolution Journey?

Customers.ai represents a pivotal advancement in identity resolution, offering marketers the tools they need to engage their audiences more effectively, understand their behaviors and preferences in greater depth, and drive meaningful interactions at every touchpoint. 

With Customers.ai, businesses are well-equipped to meet the challenges of modern marketing and harness the full power of personalized engagement.

If you are ready to get started, Customers.ai is free to try and easy to set up.

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

If you want to learn more, don’t hesitate to contact us or reach out to sales team with questions. 

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

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Identity Resolution FAQs

Q. What is identity resolution in marketing?

Identity resolution in marketing is the process of integrating multiple identifiers across different devices and platforms to build a cohesive, unified view of an individual consumer, enabling personalized marketing strategies.

Q. How does identity resolution work?

Identity resolution works by collecting data from various sources, matching and linking identifiers like email addresses, social media profiles, and device IDs to create a comprehensive profile of a consumer’s interactions with a brand.

Q. Why is identity resolution important?

Identity resolution is crucial for understanding consumer behavior across channels, enabling personalized marketing, improving customer experiences, and increasing the effectiveness of targeting and retargeting campaigns.

Q. What are the benefits of identity resolution?

Benefits include enhanced targeting accuracy, personalized customer experiences, improved attribution and ROI, and the ability to engage consumers consistently across multiple touchpoints.

Q. What challenges does identity resolution face?

Challenges include data privacy regulations, the phasing out of third-party cookies, data fragmentation, and ensuring accuracy and completeness of customer profiles.

Q. How does identity resolution impact data privacy?

Identity resolution must balance personalized marketing with data privacy, adhering to regulations like GDPR and CCPA by managing consumer data transparently and securely.

Q. What technologies are used in identity resolution?

Technologies include Data Management Platforms (DMPs), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and blockchain for secure data management.

Q. How does AI enhance identity resolution?

AI enhances identity resolution by improving the accuracy of data matching and prediction of consumer behavior, allowing for more sophisticated personalization and targeting.

Q. Can identity resolution work without third-party cookies?

Yes, identity resolution can work without third-party cookies by relying on first-party data, contextual targeting, and emerging technologies like AI and blockchain for data matching.

Q. What is deterministic matching in identity resolution?

Deterministic matching involves linking customer data across channels and devices using precise identifiers like email addresses or phone numbers, ensuring high accuracy.

Q. What is probabilistic matching in identity resolution?

Probabilistic matching estimates the likelihood that different identifiers belong to the same consumer, using data points like IP addresses and device types, useful when precise data is limited.

Q. How do identity graphs facilitate identity resolution?

Identity graphs compile and connect individual data points across channels and devices into a unified profile, enabling a comprehensive view of consumer behavior.

Q. What role does identity resolution play in attribution modeling?

Identity resolution enables accurate attribution modeling by linking every touchpoint and conversion to the correct consumer journey, clarifying the impact of each marketing channel.

Q. How can marketers improve identity resolution?

Marketers can improve identity resolution by investing in quality data sources, adopting advanced technologies like AI, and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.

Q. What is the future of identity resolution?

The future of identity resolution includes increased reliance on AI and machine learning, the integration of blockchain for security, and adaptation to privacy-focused web environments.

Q. How does identity resolution enhance customer journey mapping?

Identity resolution provides detailed insights into each consumer’s path to purchase, allowing marketers to tailor experiences and communications at every stage of the journey.

Q. Can identity resolution improve online advertising?

Yes, by enabling precise targeting and retargeting based on unified customer profiles, identity resolution significantly improves the relevance and effectiveness of online advertising.

Q. What is the difference between identity resolution and data enrichment?

Identity resolution focuses on linking customer data across touchpoints to build a unified profile, while data enrichment involves adding external data to existing profiles to enhance understanding.

Q. How does blockchain technology benefit identity resolution?

Blockchain offers a secure, transparent framework for managing identity data, potentially enhancing privacy and trust in personalized marketing practices.

Q. What is the impact of GDPR on identity resolution?

GDPR requires stringent data protection measures and consumer consent, impacting how identity resolution processes handle and link EU citizens’ data.

Q. How do CRM systems complement identity resolution?

CRM systems provide a central repository for customer data, which, when integrated with identity resolution practices, enhances the understanding and personalization of customer interactions.

Q. How does identity resolution support omnichannel marketing?

Identity resolution enables consistent, personalized marketing messages across all channels by providing a unified view of the customer, essential for omnichannel strategies.

Q. What are identity graphs and how are they created?

Identity graphs are databases that link an individual’s identifiers across different platforms and devices, created by aggregating and matching data from various sources.

Q. How does identity resolution affect retargeting campaigns?

Identity resolution improves retargeting campaigns by accurately identifying and following consumers across devices, leading to more relevant and effective ad placements.

Q. What is the significance of first-party data in identity resolution?

First-party data is crucial for identity resolution in a privacy-focused era, offering a reliable, consent-based source of customer information for personalization efforts.

Q. How can businesses ensure accuracy in identity resolution?

Businesses can enhance accuracy by continually updating their data, utilizing advanced matching algorithms, and integrating various data sources for a comprehensive view.

Q. What role does machine learning play in identity resolution?

Machine learning algorithms analyze and predict consumer behaviors, improving the efficiency and accuracy of matching customer data across platforms and devices.

Q. How can identity resolution drive customer loyalty?

By enabling personalized interactions that meet consumers’ needs and preferences, identity resolution fosters positive experiences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Q. What are the best practices for implementing identity resolution?

Best practices include prioritizing data quality, ensuring privacy compliance, leveraging AI and machine learning for data matching, and integrating identity resolution with broader marketing strategies.

Q. How does identity resolution influence marketing ROI?

Identity resolution enhances marketing ROI by improving targeting accuracy, reducing ad waste, and delivering personalized experiences that drive conversions and customer retention.

The post Is Identity Resolution the Future of Marketing? appeared first on Customers.ai.

That’s where our lineup of the coolest, most savvy ad pros comes into play.

These are the folks who don’t just follow trends; they’re out there setting them.

From crafting mind-blowing digital campaigns to making waves with innovative strategies, they’ve got the creds to back it up.

Want to navigate the ad world like a pro? Follow their lead for a masterclass in making your mark in the advertising universe.

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1. Antonis Kocheilas

CEO, Ogilvy Advertising

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Advertising, Brands, AI

Antonis Kocheilas, the man steering the ship at Ogilvy Advertising, is a strategist at heart with a knack for big-picture thinking. He’s been around the block at Ogilvy for over a decade, and his journey has seen him leading the charge on both sides of the Atlantic. Antonis has a pretty cool way of turning creative ideas into serious business growth, having worked with big names like PepsiCo, Unilever, and many others to create buzz-worthy campaigns that get results.

He’s all about making brands matter more in people’s lives, shifting from just catching eyes to truly engaging hearts and minds. With his forward-thinking approach, he’s pushing the envelope on what advertising can achieve, making it clear that it’s all about weaving brands into the fabric of daily life​.

2. Ralph Burns

Founder & CEO at Tier 11

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Digital Advertising, Direct Response Marketing

Ralph Burns turned a blogging side gig into Tier 11, a leading digital advertising firm managing over $50 million in ads annually. As CEO, he’s renowned for his expertise in Facebook and Instagram advertising, sharing his insights on the Perpetual Traffic podcast with millions of downloads. Ralph’s journey from a “guy in his basement” to an industry leader showcases his knack for turning adversity into opportunity, emphasizing meaningful brand-audience connections.

3. Kasim Aslam

CEO of Solutions 8

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Digital Advertising, Entrepreneurship

Kasim Aslam is the entrepreneurial force behind Solutions 8, recognized as one of the top Google Ads agencies worldwide. His journey began in 2006, transforming Solutions 8 from a vision into a globally acknowledged leader in digital advertising. Aslam’s expertise isn’t just limited to Google Ads; he’s a digital marketing virtuoso, having co-founded Driven Mastermind and Nido Marketing, and co-authored “You vs Google,” a number one Amazon bestseller.

Aslam’s work extends beyond Solutions 8, contributing significantly to the digital marketing community as a Traffic Coach for DigitalMarketer.com and co-hosting the Perpetual Traffic Podcast​

4. Brendan Kane

Managing Partner, Hook Point

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Digital Advertising, Influencer Marketing

Brendan Kane is a powerhouse in digital strategy and social media innovation, recognized for his work as the founder and managing partner of Hook Point. His expertise has revolutionized the way brands, celebrities, and Fortune 500 corporations engage with audiences online, generating 60 billion views and acquiring over 100 million followers across various campaigns​​​​.

His achievements include pioneering influencer campaigns on YouTube, managing substantial marketing budgets, and working closely with high-profile clients to bolster their digital presence. Additionally, Kane has authored best-selling books such as “One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Audience in 30 Days” and “Hook Point: How to Stand out in a 3-Second World,” sharing his wealth of knowledge on achieving online virality and standing out in today’s saturated media landscape​.

5. Depesh Mandalia

Founder & CEO at SM Commerce

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Facebook Ads, Entrepreneurship

Depesh Mandalia stands out as a Facebook marketing wizard, driving over $100M in revenue with his keen ad strategies across diverse sectors. His deep dive into profitable ad spends has positioned his agency, SMC, as a go-to for businesses aiming to scale beyond $10M. Mandalia’s innovative BPM System marries brand-driven and performance marketing, offering a unique approach to growth acceleration for marketers and entrepreneurs.

Additionally, as a Facebook advisor, he extends his expertise globally, furthering his mission to help businesses leverage digital strategies for exponential growth. His training programs and speaking engagements illuminate the path for achieving scalable success in the digital marketing arena.

6. Alex Fedotoff

Founder & CEO at SM Commerce

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: D2C, Facebook Ads

Alex Fedotoff, from a modest beginning in Ukraine, founded several 7 and 8 figure e-commerce brands and the e-learning company eCommerce Scaling Secrets. Starting his journey in 2014 with a minimal salary, he embarked on learning e-commerce and advertising without knowing English.

Today, he operates multiple e-commerce brands, investing significantly in advertising with positive ROI, and helps clients achieve similar success. Forbes has dubbed him “The King of Scaling Facebook Ads,” highlighting his expertise not just in advertising, but in building scalable, sellable businesses.

7. Judy Sahay

CEO & Managing Director of CROWD MEDIA GROUP

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Marketing Technology, Digital Advertising

Judy Sahay is a trailblazer in the tech and media industries as the Managing Director of Crowd Media Group. Her innovative approach has successfully harnessed the power of influencer marketing and data to elevate brands like Montblanc and Ray-Ban.

Sahay’s efforts to forge deeper connections between brands and consumers have not only included global giants but also local businesses and non-profits. Her leadership and vision have been instrumental in utilizing CROWDINK to authentically engage audiences and foster brand loyalty​.

8. Jess Vassallo

Founder & CEO at Evocative Media

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Ecommerce Marketing

Jess Vassallo is the innovative force behind Evocative Media, a digital marketing agency specializing in e-commerce growth. Since its inception in 2014, Vassallo and her team have driven over $100 million in revenue for their clients, focusing on holistic, data-led strategies.

Committed to transparency and integrity in the digital marketing space, Evocative Media stands out for its high-converting ad campaigns and email marketing strategies aimed at high-value customer acquisition.

9. Robert Katai

Founder, The B2B Creator Newsletter

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Robert Katai is the go-to guy for B2B marketing, rocking it as the brains behind the B2B Creator Newsletter. With 15+ years in the marketing game, he’s cooked up campaigns that hit the headlines in Adweek, TechCrunch, and Entrepreneur. Katai’s all about trying out new stuff in content marketing and loves to share the wisdom he picks up along the way with anyone keen to listen.

He’s a standout for his dedication to evolving both as a marketer and a person, always aiming to level up​.

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10. Jaleh Rezaei

CEO & Co-founder at Mutiny

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: SaaS, Growth Marketing

Jaleh Rezaei is no ordinary leader; she’s the co-founder and CEO of Mutiny, a company that’s reshaping B2B marketing with AI magic. Since kicking things off in 2018, she’s been on a mission to make marketing personal, ditching the one-size-fits-all approach.

Mutiny’s tech can tweak your website on the fly, making sure it speaks directly to whoever’s looking. With a rebel spirit and a knack for bringing people together, Jaleh’s crafting a new marketing era where community and collaboration reign supreme.

11. Russ Perry

CEO & Founder @ Design Pickle

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: SaaS, Growth Marketing

Russ Perry is the mastermind behind Design Pickle, a graphic design powerhouse known for its flat-rate, no-fuss service. Starting in 2015, Perry’s vision was to offer something fast, affordable, and reliable, a total 180 from his previous venture.

He’s turned Design Pickle into a global success story, with a team that’s handled over 750,000 creative requests. Not just a CEO, Perry’s also an author and a family man, juggling his thriving business and personal life in Scottsdale, Arizona.

12. Martin Kocandrle

COO VirtualAd

LinkedIn

Expertise: Ecommerce, Digital Marketing

Martin Kocandrle is all about championing the e-commerce entrepreneurial spirit, guiding online store owners through both challenges and chances. As the COO of VirtualAd, he steers an agency that’s a powerhouse in e-commerce and premium lead generation, handling 7-figure ad budgets with finesse.

Martin and his crew use a blend of precise tracking methods, dynamic paid advertising, email strategies, and compelling creatives to deliver stellar results. They’re pioneers in solving tricky attribution puzzles, ensuring advertisers have access to clean, actionable data for a thriving ad environment.

13. Ward van Gasteren

Growth Marketing Expert

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Growth Marketing, Retention

Ward van Gasteren is the cool mind behind Grow with Ward, where he turns the digital marketing game into a playground for growth. He’s all about showing the ropes to both up-and-coming and established brands, helping them find their stride in the digital world. Ward mixes the best of growth hacking with good old marketing magic to push brands into the spotlight.

He’s not just about sparking growth; he teaches brands how to keep the momentum going, making him the go-to guy for digital growth strategies.

14. Loren Baker

Founder of Search Engine Journal

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: SEO & Lead Generation

Loren Baker is the brain behind Search Engine Journal, diving deep into the SEO world to bring the latest trends and insights. He’s the guy who makes SEO less of a headache and more of a strategic game plan for businesses looking to dominate online.

With a knack for breaking down complex topics, Loren has turned SEJ into a go-to resource for digital marketers and SEO enthusiasts. He’s all about sharing knowledge, fostering community, and pushing the envelope in digital marketing strategies.

15. Craig Campbell

SEO Trainer & Consultant at Craig Campbell SEO

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: SEO & Digital Marketing

Craig Campbell is the go-to SEO Trainer & Consultant, known for his expertise in boosting online visibility and driving search engine success. He’s been in the SEO game for over two decades, sharing his deep knowledge through training sessions and consultations.

Craig’s approach is all about practical advice and strategies that work in the real world, making SEO accessible to businesses of all sizes. He’s passionate about helping others master the SEO landscape, ensuring they stay ahead in the competitive digital space.

16. Ross Simmonds

CEO at Foundation Inc

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Content Marketing

Ross Simmonds, the dynamo behind Foundation Inc., is a digital marketing maestro dedicated to crafting content strategies that resonate and drive results. As CEO, he’s all about leveraging the power of content, from blogs to social media, ensuring brands not only get noticed but stay remembered.

Ross combines data-driven insights with creative storytelling, making him a sought-after voice in the digital space for companies aiming to break through the noise. His approach is fresh, his strategies are proven, and his passion for digital marketing is infectious.

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17. Lauren Schwartz

Owner @ The Loft325

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Paid Media, Ad Creative

Lauren Schwartz is at the helm of The Loft 325, where she blends her prowess in creative strategy with her digital marketing savvy to fuel e-commerce growth. With a rich background in design and over a decade of expertise in the e-commerce realm, she’s known for turning brands into digital success stories.

Lauren’s work, especially with notable beauty brands, showcases her ability to marry aesthetics with effective digital strategies, making her a beacon for those navigating the ecommerce waters. She also enriches minds at Chapman University, sharing her insights on creative campaign strategies.

18. Jason Hunt

Co-Founder at Merged Media

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing

Jason Hunt, co-founder of Merged Media, has been shaping the digital marketing world since 2007, starting with leveraging social media for his Japanese rock band. At Merged Media, he focuses on social media marketing, Google advertising, content management, and SEO.

Beyond managing the agency, Jason enriches the industry with The Merged Marketing Podcast, speaks globally at marketing conferences, and authored ‘Drop The Mic Marketing: How to Find Your Social Media Voice’ in 2022, offering insights to aspiring entrepreneurs.

19. Mirella Crespi

Founder at Creative Milkshake

Twitter / LinkedIn

Expertise: Paid Ads, Digital Creative

Mirella Crespi, the dynamo behind Creative Milkshake, has transformed it into one of Europe’s top performance creative studios. With a knack for crafting over 2000 multilingual ads monthly, Mirella and her team partner with giants like Johnson & Johnson and N26.

Leveraging a decade of media buying savvy, she empowers brands on platforms like Meta and TikTok with cutting-edge, data-smart creative strategies. Her journey from marketing coordination to spearheading Creative Milkshake showcases her deep dive into digital marketing, setting a benchmark in innovative advertising.

20. Alice Hogg

Global Enterprise Solutions at Meltwater

LinkedIn

Expertise: PR

Alice Hogg brings a decade of PR, media, and marketing prowess, stretching from the UK to New York. With a rich background including agency work with global brands, she now excels at Meltwater, driving strategic measurement for clients.

Beyond her professional life, Alice is a dedicated sportswoman, with achievements in hockey, skiing, running, and yoga, showcasing her leadership and teamwork skills on and off the field.

Are Your Social Lists Updated Yet?

Following these AdWorld maestros isn’t just about getting tips; it’s about inspiration to push boundaries in your own work.

They’ve navigated the tricky waters of digital marketing and emerged as leaders, showing us that creativity mixed with strategy can make all the difference.

So, take a leaf out of their book, experiment, and who knows? You might be the next big name on this list.

Keep creating, keep innovating, and let’s shape the future of advertising together.

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

Identify who is visiting your site with name, email and more. Get 500 contacts for free!

Website / URL *

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post 20 AdWorld Pros to Pay Attention to in 2024 appeared first on Customers.ai.

It’s been ahead of the game when it comes to lead gen campaigns and its ability to target individuals and companies was leaps and bounds better than Google and Meta. 

For many, Linkedin became the defacto ABM platform. 

However…

If you’ve been paying attention to what’s happening in the digital ads space, you know privacy changes are really putting a damper on things.

Targeting capabilities have decreased, costs have skyrocketed, and with the removal of cookies, it’s going to get worse. 

Source: Kevin Indig

Much like we’ve talked about with Facebook ads, these changes are making things hard. 

The good news is these advertising platforms still can do some amazing things when used properly. 

Including LinkedIn.

Let’s get into it.

Moving Your LinkedIn Campaigns Beyond ABM 

For years, ABM has been the hot buzzword. When I was working at the B2B agency, I can’t tell you how many clients I had who wanted to shift budgets away from Google ads and focus on LinkedIn ABM campaigns.

And look, I got it. As Google costs kept rising and privacy changes started to impact retargeting performance, ABM became the better option.

The thing is, it’s not the BEST option. 

ABM allows you to target accounts, not individuals. Accounts don’t buy things.

AJ Wilcox, Host of the LinkedIn Ads Show & Founder of B2Linked

“By being able to use the identity of site visitors to create Contact Lists to target in LinkedIn, you give yourself more valuable warm audiences to target. One of the biggest challenges our clients see is they want more demos/sales calls, and we know that warm audiences are most receptive to these. The more warm audiences, the more bottom-of-funnel results you’re going to see!”

Now, you might be thinking – LinkedIn lets you target by title and company, essentially giving you the individual you want to reach at a particular organization. 

The problem is, that audience size requirements make that almost impossible. Unless you are targeting a significant number of titles at large organizations, you can’t do it.

It’s time for LinkedIn advertisers to stop thinking about account-based marketing and start thinking about contact-based marketing.

Andrea Cruz Lopez, Sr Director, Client Strategy at Tinuiti

“B2B is all about creating mental availability so when buyers become in-market, they keep your brand top of mind. In order to do this you must target the whole buying committee plus those who are influencing it. Basic job title targeting is not good enough.”

How to Create Contact-Based Marketing Campaigns

One of the great things about LinkedIn is its Matched Audience capabilities. 

Matched audiences essentially allow you to target a list of companies, a list of contacts, or create predictive audiences.

Now, here’s where it gets fun. 

With the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel, you can capture the names and emails of your website visitors (you can also capture domain, company, LinkedIn profile, etc). 

We can then take that data and create really targeted LinkedIn campaigns that maximize budget. 

Let’s look at an example: 

Let’s say you are a digital marketing agency and you have several service lines – SEO, Content, Paid Media, and Web Design. 

You also have a resources section with a blog, whitepapers, videos, tutorials, etc, where you touch on each of these topics.

With Customers.ai, you can create segments for each topic. 

In this case, you’d have a segment for anyone who went to a page about SEO, a segment for anyone who went to a page about PPC, etc., etc. 

You can then take those segments, create matched audiences in LinkedIn, and build very specific campaigns for each audience.

There are two keys here:

1. You are showing people what they are interested in. 
2. You are targeting individuals who have already been on your site.

Let’s look at that again.

You are targeting individuals who have already been on your site!

I mentioned earlier I had clients asking to transition budget to LinkedIn. At the same time, they were also asking “How do I know we are reaching the right people?”. 

THIS is how you know. 

Training Your LinkedIn Predictive Audiences

Along with creating contact-based marketing campaigns, we can also help train predictive audiences.

If you aren’t familiar with predictive audiences, they are similar to Facebook’s Advantage+ audience. 

Essentially, predictive audiences use LinkedIn’s AI to build custom audiences they deem most likely to convert. This is based on existing conversion data, lead gen forms, or contact lists.

And that’s where Customers.ai comes in.

With lookalike audiences going away March 1, 2024, predictive audiences provide an opportunity to reach others that fit your target demographic.

The challenge with predictive audiences, and really anything AI-related, is that they perform better with more information. The more data you can provide and “train” them with, the more accurate they’ll be.

Now, let’s go back to the segments we mentioned above. These are people who have been to your site. They’ve interacted with your content, maybe they’ve filled out forms, maybe they’ve even become a customer.

These are the types of people you want to train your predictive audiences with. 

Want to go even deeper? 

Train your predictive audiences with super high-intent visitors. Think those who have visited pricing pages, requested a demo, or filled out a form to watch a webinar or download an asset. 

These are definitely the types of people you want to be targeting!

Amping Up Your LinkedIn Performance with Website Visitor Identification

LinkedIn is still one of my favorite ad platforms and while the targeting capabilities they’ve historically been known for may be fading, there is still a HUGE opportunity for advertisers.

With website visitor identification, you can not only find who is coming to your site, but you can build amazing campaigns targeted to those people.

Want to give it a shot?

Customers.ai is free to try and super easy to set up. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (again…FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Start collecting data, start building segments, and try adding it to your LinkedIn campaigns. We know you’ll be pleased with what you find. 

LinkedIn is a great tool and it can be even better for advertisers who move beyond ABM and start thinking about how they reach individuals. Get going!

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post How to Take Your LinkedIn Campaigns Beyond ABM appeared first on Customers.ai.

As we’ve previously discussed, this is a big deal for email marketers and sales teams, especially those who tend to rely on cold outreach and ABM efforts. 

Meeting the 0.3% spam complaint threshold will be challenging for a lot of people and if teams don’t adjust, they are in big trouble.

To help you prepare for the impending update, we brought in six email marketing experts to discuss not only what the impact of the bulk sender update will be but how companies can prepare and adapt. 

From tips on email deliverability and infrastructure to engagement and frequency, get ready, because our experts are going to help ensure your inbox is insured against these new rules.

1. Focus on Intent-Driven Outbound Emails 

According to Customers.ai Founder & CEO Larry Kim, it’s time to zero in on intent-driven outbound emails. 

This means connecting with people who’ve already shown some love for what you’re offering. Forget blasting cold emails that end up in the spam folder. We’re talking about reaching out to those who have, in one way or another, signaled they’re into your brand or products.

The magic of this strategy? It’s how folks perceive your emails. With inbound emails, you’re preaching to the choir – these are your newsletter subscribers, your past shoppers. They’re way more likely to hit ‘unsubscribe’ than scream ‘spam’ if they’re over your messages. 

But with outbound? 

You’re often hitting up strangers, which cranks up the odds of landing in spam jail. The game-changer here is to shift your sights to those who’ve already taken a sneak peek at what you offer, maybe through your website or your ads.

The trick is to make the most of your first-party data. 

Tools like Customers.ai’s Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel can turn your website traffic into a goldmine of potential contacts. 

These aren’t random names; these are folks who’ve already flirted with your brand just a bit. It’s like warming up the crowd before you step on stage. And hey, why not flip the script with your target lists? 

Instead of unleashing a flood of emails, use those lists to whip up custom ad audiences on platforms like Facebook or Google. Then, track down the people who bite and show interest in these ads. 

This way, you’re not shooting emails into the dark. You’re laser-targeting folks who’ve kinda, sorta raised their hands already.

In short, intent-driven outbound emailing is about blending the reach of old-school outbound with the savvy, targeted approach of inbound. It’s like having your cake and eating it too – reaching far and wide, yet keeping it relevant and welcomed. 

This approach not only boosts your chances of getting real engagement but also keeps email providers happy, making sure your messages hit the mark.

2. Make Your Deliverability Anti-Fragile To The Email Service Providers

The new spam rules are making it harder to reach inboxes and the reality is, as an email marketer, your primary job is to ensure your emails actually reach the inbox. 

According to Barrett Unger, Co-Founder of The Deal Lab, it’s about making your deliverability strategy tough as nails against the whims of email service providers. 

The key focus here is on how you’re sending those emails. The goal? To make your email deliverability ‘anti-fragile’. This means adapting your strategy to be resilient against the constraints and changes of email service providers. 

How do you do that? 

Start by playing it cool with your sending limits. If there’s a cap, don’t flirt with it; stay safely below. This not only keeps you out of trouble but also maintains the health of your email domain.

Here’s another pro move: diversify your domains. 

Don’t put all your outbound emails in one basket, i.e., your main domain. Why? Because if your main domain gets flagged, it’s not just your marketing efforts that take a hit. Your entire business communication – with investors, customers, and internal teams – could get disrupted. 

The solution? Invest in multiple domains dedicated solely to outbound emailing and warm them up. 

Warming up a domain means gradually increasing the volume of sent emails over about a month, establishing a reputation with email service providers as a legitimate sender.

But why stop at one extra domain? If your email volume demands it, keep adding and warming up more domains. This strategy allows you to scale your email efforts without endangering your main domain’s reputation. And remember, this isn’t just about playing defense. It’s about being smart and strategic with how much you send and from where.

This strategy is about playing by the rules but playing them smartly. It’s not about pushing boundaries to the max; it’s about maximizing outcomes within safe limits. By distributing your outbound efforts across multiple warmed-up domains, you create a robust, anti-fragile system that keeps your deliverability strong and your main domain safe. 

3. Polish Your Domain Infrastructure

With Google and Yahoo’s bulk sender guidelines, there has to be a focus on the technical setup of your email marketing infrastructure. 

According to Vladyslav Podoliako, CEO & Founder of Folderly, the key is understanding DNS records. This is no longer just the realm of IT pros. Marketers need to be clued in on DNS records and why they matter. 

These records, including DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance), SPF (Sender Policy Framework), and BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification), are your email’s digital signature. They’re not just fancy acronyms; they’re your first line of defense in ensuring your emails actually reach their intended recipients.

Setting up these DNS records correctly is also critical. With the new updates rolling out, non-compliance could mean your emails get bounced back or, worse, rejected outright. 

Think of these records as your email’s passport and visa. Without them being in order, your messages aren’t going anywhere. 

• DMARC helps authenticate that your emails are genuinely from you
• SPF verifies your sending sources
• BIMI provides a visual indication of your brand in the recipient’s inbox 

So, what’s the call to action here? 

It’s time to get your hands dirty with the technical side of things. 

Audit your current domain and mailbox setup. Are your DNS records in place and correctly configured? Are they aligned with the latest standards and requirements set by email service providers? This isn’t just a one-time setup; it’s an ongoing process of ensuring that your email infrastructure stays compliant and optimized.

The message is loud and clear: polish your domain infrastructure to keep up with the technical demands of modern email marketing. This means diving deep into the nuts and bolts of your email setup and ensuring everything from DNS records to mailbox configurations is spot-on. 

​​

4. Integrate Voice of Customer Data

Be human. That’s what Kham Inthirath, CEO of Compound Effect, says is important when it comes to beating the new spam rules.

It’s about stepping away from the comfort zone of templates and best practices to embrace a more humanistic approach. 

The question to constantly ask is: Would I read this? Would I click on this? 

Getting into the mindset of your audience is crucial, and sometimes that means stepping out of the marketing bubble to see things from a fresh, customer-centric perspective.

It means, start engaging in open conversations with clients who interact with your content – be it newsletters or other forms. That is a goldmine of qualitative data that many overlook! 

This isn’t about just processing numbers and analytics; it’s about understanding the ‘why’ behind the actions. Why did a customer click on a particular link? What made them engage with a specific piece of content? This insight is invaluable.

The real challenge lies in bridging the gap between quantitative data and qualitative feedback. 

It’s about validating the numbers with actual human responses. These conversations can be enlightening, offering perspectives that raw data alone cannot provide. They help in understanding the effectiveness of your content and can lead to significant improvements in how you communicate with your audience.

Moreover, rewarding customers for their insights can be an effective way to encourage this exchange. A simple ‘thank you’ or a small token of appreciation for their time can go a long way. This interaction not only garners valuable feedback but also strengthens customer relationships, making them feel heard and valued.

The integration of VOC data is about balancing the hard facts with the human element. It’s about moving beyond the trap of solely relying on data and metrics to embracing a more holistic approach that includes real conversations with real people. 

5. Identify & Segment Engaged Groups

One of the most pivotal strategies when it comes to insuring your inbox is focusing on segmentation, specifically identifying the most engaged groups within your audience. 

Per Amber Doughty, Senior Director, Lifecycle Marketing, Hawke Media, this isn’t just about who’s on your list; it’s about understanding who actively interacts with your emails. 

For instance, if you’re noticing that your emails are getting lukewarm receptions from Gmail or Yahoo users, it’s a signal that these segments need extra nurturing. This is where the real detective work begins – diving deep into how these specific groups engage with your emails. Are they opening them? Clicking through? Or just giving them a pass?

This is also where the concept of quality over quantity comes to play. 

It’s not about how many emails you send, it’s about how relevant and engaging they are to each segment of your audience. 

One of the smartest tools in your arsenal here is the email preference center. It’s like a secret weapon that allows subscribers to choose what they want to hear about and how often. By leveraging this, you ensure that the content you send resonates with each recipient’s interests and preferences.

But what about those who aren’t engaging? Here’s a pro tip: send them straight to your preference center. This not only gives them the power to tailor their email experience but also provides you with valuable feedback on what works and what doesn’t. It’s a win-win: your subscribers feel heard, and you get to fine-tune your approach.

Now, let’s talk about cleaning up. The era of batch-and-blast emails is over – it’s old school, ineffective, and frankly, it can damage your sender reputation. This is where implementing a ‘sunset flow’ becomes crucial. It’s a process designed to identify and remove unengaged subscribers from your list. Think of it as housekeeping for your email marketing – keeping your list clean, engaged, and effective.

Identifying and segmenting your engaged groups is not just a tactic; it’s a strategic necessity. It’s about delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. By focusing on engagement and nurturing each segment of your audience, you protect your sender reputation and set the stage for more impactful, meaningful email conversations. 

[Watch the Webinar Replay]

6. Optimize the Sender Name

Optimizing the sender name in your emails might seem like a small tweak, but it can be a game-changer in getting your emails to land. 

According to Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder and CMO, Orbit Media, this strategy revolves around the simple yet powerful concept of being more human in your approach. 

Consider this: it’s psychologically more challenging for someone to unsubscribe or report an email as spam when it’s from a recognizable person, not just a faceless brand. The idea here is to make your emails feel like they’re coming from a friend or a trusted advisor, not an impersonal corporate entity.

The effectiveness of this approach has been backed by conversion optimization experts and seasoned email marketers alike. 

One such proponent is Ann Handley, known for her highly engaged email list. She attributes part of her success to optimizing the sender name. It’s a straightforward change that anyone can make in a matter of seconds, yet it can lead to significant improvements in open rates. Imagine seeing an email from ‘John from Company X’ versus just ‘Company X’. The former has a personal touch that can make all the difference.

This strategy is not just about opening rates; it’s also about building trust over time. 

The more familiar and human your sender name, the more likely recipients are to perceive your email as relevant and valuable, rather than just another piece of noise in their inbox. It’s about creating a connection that goes beyond the transactional nature of most marketing emails.

Additionally, this approach aligns perfectly with the idea of maintaining high-quality content. The world indeed isn’t waiting for another mediocre article or generic email blast. Focusing on high quality with lower frequency can yield far better results than bombarding your audience with frequent, lower-quality content. It’s about adding value with every email, making each communication something your audience looks forward to.

Another interesting aspect of this approach, highlighted by marketer Chris Penn, is the use of a prominent unsubscribe button. This might seem counterintuitive, but it actually reduces the likelihood of getting spam complaints. By making it easy and even humorous for people to unsubscribe, you’re essentially filtering out those who are not genuinely interested in your content, thereby improving the overall health of your email list.

At the end of the day, it’s about bringing a human touch to your communications, building trust, and ensuring that your audience perceives your emails as valuable and relevant. Coupled with high-quality content and an easy unsubscribe process, this strategy can significantly enhance your email marketing performance in the face of these crazy updates.

Make Your Email Marketing Update-Proof

The bulk sender update from Google and Yahoo is certainly one of the biggest we’ve seen but in all likelihood, isn’t the last of the major updates.

The key to staying update-proof and avoiding getting caught in the dreaded spam folder is to focus on building strong, personal connections and understanding your audience deeply. 

Embrace strategies like intent-driven outbound emails, optimizing sender names, and integrating customer feedback, ensuring your content resonates and your approach remains agile. 

By staying adaptable and prioritizing engagement and authenticity, your email marketing will not only survive but thrive amidst constant updates and shifts in the digital world.

Want more? Watch the webinar and get even more tips from our amazing experts!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Gmail Inbox Insurance: Expert Advice for the Google Spam Update appeared first on Customers.ai.

If you’re one of the people who made the very smart decision to install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel, then we have some tips to help you take your marketing to the next level.

If you have yet to install the pixel, then we suggest you head over the Semrush App Center right now. Seriously, it takes less than 90 seconds to install, it’s free to signup, and you get your first 500 contacts at no cost. There’s really nothing to lose.

Ok, sales pitch over. 

For those of you who are already seeing the benefit of this integration, we have a few tips to help you not only make the most of your inbound traffic but improve your overall marketing efforts. Our goal? To 10x your ROI!

Let’s jump in with these three ways you can take your Semrush and Customers.ai integration to the next level. 

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1. Turn Top-of-the-Funnel Content into a Lead Generation Tool

Semrush is all about helping you drive traffic. 

From keyword recommendations to content ideas to the SEO writing assistant, Semrush helps you create content that performs well in search and speaks to your target audience.

And it works!

The problem is, once you create that content, it starts ranking, and you start seeing traffic, it doesn’t often go anywhere.

All of that hard work and unless someone fills out a form, you have no idea who they are and can’t reach them again. 

This is where Customers.ai comes in. 

Let’s say you are a marketing agency and you have a popular blog post about running a LinkedIn ABM campaign. The post ranks for the term “LinkedIn ABM tips” and you get a ton of traffic. 

You have several other posts about LinkedIn Ads that all drive traffic but at the end of the day, aren’t driving any leads.

With Customers.ai, you can build a segment for all of the LinkedIn pages and start identifying the names, emails, websites, etc. of the people visiting those pages. 

From there, you can take that list of emails and create a remarketing campaign that sends them to a webinar or ebook about…you guessed it, LinkedIn Ads.

You know these people are interested in LinkedIn Ads but you also know they might not be interested in your services…yet. 

With Customers.ai, you can take that top-of-the-funnel content you worked so hard to build and turn it into an actual lead generator. 

2. Identify Content That Resonates with High-Intent Prospects

GA4 has made it really difficult to understand just how your content is performing and how users are moving through your site.

How are we supposed to know what content is resonating with users if we can barely find it in the platform?!

The answer is, you send landing page data to your CRM platform.

With Customers.ai, yes, you capture names, emails, etc., but you also capture landing pages. 

All of that can be integrated into your CRM, giving you the ability to see what content prospects are viewing before they take an action.

Let’s break it down.

Pricing pages are pretty good indicators someone is interested in what you have to offer. Or at least they show more intent than say someone visiting the home page.

Take those visitors, and send their data to your CRM. 

You have now started a customer profile and as they go through the funnel and you continue capturing page-level data, you can get a much clearer picture of of what pages they visited and the topics they are interested in. 

Not only does this help your sales team better understand what the prospect is interested in but it also helps marketers understand the type of content that resonates with high-value prospects. 

A better understanding equals better content, better personalization, and better results.

3. Superpower Your Abandoned Cart Recovery

You worked really hard to get product descriptions optimized, your Google shopping campaigns humming, and overall, your conversion rate feels pretty good.

But what if there was a bigger opportunity? What if you could turn more of those visits into sales?

We know that almost 70% of people abandoned their shopping carts. 

We also know that abandoned cart recovery is big business. It’s why there are over 250 listings for shopping cart software on G2 alone.

Unfortunately, abandoned cart recovery only works if people fill out their information or you already have an existing customer profile. 

The result? Abandoned cart recovery only reaches on average 3% of your site visitors. 

With Customers.ai, you can 10x that!

Website visitor identification allows you to identify people who have reached the shopping cart but didn’t actually fill out their email. And with our ESP integrations, you can add those people directly into your existing automated cart recovery workflows, helping you can reach more people than ever before.

As marketers, we work really hard to get people to the point of purchase. Why not make sure that we can capture as many of them as possible?

Bonus Tip: Expand & Inform Your Retargeting Audiences

We mentioned top-of-the-funnel content earlier and I think it’s a really important point to drive home. 

Working on the agency side for so many years, I can’t tell you how many times I heard “Traffic is great, but we need revenue”. 

It’s really a catch-22 in the world of SEO.

You build content that performs really well. In fact, it performs too well. Traffic skyrockets but its top of the funnel content and the client isn’t quite as happy as you thought they’d be.

For agencies or marketing teams running full-funnel campaigns, this top-of-the-funnel content is great for remarketing audiences.

And it goes beyond top of the funnel.

In the good old days, you could build huge retargeting lists. Facebook and Google were brilliant at putting people into specific segments and delivering them applicable ads. 

Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.

With Click IDs out the door and privacy a bigger issue than ever before, retargeting audiences are shrinking.

That’s where Customers.ai comes in.

You can create really specific segments that will allow you to retarget down to the product page itself. 

So whether you are trying to take that top-of-the-funnel audience and guide them through to purchase or take that high-intent audience and get them to finalize their purchase, 

Either way, you can scale up your custom retargeting audiences and inform your platform-provided AI-generated audience (looking at you Advantage+).

The result? Expanded audiences, warm leads, better ROI, and happy teams!

Semrush + Customers.ai = Real Results

The Semrush integration really does feel like a perfect fit and we want more than anything for people to truly take advantage of what this integration offers.

Marketing is harder than ever. 

With attribution challenges and Google doing whatever it is they are doing with their results on a day-to-day basis, getting results can be challenging.

Our goal is to make your life easier and make your look like the marketing star that you are. 

If you are already an Semrush customer, head over to the App Center and easily add the Customers.ai pixel to your site.

If you aren’t, you can get started right here. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Easy right?

2024 is just starting, giving you a ton of time to make a big impact and drive big results. Let’s do it!

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

Identify who is visiting your site with name, email and more. Get 500 contacts for free!

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Take Your Semrush & Customers.ai Integration to the Next Level appeared first on Customers.ai.

Despite these challenges, advertisers are going full force ahead when it comes to spending on paid channels. 

According to Dentsu, digital ad spend is estimated to grow 6.5% in 2024 to total $442.6 billion. That is a lot of advertising dollars!

The thing is, people have to spend money to be seen. Organic visibility is all but gone on social media and when it comes to search, Google is doing everything it can to keep users on the site (Hello SGE).

For advertisers, the question isn’t do I spend money, but how do I make the most of the money I’m spending? How do I ensure that every dollar spent on advertising not only reaches the right eyes but also resonates with them? 

There isn’t a singular answer to this, but instead, a number of answers. 

The one we are going to focus on today – identity resolution.

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The Role of Identity Resolution in Paid Advertising

Identity resolution is more than a buzzword in the advertising space; it’s an amazing tool that bridges the gap between anonymous visitor interactions and true customer engagement. 

At its core, identity resolution is about understanding who your customers are, regardless of the platforms they use or the digital footprints they leave. It’s about piecing together slices of user data into a cohesive, comprehensive profile that can be used to deliver a great experience.

Now, when we are talking about identity resolution and ads, it’s important to distinguish between identity resolution at the platform level and identity resolution at the user level.

At the platform level, when it comes to paid advertising platforms like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., “identity resolution” is already built into everything they do. 

For example, in Google, identity resolution means integrating user signals like Google search history, website visits, clicks, etc. into a singular profile. For Facebook, identity resolution is centered on user interactions (likes, shares, comments, page interactions, etc.).

The thing is, identity resolution at the platform level is limited, and with privacy changes and cookie removal making cross-channel attribution almost impossible, we need something better. 

When we are talking about identity resolution, we are talking true identity resolution at the broader individual level—names, emails, social profiles, demographics, interests, web visits, and so much more. We are talking real customer profiles. 

So let’s jump into how identity resolution works in the ad space and how we can use it to improve performance. 

5 Ways Identity Resolution Can Help Maximize ROAS

1. Enhanced Audience Segmentation

Imagine if every dollar you put into your ads reached exactly the people most likely to buy from you. That’s the dream, right?

That’s also the power of identity resolution when it comes to audience segmentation – it’s not just about reaching more people, but the right people. 

Precision in Segmentation: Why It Matters

Gone are the days when basic demographics were enough. Identity resolution takes us several steps further. 

We’re talking about a level of audience segmentation that dives deep into consumer behaviors, interests, psychographics, online footprints, and more. 

For example, instead of targeting a broad category like ‘men aged 30-40’, we can now zoom in on ‘tech-savvy fathers in their 30s who love outdoor sports and are frequent online shoppers’. 

This razor-sharp focus is what makes your ads resonate on a deeper level. 

From Engagement to Conversion: Making Every Interaction Count

With identity resolution, your ads become relevant. Relevant ads mean increased engagement and most importantly, they nudge the audience closer to the ‘buy’ button.

What does this mean for your ROAS? 

Simply put – when your ads talk the talk, performance walks the walk.

Tailoring Your Spend for Maximum Impact

Let’s get real – in marketing, every penny counts. And if you are using identity resolution to fine-tune your audience segments, you’re making the most of those pennies. This targeted approach is not just cost-effective; it’s cost-intelligent.

As you gather data and insights from these targeted campaigns, the road to optimizing ROAS becomes clearer. You’re making informed decisions that pay off, both in the short and long term.

2. Improved Personalization of Ad Campaigns

At this point, personalization isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a must-have in the world of advertising. And with identity resolution, personalization becomes not just easier, but personalization becomes really personalized!  

The Art of Personalization

When you add identity resolution to the mix, you’re not just creating ads, you’re curating experiences. 

Identity resolution allows us to get more details about our customers – their interests, behaviors, likes, and dislikes. Using this information, we can craft ad content that resonates on a more personal level. 

Imagine you’re selling sports gear. With identity resolution, your ads for running shoes find marathon enthusiasts, while your yoga mats end up in front of yoga practitioners. It’s this kind of tailored messaging that makes your audience sit up and take notice. 

Unlocking Audience Engagement

When your audience sees content that aligns with their personal journey, engagement skyrockets. Why? Because personalized content doesn’t feel like an interruption. It feels like it belongs in their feed.

This relevance leads to higher click-through rates, more effective lead generation, and, ultimately, better conversions. In the language of ROAS, that translates to more bang for your buck. 

The Impact on Ad Spend

We all know that it’s not just about reaching people; it’s about reaching the right people at the right time with the right message. 

Identity resolution helps us to do just that. It helps us refine our targeting, reduce ad waste, and focus our budget on the audiences that matter most.

3. Efficient Multi-Channel Marketing

Your audience is everywhere. Should your ads be? Not exactly – being everywhere isn’t enough. 

Success lies in being there in the right place, with the right message. 

This is where identity resolution isn’t just useful, it’s essential. 

Crafting a Cohesive Narrative Across Channels

How many brands have funny TV commercials but boring websites? The answer – the majority.

Mixed messaging creates a huge disconnect. If there is no cohesiveness, the original message that resonated with you is immediately gone. 

Identity resolution helps ensure that you have that cohesive narrative across channels. Whether it’s social media, email, paid ads, or even offline touchpoints, identity resolution helps drive consistency.

For example, if a customer browses your product on your website but doesn’t purchase, identity resolution helps you retarget them with a tailored ad on social media. Then, perhaps, follows up with a personalized email, creating a seamless journey that moves them closer to conversion, each step of the way.

Strategic Placement and Timing: The ROAS Multiplier

Here’s where it gets fun. 

With identity resolution, you can really dig in to understand the best time and place to engage with your audience. Is it the sponsored Instagram post they see first thing in the morning? Or the email they open during their lunch break? Identity resolution gives you these insights.

This strategic placement and timing means that your ad spend is not just efficient; it’s laser-focused. You’re investing in touchpoints that have the highest likelihood of engagement and conversion. This is crucial in boosting your ROAS.

The Unification Advantage

One of the biggest challenges in multi-channel marketing is fragmentation. Different channels, different data sets, different user behaviors. 

Identity resolution is the glue that binds these fragmented pieces into a single, unified view of your customer.

By having a holistic view, you can align your messages, optimize your campaigns, and ensure that every channel is working not just hard, but smart. 

4. Optimized Retargeting Efforts

We’ve talked a lot about retargeting. Actually, we’ve talked a lot about the problems with retargeting (you can check those posts out here and here).

With the reduction of audience size and Google and Facebook pushing advertisers to their AI-based audiences, advertisers are moving their money elsewhere. 

This is where identity resolution can help. 

Bigger Audiences Without Cookies

With identity resolution solutions, you are collecting and creating first-party data. 

With an identity resolution tool like Customers.ai, you can take that first-party data and push it to your remarketing campaigns. The result? Bigger audiences and better targeting. 

Whether you are using custom audiences, Facebook’s Advantage+ audience, or creating lookalike audiences, you are building audiences based on real data and real users. 

Identity resolution tools help you overcome audience shrinkage and get back to the heydays of retargeting. 

Retargeting with Relevance

All retargeting is not created equal. We are not trying to chase after users with a one-size-fits-all message. 

Instead, we want to create tailored messages that speak to their specific interactions and interests. For example, if a user lingers on a page about luxury watches but doesn’t make a purchase, the retargeted ad isn’t just a generic watch ad; it’s an ad about luxury watches, maybe even with a CTA like a limited-time offer.

The more relevant your ad, the better the conversion rate. 

Users are more likely to engage with ads that reflect their past behaviors and preferences. It’s like walking into a store where the salesperson remembers you and knows exactly what you need. That level of personal attention is hard to ignore and even harder not to appreciate.

From Impressions to Conversions

It’s important to remember that it’s not just about getting back in front of your audience. 

It’s about coming back with something better – something that speaks directly to their needs and desires. Identity resolution equips you with that ‘something better.’

By targeting users based on their specific behaviors and history, every dollar spent on retargeting is optimized. It’s not just another impression; it’s a meaningful interaction. And in the world of digital marketing, meaningful interactions are what lead to conversions.

5. Better Measurement and Attribution

We’ve already mentioned the loss of cookies but it’s kind of a big deal. It’s especially a big deal in terms of measurement and attribution.

With cookies, clickIDs, and other identifiable tracking parameters being removed, attribution has become really challenging.

For marketers, we have to understand how our campaigns are performing. 

This is where identity resolution steps in, turning what could be a guessing game into an actual science. 

Decoding the Customer Journey

Let’s break it down. 

With identity resolution, we’re not just tracking clicks and impressions; we’re mapping out the entire customer journey. From the first ad they see to the last click before purchase, every touchpoint is an insight. This holistic view is crucial because it tells us not just what works, but why it works.

Think of it as having a high-resolution map of your customer’s journey. You see where they paused, where they turned back, and where they sprinted ahead. 

This level of detail transforms how we measure the effectiveness of each campaign. No more attributing a sale to the last click just because that’s ‘how we do things’. 

Now, we can understand the role of each channel in the sales process.

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Smarter Decisions with Enhanced Analytics

With good data, every decision we make is informed and intentional. We can pinpoint which channels are driving conversions and adjust our ad spend accordingly. 

For example, if we see that social media ads are great at starting the journey but email marketing seals the deal, we can allocate our budget to strengthen these touchpoints. 

Optimizing Ad Spend 

The beauty of improved measurement and attribution is that it takes the guesswork out of ROAS. 

We’re not just hoping for the best, we’re creating campaigns with a clear understanding of their impact. This means our ad spend isn’t just a number – it’s a truly educated decision. 

Identity Resolution is the Future of Ads

The major ad platforms continue to make changes in the name of privacy. That isn’t going to stop.

Each platform is trying to figure out how to make the most money and the only real loser is advertisers.

With identity resolution, advertisers get their power back. 

They get first-party data and the ability to target better than ever, despite platform limitations. 

By understanding who your visitors are, segmenting them, and giving them ads that resonate, you can improve ROAS and improve sales performance.

See how Customers.ai can help you start identifying your visitors today!

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post 5 Ways Identity Resolution Can Help Maximize ROAS appeared first on Customers.ai.

This year alone we’ve witnessed significant shifts that require strategic adaptability. Take, for instance, the ripple effects of iOS 17 privacy changes and the upcoming Google Chrome Cookie Deprecation, both casting a profound impact on tracking and data collection practices. 

Meanwhile, the latest updates to Google and Yahoo Email Spam Filters have thrown an additional curveball, making it even trickier to secure that coveted spot in the inbox. 

These challenges underscore the importance of thinking ahead. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that things aren’t going to slow down. The only constant is change, right? We have to be ready.    

Let’s dig into five practical strategies to help future-proof your B2B outbound lead generation and thrive in this crazy environment.

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1. Focus on First-Party Data

We have to face it; Between GA4, iOS 17 and iOS 14 adjustments, and the imminent demise of cookies in Chrome, the reliability of third-party data for B2B outbound lead generation is dwindling. 

We must reassess our strategies and that means recognizing the shift toward first-party data. 

Relying on first-party data ensures accuracy and helps us create more personalized and trustworthy messaging. It also allows you better targeting and relevance in your outreach efforts. 

While there are any number of ways to capture first-party data, there are a few we think will help you stay ahead of the game:

Website Visitor Identification

Wouldn’t it be nice to know who is visiting your site? Wouldn’t it be even better if you could capture their work email addresses, names, and company information to put into your sales and marketing funnel? 

That’s exactly what website visitor identification tools do. They capture the people on your site – the people already familiar with your brand and already interested in what you have to offer. It’s basically an abundance of warm leads that can be used for outbound lead gen.

Build Targeted Remarketing Campaigns

One of the challenges B2B marketers are going to face in their outbound lead generation efforts has to do with the new Google and Yahoo email spam filter updates. With a new complaint rate threshold of 0.3%, cold email outreach is going to become a bit tricky. 

The key is to warm up your leads through retargeting. You can still use lead lists but you won’t run the risk of getting your email pinged. And once a user clicks on an ad and comes to your site, you now have first-party data.

Creative Email Capture

Whether it’s newsletters, lead magnets, ebooks, or whatever, you need to get creative in capturing user emails. No one wants to willingly turn over their contact information but if you give them a good reason, they will. 

Focusing on first-party data sets you up for more precise, tailored, and trustworthy outbound lead-generation efforts.

2. Build Stronger Relationships with Target Audiences

The era of cold, impersonal outreach is rapidly on its way out. According to Gartner,

77 out of 100 cold emails you send never get opened. 

Even before the tech changes we noted above, businesses were already realizing the pitfalls of mass messaging. The future lies in building stronger relationships with our target audience through personalized and tailored campaigns. 

That means understanding the unique pain points, preferences, and needs of each potential customer. It also means creating very strategic segments and leveraging CRM data. 

For example, when a user comes to your site and downloads a report, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are interested in your product. However, if a user comes to your site, visits a product page, visits the pricing page, and then fills out a request a demo form, they likely are. We can’t treat these visitors the same way.

We have to evolve our outbound lead gen to 1-to-1 target marketing. People want to feel understood. In fact, according to McKinsey 71% of consumers expect personalization and 76% get frustrated when they don’t find it. 

By integrating personalization into your outreach strategies, you can start earning that much-needed trust and building relationships that will help drive sales. 

3. Embrace Privacy-Compliant Technologies

People care about privacy and they care about what you do with their data. According to Norton, 85% of global adults want to do more to protect their online privacy and 86% of US voters support requiring companies to minimize the types of user data they collect.

As a business, you can’t just incorporate technologies that respect user privacy, you have to show consumers you respect their privacy. 

This means using compliant ESPs that make it easy for consumers to unsubscribe.

Do NOT send emails to users without an unsubscribe option.

You are way more likely to get marked as spam and any trust you might’ve had will be eroded.

Additionally, be careful of your lead lists. Make sure you are only purchasing opt-in emails and intent-based leads that fit your ICP. As we said before, targeting is the name of the game, and bad targeting means spam complaints.

By prioritizing privacy in your B2B outbound lead generation strategies, you can build trust, enhance your reputation, and create stronger connections with your target audience.

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4. Focus on Content Quality

No one can escape the discussion around content quality and certainly no one in the B2B outbound lead generation space. Especially when it comes to landing in the inbox.

Email filters are designed to sift through millions of messages and real, quality content is essential to getting in. When content is relevant, personalized, and devoid of spammy elements (think too many links), it increases the likelihood of making it through to the primary inbox (and not that blasted Promotions tab!).

Here are a few tips for creating quality content that will get your message in the inbox:

• Get Personal: Personalization goes beyond addressing your email recipients by name; it involves creating messages that are tailored to each individual. Segment and craft your messages based on pages visited, assets downloaded, companies, interests, and whatever else will make that message seem personal. The more you know about your audience, the more effective your messaging will be.

• Test, Test, Test: Regularly testing your content is imperative. What might work for one audience might not work for another. Make sure to A/B test subject lines, messaging styles, and content formats. Use the data you have to refine your campaigns.

• Be Human: Write your subject line and your email like a regular person. Outreach emails tend to be so formal and so cold. We have talked about the importance of building connections and your subject line is no different. Tell your potential customers why they need to open this and make them feel like this email is written just for them. Show them you are a real person and get in that 23% of cold opens.

At the end of the day, crafting interesting and unique email content will help your messaging resonate with your audience and get you through those pesky email filters. 

5. Stay Informed and Agile

Life comes at you fast, especially in the B2B digital marketing space. 

You have to be proactive and you have to stay on top of what is happening, especially when it comes to things like regulatory developments. Take for example the Google spam filter updates I mentioned above – if you are using email for your outbound lead generation and don’t know the requirements – your emails will be marked as spam and your lead gen will go down the toilet.

Everyone has their own ways of staying informed but I recommend engaging with industry publications, attending webinars, and joining LinkedIn groups. 

Along with staying informed, you must stay agile. This means you have to adapt and adapt quickly. Real-time data analysis and campaign performance monitoring are essential. If something isn’t working, you can’t wait 90 days to find out. Staying agile will allow you to adjust strategies swiftly and meet the evolving demands of your audience. 

The only way to stay future-proof is to be future-ready. You have to know what has happened in order to know what is coming. 

Get Future-Ready Now

B2B outbound lead generation is only going to get harder and if we have learned anything, flexibility is the key to success. 

Teams must embrace first-party data, personalize outreach, and prioritize privacy. These aren’t just trends; they are strategies for building trust and creating meaningful connections with your target audience. 

Additionally, by focusing on content quality, staying informed of industry changes, and continually refining your strategies, you can truly set yourself up for success.

We should look at this as an exciting time. These changes force us to learn, evolve, and put on our creative caps. The success of tomorrow’s lead generation efforts hinges on our ability to not just be responsive to change, but to be catalysts for it. Embrace the changes, think outside the box, and drive your future forward.

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

B2B Outbound Lead Generation FAQs

Q. What is B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

It is a process where businesses proactively reach out to potential clients to generate leads through methods like cold calling, emailing, and social media outreach.

Q. Why is B2B Outbound Lead Generation important?

It’s crucial for consistent business growth and revenue, helping to actively seek new clients and maintain a steady pipeline of potential customers.

Q. What are the best practices for B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Best practices include understanding your target market, personalizing communication, using a multi-channel approach, and consistent follow-up.

Q. How does B2B Outbound Lead Generation differ from Inbound Lead Generation?

Outbound lead generation involves proactive outreach to potential customers, while inbound relies on attracting leads through content marketing and SEO.

Q. What are effective tools for B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Essential tools include CRM software, email marketing tools, social media platforms, visitor identification platforms, and lead databases.

Q. How can social media be used in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

It can be used to identify and engage with potential leads and build relationships through targeted content and interaction.

Q. What role does content play in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Content like personalized emails and informative blog posts can engage and nurture leads throughout the outbound lead generation process.

Q. How do you measure the success of B2B Outbound Lead Generation campaigns?

Success is measured by tracking response rates, conversion rates, number of qualified leads, and ROI.

Q. What are the challenges of B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Challenges include reaching the right audience, overcoming market saturation, and effectively handling rejection or non-responses.

Q. How can automation improve B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Automation streamlines repetitive tasks, ensures consistent follow-ups, and analyzes lead data for more effective targeting.

Q. What is the role of personalization in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Personalization increases engagement by making communications more relevant and appealing to each prospect.

Q. How important is follow-up in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Follow-up is crucial for nurturing leads, building relationships, and converting prospects into customers.

Q. What are effective strategies for cold emailing in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Effective strategies include compelling subject lines, personalization, providing value, and a clear call to action.

Q. How can networking events be used for B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

They provide opportunities to meet potential leads in person, understand their needs, and establish connections for future follow-ups.

Q. What is the impact of data quality on B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

High-quality data is essential for targeting the right prospects and achieving a higher success rate.

Q. How do legal considerations impact B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Compliance with laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM Act is crucial to avoid legal issues and maintain a positive brand reputation.

Q. What is the role of a sales team in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

The sales team executes outreach strategies, engages with leads, and converts them into customers.

Q. How can businesses overcome objections in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Overcoming objections involves understanding concerns, providing clear responses, and demonstrating product or service value.

Q. What are the trends in B2B Outbound Lead Generation for 2024?

Trends include the use of AI, focus on personalization, and multi-channel communication strategies.

Q. How does targeting affect the success of B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Accurate targeting ensures focus on prospects most likely to be interested and convert, improving campaign effectiveness.

Q. Can B2B Outbound Lead Generation be outsourced?

Yes, it can be outsourced to specialized agencies or freelancers for efficient management.

Q. What is the role of customer feedback in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Customer feedback helps refine strategies, understand market needs, and improve offerings.

Q. How can businesses integrate email and social media for effective B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Integrating both channels allows for a cohesive strategy, leveraging each channel’s strengths.

Q. What is the importance of a value proposition in B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

A clear value proposition conveys the benefits of your product or service, increasing engagement chances.

Q. How can businesses optimize their website for B2B Outbound Lead Generation?

Optimizing involves ensuring a user-friendly website, providing relevant information, and clear calls-to-action.

The post 5 Ways to Future-Proof Your B2B Outbound Lead Generation Strategies appeared first on Customers.ai.

As we dive into 2024, it’s no secret that the advertising landscape is evolving faster than a viral TikTok dance. The golden days of easy clicks and cookie-cutter strategies are gone thanks to continuous changes by ad platforms like Google and Meta. 

Unfortunately, this evolution is leading to new problems for advertisers. 

Let’s talk about the big four right now: Chrome’s adieu to third-party cookies, the pesky problem of click fraud, LinkedIn turning into the ‘Beverly Hills’ of ad costs, and the mysterious vanishing act of click IDs.

One of these by themselves would be overwhelming but all four together…what gives?

For advertisers, it’s adapt or get left behind. The stakes? Skyrocketing costs and the dreaded dip in ROI. 

But hey, it’s not all doom and gloom. 

New AI technology is making marketers’ lives easier and helping to overcome these challenges. Including website visitor identification. 

In this post, we’re going to unpack how website visitor identification isn’t just a fancy buzzword, but a real-deal solution to help you sidestep these ad challenges. Let’s jump in.

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#1. Chrome Third-Party Cookie Removal

Google warned us years ago they’d be removing cookies from Chrome. Sure they pushed the date back a few times but guess what? The time has come.

For marketers and advertisers, this is a big deal. For years, we relied on third-party cookies to target and re-target consumers. Those days are about over. The removal of cookies means:

• Poor Cross-Site Tracking: Without third-party cookies, the ability to track users across different websites disappears. 

• Reduced Personalization Capabilities: With less user data, personalization becomes a challenge, resulting in less accurate campaigns.

• Attribution Modeling Challenges: As if attribution wasn’t already tricky enough, without third-party cookies it will be even more complex. 

• Smaller Retargeting Audiences: Without the tracking capabilities of third-party cookies, retargeting audiences will shrink and marketers may find it challenging to effectively retarget.

When it comes to dealing with the dissolution of cookies, advertisers have to focus on first-party data collection.

And that’s where website visitor identification comes in.

Website Visitor Information = First-Party Data

Anonymous website visitor tools like Customers.ai allow you to collect the names, emails, domains, and more of the people visiting your site. 

Think about how great this is for your ad campaigns!

The whole point of ads is to bring people back to your site and get them to take an action that captures their information (purchases, downloads, etc.). Now you have their information!

You can use it to populate retargeting lists, identify users to specific landing pages (including your paid landing pages), and get back some of the attribution data you are losing.

While the phase-out of third-party cookies is less than ideal, tools like website visitor identification can open up new doors for advertisers. 

#2. Ad Fraud

Ad fraud certainly isn’t new but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem.

According to Jupiter Research, ad fraud cost marketers $83 billion in 2023 and is only expected to grow. That is a lot of money wasted!

If you aren’t familiar with how ad fraud (and specifically click fraud works), Cloudflare has a good breakdown:

“Click fraud perpetrators can set up webpages that display PPC ads, and then use click bots to “click” on those ads. With each click, the ad network has to pay the website operator (the scammer). The more fraudulent clicks there are, the more the ad network has to pay the website if the fraud goes undetected.”

Now, you might be wondering, what does website visitor identification have to do with this?

Here’s the thing, with website visitor identification, you are getting the names and emails of people coming to your site. Our tool then validates those emails, ensuring the people you are adding to your retargeting lists or custom audiences are real people. 

Now, you can run more targeted campaigns, reducing the likelihood of click fraud.

#3. LinkedIn Ad Costs

It seems like every year we are subject to rising ad costs. Bad news marketers – this year is no different, especially when it comes to LinkedIn.

Per Search Engine Land, LinkedIn ad costs were up by as much as 30% with one media buyer revealing their CPM was now as much as $300 for premium LinkedIn campaigns.

These costs are driven by supply and demand. The more demand there is, the more LinkedIn can charge.

What’s notable about this, is according to LinkedIn’s VP of Marketing Solutions, more brands are investing their ad spend in LinkedIn because of the platform’s unique targeting capabilities.

This brings us back to…you guessed it…website visitor identification!

Let’s break it down.

Depending on your campaign objective, costs are driven by impressions, clicks, website visits, etc. 

One of the main issues of rising costs is building a large enough audience to garner clicks, impressions, etc. 

With website visitor data, you can create matched audiences, ensuring you are targeting the right people and lowering your overall costs. Oh, and improving ROAS. 

Take away the guesswork!

#4. Click ID Removal

We touched on this when talking about data privacy changes but it’s worth revisiting, especially as we think about how it impacts advertisers.

The launch of iOS17 brought with it Link Tracking Protection. The gist? Say goodbye to clickID data and hello to cross-campaign tracking challenges.

Does this sound familiar? It’s essentially the same issue we are facing with the loss of cookies in Chrome. 

Less tracking = poorer attribution, increased costs, few abilities to personalize ads, and a decline in performance. Not great.

This is where website visitor ID tools can help.

If you are using the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel, you are capturing names, emails, etc. 

Segment by landing page. 

You can then identify visitors to your dedicated landing pages and integrate them directly into your CRM, giving you a clear picture of where your audience is going and what campaigns are driving sales.   

Get Started with Website Visitor Identification

We know we’re biased when it comes to the advantages of website visitor identification for advertisers but if you aren’t convinced, here is what one of our customers has to say:

“Customers.ai empowers us to make smarter decisions for our business and absolutely maximize our ad budget.”

– Shawn Kamal, Vice President TripCorner

Or, try Customers.ai for free. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up, go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

You will be up and running in 90-seconds and ready to take on these challenges.

At the end of the day, the ad platforms may try to make our lives harder but we know advertisers are smart and are always ready to pivot. Let’s pivot together.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

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The post Say Goodbye to These 4 Major Ad Problems with Website Visitor Identification appeared first on Customers.ai.

ABM has been the hot buzzword over the past 5 years, with everyone from CEOs to sales teams to digital marketers hopping on the ABM bandwagon.

However, like most trends, ABM’s time is running out.  As we can see in Google trends, ABM is past its peak.

This isn’t terribly surprising to us. In fact, it’s a large reason we launched our B2B solution. 

ABM has its limitations. 

Marketers and sales teams need more than just company names or job titles. They need real data about the people they are selling to.

They need contact-based marketing.

• What is Contact-Based Marketing?
• What’s the Difference Between Contact-Based Marketing and Account-Based Marketing (ABM vs. CBM)?
• Key Components of Contact-Based Marketing
• The Advantages of Contact-Based Marketing
• How to Implement a Contact-Based Marketing Strategy
• How Customers.ai Supports Contact-Based Marketing
• Contact-Based Marketing FAQs

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Understanding Contact-Based Marketing

Understanding contact-based marketing is key to appreciating its role in creating deeper, more effective customer relationships in today’s digital landscape. Let’s dive in.

What is Contact-Based Marketing?

Contact-based marketing (CBM) is a highly targeted marketing strategy that focuses on engaging with individual contacts or decision-makers within organizations.

Unlike broader marketing approaches, contact-based marketing centers on understanding and catering to the specific needs, preferences, and behaviors of individual people rather than the company as a whole. 

Contact-based marketing involves:

• Personalization: Tailoring marketing messages and offers to address the unique interests and pain points of each contact.

• Data Analysis: Utilizing detailed data from various customer touchpoints to inform and customize marketing efforts.

• Multi-Channel Engagement: Reaching out to contacts through their preferred communication channels, which may include email, social media, direct mail, and more.

• Building Relationships: Establishing and nurturing long-term relationships with key decision-makers through ongoing, relevant, and value-added interactions.

• Aligning Sales and Marketing: Coordinating closely between sales and marketing teams to effectively convert personalized marketing efforts into successful sales outcomes.

The main goal of contact-based marketing is more individualized marketing for stronger customer relationships and higher conversion rates.

What’s the Difference Between Account-Based Marketing and Contact-Based Marketing (ABM vs. CBM)?

The primary difference between contact-based marketing and account-based marketing is the focus on individuals vs companies. 

CBM targets individual contacts or decision-makers within an organization with an emphasis on the personal preferences, behaviors, and needs of specific people.

ABM focuses on entire accounts or organizations. The strategy is to treat individual companies as markets in their own right, addressing the collective needs and characteristics of the organization as a whole.

CBM is also highly personalized to the individual, taking into account their role, influence, and personal preferences while ABM personalization is more at the account level, aligning marketing messages with the organization’s industry, size, and overall business needs, rather than individual preferences.

Why is Contact-Based Marketing Necessary?

Contact-based marketing is really just the natural evolution of account-based marketing.

As technology has evolved, so have we.

Sales teams have realized that you don’t sell to businesses, you sell to individuals.

Individuals have realized that they are a precious commodity. 

The result? Personalized marketing to individuals, not accounts. 

Organizations must focus on creating personal connections and that won’t happen at the account level.

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6 Key Components of Contact-Based Marketing

Contact-based marketing represents a strategic shift towards a more personalized and individual-centric approach. As mentioned previously, CBM is about understanding and engaging with each contact on a personal level. 

Here are the key components that form the foundation of an effective CBM strategy:

1. Personalization
2. Data Analysis
3. Customer Journey Mapping
4. Segmentation and Targeting
5. Multi-Channel Engagement
6. Feedback and Continuous Improvement

Let’s dig a bit further into each.

1. Personalization

People want personalization and CBM thrives on crafting messages and experiences uniquely tailored to each contact. It’s about going beyond generic marketing pitches and speaking directly to the individual’s needs, interests, and challenges.

CBM involves using data to create content that resonates with each contact, whether it’s through email campaigns, social media interactions, or personalized web experiences.

2. Data Analysis

Like most things in marketing, data is the lifeblood of contact-based marketing. Understanding each contact’s behavior, preferences, and interaction history is necessary for effective personalization.

Advanced analytics tools are also used to process data from various touchpoints – such as website visits, social media interactions, and past purchase history – allowing marketers to gain a comprehensive understanding of each contact.

3. Customer Journey Mapping

The average customer needs eight touchpoints before a sale and in most cases, those journeys are going to be different. 

CBM recognizes this by mapping out the individual steps each contact takes – from initial engagement to the final decision-making process.

By understanding these journeys and understanding intent, marketing and sales teams can identify opportunities for personalized engagement.

4. Segmentation and Targeting

When we think of individual contacts, we don’t always think about segmentation. But in CBM, segmentation still plays a pivotal role – it involves grouping contacts with similar characteristics or behaviors to tailor marketing efforts more effectively.

Segmentation can be based on various factors like demographic details, behavioral patterns, or purchase history, enabling marketers to create more focused and relevant campaigns.

5. Multi-Channel Engagement

Contact-based marketing isn’t limited to a single channel. It’s about engaging with contacts where they are most active and receptive – whether that’s email, social media, phone, or in-person interactions.

A multi-channel approach ensures that the communication is not only personalized but also delivered through the most effective medium for each individual.

6. Feedback and Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is key in contact-based marketing. This involves listening to feedback from contacts and using it to refine and enhance future marketing efforts.

Implementing mechanisms for collecting feedback and making adjustments based on this input ensures that the strategy remains dynamic and responsive to the needs of each contact.

Contact-based marketing is a powerful tool for building stronger, more meaningful relationships with your contacts. It’s about shifting from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more nuanced, individual-focused strategy that resonates on a personal level.

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The Advantages of Contact-Based Marketing

Contact-based marketing offers a range of benefits beyond its core components. Here are five notable advantages of CBM:

Enhanced Customer Experience

According to Salesforce, 56% of consumers say most companies treat them like numbers. Not good. 

People want to be treated well and contact-based marketing can help create a better customer experience. By focusing on individual contacts, companies can address specific needs and preferences, leading to a more satisfying and engaging interaction for the customer.

Example: A retail company might notice a customer frequently browsing eco-friendly products. They can then tailor their communications to highlight new sustainable products, special eco-friendly offers, or relevant corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Increased Customer Loyalty and Retention

Personalized interactions foster a deeper emotional connection with customers, which can lead to increased loyalty and higher retention rates.

Example: A service-based business like a telecom operator might use CBM to offer personalized plan upgrades or loyalty rewards based on individual usage patterns, significantly reducing churn rates.

Higher Conversion Rates

We know that customers are more likely to engage with content that resonates with their specific interests and needs. By delivering more relevant and timely messages, contact-based marketing can lead to higher conversion rates. 

Example: An online education platform can send targeted course recommendations based on a user’s browsing history and past course enrollments, leading to a higher likelihood of course purchases.

Marketing Efficiency 

Time and resources are two precious commodities in business. Thankfully, contact-based marketing helps improve efficiency and utilize resources more effectively. Focusing efforts on individual contacts who are more likely to convert reduces waste in marketing spend.

Example: A B2B software company could use CBM to focus its resources on engaging key decision-makers in organizations with a higher propensity to purchase, rather than a broad, less-targeted audience.

Better Alignment with Sales Teams

Businesses with strong sales and marketing alignment are 67% more effective at closing deals and 58% better at retaining customers.

Contact-based marketing can help create that alignment by providing detailed insights into customer preferences and behaviors – both invaluable data points for sales teams. 

Example: In a tech company, the marketing team could provide the sales team with detailed insights into a prospect’s interests and pain points, enabling the sales team to tailor their pitch and increase the likelihood of closing a deal.

At the end of the day, contact-based marketing is not just about reaching out to individuals; it’s about understanding and engaging with them in a way that adds value to their experience with your brand. 

How to Implement a Contact-Based Marketing Strategy

Adopting a contact-based marketing strategy can be transformative for businesses seeking a more personalized approach to customer engagement. 

But like anything else, you want to have a plan and you want to make sure you are following best practices:

• Start Small: Begin with a pilot program to test the effectiveness of your CBM strategy before rolling it out on a larger scale.

• Focus on Quality Over Quantity: It’s better to have fewer, high-quality personalized interactions than numerous generic ones.

• Leverage Technology: Utilize marketing automation, AI, and data analytics tools to enhance your CBM efforts.

• Continuously Learn and Adapt: The digital marketing landscape is always evolving. Stay informed about new trends and technologies that can enhance your CBM strategy.

With the best practices out of the way, here’s a step-by-step guide to implementing CBM in your business:

Step 1: Define Your Objectives

• Action: Clearly define what you want to achieve with CBM – be it increasing sales, enhancing customer engagement, or improving customer retention.
• Challenge: Avoid setting vague goals; be specific about what success looks like.
• Best Practice: Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals to guide your CBM strategy.

Step 2: Gather and Analyze Customer Data

• Action: Collect detailed data on your customers, including demographics, purchase history, online behavior, and preferences.
• Challenge: Ensuring data quality and privacy compliance can be complex.
• Best Practice: Use reliable CRM tools and respect data privacy laws (like GDPR).

Step 3: Segment Your Audience

• Action: Based on the data collected, segment your audience to identify key individuals or groups for targeted marketing.
• Challenge: Avoid creating too many segments which can complicate your strategy.
• Best Practice: Focus on meaningful segmentation that aligns with your business objectives.

Step 4: Develop Personalized Content and Campaigns

• Action: Create content and marketing campaigns tailored to the interests and needs of each segment or individual.
• Challenge: Balancing personalization with scalability can be tricky.
• Best Practice: Use automation tools where appropriate, but keep the personal touch in your content.

Step 5: Choose the Right Channels

• Action: Identify the most effective channels for reaching your contacts – this could be email, social media, direct mail, or others.
• Challenge: Different contacts may prefer different channels, making it challenging to manage.
• Best Practice: Use multi-channel marketing strategies and monitor which channels perform best.

Step 6: Execute and Monitor the Campaigns

• Action: Launch your campaigns and closely monitor their performance, making adjustments as needed.
• Challenge: Constantly adapting campaigns based on real-time feedback requires agility.
• Best Practice: Use analytics tools to track key performance indicators and be ready to pivot quickly.

Step 7: Collect Feedback and Refine

• Action: Gather feedback from your contacts and use this to refine your strategy over time.
• Challenge: Consistently acting on feedback to improve can be resource-intensive.
• Best Practice: Establish a systematic approach for collecting and implementing feedback.

Step 8: Align with Sales and Other Teams

• Action: Ensure that your sales team and other relevant departments are aligned with the CBM strategy.
• Challenge: Achieving interdepartmental alignment can be difficult in larger organizations.
• Best Practice: Regular communication and joint planning sessions can help maintain alignment.

Implementing a contact-based marketing strategy requires a thoughtful approach, balancing personalization with scalability, and aligning various teams towards common goals. It’s important to have a plan and execute it like you would any other strategy to really see success.

How Customers.ai Supports Contact-Based Marketing

Customers.ai plays a pivotal role in empowering businesses to effectively implement and benefit from contact-based marketing. Here’s how:

• Website Visitor Identification
• Real-Time Data and Insights
• Enhanced Contact Enrichment
• Personalized Marketing Automation
• Segmentation and Targeting Capabilities

Website Visitor Identification

Our Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel goes beyond traditional analytics, revealing the identities of individual visitors to your website. The result? Actual insights into who is engaging with your site – names, emails, company affiliation, job titles, domains, and more.

With this knowledge in hand, you can tailor your marketing efforts to these specific visitors, creating highly personalized experiences and content that resonate with their unique interests and needs.

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Real-Time Data and Insights

Our website visitor identification functionality works in real-time, giving you immediate feedback on visitors and allowing you to understand the interests and intent of each contact.

Real-time data means you can not only create targeted follow-up campaigns with personalized content, but you can act fast and ensure you are reaching your audience while they are interested.

Enhanced Contact Enrichment

Contact and lead enrichment are the heart and soul of successful sales teams. Unlike ABM tools, Customers.ai data goes beyond just company and account data. 

Our B2B tool offers business emails, Linkedin profiles, company domains, and more. 

The more data you can gain about your visitors, the better your contact-based marketing campaigns will perform.

Personalized Marketing Automation

Customers.ai provides advanced marketing automation capabilities, allowing you to send personalized emails, notifications, and messages based on visitor behavior and data.

Our integrations with automation tools and CRM systems also keep the process as seamless as possible. 

By ensuring that each contact receives relevant and timely communication, enhancing the chances of conversion and building a stronger personal connection.

Segmentation and Targeting 

We are all about segmentation. Why? Segmentation is crucial in CBM for tailoring marketing campaigns to different groups and ensuring that each contact receives the most relevant and impactful message.

We recommend segmentation right at the start, which is why our Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel offers segmentation capabilities.

Moving From ABM to CBM

As you can see, contact-based marketing marks a significant shift from the well-trodden path of ABM, addressing its limitations by focusing on individual contacts rather than broad accounts. 

By embracing CBM, marketers and sales teams can leverage real, actionable data to create personalized, impactful interactions that resonate on a much deeper level. 

Contact-based marketing isn’t just the next trend; it’s a more sustainable, customer-centric way of engaging in the B2B and B2C space. 

Customers.ai serves as a robust support system for businesses looking to adopt or enhance their contact-based marketing strategy.

By providing detailed insights into individual website visitors, enabling personalized communication, and integrating seamlessly with existing CRM systems, we really can help businesses create more meaningful and effective connections with their contacts.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

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Contact-Based Marketing FAQs

Q. How does contact-based marketing differ from account-based marketing?

Contact-based marketing targets individual decision-makers, whereas account-based marketing focuses on entire organizations.

Q. What are the key components of contact-based marketing?

Key components include personalization, data analysis, customer journey mapping, segmentation, and multi-channel engagement.

Q. Why is personalization important in contact-based marketing?

Personalization in CBM is crucial for addressing the specific needs and preferences of each individual contact, enhancing engagement and effectiveness.

Q. Can contact-based marketing improve customer retention?

Yes, CBM can improve customer retention by creating more personalized and relevant experiences for individual contacts.

Q. What role does data analysis play in contact-based marketing?

Data analysis in CBM helps understand individual preferences and behaviors, enabling more targeted and effective marketing strategies.

Q. How does contact-based marketing impact the customer journey?

CBM personalizes the customer journey for each contact, catering to their unique needs and preferences at each interaction point.

Q. What types of businesses benefit most from contact-based marketing?

Businesses with high-value products or services and those in B2B industries often benefit most from CBM due to the importance of individual relationship building.

Q. How does contact-based marketing align sales and marketing efforts?

CBM aligns sales and marketing by leveraging detailed contact insights to create cohesive, targeted engagement strategies.

Q. What technologies support contact-based marketing?

Technologies like CRM systems, marketing automation tools, and data analytics platforms support CBM by providing detailed insights and facilitating personalized engagements.

Q. Is contact-based marketing suitable for small businesses?

Yes, CBM is suitable for small businesses, especially those looking to build strong, personalized relationships with key customers or clients.

Q. How does contact-based marketing drive lead generation?

CBM drives lead generation by targeting specific, high-potential contacts with personalized messaging, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Q. Can contact-based marketing be automated?

Certain aspects of CBM, like email campaigns and data collection, can be automated, but it still requires a personal touch for maximum effectiveness.

Q. How do you measure the success of contact-based marketing?

Success in CBM is measured by engagement rates, conversion rates, customer retention, and ultimately, the ROI of marketing campaigns.

Q. What challenges are associated with implementing contact-based marketing?

Challenges include maintaining data quality, achieving personalization at scale, aligning sales and marketing teams, and ensuring privacy compliance.

Q. How does contact-based marketing enhance customer experiences?

CBM enhances customer experiences by providing highly relevant and personalized interactions, making customers feel valued and understood.

Q. What is the role of content in contact-based marketing?

In CBM, content is tailored to address the specific interests and needs of each contact, making it a vital tool for engagement and conversion.

Q. How does segmentation work in contact-based marketing?

Segmentation in CBM involves dividing the audience based on specific criteria like behavior or preferences, allowing for more targeted marketing efforts.

Q. What is the future of contact-based marketing?

The future of CBM includes more advanced personalization, integration of AI and machine learning for deeper insights, and a greater focus on customer data privacy.

Q. How do you build a contact-based marketing strategy?

Building a CBM strategy involves setting clear goals, collecting and analyzing contact data, personalizing content and campaigns, and continuously measuring and adjusting tactics.

Q. How important is multi-channel engagement in contact-based marketing?

Multi-channel engagement is crucial in CBM for reaching contacts on their preferred platforms, enhancing the effectiveness of the marketing efforts.

Q. Can contact-based marketing help in upselling and cross-selling?

Yes, by understanding individual customer needs and behaviors, CBM can effectively identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.

Q. What types of content are most effective in contact-based marketing?

Effective content types in CBM include personalized emails, targeted blog posts, custom videos, and interactive content tailored to individual preferences.

Q. How does feedback influence contact-based marketing strategies?

Feedback is essential in CBM for refining strategies, improving engagement tactics, and ensuring that marketing efforts remain aligned with contact needs.

Q. What is the importance of CRM in contact-based marketing?

CRM systems are vital in CBM for storing and analyzing contact data, tracking interactions, and providing insights for personalized marketing strategies.

The post Forget ABM. Contact-Based Marketing is the Future appeared first on Customers.ai.

Don’t believe me? Check out this chart from Yotpo based on their study “The State of Customer Loyalty & Retention 2023”:

It seems the real question here is, what wouldn’t brand-loyal customers do?!?

While brand loyalty is something everyone wants, it’s not easy to get. It takes time, resources, a commitment to understanding your customers, and data.

Data being the key. 

To understand your customers, and to give them the warm and fuzzy feelings they need, you must have data about them.

And that’s where website visitor identification comes into play.

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The Challenge of Anonymous Visitors

When it comes to running an online business, anonymous website visitors present a real problem. 

These visitors, despite showing interest in your products or services, remain frustratingly unknown. And not just a few – 97% of them are unknown!

That is a lot of people to be missing out on and without the means to identify them, you’re left in the dark when it comes to tailoring your marketing efforts or providing them with personalized recommendations. 

The anonymity not only makes it difficult to understand their preferences and needs but also leaves you clueless about where they are in their buying journey. As a result, you end up missing out on opportunities to guide them through the purchase process and transform them into loyal customers. 

What’s more, the revenue losses associated with anonymous traffic are nothing to scoff at. 

How to Turn Anonymous Visitors into Loyal Customers with Website Visitor Information

At the most basic level, website visitor identification involves collecting and analyzing data about your website visitors. 

This data can be an absolute game-changer, especially when it comes to building customer loyalty. 

Think about it – with information on who your visitors are and what they want, you can actually tailor your marketing strategies, product promotions, and engagement tactics to the individual. 

Just like everything else in marketing though, it’s not just about having the data. You need to actually use the data. 

To put this into action, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and take some practical steps. Let’s dig in.

Create Comprehensive Customer Profiles

You can’t personalize your messaging if you don’t know the person. Detailed customer profiles are essential for 1-to-1 marketing, sales strategies, and customer service excellence. 

The more complete a customer profile, the easier it is to anticipate customer needs, tailor their communications, and build those connections that drive loyalty.

When it comes to building a comprehensive customer profile, consider the following:

• Go Beyond the Basics: It’s no longer enough to gather basic information from your website visitors (i.e. location, device used, and browsing behavior). To create a great customer experience that drives brand loyalty, you need more. Website visitor identification can give you names, emails, business emails, company names, referral sources, pages visited, and more. 

• Real-Time CRM Integration: The time to reach that customer or prospect isn’t 7 days after they visited your site. By then, they’ve already moved on or rethought their purchase. You need to make sure the information you are capturing goes directly into your CRM, enriching your contact data and expanding customer profiles in real-time. 

• Segment Early: Not every person who visits your site is a high-value lead. While website visitor identification tools can give you names, emails, etc., that doesn’t mean you should immediately email them all. Don’t do that. Use the customer data you have to create segments. Think about it this way, cart abandonment works because that is a high-intent action. Visiting a blog post isn’t and shouldn’t be marketed to the same. 

The more accurate and more complete your customer profiles are, the better your marketing will be.

Personalize Messaging to Drive Engagement

As marketers, communication is all we have. And good communication is about understanding our audience and addressing them in a way that resonates. A way that engages them. 

By taking our anonymous visitors and actually learning about them, we can find ways to engage them. It boils down to segmentation and personalization.

Segment for Success

We touched on segmentation as it relates to customer profiles. The next piece of that is using those segments to create the appropriate messaging. To ensure we are hitting our customers at the right point in their journey, with the right piece of content, in the right place.

Using website visitor data, we can segment our audience into distinct groups. These groups might be based on browsing habits, demographic data, or past purchases. The key is categorizing them into the right groups for more effective communication. 

For example, if you are using the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-ray pixel to capture visitors to your site, you can’t market to them all the same way. Not every visitor should be put into your email automation or existing nurturing campaign. They must be segmented. 

Here’s a way to think about it:

• High-Intent Prospects: Individuals who are already familiar with your brand. They visited a request a demo page, abandoned a shopping cart, or opened a product-specific email. These people can be put into outreach campaigns as they have engaged with purchase intent. 

• Low-Intent Prospects: These are individuals who maybe came to your site for the first time. You don’t have any existing information on them and they didn’t visit a high-intent page. Do not email these folks. You will scare them and any chance of building loyalty will be gone. These are the people that are perfect for remarketing campaigns. Create segments around pages they visited. Did they visit a particular product page? Remarket to them with that product. As they engage more and more, you can start moving them further into the funnel. 

• Medium-Value Prospects: These are people who you already have some data on. Perhaps they’ve visited the site more than once, browsed a specific product a few times, but have never taken any sort of action. These people are perfect for the Signs of Life Detector. This will send them a welcome email to find out if they are actually interested in hearing from you via email. If not, throw them back into your remarketing campaigns and continue to nurture the relationship.

• Returning Customers: Already a customer? If they come back to the site and don’t make a purchase, why not send them a coupon or an email about an upcoming VIP only sale? Use this opportunity to make them feel special. 

At the end of the day, the better you can segment your customers, the better your messaging will be.

Personalize it All 

With specific segments in hand, our messaging can be finely tuned and we can start personalizing our communications. Let’s take a look at a few examples of how this can happen:

• Personalized Email Marketing: Use your segments to create tailored emails. For example, incorporate specific products, mention sales, or show them complementary products. With individuals receiving an average of 120+ messages per day, one that speaks to their interest is needed to stand out.

• Strategic Social Media Advertising: We mentioned retargeting earlier and we’ll mention it again. Retargeting is a great way to reach your audience without scaring them off or being too pushy. Use your visitor data to target users on social media with ads that align with their recent site activity. It demonstrates an understanding of what they like and responsiveness to their interests.

• Dynamic Landing Pages: By adapting your website’s landing pages to reflect the interests of returning visitors, you can create a more relevant and engaging user experience. If a visitor frequently browses a certain category, customizing the homepage to highlight similar products can be highly effective.

Segmentation and personalization are more than trends; they are necessary for building and growing lasting customer relationships. 

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Post-Purchase Engagement Matters 

When it comes to loyalty, the real magic happens after the purchase. As we mentioned earlier, website visitor identification can help you fill in the gaps and complete those customer profiles – the result? Better post-purchase outreach. 

Beyond prospects and leads, the more data you have on your customers, the better chance you have of creating return customers and loyal customers. Let’s look at how:

1. Personalized Follow-Up Communication

After a purchase, personalized follow-up is key. This can include thank-you emails, satisfaction surveys, personalized recommendations, or even general tips based on their purchase or customer profile.

Amazon does this exceptionally well. After a purchase, they send personalized emails suggesting related products and asking for feedback. This not only encourages repeat purchases but also helps in gathering valuable customer feedback.

Another example of this is JetBlue. When you book a flight, follow-up emails will include things to do, car rental and hotel information, and more. All content that is helpful to your trip.

2. Exclusive Access to Loyalty Programs

Offering customers exclusive access to loyalty programs or members-only perks post-purchase can significantly enhance engagement and encourage repeat business.

A well-known example is Sephora’s Beauty Insider program. Customers earn points for each purchase, which they can redeem for rewards. They also get access to exclusive sales and events, making them feel valued and increasing their likelihood to repurchase.

3. Social Media for Continued Engagement

Engaging with customers on social post-purchase can foster a community feeling and keep your brand at the forefront of their minds. This can include sharing user-generated content, offering post-purchase tips, or hosting community events.

Nike does something really cool with their Nike Training Club. Post-purchase, customers are invited to join their online community where they can share achievements, participate in challenges, and get tips on using their products. This not only strengthens the customer-brand relationship but also turns customers into brand ambassadors.

While these are just a few examples of how to drive post-purchase engagement, it’s important to remember the key to brand relationships is staying top of mind, giving customers what they are interested in, and being useful.

Start Turning Those Anonymous Visitors Into Loyal Customers

And there you have it! By harnessing the power of website visitor identification, crafting personalized engagements, and nurturing post-purchase relationships, you’re well on your way to transforming anonymous visitors into loyal customers. 

Remember, every click, every purchase, and every interaction is an opportunity to deepen that connection. So, let’s start turning those casual browsers into your brand’s biggest fans.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

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The post How to Turn Anonymous Visitors into Loyal Customers with Website Visitor Identification appeared first on Customers.ai.

Enter lead enrichment. 

Lead enrichment helps you refine and enhance the data you have on your leads, allowing you to personalize your outreach with precision, and build those personal connections.

While it may sound simple, good lead enrichment requires having the right technology in place. From CRM systems to marketing automation platforms, lead enrichment is circular. The more interactions you have with your customers, the more data you can extrapolate.

So let’s dive into the world of lead enrichment – what it is, its significance to businesses, and how AI is helping “lead” the charge for better data.

• What is Lead Enrichment?
• The Importance of Lead Enrichment in Modern Marketing and Sales
• Common Lead Enrichment Challenges
• The Role of AI in Lead Enrichment
• Benefits of AI-Driven Lead Enrichment
• How to Implement AI-Powered Lead Enrichment
• How Customers.ai Helps with Lead Enrichment
• Lead Enrichment FAQs

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Understanding Lead Enrichment

To get everyone on the same page, let’s start by laying a solid foundation of what lead enrichment is. We’ll define lead enrichment, unravel the intricacies of the process, and highlight its crucial role in modern marketing and sales strategies.

What is Lead Enrichment?

Lead enrichment is the practice of refining and enhancing the information about potential customers or ‘leads.’ 

It involves augmenting existing lead data (think name, email, phone number) with additional insights, such as demographics, firmographics, and behavioral data, to better understand and engage with prospects in sales and marketing efforts.

The Importance of Lead Enrichment in Modern Marketing and Sales

Lead enrichment used to be a nice-to-have but in today’s modern world, it’s a must. By infusing lead data with valuable insights, businesses not only gain a significant competitive advantage, but they gain a direct connection to their customers. 

Let’s delve into why lead enrichment is nothing short of essential:

• Tailored Personalization: Lead enrichment enables businesses to craft highly personalized and meaningful marketing campaigns, increasing the likelihood of capturing a lead’s attention and converting them into valued customers.

• Sharper Lead Prioritization: With enriched data, accurate lead scoring comes into play. This ensures sales teams are investing their time and efforts wisely by focusing on the most promising leads, boosting efficiency, and helping close deals faster.

• Pinpoint Targeting: The enriched lead data enables companies to identify and target precisely the right audience segments. Why not give individuals or organizations the information they are genuinely interested in?

• Refined Segmentation: Businesses can effectively categorize their leads based on criteria like industry, location, or behavior. This capability allows you to tailor your messaging and offers to specific audience segments.

• Informed Decision-Making: With more information on hand, marketing and sales teams can make better-informed decisions, fine-tune strategies, and stay agile.

At the end of the day, lead enrichment transcends mere data collection; it is the key to growth in today’s modern landscape.

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Common Lead Enrichment Challenges

While lead enrichment brings valuable advantages, it’s not without its share of intricate challenges. These include:

• Data Accuracy and Quality
• Data Privacy and Compliance
• Integration Complexities
• Scalability
• Budget Allocation
• Data Freshness
• Human Touch vs. Automation

Let’s dig into each lead enrichment challenge.

Data Accuracy and Quality

Ensuring the accuracy and quality of lead data is a top priority. No customer wants to be called the wrong name or sent the wrong message. 

Mistakes lead to misguided marketing efforts and wasted resources. 

To tackle this, companies must implement rigorous data validation procedures, conduct regular audits, and set up data governance policies. They also must rely on data enrichment tools that continuously verify and update information, ensuring data accuracy over time.

Data Privacy and Compliance

At this point, it feels like there are new data privacy regulations rolling out every day. Striking the right balance between enriching data and complying with these regulations has become a complex task. 

On top of it, consumers care about their privacy. 76% of customers won’t buy from a company they don’t trust with their data. 

To ensure you are staying on top of these regulations, businesses must develop comprehensive data protection strategies, employ consent management systems, and maintain transparent communication with their audience regarding data usage and rights.

Integration Complexities

Integrating lead enrichment tools and platforms with existing CRM systems and databases is no small feat. 

Anyone who has ever tried to integrate any marketing technology into their tech stack knows compatibility issues are common. 

In some cases, companies can rely on their team of skilled IT professionals to get things working properly. Others may need to invest in middleware solutions that bridge the gap between different systems and simplify the integration process. Either way, it’s not always easy.

Scalability

One of the hardest parts about growing a business is scaling it. As businesses expand, the volume of leads they handle can grow significantly. 

Scaling lead enrichment processes while preserving data quality and accuracy requires meticulous planning. This means allocating additional resources, adopting scalable AI solutions, and designing flexible workflows capable of adapting to evolving demands. 

Scaling is one of the hardest challenges businesses face and lead enrichment is no different.

Budget Allocation

Isn’t budget always the challenge? Implementing AI-powered lead enrichment tools can pose financial challenges, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Managing costs while maximizing the benefits of data enrichment requires a well-defined strategy and flexibility. 

This may entail evaluating various pricing models, optimizing tool usage, and periodically assessing the return on investment for enrichment efforts. Make sure you do your research to find the solution that is right for you. 

Data Freshness

Acquiring fresh and relevant data remains an ongoing challenge. People change all the time and lead data can quickly become outdated. 

You must have reliable data sources, maintain partnerships with data providers, and implement automated procedures for updating your database to ensure that lead data remains current and correct.

Human Touch vs. Automation

Striking the right balance between human intervention and automation is a nuanced challenge. 

While AI streamlines lead enrichment, there are situations where a human touch is needed. For example, AI may be able to help you process the data quickly but complex data interpretation may require human expertise. 

Crafting workflows that seamlessly integrate AI and human involvement is essential to effective lead enrichment strategies.

Like anything, lead enrichment comes with its own set of challenges. Effectively managing these challenges is key for businesses looking to unlock the full potential of lead enrichment.

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The Role of AI in Lead Enrichment

In recent years, AI has emerged as a game-changer in lead enrichment, thanks to its impressive capabilities in machine learning and natural language processing. 

Let’s explore how AI is transforming this crucial aspect of modern marketing and sales:

• Data Processing at Scale: AI comes to the rescue when we’re dealing with massive volumes of data. It’s particularly useful in lead enrichment, where we need to sift through extensive datasets containing demographics, firmographics, and online behaviors. AI swiftly analyzes this vast information, extracting valuable insights that would be overwhelming for human efforts alone.

• Predictive Lead Scoring: Machine learning algorithms use historical data to predict which leads are most likely to convert into customers. This predictive lead scoring allows sales teams to work smarter, focusing their attention on leads with the highest conversion potential. It’s a time-saver that also boosts the likelihood of closing deals successfully.

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): AI-powered NLP is a game-changer for understanding unstructured data, like social media posts, reviews, and comments. NLP helps us decipher customer sentiments, preferences, and trends by analyzing text data. This precious insight helps tailor marketing campaigns to genuinely resonate with the target audience.

• Automated Data Enhancement: AI-driven lead enrichment tools automatically enrich lead data with additional information from various sources. For example, AI can beef up lead profiles with updates from social media, job changes, or mentions in the news, providing a more comprehensive and up-to-date view of potential customers.

• Personalization at Scale: AI empowers businesses to create highly personalized marketing messages and product recommendations for every lead, even when dealing with large numbers. By analyzing lead data and behaviors, AI algorithms identify the most relevant content and offers, boosting engagement and conversion rates.

• Continuous Learning and Adaptation: AI systems learn and adapt continuously. They get better over time as they process more data and receive feedback. This means that AI-powered lead enrichment becomes more accurate and efficient as it evolves, making it a priceless asset for long-term marketing and sales strategies.

AI isn’t just about automation; it’s about making data-driven decisions, engaging with leads effectively, and ultimately achieving higher conversion rates. 

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5 Benefits of AI-Driven Lead Enrichment for Sales and Marketing

Integrating AI into the lead enrichment processes can truly transform marketing and sales efforts. Let’s dive into the specific benefits:

1. Improved Targeting

AI gives us the power to zero in on our ideal customers with exceptional precision. By analyzing extensive data and customer behavior patterns, we can identify which prospects are the best fit for our business.

This also means we can focus our marketing campaigns and sales outreach on individuals or organizations most likely to convert. It saves time and resources but also significantly boosts our chances of success.

2. Better Lead Scoring

With AI in the lead enrichment process, lead scoring gets a major upgrade. Machine learning algorithms take into account a broader spectrum of factors and real-time data than humans might. They delve into historical lead interactions, spotting patterns and behaviors that signal buying intent.

The result? Much more accurate lead scoring. Our sales teams can then laser-focus their efforts on leads that are most likely to convert, driving higher conversion rates, shorter sales cycles, and creating a happier sales team.

3. Increased Conversion Rates

AI-driven lead enrichment is the key to personalization. And we know that personalized content and recommendations resonate far better with our leads, sparking greater engagement and trust.

When we deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, we experience significantly higher conversion rates. Whether it’s getting leads to sign up for a newsletter, make a purchase, or request a demo, AI makes it happen.

4. Enhanced Customer Engagement

AI tools can help us create communication that’s highly personalized and relevant to our leads. Whether it’s through email campaigns, website interactions, or social media, AI can help ensure our content matches each lead’s interests and behavior.

This personal touch helps our leads feel understood and valued and lays the foundation for stronger relationships and more meaningful interactions.

5. Streamlined Sales Processes

AI takes care of the heavy lifting in the lead enrichment and nurturing process. 

It handles everything from data collection to validation, freeing up our sales teams to focus on what they do best: building relationships and closing deals.

The result is a more efficient and productive sales process, with fewer manual errors and greater capacity for our teams to nurture leads effectively.

In a nutshell, AI-driven lead enrichment helps us elevate our marketing and sales efforts. It makes our targeting sharper, our lead scoring more precise, our conversion rates higher, our customer engagement deeper, our sales processes more efficient, and our decisions more data-backed. 

How to Implement AI-Powered Lead Enrichment

We already noted the challenges that lie ahead so you know that integrating AI-driven lead enrichment into your operations requires thoughtful planning and consideration. 

Here’s a practical guide to help you get started:

Choose the Right AI Tools for Lead Enrichment

As we noted earlier, it’s important to have the right tools that fit your business objectives. When choosing an AI-powered lead enrichment tool, you need to consider the following:

• Assess Your Needs: Begin by evaluating your specific lead enrichment needs and objectives. Consider factors such as the volume of leads you handle, your budget, and the level of customization required.

• Research and Compare: Explore various AI-powered lead enrichment tools and platforms available in the market. Pay attention to features, user reviews, and case studies to gauge their effectiveness.

• Demo and Trial: Whenever possible, request demos or trial periods to test the tools firsthand. This hands-on experience will help you determine which solution aligns best with your business goals.

Don’t Forget About Data Privacy and Compliance

When implementing lead enrichment into your marketing and sales strategies, pay attention to data privacy regulations in your area and always be aware of compliance. Ignorance is not bliss in the case of data and you don’t want to be fined.

• Understand Regulations: Familiarize yourself with data privacy regulations that apply to your region and industry, such as GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA. Ensure your lead enrichment practices align with these regulations.

• Select Compliant Tools: Choose AI tools and platforms that prioritize data privacy and compliance. Look for vendors that provide transparent data handling processes and adhere to industry standards.

• Implement Consent Management: Implement robust consent management practices. Clearly communicate to leads how their data will be used, and provide options for them to control their data.

Be Practical About Implementation

When it comes to the actual implementation, know that you will need time and you will need the right resources in place. Do your homework to ensure you are setting yourself up for success.

• Data Quality: Start with clean and accurate data. Ensure your existing lead data is of high quality before using AI-powered tools for enrichment. Data quality is the foundation of effective lead enrichment.

• Integration: Seamlessly integrate the selected AI tools with your existing CRM and marketing systems. Compatibility and smooth data flow are crucial to avoid disruptions in your operations.

• User Training: Provide training to your team members who will be using the AI-powered lead enrichment tools. Ensure they understand how to use the tools effectively and make the most of the data they provide.

• Continuous Monitoring: Regularly monitor the AI-driven lead enrichment process to verify data accuracy and quality. Implement ongoing data validation to maintain data integrity.

Definite Budget and Understand Scalability Needs

We mentioned earlier these are two of the biggest challenges when it comes to implementing a lead enrichment tool. We weren’t joking. Make sure you have these defined.

• Budget Allocation: Allocate your budget wisely. Consider the cost of AI tools, ongoing subscription fees, and potential training expenses. Ensure your budget aligns with your expected return on investment.

• Scalability: Think about scalability. As your business grows, will the AI solution you choose be able to accommodate larger volumes of leads and data without sacrificing performance? Scalability is essential for long-term success.

Develop a Feedback and Optimization Loop

Success requires feed and it requires optimization. Make sure these are accounted for in your processes.

• Gather Feedback: Encourage feedback from your teams and customers. Their insights can help you identify areas for improvement in your lead enrichment strategies.

• Optimize Continuously: Continuously optimize your lead enrichment process. AI algorithms improve with more data and feedback, so regularly fine-tune your strategies for better results.

By factoring in each of these steps, you can effectively implement AI-powered lead enrichment into your business.

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How Customers.ai Helps with Lead Enrichment

When we introduced our groundbreaking Website Visitor ID X-ray pixel, we knew how powerful it would be in transforming the way businesses gather and utilize lead data.

With website visitor information like names, emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles, business emails, domains, referral source, and so much more, businesses can not only capture more of their audience than ever before, they can start building profiles!

Here are a few ways Customers.ai is helping with lead enrichment: 

• Precision Data Collection: The X-ray pixel is designed to operate discreetly, tracking and collecting valuable data on leads as they interact with your digital touchpoints. It captures key information without intrusiveness, allowing you to gather insights seamlessly.

• Real-Time Lead Insights: What sets the X-ray pixel apart is its ability to provide real-time lead insights. As leads visit your website or engage with your content, you can instantly capture data on their behaviors, interests, and preferences. The real-time aspect is a game-changer as it empowers your marketing and sales teams to respond promptly.

• Enhanced Personalization: With the X-ray pixel’s data collection capabilities, you can start tracking website browsing patterns, pages visited, and more. Armed with this rich data, you can craft hyper-personalized marketing messages and offers that speak directly to each lead’s interests and needs. 

• Improved Lead Scoring: The X-ray pixel’s data insights are a goldmine for lead scoring. By analyzing lead behaviors in real-time, it contributes to more accurate lead-scoring models. Your sales teams benefit from a clearer understanding of lead intent and engagement, allowing them to prioritize their efforts effectively and close deals more efficiently.

• Streamlined Lead Enrichment: Customers.ai simplifies the lead enrichment process. The X-ray pixel automatically gathers comprehensive lead data, reducing the manual effort required for data collection and email validation, saving time, and enhancing data accuracy. 

Customers.ai helps businesses collect real-time insights, improve lead targeting, and enhance engagement, driving higher conversion rates and building stronger customer relationships. 

Getting Started with Lead Enrichment

First and foremost, if you haven’t installed the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-ray Pixel, do that now. It takes 90-seconds, it’s FREE, and you can start enriching your leads data instantly. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Now, let’s wrap things up.

We know that data reigns supreme these days and AI-powered lead enrichment is a must for marketing and sales teams. It is not just the future, but the present, allowing your business to stay competitive, achieve sustainable growth, and unlock new avenues for success.
At Customers.ai, we are helping businesses grow, expand, and build better customer relationships every day. Sign up for free or contact us for a free demo!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

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Lead Enrichment FAQs

Q. How does lead enrichment work?

Lead enrichment typically involves using data sources and AI-powered tools to validate, update, and supplement lead data, ensuring its accuracy and completeness.

Q. Why is lead enrichment important for businesses?

Lead enrichment is crucial for businesses as it helps them target the right prospects, personalize marketing efforts, prioritize leads effectively, and ultimately increase conversion rates.

Q. What are the benefits of lead enrichment?

Benefits include improved targeting, better lead scoring, increased conversion rates, enhanced customer engagement, streamlined sales processes, and data-driven decision-making.

Q. What is AI-driven lead enrichment?

AI-driven lead enrichment involves using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to automate and optimize the lead enrichment process, making it more efficient and accurate.

Q. How does AI improve lead enrichment?

AI improves lead enrichment by processing data at scale, providing predictive lead scoring, enabling natural language processing for better data interpretation, and automating data enhancement.

Q. What are some popular AI-powered lead enrichment tools?

Along with Customers.ai, common lead enrichment tools included Clearbit, ZoomInfo, InsideView, and Apollo, among others.

Q. What should businesses consider when selecting AI tools for lead enrichment?

They should consider factors like their specific needs, budget, scalability, data privacy and compliance, integration capabilities, and user-friendliness.

Q. How can businesses ensure data privacy and compliance when using AI for lead enrichment?

By adhering to data privacy regulations, selecting compliant tools, implementing robust consent management, and maintaining transparent data handling practices.

Q. What is the role of data quality in lead enrichment?

Data quality is foundational. It ensures that the enriched lead data is accurate and reliable, preventing wasted efforts and misguided marketing.

Q. What is real-time lead enrichment?

Real-time lead enrichment is the process of enriching lead data as it is collected or immediately after an interaction with a prospect, providing up-to-the-minute insights.

Q. How can businesses leverage lead enrichment for personalization?

Lead enrichment data allows businesses to tailor marketing messages and offers based on lead preferences, behaviors, and demographics, resulting in highly personalized experiences.

Q. What is the impact of lead enrichment on sales teams?

Lead enrichment equips sales teams with more information about leads, helping them prioritize and engage effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles.

Q. What challenges are associated with lead enrichment?

Challenges include data accuracy, privacy, integration complexities, scalability, cost considerations, data sourcing, and balancing automation with the human touch.

Q. How does lead enrichment contribute to marketing ROI?

Lead enrichment improves targeting and lead quality, leading to more efficient marketing spend and a higher return on investment.

Q. What is predictive lead scoring, and how does AI support it?

Predictive lead scoring uses AI to analyze historical data and predict which leads are most likely to convert. AI helps by continuously refining scoring models based on lead behaviors.

Q. How can businesses implement AI-driven lead enrichment successfully?

By assessing needs, researching tools, ensuring data privacy, integrating tools seamlessly, training teams, and continuously monitoring and optimizing the process.

Q. What is consent management in the context of lead enrichment?

Consent management involves obtaining explicit consent from leads regarding data collection and usage, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations.

Q. What is the role of AI in lead enrichment for e-commerce businesses?

AI helps e-commerce businesses personalize product recommendations, track online behaviors, and segment leads effectively for targeted marketing.

Q. How does AI help in data validation during lead enrichment?

AI algorithms can validate lead data by cross-referencing it with multiple data sources, ensuring its accuracy and completeness.

Q. What are the differences between lead enrichment and lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of acquiring new leads, while lead enrichment focuses on enhancing existing lead data with additional information.

Q. What is real-time lead enrichment?

Real-time lead enrichment is the process of enriching lead data as it is collected or immediately after an interaction with a prospect, providing up-to-the-minute insights.

Q. How can businesses leverage lead enrichment for personalization?

Lead enrichment data allows businesses to tailor marketing messages and offers based on lead preferences, behaviors, and demographics, resulting in highly personalized experiences.

Q. What is the impact of lead enrichment on sales teams?

Lead enrichment equips sales teams with more information about leads, helping them prioritize and engage effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles.

Q. What challenges are associated with lead enrichment?

Challenges include data accuracy, privacy, integration complexities, scalability, cost considerations, data sourcing, and balancing automation with the human touch.

Q. How does lead enrichment contribute to marketing ROI?

Lead enrichment improves targeting and lead quality, leading to more efficient marketing spend and a higher return on investment.

Q. What is predictive lead scoring, and how does AI support it?

Predictive lead scoring uses AI to analyze historical data and predict which leads are most likely to convert. AI helps by continuously refining scoring models based on lead behaviors.

Q. How can businesses implement AI-driven lead enrichment successfully?

By assessing needs, researching tools, ensuring data privacy, integrating tools seamlessly, training teams, and continuously monitoring and optimizing the process.

Q. What is consent management in the context of lead enrichment?

Consent management involves obtaining explicit consent from leads regarding data collection and usage, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations.

Q. What is the role of AI in lead enrichment for e-commerce businesses?

AI helps e-commerce businesses personalize product recommendations, track online behaviors, and segment leads effectively for targeted marketing.

Q. How does AI help in data validation during lead enrichment?

AI algorithms can validate lead data by cross-referencing it with multiple data sources, ensuring its accuracy and completeness.

Q. What are the differences between lead enrichment and lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of acquiring new leads, while lead enrichment focuses on enhancing existing lead data with additional information.

The post What is Lead Enrichment and How Can AI Help? appeared first on Customers.ai.

To inspire your teams and help kick things off right, Mitchell Trulli, our Head of Product, teamed up with Erika Varangouli, Head of SEO Branding at Semrush to discuss how marketers can increase traffic and conversions in the age of AI.

If you aren’t familiar, Semrush is a leading online visibility management platform and is used by over 10 million digital marketers worldwide. They are also our latest integration partner!

That’s right. We have OFFICIALLY partnered with Semrush to bring together traffic and conversions.

Semrush helps marketers grow their traffic and Customers.ai helps marketers turn that traffic into sales. It’s a perfect match (get it in the Semrush App Center).

It’s also the basis of our latest webinar, 2024 Playbook: Increasing Traffic & Conversion in the Age of AI.

How can marketers skyrocket website traffic while leveraging AI and website visitor data to launch high-converting marketing campaigns? 

We’ve got the answers and it starts with traffic.

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How To Grow Your Organic Visibility Through Content

We know that content is crucial in organic visibility. 

In fact, according to a study done by Semrush and Brian Dean, the #1 ranking gets 10x+ the traffic of position #10, for a single keyword. If a piece of content ranks for multiple terms, you can can bring in 30x+ the traffic.

But it’s not just about any content. It’s about creating the right content. Content that:

• Captures user intent. By identifying and analyzing user intent for relevant keywords, you can create content that aligns with what users are searching for, increasing the likelihood of ranking higher in search results.

• Is “helpful” and offers a satisfying user experience. Helpful content goes beyond mere word count and focuses on delivering substantial value to users. It should be actionable, comprehensive, and offer unique insights to engage and inform your audience.

• Demonstrates a high level of E-E-A-T. Building authority and trust are critical for organic visibility. Your content should showcase your expertise, reliability, and trustworthiness, positioning you as a credible source of information in your industry.

To achieve top rankings in search results and grow your traffic, we must do each of these three things. 

Capture User Intent

Search intent refers to the purpose behind a user’s query when they enter a search term into a search engine. 

By categorizing search intent into navigational, informational, commercial, and transactional queries, you can tailor your content to meet the specific needs of your target audience.

You can also use Semrush to discover search intent for any query.

Create Helpful Content

What is helpful content? According to Erika, that is the million-dollar question.

While Google says they want to present helpful, reliable information that is primarily created to benefit people, helpful is really subjective.

It is dependent on the keyword itself. 

You have to analyze that keyword to determine what would be ‘helpful’. Does the content you are creating add value? Would bookmark it or recommend it to a friend?

Helpful content should include these four elements:

1. Comprehensive. Cover sub topics and questions to provide a comprehensive resource.

2. Actionable. Create actionable content to help readers really solve their problem.

3. Value-adding. Don’t just repeat what’s already out there.

4. User experience. Take good care of readability, syntax, visuals and overall experience on your pages.

When creating content for a specific keyword, it’s also important to move beyond simply looking at who ranks and replicating what’s there. With AI content and SGE coming into play, the space is getting so much noisier and Google has to be much more selective. Unless your content brings value, you won’t stand out.

Build Relevance and Authority

In another study, Semrush monitored 20,000 domains for over a year. What they found is that more than half of the domains that had no backlinks never made it to the top 10. 

Why? Because backlinks are still important when it comes to relevance. 

This means your content must also include promotion. It’s not just about publishing that content. It’s about having a plan, about how to make it authoritative, and how to earn trust. 

To do this, look at what content and topics your target audience is talking about and cover that from a new angle or use data to prove or disprove a popular point. 

Look at what journalists are interested in and what are they talking about. 

And of course, look at your competitor backlinks, analyze what they’re doing, and think about how to create a fresher version, or add a different angle. 

How To Turn Your Traffic into Sales with AI

Once you have traffic, it’s time to turn it into sales. Easier said than done right?

We are seeing a number of problems in the B2C lead generation landscape.

Costs are rising, the landscape has become super competitive, and ad remarketing and marketing attribution are nearly dead due to changes in iOS and Chrome, etc.

The biggest problem?

You spent all that time and money to create the helpful content outlined above but you don’t know who is visiting your site or have a way to reach them!

That’s where the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel comes in. Using proprietary advanced data partnerships and identity resolution technology, we can identify anonymous visitors to your site in real-time.

Installing the pixel is easy and you can start getting visitor data in 90 seconds!

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Once you have the pixel on your site, you can:

• Superpower your abandoned cart recovery or high intent visitor recovery

• Capture leads from 20% of your clicks

• Leverage cheaper campaign objectives

• Land and expand to adjacent marketing channels

• Superpower your LLA and retargeting 

Let’s look at a few of these. 

Superpower Your Abandoned Cart Recovery

Given that almost 70% of people leave their carts, abandoned cart recovery is an important tool for marketers. 

Unfortunately, abandoned cart recovery only reaches 3% of your site visitors, leaving a lot of money on the table. 

With website visitor identification and integration with your existing automated cart recovery workflows, you can reach more people than ever before.

Leverage Cheaper Campaign Objectives

If you are running ads, you know conversion-focused campaigns are much more expensive than click or awareness campaigns. 

But we want that user data right? We want names, emails, phone numbers, etc.

You can get that with X-ray. 

Run cheaper traffic campaigns and then capture their contact data directly on your site. Now, not only do you have first-party data, you can create segments, personalize creative, and put people directly into your automated campaigns.

Expand Your Retargeting Audiences

With Click IDs out the door and privacy a bigger issue than ever before, retargeting audiences are shrinking.

Our tool allows you to capture emails and then pass them directly into your retargeting campaigns.

The result? Expanded audiences, warm leads, and better ROI!

Increase Traffic and Conversions in the Age of AI

Things are changing fast and it can be hard to keep up. 

Whether you are responsible for content strategy, content creation, traffic generation, or lead generation, it’s imperative you stay ahead of the game.

We are so thankful for the insights and tips provided by Erika and Mitchell and hope they give you an extra page in your 2024 marketing playbook. 

We are also unbelievably excited about the Semrush integration. The combination of these two powerful tools will help marketers take performance to the next level and we can’t wait to see what you do with it.

If you missed the webinar, you can catch the replay here. It’s full of details and more tips and will definitely set you up for success in the new year. Go check it out and if you want to learn more about how Semrush and Customers.ai can help you superpower your marketing campaigns, get in touch with us!

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

Get The X-Ray Pixel

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post How to Increase Traffic & Conversions in the Age of AI appeared first on Customers.ai.

Unfortunately, times have changed and the reverse IP lookup tools we relied on for so long are no longer as powerful as they once were.

People are working remotely, company-level data isn’t as valuable as it once was, and when it comes to advertising, we want and need more than just location-based targeting. 

Reverse IP lookup is dead and it’s time for sales and marketing teams to evolve. 

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Understanding the History of Reverse IP Lookup 

Before we get into the why and what’s next, we have to first understand how we got here.

Reverse IP lookup has been around for a long time. In fact, it has its roots in the early days of the internet when cybersecurity professionals sought to identify the origins of online activities. 

Initially used for network troubleshooting and security, reverse IP lookup evolved over time to become a marketing and sales tool, providing insights into website visitors and their associated organizations.

What is Reverse IP Lookup?

Reverse IP lookup is a technique used to uncover information about a particular website or online service by analyzing the associated IP address. 

Unlike a standard IP lookup, which reveals the domain associated with an IP address, reverse IP lookup does the opposite – when you perform a reverse IP lookup, you input an IP address, and the tool provides details such as the domain names hosted on that IP, the geolocation of the server, and sometimes even information about the organization that owns the IP range.

In the realm of marketing and sales, reverse IP lookup is a strategic approach used to uncover details about the companies visiting a website based on their IP addresses, enabling marketers and sales teams to turn anonymous website traffic into actionable data. 

What Information Do Reverse IP Lookup Tools Provide?

Reverse IP lookup tools work by revealing the associated domain names hosted on a specific IP address. This includes details such as:

• Organizations or companies behind the domain/s
• Geographical locations of servers
• Additional insights into the technology infrastructure

How Has Reverse IP Lookup Been Used in Marketing and Sales?

Marketers and sales teams leverage reverse IP lookup tools to uncover the identities of companies visiting their websites for lead generation efforts. 

This information enables sales teams to prioritize outreach, focusing on businesses with the highest potential impact. Additionally, in Account-Based Marketing, reverse IP lookup allows marketers to tailor campaigns and personalize website content based on the companies showing interest. 

From competitor analysis and targeted event promotion to enhancing ad retargeting efforts, reverse IP lookup has been used to refine and optimize various aspects of the marketing and sales funnel.

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Why Reverse IP Lookup No Longer Works

If we want to go way back to the early aughts, you might recall that tools like Google Analytics showed us IP and company data. That’s right, we could actually see the IP addresses and company names of our site visitors. 

Because we can’t have nice things (and the whole privacy thing), Google took that away, and reverse IP tools came to the rescue.

The problem nowadays is that IP-level data is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sales prospects and consumer data. We need more information to be able to reach them effectively. 

There are also other challenges at play. Let’s look at five reasons reverse IP lookup no longer works:

1. Remote Work Killed the IP

It’s no secret that COVID changed the corporate landscape and made IP-based tracking extremely difficult. According to data from WFH Research, in August 2023, 13% of full-time employees were fully remote and 30% were in a hybrid arrangement. 

With 47% of people working from anywhere they want, IP lookups don’t produce the high match rates they once did.

2. Email Restrictions Keep Coming

With Google rolling out its new AI spam filter in December and new spam filter restrictions launching in February, the inbox is getting tight. 

For sales teams that have traditionally relied on reverse IP lookup data to identify the names of companies who visited their website, strategies are going to have to change. You can no longer identify the company and then email a bunch of people at said company. 

You will be marked as spam, your deliverability will be hurt, and you could potentially get blocked.

3. Mobile Adoption Has Long Passed

We are no longer waiting for mobile adoption. That ship has sailed. In Q2 2023, 57% of internet users spent their time browsing the internet via mobile phones. That means more than half the people in the world are not on static IPs.

Mobile devices have both static and dynamic IP addresses that are entirely dependent on the cellular or Wi-Fi network you are connected to, making reverse IP lookup even more complicated and even less effective.

4. Customer Expectations are Rising

Per McKinsey, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. Personalization goes beyond knowing the company someone works for or where they live. 

Personalization means knowing their name, their company, the product or service they are looking for, and much more. Reverse IP lookup tools can’t give us that level of data.

5. Ad Targeting Options are Declining

If you only know company and location-level data, ad platforms can help you fill in the gaps. You can refine your audiences by demographic data, interest data, behavioral data, and more.

Or at least you could. 

Facebook targeting options continue to shrink and in some cases, are not even accurate. 

Google Ads continuously tries to make life hard on advertisers and now, with cookie deprecation rolling out in 2024, building audiences across multiple channels is going to be much more difficult. 

Moving forward, marketers are going to need a lot more than IP-level data to run successful ad campaigns.

The Future is Website Visitor Identification

What was once enough, is no longer. Sales and marketing teams must be thinking about the future and the future is website visitor identification. 

Website visitor identification allows you to go beyond just company names and locations. 

The Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-ray pixel can identify names, companies, personal and work emails, phone numbers, pages visited, domains, LinkedIn profiles, and so much more. 

This is not just company data! 

This is PERSON-level data that will help both B2C and B2B sales teams build highly-targeted outbound sales campaigns with personalized messaging.

Website Visitor Identification vs. Reverse IP Lookup

• Warm leads. With reverse IP lookup, you are guessing who from that company visited your site. With X-ray, you know exactly who from that company visited your site. Hello warm leads and bye bye cold outreach.

• Real-time contact info. Reverse IP lookup tools give you the data and maybe they’ll give you names and emails of people who work at an organization. You still have to do the research to find out if those people fit your ICP. X-ray gives you real-time data. You know who is on your site right now and can reach them while they are warm.

• Improved efficiency. Using segmentation, website visitor identification can tell you who the high-value prospects you should be spending your time on are. For example, you can target those showing buyer intent (people who have visited the pricing page or the request a demo page), saving your team time and improving your odds of closing. 

• Better ROI. Reverse IP tools result in contacts that might not be relevant to your business. Why spend money nurturing them? Website visitor identification tools give you contacts who are already familiar with your business. Put these contacts into your lead nurturing campaigns – email automations, ad retargeting campaigns, etc., for better audience targeting and better ROI.

Get Started with Website Visitor Identification

Whether you’re B2B or B2C, it’s time to move away from tools that rely on reverse IP lookup to give you contact data. 

Times have changed, technology has changed, and consumer expectations have changed. The old way of doing things isn’t going to work and if you want to be successful, you had better adapt.

Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-ray pixel can give you real-time data in 90-seconds or less.

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

We are excited about what the future holds and truly believe that this is a game-changer for sales and marketing teams.

Want more information? Get a demo from our team today.

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

Get The X-Ray Pixel

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

Reverse IP Lookup FAQs

Q. What is a reverse IP lookup tool?

Reverse IP lookup tools reveal information about the domains hosted on a specific IP address.

Q. How do reverse IP lookup tools work for sales and marketing?

Reverse IP lookup tools identify companies visiting a website, aiding lead generation and personalized marketing efforts.

Q. Are reverse IP lookup tools effective for lead generation?

While they were effective in the past, evolving privacy measures and increased use of VPNs have diminished their accuracy for lead generation.

Q. Can reverse IP lookup tools prioritize sales outreach?

Yes, by revealing companies’ interest, sales teams can prioritize outreach efforts for higher business impact.

Q. How does reverse IP lookup support Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?

Reverse IP lookup helps tailor ABM campaigns by providing insights into industries or companies displaying interest.

Q. Why personalize content with reverse IP lookup data?

Personalizing content based on visiting companies ensures a more relevant and engaging experience for potential clients.

Q. Do reverse IP lookup tools assist in sales prospecting?

Yes, they help identify warm leads by focusing on companies already expressing interest in products or services.

Q. What insights do reverse IP lookup tools provide for competitor analysis?

These tools offer insights into market trends and potential business expansion by analyzing the IP addresses of visitors to competitor websites.

Q. How does reverse IP lookup contribute to strategic event planning?

It aids in identifying businesses interested in the industry, facilitating targeted promotional efforts for events and webinars.

Q. Can reverse IP lookup enhance digital advertising strategies?

Yes, by retargeting ads specifically to companies that have visited a website, increasing the chances of conversion.

Q. What are the limitations of reverse IP lookup tools for sales and marketing?

Evolving privacy concerns, increased VPN usage, and the prevalence of shared IPs have reduced the accuracy and effectiveness of these tools.

Q. Are there alternatives to reverse IP lookup for lead identification?

Yes, modern marketers explore alternatives like intent data and advanced analytics for more accurate lead identification.

Q. How have privacy measures impacted the effectiveness of reverse IP lookup tools?

Increased privacy measures, including GDPR compliance, have restricted the access and accuracy of data collected by reverse IP lookup tools.

Q. Can reverse IP lookup tools track users on VPNs?

Generally, reverse IP lookup tools struggle to provide accurate information about users on VPNs due to the masking of their true IP addresses.

Q. Are there legal considerations when using reverse IP lookup tools?

Yes, marketers need to be aware of privacy regulations and ensure compliance, as the use of reverse IP lookup tools involves handling sensitive user data.

Q. How do evolving cybersecurity measures impact the reliability of reverse IP lookup tools?

Increasing cybersecurity measures, such as firewalls and advanced security protocols, pose challenges to the accuracy of reverse IP lookup tools.

Q. What role do shared IPs play in the diminishing effectiveness of reverse IP lookup tools?

The prevalence of shared IPs makes it difficult for reverse IP lookup tools to provide precise information about individual companies.

Q. Can reverse IP lookup tools adapt to the increasing use of mobile devices?

Traditional reverse IP lookup tools face challenges in adapting to the growing use of mobile devices and the dynamic IP addresses associated with them.

Q. How do evolving consumer preferences impact the relevance of reverse IP lookup tools?

Consumers increasingly value privacy, leading to a shift away from tactics like reverse IP lookup, which may infringe on their online anonymity.

Q. Are there emerging technologies replacing traditional reverse IP lookup tools?

Yes, emerging technologies such as intent-based marketing platforms and predictive analytics are becoming more popular for accurate lead identification, surpassing the capabilities of traditional reverse IP lookup tools.

The post Reverse IP Lookup Tools Are Dead appeared first on Customers.ai.

Giants like Google, Meta, and Apple have made data privacy their mission, and the outcomes are impacting the very core of advertising and marketing strategies. From the recent iOS 17 updates to the imminent deprecation of cookies in Google Chrome in 2024, the landscape is teeming with changes that are reshaping the way that we as marketers operate.

As we explore these changes, one thing becomes abundantly clear: the job of marketers is getting harder. Not simply because have to change what we are doing but because change is not a choice. In some cases, there are actual legal repercussions! 

For marketing agencies, the challenge is even larger – adapt to all the changes, show value to your clients, and prove campaign ROI. No easy feat.

Our goal is to delve into a few of the major data privacy changes impacting marketing agencies and attempt to both dissect and illuminate the path forward. Let’s figure out how we can embrace these changes and evolve our strategies.

5 Major Data Privacy Changes Affecting Marketing Agencies

• Apple iOS 17 Updates
• Google Chrome Cookie Deprecation
• Google and Yahoo Email Spam Filter Update 
• Google’s Decision to Phase Out Old Email Addresses
• Meta Ad-Free Subscriptions in EU

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1. Apple iOS 17 Updates

While the introduction of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in iOS 14 reshaped targeted advertising, iOS 17 brought another discreet, yet impactful change — link tracking protection.

Source: Admetrics

From Apple’s press release:

“Some websites add extra information to their URLs in order to track users across other websites. Now this information will be removed from the links users share in Messages and Mail, and the links will still work as expected. This information will also be removed from links in Safari Private Browsing.” 

Essentially – say goodbye to clickID data.

What does iOS 17 mean for agencies?

We wrote a pretty comprehensive post about iOS 17 already but here’s the deal – cross-campaign tracking is now even more difficult and proving the value of your efforts requires new methods. 

For agencies, you have to be able to show value and you have to be able to prove ROI. For Google and Meta ads campaigns, click IDs are what we rely on. The loss of that data will make data collection less accurate and our ability to show results and make decisions more challenging. 

Now, the good news is that only about 30% of global users are on Safari. Make sure to check your data to see the percentage of visitors to your own site to better understand the impact.

2. Google Chrome Cookie Deprecation

Google’s decision to deprecate third-party cookies was certainly unwelcome news but one we’ve been aware of for some time. Unfortunately, the time has come with Chrome beginning the phase-out in Q1 2024.

The deprecation of third-party cookies means that advertisers will no longer have unrestricted access to cross-site tracking data, something marketing agencies rely on to prove campaign value.

What does Google Chrome cookie deprecation mean for agencies?

• Loss of Cross-Site Tracking Precision: Without third-party cookies, the ability to track users seamlessly across different websites diminishes. Advertisers face a challenge in maintaining the granularity of user behavior insights, affecting the precision of targeted advertising.

• Reduced Personalization Accuracy: The deprecation poses a hurdle for marketers who heavily rely on user data for personalized advertising. Targeting tailored content to specific audiences becomes more challenging, potentially leading to less accurate and impactful campaigns.

• Attribution Modeling Complexity: Tracking user journeys and attributing conversions will be more complex without the consistency provided by third-party cookies. Marketing agencies in particular may need to invest in alternative attribution models to understand and prove the effectiveness of advertising efforts to clients.

• Impact on Retargeting Strategies: Retargeting, a staple in many advertising strategies, faces a setback. Without the seamless tracking capabilities of third-party cookies, marketers may find it challenging to effectively retarget users who have interacted with client websites.

• Navigating Compliance and User Trust: The shift away from third-party cookies is not only a technical challenge but also a navigational one in terms of compliance and user trust. Marketers must find ways to deliver personalized experiences while respecting user privacy and building trust.

The key to success lies in adapting new strategies and exploring alternative methods for user-tracking.

3. Google and Yahoo Email Spam Filter Update 

The email spam filter update from Google and Yahoo brought with it two major changes – mandatory digital email signing and a 0.3% complaint rate threshold. 

Here’s a breakdown:

• Mandatory Digital Email Signing. Senders with over 5,000 emails must use DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) for digital signing. This is already a best practice but hasn’t been a requirement until now. 

• 0.3% Complaint Rate. A complaint rate over 0.3% now poses the risk of being blocked. A complain occurs when a user marks an email as spam, not when they unsubscribe. 

These updates are a proactive move by Google and Yahoo to enhance the user experience by reducing unwanted or irrelevant emails in users’ inboxes and creating better privacy specifications. 

What do the Google and Yahoo email filter updates mean for agencies?

The email spam filter updates by Google and Yahoo mean that marketing agencies are now contending with stricter criteria for inbox placement. Messages that may have once sailed smoothly into the inbox are now subject to heightened scrutiny and email marketing agencies are going to have to be aware.

The challenge lies in ensuring that legitimate, valuable content doesn’t get caught in the crossfire of these stringent filters. It also means you have to focus on reducing or preventing spam complaints and that comes from better emails. 

A few other tips to consider to keep your spam complaints low:

• Offer clear unsubscribe options
• Include multiple unsubscribe links in your emails 
• Use shorter, engagement-based outreach cadences
• Diversify outreach communication channels 
• Create tighter, more targeted audiences
• Custom and segment your email outreach 

Adhering to these new policies means you must foster engagement, be transparent, and offer value to your users.

4. Google’s Decision to Phase Out Old Email Addresses

As of December 1, 2023, inactive Google accounts will be deleted. This includes account contents like photos, messages, Calendar appointments, Drive documents, and even YouTube videos.

According to CNet:

“If an account hasn’t been used for a while, Google said it’s more likely to be hacked…to reduce this risk, Google may delete an account and its contents if it hasn’t been used or signed into for at least two years. If you haven’t logged into an account since 2021, Google may get rid of it.

If you’re worried about someone grabbing your deleted account, rest easy: If Google deletes an inactive account, that Gmail address cannot be used again to create a new account, Google said.”

What does Google email deletion mean for agencies?

Not too much in the grand scheme of things. However, it could have an impact on your email marketing campaigns and specifically, on email deliverability. 

For example, if you aren’t regularly scrubbing email lists and end up with a high number of deleted contacts in that list, you now have a much higher bounce rate. High bounce rates mean lower email deliverability and can ding your campaigns. 

Here are a few best practices to consider to keep your lists clean:

• Regular Email List Maintenance: Implement processes to identify and remove outdated email addresses, ensuring that campaigns reach an audience with active and valid contact information.

• Encourage Email List Updates: Implement strategies such as targeted campaigns or newsletters specifically designed to prompt subscribers to provide current contact information.

• Leverage Multi-Channel Engagement: Explore social media, messaging apps, or other direct communication platforms to maintain engagement with users who may be less active on their email accounts.

• Implement Re-Engagement Campaigns: Encourage inactive subcribers to reconfirm their interest in your content, or provide incentives to update their email addresses to ensure they remain part of your active audience.

Google’s initiative to phase out old email addresses underscores the importance of adaptability in the realm of email marketing. By proactively adjusting practices and embracing a multi-faceted approach to audience engagement, marketers can position themselves for success in an environment where email addresses are dynamic and subject to change.

5. Meta Ad-Free Subscriptions in EU

As the EU continues its push toward privacy, Meta is trying to do whatever it takes to adapt to the new rules and keep their business profitable. 

This latest update, a paid ‘no ads’ version of Facebook and Instagram started rolling out November 2023.

What does ‘Ad-Free’ Facebook mean for agencies?

If you are only marketing in the US, nothing. However, if you are marketing in the EU, you could start to see an impact on Facebook ads performance. 

It’s worth noting the price to remove ads is €9.99/mo so we don’t foresee a significant number of people jumping on the bandwagon.

That being said, the removal of ads means there are a few things marketing agencies must consider:

• Shift in Targeting Dynamics: The introduction of ad-free subscriptions alters the dynamics of audience targeting. Marketers relying heavily on Meta’s ad platform may experience a shift in the composition of their target audience, as ad-free subscribers may differ significantly in behavior and preferences.

• Reevaluation of Ad Content and Placement: Marketers need to reassess the content and placement of their ads to cater to the remaining ad-supported user base. Considering App Store Optimization is another route they can take if their product supports the criteria of being optimized for that space. This may involve refining targeting criteria, optimizing ad creative, and strategically placing ads to maximize visibility among users who have opted for the ad-supported model.

• Enhanced Focus on Creativity and Quality: The competition for attention among ad-supported users intensifies with the introduction of ad-free subscriptions. Marketers need to elevate the quality and creativity of their ad content to capture and retain the attention of users who choose to remain in the ad-supported ecosystem.

As Meta pioneers the ad-free subscription model in the EU, marketing agencies must recalibrate their strategies to accommodate this shift. 

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How Marketing Agencies Can Adapt to Privacy Changes

Every time a new policy or regulation is announced, it’s easy to freak out. After all, each one has an impact on our business and when taken together, there is a lot to consider.

The good thing is marketers are sharp and they are adaptable. We know that marketing agencies will adjust their strategies and use the resources they have to ensure clients and campaigns are successful.

As these new regulations and privacy updates roll out, we think there are a few things agencies can do to stay ahead of the game and adapt.

Invest in First-Party Data

First-party data, comprised of information collected directly from users who willingly engage with a brand is essential as privacy regulations continue to roll out. 

What makes first-party data so valuable is that unlike third-party data, which is often obtained from external sources, first-party data is inherently consented to, providing a foundation of trust between marketers and their audience and preventing any penalties.

First-party data not only enables marketers to comply with evolving privacy standards but also empowers them to build authentic, personalized connections with their audience. 

The challenge is, first-party data is prized because it’s hard to get. We have looked at some strategies previously but what we will say is, start capturing the visitors on your clients’ websites.

These people are already familiar with the brand and already showing interest. You can do this with the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel. Just place a small piece of code on the site and start capturing the names, email addresses, phone numbers and more of people interested in your clients’ products or services.

Then, throw the emails into remarketing campaigns and start capturing that data!

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Diversify Marketing Channels

Privacy changes aren’t stopping any time soon so it’s imperative for marketing agencies to diversify their approach beyond traditional channels like cookies and emails. The era of relying solely on these methods is over and a strategic shift towards alternative channels is needed.

Embrace alternative channels such as influencer marketing, contextual advertising, social media platforms, and direct communication methods like push notifications and SMS marketing is crucial. These approaches offer privacy-friendly options, allowing agencies to navigate the shifting landscape while maintaining personalized and effective communication with their audience.

Utilize Technology and Tools

One of the tools to fight against the changes is…tools. Marketing agencies can fortify their strategies and protect themselves by leveraging cutting-edge technology and tools. The right tools can play a dual role—facilitating compliance with stringent data protection measures and streamlining processes for enhanced efficiency.

Some tools to consider:

• Privacy Management Platforms: Privacy management platforms centralize data governance and compliance activities. These platforms assist in tracking and managing user consent, ensuring that marketing activities align with privacy regulations.

• Consent Management Tools: Consent management tools streamline the process of obtaining and managing user consent. These tools not only facilitate compliance with regulations like GDPR but also enhance transparency in data usage practices.

• Automated Marketing Platforms: Invest in automated marketing platforms that allow for the seamless execution of campaigns while ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. These platforms often include features like consent tracking and automated opt-outs.

• Machine Learning for Personalization: Harness machine learning algorithms to personalize marketing efforts without relying on individual user data. By analyzing patterns and behaviors at scale, machine learning enables targeted campaigns without compromising privacy.

Technology is an indispensable ally for marketing agencies when it comes to moving forward. By incorporating advanced solutions for compliance and harnessing the power of automation, agencies not only navigate the complexities of data protection but also position themselves for increased efficiency and effectiveness.

Moving Your Marketing Strategies Forward

In the era of data privacy, the tech industry is undergoing a profound transformation. Giants like Google, Meta, and Apple have made data privacy a central mission, ushering in changes that reverberate through everything we do. From Apple’s discrete but impactful iOS 17 updates to Google’s imminent cookie deprecation in 2024, the marketing terrain is undergoing a seismic shift.

As marketers, change is not an option—it’s a necessity. There are actual legal repercussions for some of these privacy updates and as a result, marketers find themselves navigating a complex landscape where evolution is not optional. The job is undeniably getting harder, requiring a delicate balance between innovation and compliance.

Marketing agencies have an extra challenge. They must proactively shape their strategies, embracing first-party data collection, diversifying marketing channels beyond traditional methods, and leveraging technology and tools while at the same time continuing to show value to clients.

The journey ahead is challenging, but for the adaptable marketer, it is an opportunity for growth and resilience in a privacy-focused era.

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

Data Privacy for Marketing Agencies FAQs

Q: How do data privacy changes influence targeted advertising for marketing agencies?

Agencies must ensure that targeted ads comply with data privacy regulations, avoiding the use of sensitive personal information without explicit consent.

Q: What steps should marketing agencies take to comply with data privacy regulations?

Agencies should conduct privacy assessments, update privacy policies, and implement robust data protection measures to comply with evolving regulations.

Q: How can marketing agencies adapt their email marketing strategies to comply with data privacy laws?

Agencies should obtain clear consent for email marketing, provide opt-out options, and refrain from purchasing email lists without explicit permission.

Q: Are there specific data breach notification requirements for marketing agencies?

Yes, agencies must promptly notify authorities and affected individuals in the event of a data breach, as mandated by various data protection laws.

Q: How do data privacy changes impact the use of customer data for analytics in marketing?

Agencies must ensure anonymization or pseudonymization of customer data used for analytics to comply with privacy regulations and protect individual identities.

Q: Can marketing agencies still use cookies for tracking user behavior under new data privacy laws?

Yes, but agencies may need to obtain user consent for cookies and clearly explain their purpose, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR.

Q: How does data privacy impact the collection and use of customer feedback by marketing agencies?

Agencies must handle customer feedback responsibly, obtaining consent for its collection and ensuring that it does not reveal sensitive personal information without permission.

Q: What are the implications of data privacy changes on cross-border data transfers for marketing agencies?

Agencies must adhere to data transfer restrictions and implement safeguards when transferring personal data across borders, as per regulations like GDPR.

Q: How can marketing agencies navigate the challenges of balancing personalized marketing with data privacy concerns?

Agencies can adopt privacy-by-design principles, prioritize user consent, and use anonymized data to strike a balance between personalization and privacy.

Q: Are there specific regulations regarding the use of AI in marketing that agencies should be aware of?

While not specific to AI, data privacy laws require transparency in AI algorithms and demand that agencies avoid discriminatory practices in targeted marketing.

Q: How does the concept of “data minimization” apply to marketing agencies?

Data minimization requires agencies to collect and process only the data necessary for a specific purpose, reducing the risk of privacy breaches and ensuring compliance.

Q: What resources are available for marketing agencies to stay updated on evolving data privacy regulations?

Agencies can stay informed through industry associations, legal updates, and by regularly checking official websites of data protection authorities for the latest guidelines and changes.

The post Data Privacy Changes: A Must-Read Guide for Marketing Agencies appeared first on Customers.ai.

However, the landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, with the repercussions of privacy changes reverberating across the advertising sphere. The recent implementation of iOS 17 changes and the impending removal of third-party cookies in Google Chrome in 2024 are casting shadows on the once-expansive reach of Meta Ads. 

Unfortunately for marketers, this isn’t a future problem. Meta Ads retargeting audiences are already shrinking!

There is an urgent need for strategic solutions to navigate the shrinking terrain of Meta Ads retargeting audiences. With more privacy changes likely on the way and cross-channel tracking already becoming more difficult, the time for action is now.

• Why Are Meta Ads Retargeting Audiences Shrinking?
• Strategies to Grow Your Meta Ads Retargeting Lists
• Future-Proofing Your Meta Ads Retargeting Strategies
• Meta Ads Retargeting Audience FAQs

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Why Are Meta Ads Retargeting Audiences Shrinking?

The shrinking of Meta Ads retargeting audiences can be attributed to a confluence of factors, each contributing to the challenging terrain businesses now navigate:

• iOS 14 Changes: The introduction of iOS 14 brought forth an era of heightened user privacy on Apple devices. With App Tracking Transparency (ATT), users gained control over whether apps, including those running Meta Ads, could track their activity across other apps and websites. With only 34% of users now opted-in and allowing tracking, this was and continues to be a major factor in shrinking retargeting audiences.

• Link Tracking Protection in iOS 17: The subsequent iOS 17 changes extended privacy measures, introducing Link Tracking Protection. This feature not only obstructs the conventional tracking of link clicks but also imposes limitations on the effectiveness of retargeting strategies, as it hampers the gathering of crucial user interaction data.

• Meta’s Evolving Targeting Options: Meta’s continuous removal of targeting options compounds the challenge. As privacy concerns grow, Meta has been compelled to adjust its targeting features, restricting the precision with which advertisers can reach their desired audience. A thorn in the side of marketers, this ongoing reduction of targeting options shrinks our list sizes and disrupts our once finely-tuned retargeting strategies.

The reality is that between iOS updates and Meta’s targeting adjustments, advertisers face a discernible reduction in retargeting audience size. 

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Adapting to Privacy Changes: Strategies to Grow Your Meta Ads Retargeting Lists

In the face of evolving privacy changes, businesses can proactively adapt and cultivate resilient retargeting lists through a multifaceted approach. These include:

1. Emphasize First-Party Data Collection

As tech companies continue to take away third-party data, prioritizing the development of robust first-party data sources is a must. Here are a few tips on how to collect first-party data:

• Compelling Lead Magnets: Create irresistible incentives that encourage users to willingly share their information. This could be in the form of exclusive content, discounts, or access to premium features. Tailor these lead magnets to align with your audience’s interests, ensuring a higher likelihood of opt-ins.

• Strategic Pop-Ups and Opt-In Forms: Implement strategic pop-ups and opt-in forms on your website. Ensure these are strategically timed and unobtrusive, providing visitors with a seamless experience and giving you the first-party data you need. Make sure to clearly communicate the value proposition of subscribing or sharing their information.

• Offer Personalized User Accounts: Encourage users to create personalized accounts on your platform. Highlight the benefits of an account, such as saved preferences, personalized recommendations, or exclusive access. This not only fosters a sense of belonging but also provides a direct channel for collecting user data with their consent.

• Interactive Content and Gamification: Engage users with interactive content and gamification elements to make the data collection process feel natural. Quizzes, polls, and games not only capture attention but also encourage participation. Incorporate data collection fields seamlessly within these interactive elements, turning the process into a more interactive and entertaining experience for users. 

• Utilize Website Visitor ID Tools: Website visitor identification tools like Customers.ai can help you capture user data, giving you access to names, emails, and even LinkedIn profiles of your site visitors. Most importantly, they give you YOUR data. That data can then be turned into retargeting campaigns, email campaigns, lead nurturing, and so much more.

The great thing is, you can install Customers.ai in under 90 seconds!

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Implementing the Website Visitor ID X-ray pixel along with these tips ensures that your first-party data collection efforts are not only effective but also align with ethical principles and user preferences, fostering a positive relationship between your brand and your audience.

2. Nurture Customer Relationships 

Shifting the focus from one-off transactions to building sustained relationships is pivotal in the post-privacy-change era. 

​​Beyond mere transactions, fostering genuine connections is the key to not only retaining customers but also leveraging them as advocates who organically contribute to the expansion of your Meta Ads retargeting lists. 

Here are three tips for effective customer nurturing campaigns:

• Personalized Communication: Tailor your communication to individual preferences, ensuring that each interaction feels personalized and relevant. Utilize customer data to understand their preferences, purchase history, and engagement patterns. Craft targeted messages that speak directly to their needs and interests, fostering a sense of connection and understanding.

• Exclusive Offers: Incentivize loyalty by providing exclusive offers and rewards to your existing customers. This could include early access to sales, special discounts, or loyalty programs. By making your customers feel valued and appreciated, you not only strengthen their loyalty but also create a positive association that encourages them to continue engaging with your brand.

• Consistent Engagement: Maintain a consistent and meaningful presence in your customers’ lives. Regularly communicate through various channels, including email, social media, and SMSt. Share relevant updates, industry insights, or exclusive behind-the-scenes content. Consistent engagement keeps your brand top-of-mind and reinforces the connection with your audience.

As satisfied customers become advocates, they amplify your brand’s reach through their networks, creating a ripple effect that extends the impact of your retargeting efforts.

3. Add Dynamic Retargeting to the Mix

Dynamic retargeting is a sophisticated advertising strategy that tailors ad content to individual users based on their previous interactions with a website or app. It utilizes real-time data to showcase products or services that users have previously shown interest in, creating highly personalized and relevant advertisements. 

As users browse the internet, dynamic retargeting ensures that they encounter tailored ads across various platforms, reinforcing brand awareness and encouraging them to revisit the site.

How does that help grow Meta Ads remarketing lists? It helps in two main ways:

• Relevance and Personalization: By delivering ads that align with users’ past interactions, dynamic retargeting enhances the relevance of your ads. This heightened relevance not only captures users’ attention but also increases the likelihood of them revisiting your website, thus growing your retargeting lists organically.

• Persistent Brand Presence: Dynamic retargeting ensures a persistent brand presence across users’ online journeys. Even within the constraints of privacy changes, the personalized nature of these ads fosters a sense of familiarity and connection. This consistency contributes to the overall effectiveness of your retargeting efforts.

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4. Build Lookalike Audiences from Customer Data 

Lookalike audiences have a number of benefits when it comes to growing your remarketing list and improving overall Meta Ads performance. These include:

• Increased Precision: Lookalike audiences enhance the precision of your targeting efforts by identifying and reaching users who exhibit characteristics similar to your existing customer base.

• Expanded Reach: By extending your reach to users who share traits with your established audience, you tap into a larger pool of potential customers who are more likely to be receptive to your Meta Ads retargeting campaigns.

• Optimized Ad Spend: Targeting lookalike audiences optimizes your ad spend by directing resources toward individuals who are more likely to engage with your content and convert.

By strategically building lookalike audiences from existing customer data, you can unlock the potential for substantial growth in your Meta Ads retargeting lists. Here’s how:

• Leverage Anonymous Visitor Data from Customers.ai: If you have the Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel installed, you are already capturing visitors to your site. By understanding the characteristics of users who have engaged with your content, you can identify key attributes that define their target audience. This anonymized data serves as a foundation for building lookalike audiences that share similar traits and preferences and helps grow your retargeting lists.

• Leverage CRM Data: Your CRM system holds a wealth of information about your existing customer base. Analyze this data to identify key demographics, behaviors, and preferences exhibited by your most valuable customers. By extracting insights from CRM data, you can build lookalike audiences that mirror the characteristics of your high-converting customers.

• Use Existing Remarketing Audiences: Your existing remarketing audiences represent individuals who have already demonstrated interest in your products or services. By leveraging the data from these audiences, you can create lookalike audiences that share commonalities with your most engaged and responsive users, extending the reach of your retargeting efforts to a broader yet relevant pool of potential customers.

5. Fill the Top of Your Funnel Manually

We all want to grow our audience organically but as the saying goes, we don’t always get what we want. It’s why list buying is a common practice, especially when it comes to outbound marketing. 

Unfortunately, while buying leads can be a common practice, ensuring the quality and alignment with your ICP is more complicated. 

Typical list-buying companies can’t always deliver who you want, leading to wasted spend. 

The Customers.ai intent-based consumer directory gives you 10,000 in-market and interest-based targeting signals across 250 million U.S. consumers, allowing you to fill the top of your funnel with precision. 

By sorting and filtering based on your specific criteria, you can pinpoint individuals who genuinely align with your target audience, laying a solid foundation for a robust Meta Ads retargeting strategy and growing your lists.

Looking Forward: Future-Proofing Your Meta Ads Retargeting Strategies

Future-proofing your Meta Ads retargeting strategies will only become more important as tech companies continue to focus on privacy. Anticipating the impact of regulations and staying ahead of innovations is key to sustained success.

Predictions certainly suggest more stringent regulations on user data tracking, forcing marketers to brace for an environment where user consent and data protection take center stage. Staying informed and agile in adapting to evolving privacy standards will be crucial for maintaining effective retargeting strategies.

How to Future-Proof Your Retargeting Efforts

Nothing in life is guaranteed but we can certainly give ourselves the best chance at success. Along with the strategies we touched on above, there are two other ways we can future-proof our retargeting efforts: 

• Focus on First-Party Data: We said it earlier but the more data you own, the more successful your retargeting efforts will be. Get creative in capturing visitor data but don’t be obnoxious. Not every customer wants to be emailed or messaged. It’s why retargeting is such a great solution. It’s a way to touch potential customers without being pushy.

• Embrace Ethical Data Practices: Prioritize ethical data collection and usage to build trust with your audience. Transparent communication about data policies ensures compliance with evolving regulations and fosters positive relationships with users.

• Diversify Retargeting Channels: While we have been talking about Meta Ads, it is important to reduce dependency on a single platform. By diversifying retargeting efforts across various channels, we can hedge against the impact of specific platform changes and give ourselves a broader audience reach.

Know What’s Next

Keeping an eye on innovations within Meta Ads and the broader digital advertising landscape is essential for staying competitive. A few things that stand out to us:

• Advanced AI and Machine Learning: We are an AI company and we know AI is not just the future, but it’s already here. Advancements in AI and machine learning algorithms within Meta Ads will hopefully enable more sophisticated retargeting strategies. Utilize these tools to automate and optimize campaigns for better efficiency.

• Interactive and Immersive Ad Formats: Be on the lookout for new ad formats that prioritize interactivity and immersion. Engaging users through innovative formats enhances the user experience, making your retargeting efforts more impactful.

In navigating the future of retargeting, we have to be proactive in adapting to privacy changes and staying abreast of emerging innovations. Adapt or die.

Making Your Retargeting Troubles Disappear

The challenges posed by privacy changes to Meta Ads reach have reshaped the retargeting terrain, demanding strategic adaptation from marketers and advertisers across the board. 

To succeed, we not only have to understand why retargeting audiences are shrinking but also identify what we can do about it. From collecting first-party data and utilizing the strategies noted above to future-proofing our campaigns, there is no shortage of must-dos. 

Additionally, harnessing the power of tools like Customers.ai will be a game changer for businesses. 

Knowing who is on your website opens the door to bigger lists, bigger audiences, better targeting, and faster growth. 

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Website / URL *

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

Meta Ads Retargeting Audience FAQs

Q. What is meta ads retargeting?

Meta ads retargeting involves displaying ads to users who have previously interacted with your website or content on platforms within the Meta ecosystem.

Q. How does meta ads retargeting work?

Meta ads retargeting uses cookies to track users’ online behavior, allowing advertisers to show targeted ads to individuals who have visited their website. With the depracation of cookies, companies will need to focus on first-party data.

Q. Why is retargeting important for Meta ads?

Retargeting on Meta is crucial for re-engaging potential customers, increasing brand awareness, and driving conversions by reaching users who have already shown interest.

Q. What are the key benefits of using meta ads for retargeting audiences?

Meta ads for retargeting audiences offer increased ad relevance, higher conversion rates, and cost-effective advertising by focusing on users with existing interest.

Q. How to set up meta ads retargeting campaigns?

To set up meta ads retargeting campaigns, use the Meta Ads Manager to create custom audiences based on website interactions and define ad placements.

Q. What are the best practices for optimizing meta ads retargeting?

Optimize meta ads retargeting by refining audience segments, crafting compelling ad creatives, and testing different ad formats to maximize engagement.

Q. Can you target specific pages with meta ads retargeting?

Yes, you can target specific pages or sections of your website by creating custom audiences based on users’ interactions with those pages.

Q. What types of interactions can be used for retargeting on Meta?

Interactions such as page visits, clicks, and form submissions can be used to create custom audiences for meta ads retargeting.

Q. How long should the retargeting duration be for meta ads?

The retargeting duration for meta ads should align with your sales cycle, but commonly ranges from 30 to 90 days for effective engagement.

Q. What is the relevance score in meta ads retargeting?

The relevance score measures the effectiveness of your Meta Ads by evaluating how well they resonate with the targeted audience. Higher scores often result in better ad performance.

Q. Are there budget considerations for meta ads retargeting campaigns?

Set a budget for your meta ads retargeting campaigns based on your advertising goals, audience size, and desired reach to control costs effectively.

Q. How to exclude certain audiences from meta ads retargeting?

Exclude specific audiences from meta ads retargeting by utilizing exclusion criteria in the Ads Manager when defining your custom audience.

Q. Can meta ads retargeting be used for e-commerce businesses?

Yes, meta ads retargeting is highly effective for e-commerce businesses, helping to re-engage potential customers and drive sales.

Q. What is the role of dynamic ads in meta ads retargeting?

Dynamic ads in meta ads retargeting automatically show users personalized content based on their previous interactions, enhancing relevancy and engagement.

Q. How can I measure the success of meta ads retargeting campaigns?

Measure success by tracking key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS) in the Meta Ads Manager.

Q. What are the common mistakes to avoid in meta ads retargeting?

Avoid common mistakes in meta ads retargeting, such as neglecting to refresh creatives, targeting too broadly, and not analyzing campaign performance regularly.

Q. Is meta ads retargeting effective for B2B marketing?

Yes, meta ads retargeting is effective for B2B marketing, allowing businesses to stay top-of-mind with potential clients and nurture leads through the sales funnel.

Q. Can meta ads retargeting be combined with other advertising strategies?

Yes, combine meta ads retargeting with other strategies like lookalike audiences and interest targeting for a comprehensive and targeted advertising approach.

Q. How often should I update my meta ads retargeting creatives?

Update your meta ads retargeting creatives regularly to maintain audience interest and relevance, preventing ad fatigue.

Q. What role does audience segmentation play in meta ads retargeting?

Audience segmentation in meta ads retargeting allows you to tailor specific messages to different user segments, increasing the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Q. Are there privacy concerns with meta ads retargeting?

Address privacy concerns by ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and being transparent with users about your retargeting practices.

Q. Can I use meta ads retargeting for app installations?

Yes, meta ads retargeting can be employed to promote app installations by targeting users who have visited your app’s website or engaged with related content.

Q. What is the role of frequency capping in meta ads retargeting?

Frequency capping limits the number of times a user sees your ad, preventing ad fatigue and improving the overall user experience in meta ads retargeting.

Q. How can I create compelling ad copy for meta ads retargeting?

Craft compelling ad copy for meta ads retargeting by addressing pain points, highlighting benefits, and using concise language to capture audience attention.

Q. What are the best resources for staying updated on meta ads retargeting trends?

Stay updated on meta ads retargeting trends by following Meta’s official resources, industry blogs, and participating in relevant online communities and forums.

The post Future-Proofing Your Meta Ads Retargeting Strategies appeared first on Customers.ai.

To help you prepare for this next phase, our CEO and Founder, Larry Kim, teamed up with Lizzie Chapman, VP of Partnerships & Channels at AdRoll to discuss how we can take all the hard work you put in these past few months and turn it into post-holiday success. 

Our two experts have outlined a six-step playbook, designed to unlock long-term business growth and turn seasonal customers into loyal patrons for the months and years ahead. Read on as we unravel the keys to not just surviving but thriving in the afterglow of the holiday rush.

Tip #1: Identify Your Anonymous Website Visitors

We know that a common challenge in the digital landscape is the inability to identify site visitors. In fact, we don’t know who 97% of our visitors are!

That’s where Customers.ai comes in. With the Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel, you can start identifying previously anonymous website visitors in a mere 90 seconds. 

You gain instant access to the names, emails, and page interactions of 15 to 20% of your US website visitors. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

What’s great about this, is it complements your existing advertising budgets, especially for those utilizing platforms like AdRoll with conversion rates typically ranging from two to four percent. 

Tip #2: Retargeting + Email + SMS = Sales

Once we know the names, emails, pages visited, and interests, we can harness the power of ad retargeting.  

With the data we now have, we can target these individuals on Facebook, Instagram, Google, and the open web by creating custom audiences in each platform or through a solution like AdRoll.

What’s important to remember here is you must get as specific as possible. For example, you can create custom segments based on pages visited, allowing you to create ads for that particular product.

The other piece to consider here is lookalike audiences. Since we now have a list of people interested in our products or services, we can find other people that look like them – similar interests, demographics, behaviors, etc. 

Retargeting helps us expand our reach and when combined with exiting email and SMS campaigns, leads to more sales and more revenue. 

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

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Tip #3: Connect Website Visitors to Abandoned Cart Flows

We know that email marketing is one of the most effective tools in our marketing stack. And what we want to do is to make sure that we’re using it effectively to re-engage those visitors who have shown an interest in our site. 

Previously, if a visitor wasn’t logged in to the site or had yet to add something to their cart, they were a lost opportunity. 

Not with website visitor identification and our X-Ray pixel. 

Now, we not only know who those people are but we can put them into our existing flows. By seamlessly linking your high-value website visitor contacts to Shopify and Klaviyo abandoned cart flows, you establish a powerful mechanism to reclaim potential sales that may have slipped through the cracks.

The key lies in the precision. We need to strategically segment our lists and ensure we are creating targeted emails that resonate with individual preferences and needs. This personalized approach ensures that our communication is not just seen but deeply connects with recipients, fostering a higher likelihood of conversion.

Remember, this is about lifetime value and client retention. We don’t just want a one-time sale. We want to turn these visitors into repeat customers who come back again and again. And we can do that by staying top of mind, by providing value in our emails, and by making it easy for them to make those repeat purchases. 

Tip #4: Personalize your Retargeting with Sophisticated Segmentation

With a comprehensive dataset and AI solutions at our disposal, we can understand customer preferences, predict their next purchases, and craft targeted offers. We can also go above and beyond the traditional ad. 

For truly successful retargeting, we have to embrace segmentation and we have to craft highly personalized ad experiences. 

Segmentation allows us to serve ads tailored to individual preferences, cross-sell related products, and showcase compelling social proof.

Use the customer data you have to serve ads for complementary products that resonate with visitor preferences. Extend special offers and promotions to your high-value customers and don’t hesitate to ask those same customers for feedback.

Studies show that UGC is 8.7x more impactful than influencer content and garners 2.4x more consumer trust than brand-created content.

Take that User-Generated Content (UCG) and turn it into a powerful marketing asset. 

The more targeted your offers are, the more successful you will be, and the more likely you are to drive return customers.

Tip #5: Recover Retargeting Audiences 

In the aftermath of the iOS 14 update in 2020, iOS 17 in 2023, and the subsequent cookie-apocalypse, retargeting audience reach has plummeted by a staggering 76%. 

However, there’s a strategic avenue to recover and reclaim the lost ground – sync your website visitor contacts directly to ad platforms. 

By syncing your website visitor contacts to ad platforms and expanding your audiences, you can resurrect retargeting audience reach to pre-iOS 14 levels.

This allows you to not only mitigate the losses but pave the way for a resurgence in audience reach. It also ensures that your retargeting campaigns regain the potency they once held, reaching audiences more effectively and maximizing the impact of your advertising endeavors. 

Privacy regulations aren’t going away and cookies aren’t coming back. Adapting and recovering audience reach is paramount, and syncing website visitor contacts is a must.

Tip #6: Prepare for Chrome Cookie Deprecation

As Google prepares to deprecate 3rd party cookies in Chrome by 2024, advertisers must reshape their strategies, minimizing the impact on retargeting and maximizing budgets. 

Without the ability to retarget prospects with 3rd party cookies, a strong upper funnel strategy is more important than ever. You must build a strong brand presence to get the attention of the right customers from the start and you must focus on capturing first-party data.

Additionally, you must be thinking about measurement. To make data-driven decisions, you need a reliable and accurate way to track customer conversion paths. 

Cross-channel attribution enables you to understand how your channels work together on the customer journey and how to best allocate your resources and the loss of cookies will complicate this. Make sure you are prepared.

Boost Customer Retention & Build Loyalty in the New Year

As we stand at the brink of a new year, reflecting on the whirlwind of holiday campaigns, our CEO and Founder, Larry Kim, along with AdRoll’s VP of Partnerships & Channels, Lizzie Chapman, have outlined a comprehensive six-step playbook for post-holiday success. 

From identifying anonymous website visitors to connecting them to abandoned cart flows and personalizing retargeting with sophisticated segmentation, the strategies aim to unlock long-term business growth, boost customer retention, and cultivate customer loyalty. 

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

Get The X-Ray Pixel

With the challenges of the iOS 14 update and the impending Chrome cookie deprecation in 2024, the need for a strong upper funnel strategy, data-driven decision-making, and strategic measurement becomes paramount. 

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, these tips offer a roadmap to not just survive but thrive in the dynamic post-holiday rush. 

Install the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel today for FREE and start your journey to a successful 2024!

Want to watch the webinar? Get the replay here.

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post Boost Customer Retention & Drive Loyalty Beyond the Holiday Season appeared first on Customers.ai.

These visitors represent a huge opportunity – and a huge missed opportunity! After all, these people are familiar with your brand, interested in your business, and interested in buying what you have to sell. You have to figure out how to capture their information and how to get them into the funnel.  

That’s where pre-cart abandonment strategies come in. But we have to go beyond the usual best practices. Yes, we know that factors like slow websites and poor design lead to abandonment. That’s not enough. We need to make the extra effort to minimize abandonment and optimize the overall conversion funnel. 

Let’s explore 12 pre-cart abandonment strategies to address these challenges and guide potential customers back into the sales journey.

1. Website Visitor Identification
2. Targeted Remarketing Campaigns
3. Exit-Intent Popups
4. Email Capture Strategies
5. Personalized Product Recommendations
6. Optimized Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
7. User-Friendly Navigation
8. Data Analysis for Personalization
9. Limited-Time Promotions
10. Live Chat Support
11. Clear Shipping and Return Information
12. Social Proof and Trust Badges

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

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1. Website Visitor Identification

We’ve talked a lot about website visitor identification lately, and we are going to continue talking about it. Being able to identify who is on your website – names, emails, companies, phone numbers, etc – is a secret weapon for any online business. 

It’s also unbelievably easy to do. With the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, you can start identifying anonymous visitors in 90 seconds. Here’s how:

Step 1: To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Step 2: Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

From there, you can build email campaigns, remarketing campaigns, sales outreach strategies, and so much more.

2. Targeted Remarketing Campaigns

Targeted remarketing campaigns are the perfect way to re-engage visitors who left but have displayed interest in your products.

Retargeting ads let you delicately remind them of the products they explored and by leveraging personalized ad creative, you can speak directly to their preferences. 

The key to engaging these people lies in the content itself. You must create compelling content that serves as a persuasive nudge and encourages them to return and finalize their purchase. 

Unfortunately for marketers, retargeting audiences are shrinking, and first-party data ownership has become imperative.  

Sophisticated tools like the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel mentioned above, allow you to capture that first-party data and build sizable and precisely targeted remarketing lists.

3. Exit-Intent Popups

Strategically timed to appear as visitors show signs of leaving, exit-intent popups present a golden opportunity to capture crucial information. 

By offering exclusive deals, enticing discounts, or valuable content, you can incentivize users to share their email addresses, laying the foundation for a robust subscriber list. 

Exit-intent popups are a proactive approach that not only help retain those looking to jump ship, but also open avenues for sustained engagement and targeted marketing efforts. Turn exits into entrances for future conversions. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge and address e-commerce challenges such as cart abandonment and consumer trust in order to optimize the effectiveness of exit-intent popups.

4. Email Capture Strategies

The key to an effective pre-cart email capture strategy is to go beyond the conventional. 

Craft compelling lead magnets—be it newsletters, exclusive offers, or downloadable resources—that entice visitors to share their email addresses willingly. Strategically placed opt-in forms on pre-cart pages serve as the gateway to building a robust subscriber list. 

By creating engaging and unobtrusive opportunities for subscription, you not only capture valuable contact information but also pave the way for establishing a direct line of communication with potential customers. 

5. Personalized Product Recommendations

Personalized product recommendations are a must for any pre-cart abandonment strategy. 

Implementing advanced algorithms that scrutinize user behavior enable you to offer tailor-made suggestions. By showcasing these particular recommendations on pre-cart pages—crafted based on individual browsing history and preferences—you enhance user engagement and significantly boost the likelihood of a conversion. 

Here’s the thing. The power of personalization lies in its ability to resonate with individiuals. Just like email capture strategies and remarketing campaigns require data and creativity, so does your personalization strategy. 

6. Optimized Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons

The journey from visitor to customer often hinges on the effectiveness of your Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons. 

Design clear and compelling CTAs that seamlessly direct visitors through the conversion funnel. 

Here is an example of a CTA we use to promote our webinar, Beyond Abandoned Cart to Abandoned Product View Revenue:

Ecommerce Webinar

Beyond Abandoned Cart to Abandoned Product View Revenue

with Email Deliverability Hacks & AI Tools

Watch The Webinar

To refine and amplify their impact, use A/B testing methodologies to experiment with different CTA variations. A/B testing allows you to pinpoint the most effective elements, ensuring your CTAs not only capture attention but also prompt decisive action. 

By optimizing your CTA buttons, you help visitors take the next step in the buyer journey, ultimately enhancing the overall conversion rate of your pre-cart abandonment strategy.

7. User-Friendly Navigation

The first impression often begins with navigation, making it a pivotal aspect of your pre-cart strategy. 

You must optimize your website’s navigation to guarantee a seamless and user-friendly experience for every visitor. 

• Streamline menus and eliminate unnecessary complexities
• Offer clear and intuitive pathways that guide users to their desired products
• Reduce friction in the navigation process

A user-friendly interface not only enhances the overall browsing experience but also sets the stage for increased engagement and conversions in the pre-cart phase.

8. Data Analysis for Personalization

Data, data, data. You must use the data you have at your disposal to gain insights into visitor behavior and preferences and form a comprehensive understanding of their unique journeys. 

This valuable data serves as the foundation for a personalized user experience, allowing you to tailor pre-cart pages with precision. From curated product offerings to the personalized recommendations we mentioned above, using data analysis enhances the relevance of your content, making each interaction more meaningful for the visitor. 

9. Limited-Time Promotions

Inject a sense of urgency into your pre-cart abandonment strategy with the strategic use of limited-time promotions. 

By offering exclusive discounts or time-sensitive deals, you create an atmosphere that encourages immediate action from potential customers. 

The trick here is to display these promotions on pre-cart pages, ensuring that visitors can’t overlook the offers. This tactic not only captures attention but also taps into the psychology of urgency, prompting users to make quicker decisions and move closer to completing their purchase. 

Limited-time promotions can help drive immediate conversions and instill a sense of excitement and anticipation.

10. Live Chat Support

Offering real-time assistance to visitors ensures that their questions and concerns are addressed promptly, reducing the likelihood of abandonment. 

Beyond immediate support, live chat can give you some really valuable data. Use those live chat interactions to see what customers care about. What are they asking? What are their concerns? 

This data becomes a powerful tool, enabling you to tailor personalized recommendations based on the specific needs and preferences expressed during chat sessions. 

Live chat support lets you enhance customer satisfaction and create a dynamic and interactive environment that fosters trust and loyalty.

11. Clear Shipping and Return Information

Build trust and alleviate customer concerns by prioritizing transparent communication about shipping and return policies on your pre-cart pages. 

Make sure information regarding shipping costs and return procedures is easily accessible. It can help eliminate any uncertainties potential customers may have and prevent cart abandonment. 

By addressing these concerns proactively, you create a sense of reliability and openness, reinforcing the trustworthiness of your brand. Clear and upfront communication fosters a positive perception and streamlines the decision-making process for visitors. The result? An increased likelihood of conversions in the pre-cart phase.

12. Social Proof and Trust Badges

92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than all other forms of marketing. Why? Because they trust those people, therefore they trust your business. 

Establishing trust is paramount in the world of ecommerce, and leveraging social proof and trust badges is a potent strategy in your pre-cart approach. 

Display customer testimonials and reviews directly on your pre-cart pages. It builds credibility and instills confidence in potential buyers. Additionally, incorporate trust badges and security certifications visibly, assuring visitors of the safety and reliability of their transactions. 

By highlighting positive experiences and emphasizing security measures, you create an environment customers feel comfortable in, leading to higher conversions in the critical pre-cart phase.

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

Identify who is visiting your site with name, email and more. Get 500 contacts for free!

Website / URL *

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Preparing Your Pre-Cart Abandonment Strategy

Mastering pre-cart abandonment is the key to unlocking untapped sales opportunities. 

By embracing innovative strategies such as website visitor identification, targeted remarketing campaigns, personalized product recommendations, and more, businesses can not only recapture the attention of departing visitors but also guide them toward completing their purchases. 

Plus, as cookie tracking continues to go away and tech companies make it harder and harder to market to individuals, implementing these comprehensive pre-cart strategies becomes essential for not just retaining potential customers but also ensuring a dynamic and engaging online shopping experience.

One of the easiest ways to start is with Customers.ai. Download the Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel for free and start capturing these pre-cart visitors.

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

Get The X-Ray Pixel

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

Pre-Cart Abandonment FAQs

Q: What is pre-cart abandonment in e-commerce?

Pre-cart abandonment refers to users leaving a website before adding items to their shopping cart, indicating a lost potential sale.

Q: How to track pre-cart abandonment on an e-commerce site?

Use analytics tools to monitor user behavior, focusing on page exits before the checkout process.

Q: Why do customers abandon their carts before adding items?

Common reasons include high shipping costs, complicated checkout processes, and unexpected fees.

Q: What are effective strategies to reduce pre-cart abandonment?

Streamline the checkout process, offer transparent pricing, and provide personalized recommendations.

Q: Can exit-intent pop-ups help prevent pre-cart abandonment?

Yes, strategically implemented exit-intent pop-ups can offer incentives or assistance, potentially retaining users.

Q: How does mobile optimization impact pre-cart abandonment?

Mobile optimization is crucial as more users shop on mobile devices, ensuring a seamless and user-friendly experience.

Q: Are discounts effective in preventing pre-cart abandonment?

Discounts can be effective if strategically used to address specific concerns that lead to abandonment.

Q: What role does real-time customer support play in preventing pre-cart abandonment?

Real-time support, like live chat, can address customer concerns immediately, potentially saving a sale.

Q: How does website loading speed affect pre-cart abandonment?

Slow loading times can frustrate users and lead to abandonment; optimize your site for better performance.

Q: Is offering a guest checkout option effective in reducing pre-cart abandonment?

Yes, providing a guest checkout option simplifies the process, reducing barriers for users who don’t want to create an account.

Q: Can retargeting ads help recover potential pre-cart abandoners?

Yes, retargeting ads remind users of their abandoned items and offer incentives to encourage them to return and complete the purchase.

Q: How can email marketing address pre-cart abandonment?

Email campaigns can send personalized reminders, incentives, and re-engage users who abandoned their carts.

Q: Is conducting surveys effective in understanding reasons for pre-cart abandonment?

Yes, surveys provide valuable insights into reasons for abandonment, helping you make targeted improvements.

Q: How can social proof be used to reduce pre-cart abandonment?

Displaying social proof, like customer testimonials, builds trust and alleviates concerns that lead to abandonment.

Q: What impact does a clear return policy have on pre-cart abandonment?

A transparent return policy reassures customers, addressing concerns about potential issues with purchased products.

Q: Is A/B testing recommended for optimizing the checkout process?

Yes, A/B testing allows you to experiment with different checkout elements, identifying and implementing improvements.

Q: How does transparency in pricing reduce pre-cart abandonment?

Transparent pricing builds trust, reducing the likelihood of users abandoning their carts due to unexpected costs.

Q: Why is personalization important in reducing pre-cart abandonment?

Personalization enhances the shopping experience, making users more likely to complete a purchase.

Q: What role do trust signals play in preventing pre-cart abandonment?

Trust signals, such as secure payment options and clear privacy policies, instill confidence and reduce abandonment.

Q: How does offering limited-time promotions impact pre-cart abandonment?

Limited-time promotions create a sense of urgency, motivating users to complete their purchases to avail of the offer.

Q: How can social media integration reduce pre-cart abandonment?

Social media integration allows users to share and discuss potential purchases, creating a sense of community and trust.

Q: What impact does a user-friendly product search have on pre-cart abandonment?

A user-friendly product search reduces frustration, helping users quickly find and add items to their carts.

Q: Why is simplicity in design crucial for preventing pre-cart abandonment?

Simple and intuitive design reduces cognitive load, making the shopping experience more enjoyable and reducing abandonment.

Q: How does addressing common objections in product descriptions impact pre-cart abandonment?

Addressing objections in product descriptions provides clarity, helping users make informed decisions and reducing abandonment.

Q: Can gamification elements be used to reduce pre-cart abandonment?

Yes, gamification elements, like progress bars or rewards for completing the checkout, can make the process more engaging, reducing abandonment.

The post Lost Conversions, Found: 12 Pre-Cart Abandonment Strategies appeared first on Customers.ai.

Consider this: on average, nearly 98% of website visitors remain anonymous, navigating through product and offer pages, engaging with content, yet leaving no trace of their identity. In an era where data is king, this substantial segment represents a goldmine of untapped potential. 

As a savvy marketer, you’re keenly aware that a substantial portion of your website traffic operates in the shadows of anonymity. The challenge before you is to unravel the mystery of who these anonymous website visitors are and transform them into valued customers.

To help, we’ve crafted this comprehensive guide specifically tailored to identifying your website visitors and converting them into sales using the data and tools at your disposal.

Our aim is to equip you with not just strategic insights but also practical steps that demystify the enigma surrounding anonymous visitors and pave the way for your unparalleled success in the dynamic landscape of marketing.

Navigating and Overcoming Key Hurdles in the Marketing Landscape

Before we dive into the world of anonymous visitors, we first have to understand the key challenges impacting the marketing landscape. 

1. Intense Competition and Market Saturation: With a superabundance of online stores and businesses vying for consumers’ attention and wallets, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to differentiate themselves. You must find innovative ways to stand out, whether through unique branding, personalized customer experiences, or strategic partnerships. Effectively navigating this crowded landscape requires a keen understanding of the target audience and a commitment to delivering value that goes beyond just the product.

2. Rapid Technological Advancements: The rapid evolution of technology has transformed the way consumers interact with online platforms. Businesses are constantly challenged to keep pace with emerging trends, such as voice search, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence while at the same time trying to learn new platforms and navigate changes on existing platforms.  

3. Data Privacy and Security Concerns: In an era where data breaches and privacy concerns make daily headlines, tech giants are digging their heels in on privacy, making it harder and harder for to reach customers. Between cookie updates from Apple or email changes from Google and Yahoo, a focus on consumer privacy is adding a new layer of complexity.

4. Omni-Channel Customer Experience: The modern consumer journey is often multi-faceted, involving interactions across various channels, both online and offline. Businesses face the challenge of creating a seamless omni-channel experience that ensures consistency and cohesion throughout the customer’s journey. Coordinating marketing and sales efforts across platforms, integrating data from different touchpoints, and optimizing the user experience regardless of the channel are all critical.

5. Adapting to Shifting Consumer Behavior and Preferences: Consumer behavior and preferences are continually evolving, driven by factors such as cultural shifts, economic changes, and global events. You have to be agile and responsive to these shifts to stay relevant. This requires a deep understanding of the target audience, ongoing market research, and a willingness to adjust strategies as needed. 

These challenges are real and they are changing how you have to think about your marketing and sales efforts. Evolve or die, right?

So where do the anonymous website visitors come in? 

Unidentified visitors represent a concealed opportunity that has been in plain sight all along, and the key lies in identifying them. Anonymous visitor identification unlocks the door to enhanced personalization, better marketing, and helps address the challenges we just explored. More importantly, it empowers you to boost sales.

Convert Website Visitors into Real Contacts!

Identify who is visiting your site with name, email and more. Get 500 contacts for free!

Website / URL *

Grade my website

How to Increase Sales by Identifying Anonymous Website Visitors 

Identifying your anonymous visitors is great but if you don’t know what to do with the information, you can’t be successful.

Let’s look at how you can use website visitor data to make informed decisions and improve your marketing efforts.

1. Precision Targeting

One of the foremost advantages of utilizing a website visitor identification tool is the ability to precisely target your audience. By understanding the demographics and behaviors of your visitors, you can tailor your marketing campaigns with laser-like precision, ensuring that your message resonates with the right people at the right time. For example:

• Behavioral Insights: Utilizing anonymous visitor data allows you to track user behavior, such as pages viewed or purchase intent. This data can then be used to create email or retargeting campaigns based on those behaviors. 

• Demographic Segmentation: Anonymous visitor identification tools enable you to categorize visitors based on demographics. If you sell winter coats, your message to visitors in Florida is going to be different than your message to users in Maine. 

This leads to better messaging and a better customer experience. Plus, 80% of companies that use market segmentation report increased sales.

• Timing and Frequency: Understanding the time of day or week when anonymous visitors are most active allows for strategic timing of marketing messages. When are customers visiting your site? When are they opening their emails? In a world where the average person sees 10,000 ads in a day, you have to find a way to stand out.

2. Enhanced Personalization 

Personalization drives growth. Companies that grow faster drive 40% more of their revenue from personalization than their slower-growing counterparts. There is real money in personalization.

Visitor identification provides a new level of personalization in your marketing efforts. 

Think about it: in a typical scenario, a person comes to your site, they browse around for a bit, and they leave.

If they clicked an ad to get there, you have data that can be used for remarketing but if they only subscribed to your blog or filled out form for a coupon code, you have no idea what they actually want. Even worse, what if they didn’t take any action that gives you information about their intent? There is no option for personalization!

Anonymous visitor identification gives you detailed insights into individual preferences and past interactions, allowing you to create highly personalized experiences for each visitor. And with 71% of consumers expecting personalization, it’s your job to give them what they want.

3. Streamlined and Efficient Marketing

Efficiency is the key to successful marketing, and customer identification plays a pivotal role in streamlining your efforts. With a clear understanding of your audience, you can optimize your marketing channels, focus on high-potential leads, and allocate resources where they will yield the greatest return on investment. Here’s how:

• Seamless Integration of Data: Identifying anonymous visitors allows you to seamlessly integrate valuable data into your marketing ecosystem. By consolidating insights on user behavior, preferences, and interactions, your marketing efforts gain a cohesive foundation, ensuring your messaging aligns with the unique attributes of each visitor and fostering a more meaningful connection.

• Targeted Content Delivery: Understanding the demographics and behaviors of your anonymous visitors empowers you to tailor content. Create targeted campaigns that speak directly to the interests and needs of specific audience segments. Whether it’s curating product recommendations or crafting compelling narratives, the ability to deliver content tailored to individual preferences enhances the overall customer experience.

• Automated Campaign Optimization: Automation is key to efficiency. Anonymous visitor identification enables the creation of automated workflows that respond dynamically to user interactions. From triggered emails based on specific actions to personalized offers aligned with individual preferences, automation ensures that your marketing stays agile and responsive without constant manual intervention.

• Efficient Resource Allocation: By focusing on identified anonymous visitors, your marketing resources are allocated more efficiently. Rather than employing a one-size-fits-all approach, targeted campaigns reduce waste and amplify the impact of your efforts. 

• Enhanced Customer Journey Mapping: Anonymous visitor identification provides the missing pieces of the puzzle in mapping the customer journey. With a clearer understanding of touchpoints, preferences, and engagement levels, you can refine your customer journey map for enhanced coherence. 

4. Warm Outreach and Relationship Building

Knowing your customers allows you to initiate warm outreach strategies. By reaching out to potential customers who have expressed interest in your products, you can build a connection and nurture relationships. This approach fosters trust and increases the chances of turning a casual visitor into a loyal customer. It leads to:

• Personalized Communication Initiatives: Identifying anonymous visitors allows you to infuse a personalized touch into your communication initiatives. Leverage the data to tailor outreach messages that resonate with individual preferences. This ensures tyour communication feels relevant but also genuinely tailored to the individual. Whether it’s a personalized email campaign or targeted social media interaction, the ability to speak directly to the needs and interests of your audience fosters a sense of connection.

• Strategic Follow-Ups Based on Visitor Behavior: As we mentioned earlier, the name of the game is personalization. If a visitor consistently engages with specific product categories or spends considerable time on certain pages, you can initiate targeted follow-up communications. Whether it’s providing additional information, exclusive offers, or personalized recommendations, these strategic follow-ups demonstrate attentiveness and contribute to building a rapport with the visitor.

• Responsive Engagement Across Channels: We know the customer journey spans multiple channels. In fact, the average customer hits nine touchpoints! Anonymous visitor identification ensures a responsive and cohesive engagement across this spectrum. Whether a visitor interacts with your website, subscribes to newsletters, or engages on social media, the ability to recognize and consolidate these touchpoints allows for a seamless and consistent communication flow. This unified approach contributes to a more holistic and authentic relationship-building process.

• Building Trust Through Consistent Interaction: Trust is key to sales and key to long-lasting customer relationships. Anonymous visitor identification facilitates consistent interaction, creating touchpoints that contribute to the gradual establishment of trust. By demonstrating a true understanding of who your customers are and consistently delivering value through personalized interactions, you lay the groundwork for a relationship built on trust and mutual benefit.

5. Expanded Retargeting Audiences

With retargeting lists shrinking by the day thanks to privacy changes by Apple and Google, marketers have to act fast. How can you grow your lists if you don’t know who is visiting your site? Identifying anonymous website visitors with contact info you own, can analyze, and sync to other systems is the key to unlocking the full potential of your retargeting efforts, allowing you to cast a wider net and rekindle connections with a broader audience. Here’s how:

• Audience List Enhancement: Anonymous visitor identification gives you the names and email addresses of those visiting your website. And with a tool like Customers.ai, that list can be automatically synced to platforms like Facebook to enhance remarketing campaigns. With a list that is continually updated and growing, you can reach more customers than ever before.

• Diversification of Retargeting Segments: Identifying anonymous website visitors enables the creation of diverse retargeting segments based on a range of criteria such as behavior, demographics, and engagement levels. Rather than limiting retargeting efforts to a generic audience, you can tailor segments to specific visitor attributes. For example, retargeting visitors who showed interest in a particular product category or those who spent a significant amount of time browsing your site.

• Customized Ad Content for Enhanced Relevance: Understanding the preferences and behaviors of anonymous visitors allows for the creation of highly customized ad content. Tailor your retargeting ads to align with individual interests and past interactions, increasing the relevance of your messaging. Whether showcasing products left in the cart, promoting complementary items, or offering exclusive discounts, personalized retargeting content significantly enhances the chances of re-engagement.

• Dynamic Retargeting Based on Visitor Behavior: Utilizing anonymous visitor data enables dynamic retargeting that adapts to individual visitor behavior. For instance, if a visitor showed interest in specific products but didn’t make a purchase, dynamic retargeting allows you to showcase those exact products in subsequent ads. This tailored approach not only reinforces the visitor’s initial interest but also increases the likelihood of conversion by presenting the most relevant offerings.

6. Pre-Cart Outreach

Traditional methods often hinge on visitors completing forms or progressing to the checkout stage before capturing their information. However, customer identification dismantles these barriers, enabling you to establish connections with potential customers who may not have filled out forms or abandoned their carts. 

This innovative approach broadens your reach and taps into a previously untapped market, allowing you to proactively engage with visitors before they even consider adding items to their cart. By understanding the preferences and behaviors of these potential customers early on, you can implement pre-cart outreach strategies that lay the foundation for a personalized and compelling shopping experience.

How to Identify Anonymous Visitors with Customers.ai

To turn anonymous website visitors into known users, you need the right tools and technologies. That’s where the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel comes in. By placing this pixel on your site, you can begin identifying who is coming to your site. 

Step 1: To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Step 2: Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Step 3: From there you can integrate with systems like Klayvio, Mailchimp, Facebook, and more!

Elevate Your Marketing with Anonymous Visitor Identification & Personalized Outreach

In the competitive world of marketing, staying ahead requires innovation and adaptability. Embracing tools like Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel powered anonymous visitor identification empowers you to transform anonymous visitors into loyal customers.

By unlocking the potential of personalized, targeted marketing, you can navigate the challenges of the modern marketing landscape and drive sustained growth in sales.

Remember, in the realm of marketing, knowledge is power, and anonymous visitor identification is the key to unlocking the full potential of your website. Elevate your strategies, deepen your connections, and watch as your sales soar to new heights.

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post How to Turn Anonymous Website Visitors into Sales [Marketing Playbook] appeared first on Customers.ai.

Hosted by our friends at Justuno, eight industry pros spilled the tea on CRO, reviews, loyalty, and more. Each expert dished out their standout BFCM tips, turning this AMA into a goldmine for businesses hustling for success.

Dive into the recap, catch the highlights, and gear up for ecommerce greatness!

Tip 1: Expand Email Captures with Website ID Pixel

Expand your email captures by identifying anonymous website visitors. Install the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel on your site to gather contact information from visitors and capture 15% to 20% of website visitors’ contact details. To manage the influx of leads, implement filters based on factors like scroll depth, time on site, or engagement with specific pages.

Tip 2: Recover Retargeting Audience Reach

Recent iOS 14 and Google Chrome cookie policy changes have resulted in new retargeting challenges. To overcome these limitations and expand your retargeting audiences, leverage customer IDs gathered from website visits. Extracting additional information, such as phone numbers and secondary emails, can enhance the targeting capabilities and potentially double or triple the size of remarketing audiences.

Tip 3: Maximize Revenue Recovery from Abandoned Carts

Leverage the customer ID data and synchronize with platforms like Shopify or Klaviyo to enhance cart abandonment sequences. By sending more leads into these sequences, including those who didn’t log in or add items to their cart, you can maximize revenue recovery efforts.

Tip 4: (Bonus Tip!)

Install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel on your site and start identifying who your visitors are. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Back to the recap and all of the great Black Friday Cyber Monday tips from our presenters.

SJ Carcamo, Partner Marketing Manager at Justuno

Tip 5: Curate Experiences with Source Data Precision

Understanding your audience begins with identified and anonymous visitors. Whether they’re in your email list or entirely new, tailor experiences based on source data. Pinpoint your top traffic sources and invest where it matters. Focus on key touchpoints such as welcome pop-ups, exit intents, cart abandonment, banners, and post-purchase prompts. 

Tip 6: Incorporate Last Touch Scenarios with Exit and Cart Abandonment Popups

Incorporate a last-touch scenario using behavioral triggers to deliver the right message at the right time. Plus, with behavioral segmentation, you already have the creative. Use existing creative from other channels and adapt them for onsite pop-ups. 

Tip 7: Free Gifts and Redemption Offers

Engage your customers at the pinnacle of their intent—add to cart and post-purchase. Offer a free gift or redemption. It’s not just about discounts; it’s a strategic move to increase average order value (AOV) and foster repeat purchases.

Andrew Christison, Co-Founder Retencity

Tip 8: Create a Detailed Segment By Segment Email Strategy

Sending to your entire list during this high-traffic period can lead to deliverability issues. Don’t do it. Tailor your segments to ensure relevance, steering clear of the risk of being blacklisted. 

Tip 9: Leverage Email Intimacy Effectively

Lean into the unique intimacy of email. People subscribe to fewer brands on email than on other channels. Coordinate your email and SMS strategies to create a cohesive experience and connect with your audience during the festive season.

Tip 10: Align the Lifecycle Customer Experience

Maintain consistency across all customer touchpoints. Ensure that pop-ups, automations, and emails align with the brand’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions. Have backup assignments and email layouts ready in case of out-of-stock situations to avoid last-minute panic.

Stephanie Charon, Senior Customer Success Manager at Postscript

Tip 11: Craft Irresistible Black Friday Specials

Start by addressing your Black Friday specials strategically. Avoid conflicting offers that may lead customers to double-stack coupons. Inject a sense of urgency into your cart abandonment messages, emphasizing that this is the best sale of the year. 

Tip 12: Strategic SMS Reminders for Maximum Impact

Send strategic reminders. A staggering 80% of SMS-attributed orders occur within the first 20 minutes of receiving a message. Don’t underestimate the power of same-day follow-ups.

Tip 13: Ensure Maximum Deliverability

When sending multiple-day campaigns, include an opt-out option to maintain compliance and build trust with carriers. Schedule messages off the hour and prioritize SMS over MMS during this intense period.

Virgil Ghic, Co-Founder WeSupply

Tip 14: Proactive Shipment Monitoring and Notification

The key is to control the controllables and maintain customer trust and proactive shipment monitoring is a must. By automatically notifying customers about delays and offering compensation or discounts strategically, you can turn a potentially negative experience into a positive one.

Tip 15: Elevate Customer Experience with Personalized Tracking

Elevate the customer experience by sending personalized emails with embedded tracking information. This approach ensures customers are informed about delays, out-for-delivery status, and delivery, all through SMS or integrated scripts. 

Tip 16: Turn Exchanges into Upselling Opportunities

Exchanges aren’t just about replacing products; they’re an opportunity to upsell. Converting a return into an exchange, especially for a more expensive item, can lead to additional revenue.