We’ve discussed a lot about the power of personalization in marketing and how it can impact a customer’s conversion journey. One of the ways we discussed personalization having impact was by identifying customer intent. A customer’s intent tells you a lot about where they are in your marketing funnel and how close to a purchase decision they are.
The problem is intent is often looked at as something beyond the control of the marketer. This means many strategies are devised as reactive rather than proactive when it comes to customer intent. The grander truth is that marketing can have a lot more impact on intent than we think.
Identifying intent is about understanding where the customer is currently at. The key word there being currently. The goal of intent is to understand what strategy you need to move that intent closer to a purchase. You don’t have to look at the customer’s intent and simply treat them as if they’re on a set path that you can only nudge and not guide. You can guide it. But it takes some effort.
That’s why it’s important to review these 5 key ways you can move the needle on intent, and drive the conversion journey rather than .
While not a direct impact strategy, being SEO ready is a needed step in being prepared to handle varying intent. This doesn’t mean you have to be a highly ranked online presence or dominating algorithms. SEO readiness is just about having the necessary resources available to tackle curiosity and transform it into actions.
Consider these resources as you prepare for intent:
About us: Chances are you’re not some corporate giant with name brand recognition nationwide–and this is a good thing. Being a small lesser known business is a great advantage cause it gives you the chance to be more human with new customers. While consumers enjoy the convenience of big brands, they often prefer trusting their purchase decisions with brands that seem like they care. If you don’t have an about us section or history log available to new customers to explore you’re eliminating this advantage entirely. Have a resource that explains your journey, your passion, and what makes you the right choice for a purchase.
Expanded content: Usually in the form of blogs or articles, expanded content is about showing consumers you’re a living breathing presence. Whether you’re sharing content around the pain points of your target audience or simply announcing new products or upcoming events, it’s great to have something to show your business is active beyond pushing sales.
Social presence: Did you know 82% of today’s shoppers use social media to make their purchases? This isn’t to say you have to have your social media product ready. But many customers will check a business’s social media before they’re ready to make an official purchase. Social media is a great way to pick up on important information such as contact info, store hours, current deals or events, and most importantly, is how customers learn about your personality. Without a social presence you’re cutting off a significant portion of branded intent based customers.
Consider all the varying destinations an online shopper’s intent may take them and ensure you have an answer for each of them. These are great starting points but you will need to put in the effort to guarantee they provide the kind of info or content customers are seeking.
The first thing to remember about intent based audience segments is that only one segment will be at the point of willingness to purchase. The other segments won’t be that far along the funnel yet which means your first attempt strategy won’t always land in a conversion. So, you need a way of engaging the customer beyond the initial touchpoints.
Newsletters are great for prospect building and keeping the marketing funnel alive. There can be many reasons why a newsletter may result in a conversion at a later stage of the funnel. Some may look like:
You can use a newsletter to collect contact information and continue to engage buying interest. This will help you achieve greater results with later campaigns that continue to target your current prospect list. Just be sure to be intentional about the purpose of your newsletter.
Some newsletter themes focus around:
Whatever content you focus on, be sure to keep a consistent flow of new content to continue engaging customers and finding the right triggers for building up purchase interest.
Another useful email based campaign with proven results. Nurture sequence campaigns are great for being direct and intentional with re-engaging customers.
To build a successful sequence nurture you have to start by being specific about your audience segment. This list of prospects should all currently be at the same stage of the funnel so you can be precise about what info you use to gauge their interest. Then you need to establish guidelines for how many emails you plan to send in the nurture, the frequency of sending them, and the deadlines. Anything less than 3 may be ineffective and anything over 4 may be overwhelming.
Then consider how each email in the sequence will build off each other. Think of it as dating a new partner. The first email should be friendly, introduce yourself and why you’re worth the value of the customer’s time. In the second email you should get straight into value, explaining why your offer is built specifically for this customer segment and how they can get the most out of it.
The third email will likely be towards your closing attempts to convert. If the customer didn’t convert on the second sequence that means they’re still a bit skeptical or holding back for some reason. Try to speak to that reserved nature with reassurance or even a special offer to further push the deal.
From there, all remaining nurtures should be about continuing the relationship with the customer even if they’re not ready to convert. Even a sequence that doesn’t convert can have a major impact on a customer’s future likelihood to accept your offer. The end goal should always be pushing them further down the funnel if nothing else.
Retargeting is one of the strongest go-to strategies when it comes to moving customers down the funnel–and for good reason. As mentioned before, there can be numerous reasons an initial touchpoint wasn’t successful at triggering a conversion. Oftentimes it may have nothing to do with a lack of interest but instead maybe a lack of time, money, or resources.
Retargeting is vital and hugely impactful if done right. First you have to identify which audience segments are right for retargeting, because retargeting without strategy will become a money pit.
Consider audiences that took actions such as:
These actions are great identifiers for customers who had interest but disconnected last minute. These are the audiences you want to keep the funnel alive with and try to see what drove the interest away. Your strategies with retargeting also need to be done with intent.
Don’t always retarget a customer with the same product: Perhaps the price point ended up being too big a chunk out of their budget, or they realized it didn’t fully suit their needs.
Try to persuade customers to reconsider their abandoned purchase with brand loyalty offers.
Whatever retargeting initiative you chose, be ready to test and find new niches to discover what keeps the audience engaged.
Sometimes intent simply comes down to being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Certain customers can find more value in a social media ad than in an Google ad. These factors can be hard to determine but having a mix of advertising options will eliminate the risk of missed opportunities.
Always keep track of which audiences you target on certain platforms. These same audiences may respond differently if they come across your ads on other platforms. Sometimes it’s as simple as seeing your ad numerous times before a customer can trust your business fully.
Of course, this can be a hard investment to make without the proper expertise. That’s why sometimes the best option is to work with an expert who can fast track that expertise for you.
My team and I come from a range of strategic backgrounds that give us the advantage of being able to expand your online presence with precision. The advantage of working with an agency is the amount of resources you gain from the partnership. If you’re looking to create a new direction or engage customers in new ways we can build strategies that your business can grow on long beyond our partnership.
If you want to meet to learn about our strategies or discuss a personalized partnership with my team then we’re available to meet. Click here to book some time so we can evaluate the best path forward for you.