Personalization to Save Us All: Bluecore’s Answer to The Retention Death Spiral

Our friends at Bluecore have been busy this year, and we’ve had the privilege of a front-row seat to the extravaganza.

Last month we joined Bluecore at their annual summit in NYC, and just last week we followed along to their roadshows in California. We were in good company, too – executives from Sephora, Forrester, Shutterfly, Jockey, BCBGMAXAZRIA, and TomboyX shared the stage with real-life Bluecore case studies. Needless to say, we were enthralled by the new offerings and incredible results their teams have been able to drive for clients – both ours and theirs.

We work with a variety of platforms and publishers, and the critical strategic component that defines our approach to every media plan (across every channel) is this: think of the customer first.

This is a pivotal time for retail. One in which your customer’s daily life is more saturated with media than any point in history. She’s spending more time than ever across screens. She doesn’t have to go to a store to browse. She’s not obligated to make a repeat purchase. And she can check out your competitors whenever she wants.

Bluecore has a term for this: The Retention Death Spiral.

So back to the Bluecore Summit and Roadshows – in an age of increased ad spend alongside decreasing revenues, what do you do to move at your customer’s pace?

First, understand the aforementioned customer journey. Her inbox is still a key component of her daily life, but brands need to think about how to make it valuable – and personal – to her. Bluecore’s solution to this is called Bluecore CommunicateTM – a platform that functions to deliver personalized “Smart” content to her that’s increasingly relevant to her life online. By personalizing her email experience with things like product recommendations, triggers, and dynamic messaging, Bluecore has been able to demonstrate a 25% lift in email revenue for its clients.

When you drill down to it, thinking of your customer and being D2C focused has its perks. Brand after brand who leveraged Bluecore Smart CampaignsTM (as presented onstage) saw a lift in Revenue Per Email, with one brand seeing a 54% lift in RPE and yet another seeing a 210% increase in overall Revenue.

But it doesn’t stop at the inbox. Once you know your audience, you can take your targeting beyond email and leverage Bluecore Audiences across your Paid Media efforts. Some of our brands have already started capitalizing on this. We know the customer doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so we try to reach her across every screen and every platform.

And cooler still, the way she behaves on your website can help inform what she sees on your site. If she’s in the Discount Affinity group, we might customize her offer to get her to purchase. No need to get IT or a feed platform involved.

Our heads are spinning with ideas, and we’re excited about the prospect of making them real for our clients in the coming year.