The growing use of smartphones and internet-backed devices are key factors for an unprecedented boom in online shopping in the MEA region, according to MoEngage’s Global Customer Engagement Benchmarks Report 2022 report.
To support brands to understand the pulse of the Middle Eastern consumer, MoEngage, an insights-led engagement platform, recently analysed over 20 billion messages and 4 billion customer interactions. A concerning revelation was that shopping brands are unable to send relevant recommendations to about 3/4th of shoppers in the Middle East, and consumers are voicing it too!
Commenting on the latest report, Raviteja Dodda – Founder & CEO – MoEngage, said, “Brands have to realise that one of the elements that draw customers to their products is personalisation of communication. Customers love it and value it over general campaigns. Personalised marketing is going beyond addressing the customer by first name in marketing emails. It’s about leveraging customer data to reach the right person with the right message at the right moment and with the right suggestions so that there is an easy conversion. This is possible when brands use insightful data to comprehend what the customer is looking for in a brand.”
By 2025, more than 81% of consumers in the Middle East and Africa will have access to the internet. As the transition to 5G networks gains momentum in the region, an increasing urgency is setting in enterprises to build personalised micro-moments for the modern consumer
To help brands follow the right path to reach each customer’s shopping bag, retailers and brands have to categorise customers into various segments based on their shopping behavior—likely to visit a store/app again, unlikely to be a repeat visitor, likely/unlikely to double spend or shows positive shopping intent. With the right AI-powered tools, brands can create custom segments based on these patterns, which are accurate and effective.
AI-based tools enable brands to build personalised experiences for over a billion customers by:
Gathering insights into customers’ preferences
- By gaining first-party information about customers, like their browsing patterns or purchase history, to understand what they like, what they want, and how often they need to be nudged.
- By creating segments/cohorts of customers based on their affinity. Every time there is a new product in a category, brands can send a personalised push notification.
- By personalising emails to capture their interest. Shoppers are 2.72x more likely to open emails that are personalised based on customer behavior (for example, if a customer browses Nike gear but drops off before making a purchase, you should send them an email asking them to complete their purchase by mentioning Nike in the email subject line).
Sending text alerts based on customer behavior
- By going beyond sending just OTPs. About 23% of shoppers in Saudi Arabia want to get shipping updates and alerts on SMS.
- By sending regular shipping updates to shoppers who are on a buying spree so they can organise their orders and reduce the number of canceled COD orders.
- By setting up automated campaigns to send bulk text alerts to customers who have just placed orders. Sending a link confirming the purchase and a link to analyse the shipping/delivery status keeps customers in the loop about their purchase status.
Boosting key email metrics
- By learning about shoppers’ preferred times to check their email inboxes – before hitting the gym, while in the elevator, or after getting into their cabs.
- By pinning the time to send product recommendations based on knowledge of when customers are more likely to open their emails, and thus create upsell opportunities.
- By using AI to monitor metrics such as open rates, click rates, and conversion rates and automatically schedule the most important campaigns at that time
New age marketing trends clearly spell out the importance of gaining actionable insights into customer behavior to build an impactful engagement strategy and provide a delightful customer experience. As both consumers and brands go digital, spotting customer preferences, drawing insights from attributes, purchases, likes and clicks are the rules that make marketing more successful in the digital era.
