5 minutes vs. 5 days: Knowing the difference will make or break your conversion rates

Why does real-time data matter in marketing?

Many consumers frequently jump between channels – from email to SMS, in-app, and beyond – as they evaluate the products they want to purchase. Given all the channels for companies to market and for consumers to engage, marketing interactions can easily become disjointed or the data lost. Marketers have the important and lofty task of keeping up with the when, how, and why behind where consumers are interacting. Being able to trigger an action based on data—immediately—rather than waiting five days, is critical to staying top-of-mind with customers.

The competition to gain new customers and maintain their loyalty is at an all-time high. Companies can’t afford to sit on the sidelines—the time to level up your marketing game is now. But not all marketers have access to real-time customer data. Once marketers unlock data access, companies can reach new levels of personalization, relevance, and customer connection.

What are the pitfalls of delayed data?

Imagine a prospective customer is in the market for a new tent. As they research your website, they fill out a form for a discount, browsing information picks up on their activity, and your marketing platform starts sending promotional messages for tents. They purchase the tent and are eager to embark on their next adventure, but still might need additional equipment. This presents a prime upsell opportunity.

However, your purchase and browsing data are delayed, and you are still sending tent promotions days later, missing the chance to sell related items. This poor experience misclassifies the customer as a “prospective tent buyer” rather than a “committed buyer” ready for other camping gear. The issue lies in the data being days too late. Purchase, checkout, and browsing data are delayed too long post-purchase, due to a lack of data availability, portability, and flexibility.

You can seize major business and upsell opportunities by giving customers what they want, where they want it, and when they want it. In this case, you could achieve better conversion (and a better connection with the customer) through timely messaging promoting related camping gear. Having a deep customer profile updated in 5-minutes or less determines long-term wallet share, brand perception, and loyalty potential. You only have one chance to make a great first impression, so don’t mess it up by sending irrelevant or outdated messages.

How can retailers leverage real-time data effectively?

A retailer that excels at leveraging real-time data to provide hyper-relevant experiences is REVOLVE. Their marketing team uses Cordial’s platform to trigger personalized email, SMS, and app campaigns based on customer behaviors like cart and browse abandonment and events such as birthdays, weather data, and anniversaries. By combining complex business and customer data, REVOLVE deploys highly relevant marketing messages, such as low inventory alerts for favorite items or new arrivals from preferred designers. Through this data-driven approach, REVOLVE maintains an impressive average order value of $279, with 79% of merchandise sold at full price. They’re not regularly discounting to make the sale—they’re using data to create a custom experience for each customer. By acting on customer data in real-time, REVOLVE tailors each shopper’s online experience to their individual preferences and needs, fostering loyalty and driving revenue growth.

What does it take to leverage real-time data?

To fully leverage real-time customer data, you need a marketing platform with these key capabilities:

• Data transformations: Unify, transform, and enrich all of your data from any sources in real time.
• Segmentation: Create audience segments based on real-time data to ensure messages reflect recent customer behavior up to the time of send.
• Identity resolution: Leverage an identity graph to resolve anonymous users and engage more customers across channels.
• AI-powered insights: Optimize the custom journey by automating routine decision-making, bolstering creativity, and serving as a trusted advisor to make smarter decisions.

Using real-time data to connect with your customers is the ultimate key to growing your business. Choosing a marketing technology partner with a powerful data platform that integrates with your tech stack is the first step to creating the most personal and meaningful customer experiences.