Building strong connections with shoppers is paramount for CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) brands in retail. While digital and social media play crucial roles in engaging consumers, the actual engagement and interaction often happen in retail environments, whether online or in physical stores.
Technologies like the VTAGZ platform can help brands transform these interactions into seamless shopping experiences by providing granular attribution, consumer connectivity, and insights into first-party data. These tools enable brands to understand consumer behaviors better, personalize their marketing efforts, and ultimately improve overall direct to retail strategy.
Turning Interactions into Seamless Shopping Experiences
Imagine a consumer discovering your promotion, clicking a link on a paid or organic post on social media, or scanning a QR code at an event. They claim the offer using their phone number through a double opt-in process. This initial interaction allows the brand to establish direct communication with the consumer via SMS at the point of discovery. Brands can send reminders and drip messages, encouraging consumers to visit a retail location and claim their offer. Most importantly, the relationship doesn’t end at the point of transaction; it begins there.
Phone Numbers, First-Party Data and Retention
Capturing a consumer’s phone number is the first step in building a retention loop. For instance, a consumer might join an SMS marketing campaign after encountering a social media ad and convert after receiving three SMS reminders to purchase in-store. By submitting their receipt through the same phone number, a brand gains visibility into specific data associated with that consumer, which was previously only available in aggregate.
First-Party Data linked to phone numbers is transformative. It provides insights into consumer behavior, including purchased products, store visits, purchase times and more. This personalized approach was previously limited by the availability of aggregate data. Advanced platforms like VTAGZ enable brands to tailor experiences and offers based on individual behavior.
Having a consumer’s phone number allows for direct communication, crucial for building retention. Everybody can get someone to buy once; it’s a lot more difficult to get someone to buy twice. It’s not just about making a sale; it’s about bringing consumers back and keeping them engaged. Building an acquisition campaign should also involve building a retention strategy. Capturing phone numbers drives initial trials while also fueling your retention engine, integrating with your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms.
Personalization and Engagement
Leveraging first-party data allows brands to personalize interactions like never before. Tailored offers based on past purchase behavior, personalized messages, and exclusive access to events or products enhance the consumer experience. This level of customization fosters brand loyalty and engagement, leading to increased conversions. Brands using the VTAGZ platform have seen substantial growth in consumer connectivity. Some have experienced over a 50% increase in consumer relationships by collecting new phone numbers of potential and actual customers in retail from VTAGZ campaigns, seamlessly adding this data to existing CRM systems. This approach benefits both brands and consumers, offering personalized experiences and tailored offers, enriching the shopping journey and boosting satisfaction and loyalty.
Consumer-centric retail strategies, combined with first-party data attached to phone numbers, are revolutionizing how brands connect with customers. By understanding consumer behavior at a deeper level, brands can create meaningful experiences, driving engagement, loyalty, and revenue.
To understand more about first-party data on the VTAGZ platform, check out our previous article here. If you’d like to get to know more about the tools you can use to integrate into your own unique digital to retail marketing strategies or are looking to request some case studies, schedule a meeting with us here.
