That’s where context marketing comes in. We’ll explore what context marketing is, why it matters, and how it improves customer experience and CX management.
What Is Context Marketing?
Context marketing refers to marketing that allows marketers to reach their audience at the right time, with the right content.
We’ll illustrate with an example. Let’s say you walk past your favourite restaurant, and you received a text message with a coupon for 10% off the next order of the dish you order every time. That’s context marketing in action: you’re receiving a message that meets your needs, when you need it.
Why Does Context Marketing Matter?
To understand why context marketing matters, it helps to have a frame of reference. Over the years, the way we buy and sell things has changed, and marketing has had to keep up. Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, vendors would forge deeper and more personal relationships with their customers; as technology improved, those relationships became less and less personal, because vendors could reach larger and larger audiences.
At a certain point, customers became fed up with the impersonal approach – technology had empowered them to demand more from companies. Technology had also progressed to the point that it allowed firms to deliver a better customer experience (including being able to personalise communications at scale). That’s where context marketing comes in: it enables marketers to show customers they’re truly valued, and that the company understands their needs.
How Does Context Marketing Improve the Customer Experience?
The term ‘customer experience’ encompasses all of the interactions a customer has with a firm, and how the customer feels about those interactions. Those experiences could be positive or negative.
Context marketing improves the customer experience in X ways:
- It’s more enjoyable
- It’s more convenient
- Useful information
- The customer feels valued
- An Enjoyable Customer Experience
We’ll go back to the example above of receiving a digital coupon for your favourite restaurant as you walk past. You weren’t expecting that to happen, and it’s a delightful surprise.
Context marketing makes the customer experience more enjoyable because it gives customers what they want when it’s relevant. The combination of relevant information and correct timing makes customers happy, and causes them to want to do business with you.
Convenience
Context marketing also makes the customer experience more convenient. How so?
It’s a hassle when you have to spend time looking for something (be it information about a product or a discount so you can buy it for less). When companies use context marketing, it’s suddenly more convenient for customers – they get what they want when they need it. There’s no waiting, no searching, and no frustration.
Useful Information
Another way context marketing improves the customer experiences is that it provides useful information to a customer.
Again, we’ll use the example of the digital coupon for the favourite restaurant. Let’s say you walked past the restaurant and received a digital coupon, yet the restaurant was closed that day for a private event. The coupon wouldn’t be useful, and you’d be annoyed. Context marketing solves that problem because it provides information that a customer can make use of at that moment.
The Customer Feels Valued
One of the biggest benefits of context marketing is that it makes a customer feel valued. Because context marketing delivers the right information at the right time, it shows that companies understand a customer’s needs. Customers aren’t just another number – they matter to a company.
Context marketing allows you to provide personalisation at scale. You can send out marketing messages to large groups of people while still ensuring that information is relevant, timely, and valuable to those customers.
How Does Context Marketing Improve the CX Management?
CX management is the collection of processes a company uses to track, oversee, and organise every interaction between a firm and a customer over the course of the customer lifecycle.
Context marketing improves CX management in three ways:
- It increases engagement
- It increases retention
- It increases loyalty
Increased Engagement
When we talk about customer engagement, we’re referring to the interactions that a customer has with a firm. High engagement means that a customer interacts with your firm quite a bit, while low engagement means they don’t interact with you much.
Context marketing boosts customer engagement because the messaging makes people want to do business with your company. We’ll go back to our earlier example of receiving a coupon for your favourite restaurant as you’re walking past it. That’s the right message at the right time, and you’ll want to act upon it.
Increased Retention
It’s far more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an existing one.
With context marketing, you can keep customers by delivering them a message they’ll be receptive to at the right time.
Increased Loyalty
Loyalty is related to retention, but it’s not exactly the same thing. Customer loyalty is the feeling customers have about your business. Loyal customers are brand advocates – they feel close to your brand, and want to share those sentiments with others.
Context marketing increases loyalty because it makes for a better customer experience. Today, people seek out firms that offer a better customer experience. Those are the brands they advocate for and heartily recommend to others.
Enlighten Designs: Improving the Customer Experience and CX Management with Context Marketing
For over 20 years, Enlighten Designs has created exceptional customer experiences. We have the knowledge and expertise to help you use context marketing at your firm to attract, engage, and retain customers. To learn more about context marketing, contact us!