December 20, 2017

Customer relationship building strategies are one of the cornerstones of marketing to help increase brand awareness, build market share and growth, and improve overall product perception. Many companies are seeking ways to leverage expansions in artificial intelligence and utilize smart technologies to create meaningful conversations with customers. Most modern customer relationship building relies on technology in one form or another, so knowing how to capitalize on will be an integral aspect of any given consumer-focused strategy.

It may seem contradictory to use technology to build customer relationships since technology often lacks a human touch, but tech is the most efficient way to manage thousands of customer relationships or more. The key is to temper technology-based responses with human ones, so customers still feel as though they are being heard on an individual level. By implementing new technology—beacons, bots, and mobile shopping apps—you can build a relationship with your customers that will keep them loyal to your brand without placing an undue burden on your resources or harming your bottom line.

Customer Relationship Building Strategies With a Tech Twist

Dollar Shave Club is a great example of a company that managed to segue personal customer relationships into a billion-dollar success story. The company made a name for itself by selling memberships to an automatic razor delivery service, but it built a brand off of its outstanding customer relationships by developing experiences for consumers that still include:

Exclusivity: Members of Dollar Shave Club are given access to an insider newsletter and receive regular, personalized messages from the brand. Club members are also entered into a referral program that rewards them for inviting others to join the service.
Engagement on social media: Users of Dollar Shave Club can post images of their deliveries to the company’s Facebook page. The brand then selects their favorite posts, and the winners receive a free T-shirt. Providing a creative and engaging customer rewards program—whether for points, merchandise, or cash back—can be a powerful relationship building tool.
Rapid responses: The average response time to an email sent to the team at Dollar Shave Club is less than a day. Questions or complaints posted to social media sites are answered within a few hours. Rapid responses build trust between consumers and the brand and make their loyal subscribers feel their concerns are being considered and addressed.
Personalization: Dollar Shave Club uses data from their customers to send occasional personalized messages and upgrade offers. Use of this data allows the company to promote highly specific products in their monthly email messages, which increases the likelihood of conversion.

Each of Dollar Shave Club’s strategies is dependent on delivering their message in a personalized way, so the consumer feels the brand is speaking directly to them. Technology allows Dollar Shave Club to maintain an air of personalization, while also advertising on a mass scale.

Tech That Automates Personalization for Building Customer Relationships

Technological advancements like machine learning, data collection, and artificial intelligence, are making it possible to deliver messages and engage customers without investing significant man-hours. This allows companies to leverage the flexibility of technology while maintaining a small, intimate atmosphere around their brand.

Here are just a few options that allow even large-scale companies to manage this strategy successfully:

Auto response bots: Auto response bot systems are a new take on the touchtone hotlines of old. These systems are capable of recognizing important keywords and responding in a way that feels genuine. For example, a consumer might type in, “I’m having a problem with my billing.” The bot could then be set to respond, “I’m sorry to hear about that. Let me help you. I currently have your billing information as X? Is this correct or do you need to change it?”
Customer experience managers: Customer experience managers, which are mainly database systems designed to collect and organize your customer data, allow companies to separate said data into various audiences for retargeting. So, in the example of Dollar Shave Club, a female consumer may be more concerned with razors for shaving her legs, while a man might be more interested in how to avoid beard rash. Or, an older consumer might have more issues with ingrown hair due to thinner skin, while a younger one might have problems with shaving cream irritating acne. All of these factors can be accounted for by implementing a CEM to personalize experiences for specific consumers.
In-store beacons: Bluetooth-enabled devices that communicate with smartphones are helping build relationships with consumers as they’re in the shopping aisle, an aspect of mobile retail proximity marketing. Upon entering a retail location, a shopper’s mobile device receives a signal from a beacon if they have downloaded the retailer’s in-store app. The app will then offer the shopper deals, coupons, or location details for items he or she has previously purchased or shown interest in.
Shopping apps: Shopping apps allow brands to connect with consumers at the very moment they are looking for advice on where to shop and what to buy. These apps often offer rewards for purchasing or scanning the barcode of a featured brand. This kind of incentivized shopping experience allows brands to build a relationship and understand buyer behavior.

Connecting with consumers must include developing a way to personalize their experience quickly, efficiently, and seamlessly. This is best accomplished via the use of technology. Shopping apps, in particular, allow brands to connect directly with consumers at the very moment they are planning to make a purchase or seeking guidance.

Customization and personalization, backed by technology, helped Dollar Shave Club build a following for their brand. They understood what was important to consumers and chose to connect with them in a unique way. This customer relationship strategy helped them build their audience on an individual level, even as they expanded into a billion-dollar business. And your brand can follow suit by using a shopping app to power your connection to your buyers.

Well-designed shopping apps that make everyday shopping more personal and rewarding can give you access to real-time customer data, allowing you to make in-the-moment and relevant recommendations. They also allow you to create a relationship with a customer which can turn them into a loyal user.

Shopkick helps our partners build relationships with consumers by offering them opportunities to earn rewards for engaging with your brand. For more information on how Shopkick can help you create a stronger consumer connection, contact our team today.

Image courtesy onephoto

I love, love, love new technology. My boys and I love learning new phones, apps, and other tech together—and I’m pretty good at it compared to some of the other moms I spend time with on the soccer sideline! Recently, my boys and I got such a kick when my old phone died and I had to get myself a new iPhone X. Absolutely had to (wink, wink).

The boys, who are far more tech savvy than I ever was at their age, heard about something called animojis from their friends at school. Apparently, you can create and share adorable cartoons that actually copy your voice and facial expressions. It’s so cool; I had no idea my new phone could do that. I’m proud to say I caught on quickly, but it made me wonder what other features my new phone had that I knew absolutely nothing about. Turns out, there were quite a few, like fake phone call apps for when you really need to appear busy and grocery rebate apps, which combine two of my favorite things: shopping and saving.

The best grocery rebate apps basically make me money while I shop. They’ve become as vital to my monthly budget as my smartphone is to keeping in touch with all my old college girlfriends. And, based on the sideline gossip, I’m not the only one who feels this way; all the other moms are talking about which grocery rebate app is best, too. Here’s what I’ve learned from listening in on my fellow soccer mom rave reviews.

The Best Grocery Rebate Apps All Have These Features

Just as certain features have become irreplaceable on our phones—camera, Bluetooth, maps—the best grocery rebate apps also have some features that I can’t live without (as well as some extra ones that make some of these apps even more amazing).

The best cash back grocery rebate app features are:

Cash back and gift cards to stores you love: This is the foundation of any great shopping rebate app, kind of like being able to make phone calls is for your phone (though my boys would say the foundation of any good phone is its internet connection). These apps simply must pay you for shopping; otherwise, they aren’t doing their jobs! Most of the best apps do this by giving you points after you make purchases and take photos of your receipt. You can then redeem those points for cash or gift cards to a variety of stores. Rewards vary from app to app.
New product introductions: Another cool feature that some of the best grocery rebate apps have is helping you to learn about new products. This is usually done by paying you for scanning barcodes. Then, once you’ve scanned the barcode, the app gives you points as well as cool info about the price and details of featured products.
Game-like feel: One of the things I love most about these apps is that the best of them turn shopping into a game by making it more like a fun scavenger hunt for rewards and points. Now I get excited for each grocery run as I compete with myself to see if I can earn more points than I’ve racked up before.
Updates on the latest deals: Some of these apps will also give you alerts or weekly updates about the latest deals, which can help you plan your weekly shopping to maximize the reward points you earn.

The Best Grocery Rebate Apps. Period.

Knowing the features of the best cash back grocery rebate apps is a good place to start, but the natural next step is to learn which of these apps have any or all of these features. Here are a few of my own personal favorites:

Checkout 51: This app is one of the simplest. After you’ve gone grocery shopping, you upload your receipt by taking a picture of it and earn credit for eligible purchases. Once you accumulate $20 of credit, you can cash out and Checkout 51 will mail you a check. Simple!
SavingStar: SavingStar is a lot like Checkout 51, but it incentivizes healthy eating by giving you the chance to save 20% on your fruits and vegetables every week. I know my boys aren’t happy about this (they’d prefer one that rewards sugary snack foods), but as a health-conscious soccer mama, I love it!
Shopkick: Shopkick, though, is my hands down favorite. It simply has the most features. With Shopkick, you can get points for taking pictures of your receipts, just like the other two apps on my list. But, Shopkick has additional features that allow you to earn points, called kicks, for other things you do every time you go to the store as well. How it works is simple: you have your Shopkick app open when you walk into a store, and you earn points. If you scan the barcodes of certain items to learn more about them, you get more points. You take pictures of your receipts after your trip, and, of course, you get more points. These extra features offered by Shopkick are great because they give you extra points, which leads to extra rewards! These features also mean that it’s easy to combine Shopkick with any of the other best grocery rebate apps, so you can use multiple rewards apps to maximize rewards! Now that’s a home run! Or should I say GOOOOAAAALLL!

Another thing I really like about Shopkick is that it has an amazingly engaged social media community. In the early days when I first started using it, I was able to go on Shopkick’s Facebook page and get all the help I needed with my questions—plus some bonus tips on non-shopping related mom stuff and a steady stream of absolutely hilarious jokes. You might say the best feature of all was the online friends I made. Shopkick truly kicks it out of the park!

Ready to explore one of the best grocery rebate apps—and have fun doing it? Download Shopkick for free and join a community of loyal Shopkickers who’ve already discovered how rewarding it is to shop with us.

And, if you love social media as much as you love stretching your budget, join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily shopping inspiration.

Image courtesy obey leesin