Tag: Social Media

SEPHORA DIGITAL STRATEGY & THE IMPORTANCE OF APPLE WALLET

Sephora has built a reputation as a big player in mobile. The Sephora mobile strategy is wide ranging and might seem complex, but there is a pattern that they use repeatedly.

First, and most important, Sephora strategy is customer focussed and on providing an informed experience, rather than holistic or technology focussed. Secondly, with the customer always at the centre, Sephora develops integrated cross-channel strategies that merge seamless for the customer.

“Sephora strategy
is customer-focused
and on providing
an informed experience”

Sephora knows digital. They know the importance of mobile and how mobile fits into the bigger picture, whether online or offline and, most of all, they understand how to combine and move between channels in a way that makes sense to their customers.

Sephora have their hands in Web, App, social networks (Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest), CRM, email, SMS, mobile commerce, digital loyalty using Apple Wallet Passes (Passbook) and more.

 

Main Elements of Sephora’s Mobile Strategy

  • Updated & excellent usability on the Website
  • Good mobile App
  • CRM with Email and SMS
  • Apple Wallet (Passbook) with Loyalty Card, Discount Coupons and Gift Cards
  • Integration with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest
  • Mobile Shopping experience
  • Seamless experience across functionalities and promotions
  • Active promotion of mobile features across all channels

Overview of Mobile Results and Performance

  • 1/3 of all traffic to the Sephora website is from mobile devices
  • Over 50% of Sephora’s emails are opened on mobile devices
  • Mobile website m.sephora.com (full shopping and Beauty Insider)
  • Successful Sephora Apps
  • More than 600,000 Sephora customers who have their Loyalty Card installed it on Apple Wallet
  • Apple Wallet users spend twice as much annually and purchase twice as frequently as average Sephora customers

“1/3 of all traffic to the Sephora website is from mobile devices”

There is a lot to learn from the way Sephora has implemented their mobile strategy.  Sephora has driven significant value from connecting in-store and offline media with Mobile Apps and Apple Wallet Passes, using multiple channels to build awareness.  Email, SMS, Mobile Media, QR Codes and loyalty programmes have been put to good effect in supporting consistent brand messaging throughout.

For retailers, integration with existing loyalty programs makes excellent sense as a first step into mobile. And the use of services like Apple Wallet to enable digital loyalty cards, offers and coupon redemption are a must have without the need to build custom technology.

3 Tips to have in mind when defining a mobile strategy

In October 2014, the newspaper The Independent stated: “for the first time ever there are more gadgets in the world than there are people”. There are more than 7.2 billions of mobile devices in the world, which means that “mobile penetration has now risen above 100% in most developed markets, because many people have more than one live connection”. The acquisition of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are rapidly increasing per user, creating a bigger opportunity for brands to engage with their consumers.

It is important to have in mind that mobile isn’t only smartphones, so here are some important tips topics when creating a mobile strategy:

3 technologies you should use when creating a mobile strategy-02

  1. Social media 

Smartphones allow people to stay connected to the world and social media has been the fundamental driver of this connectivity. That is why social Apps are among the most installed, in the UK. According to App Annie’s: 4 out of 5 free downloaded Apps for iPhone users in the UK are social.

Social influence is also a gamification technique. Being part of a social community and the act of “shareability” allows driving engagement with other users using psychological influences, such as, acceptance, competitiveness, companionship or even desire.

There are many social Apps and tools that brands can use to interact with users. Since social is a personal contact, consumers feel more involved and are driven to a stronger relationship with brands, which increases the engagement and ultimately increases sales.

3 technologies you should use when creating a mobile strategy-03

  1. Mobile Wallets

Mobile wallets are apps that allow to store cards, coupons, boarding passes, credit cards and much more in one single space. The most known mobile wallets are Apple’s Passbook and Google Wallet.

Passbook is a pre-installed app, which means that every person with an iPhone has automatically access to Passbook. Since 2013, Apple has already sold more than 200 million iPhones, this means that more than 200 million of consumers has direct access to Passbook (which will be rebranded as Wallet).

Google Wallet, on the other hand, is an App that has to be downloaded on the Google Play Store and is only available for the US market. Nevertheless, it has around 20 million users. Google Wallet is on the process of being rebranded as Android Pay and will be available globally which will allow to grow faster.

3 technologies you should use when creating a mobile strategy-04

  1. Beacons

Beacons are small Bluetooth devices that act as a dynamic geo-mapping tool by emitting signals, and are currently a trend that keeps growing across industries.

Beacons empowers the brand’s App, because it allows to makes the content more dynamic and relevant since it is delivered according to the consumers’ location, without being to much intrusive for the consumers. This means, that a brand or retailer can send web links, discount promotions and notifications to the consumer, depending on its in-store location.

The hype around beacons is because they allow brands to create a richer, contextualized and personalized in-store consumer experience while getting to know better their customers.

For retailers or brands without Apps, Facebook just released their own beacons for retailers to use that integrates with Facebook App. This is an interesting solution for brands or small retailers without their own App because it takes advantage of Facebook and their social engagement since most users already allow Facebook App to send push notifications. In addition to this, Facebook links its own geo-located ads to the brand’s content, which minimizes the risk for brands.

Individually, each of the above tips explores mobile marketing as a channel to increase engagement with the consumer and to drive store traffic. Combined, the results are exponential, resulting in a much stronger mobile strategy to acquire, engage and retain customers.

3 Ways Social Media Can Enhance Your Mobile Wallet Marketing Campaign

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past years, you can’t fail to recognise the hugely important role and impact that social media had and is having in our lives. It has never been easier to contact a friend, reach someone and, more importantly, share information, which makes it essential for brands to have a social media presence.

A mobile wallet marketing campaign can also be boost by the benefits of what social media has to offer.

Take full advantage of it and use social media as an additional platform to create a buzz around your products, offers and increase awareness of your brand.

  1. Create generic mobile coupons to be shared

    A mobile coupon can be personalized to a specific user or generic in order to be massive, meaning that it can be shared and used by everyone. By sharing a mobile coupon it will increases awareness of your brand on social media and maximises the exposure to your offers, attracting and acquiring new customers.

    A Facebook referral promotion campaign is a great example of how to empower the effectiveness of a generic mobile coupon. The promotion works by enticing fans to gain rewards by referring friends to sign up, meaning they effectively do a lot of the hard work for you. The initial action of liking your brand’s page is a simple and task-free one for the users which increases your fan base. Then in order to access the coupon, a sign up is needed, giving you access to new customers’ email addresses to add to your mailing list.

  2. Link news feed posts to passes

    Update your news feeds regularly with new information about the offers and to add the pass click the link to download. A pass will be added instantly into the smartphone’s digital wallet. That can include a generic offers pass that can be updated frequently with special promotions according to the brand strategy.

    Your customers’ news feeds are also a springboard to attract new customers as their likes or retweets of offers will appear on their friend’s newsfeeds, making it more likely they will click on your page to see the offer if they know a friend has done it.

    3 Ways Social Media Can Enhance Your Mobile Wallet Marketing Campaign-01

  3. Make your customers aware of your technology

    It’s key, that if you update your digital wallet technology content, to let your customers know the changes, and social media is a great place to communicate. As an example, if you’ve just incorporated your passes or loyalty card into Passbook, then updating your news feed to get that information over to your customer base is key.

    Likewise, if you’ve introduced new technology in your stores, such as iBeacons, then sending information via social media allows to explain how it works encouraging your customers to try it.

How social media can boost a Mobile Marketing campaign using Passbook

Social media will continue to be one of the key drivers in the customer-brand relationship in 2015. Brands need to effectively leverage this tool as part of their overall marketing strategy but need to be aware that primary emphasis should be on creating better customer support.

Brand interaction with customers, in recent years, has seen a shift away from traditional channels, as people have gradually looked for alternatives to the way large corporations typically communicate. Instead, the modern consumer needs to be dealt with in more personable, personalize, human tones, making it essential that all companies have a social media outlet for quick, open communications with customers.

Current consumers are savvier and will quickly catch on to when a brand’s marketing ploy looks too much like spam. However, if you give that customer high quality content or good value, they will be much more reciprocal and feel more appreciated at the attempt to reach out to them.

A social media referral campaign has huge potential to turn customers into brand ambassadors, as happy customers are powerful assets for any business. The traditional word of mouth is still as effective as ever but in today’s world on top of verbally telling someone, people will share a product with their friends via social media. Research shows that consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on a social media referral. The potential there is obvious!

A Passbook campaign is ideal in creating an effective social media referral, as it offers great value to customers whilst rewarding them for sharing the Pass with a friend.

 

The mobile coupon could be shared and used by anyone. Customers are incentivised to access a Pass by sharing it with a certain amount of friends, thus increasing awareness of your brand and maximising exposure to products thereby creating new customers.

In the coming years we will see more uses of digital mobile wallets and beacons to facilitate customers’ experiences and provide brands an outlet to offer them more relevant content. Utilising social media for real-time communications will be key, but also important will be the ‘shareability’ of a brand’s products and whether they can effectively utilise social media to enhance and boost marketing campaigns.