A look at 2023 trends and what’s ahead in 2024

It's that time again! 2023 has come and gone as quickly as a blink of an eye and as retail marketers begin to think about their budget for next year, it's time to reevaluate what strategies were successful and what we may want to leave behind as we ring in 2024. Without a doubt, we are beginning to see a data revolution and a deeper push towards consumer consent and privacy.

These trends lean into the notion that as marketers, we need to be more mindful of how we are engaging consumers and to ensure we are not inundating buyers with dated marketing tactics. How can marketers achieve this? Simply put — data. Data is key for better understanding your target audience and with the right data — consumers will be less inclined to hit the dreaded unsubscribe link and run toward your competitors. Here are some of the marketing trends that will continue to help retailers supercharge their efforts in 2024.

High speed, "Always On" marketing strategies reign supreme

You know the saying, "work smarter, not harder"? Well, this saying holds true for retail marketers. However, I would also challenge marketers to think about the component of speed as well. Speed to insight is incredibly important when aiming to engage consumers with the most personalized and timely content. Moving quickly to generate promotions, messaging, and brand collaborations with other companies and influencers requires answers to key questions — quickly.

For some brands, it can take weeks to retrieve the answers to those questions. From request to data result — things can (and often) get lost in the shuffle. In 2023 we saw more marketers streamline their internal processes and lean into technology to combat the bottlenecks that often arise with a simple request for data.

In 2024 brands should continue to lean into this trend and assess the internal roadblocks that may exist. Given most brands don't have the luxury of tapping a data science team, efficient cross-team collaboration and an investment in data tools can be the solution to uncomplicating an otherwise simple process. With these tactics, marketers can decrease wait times and gain a cohesive view across brand lines. The ability to segment data quickly by product categories and gain insights into customer behaviors and interests can be game-changing for retailers and their overall marketing strategies.

Find prime opportunities to increase brand loyalty

Brand loyalty will almost always serve as a reason why customers check back in with their favorite brands — even in the face of better discounts elsewhere. In 2024 I believe we'll see more retail marketers use intelligent data-driven strategies to increase brand loyalty and encourage customer engagement.

For example, we worked with a leading home discount retailer that was looking for a more efficient targeting strategy to boost some of their key performance metrics — one metric being loyalty member sign-ups.

While working with the retailer, we determined that they should focus on targeting new movers because this group possessed an immediate need and a high propensity to spend more than the average shopper. Overall, focusing on a specific audience helped the retailer engage the consumer when it mattered the most. This effort resulted in enhanced conversion rates of 5.8%, a 41% increase in the average sale per site visitor, and a 3.1% uptick in loyalty sign-up rates.

Brand loyalty is essential but finding those prime marketing moments is vital for campaign success. As we look to 2024, retail marketers can use the following tips to identify prime marketing moments and increase brand loyalty:

• Build predictive models or identify people at the right life moments to encourage sign-ups and offer the right incentives.
• Segment your customer database to ensure customers are getting the right content at the right time.
• Personalize your message — don't blast the same message to all your customers.

Use data segmentation to decrease unsubscribes

Direct marketing channels like email and SMS are still critical to success. Now, organizations like Google are making it even easier for users to unsubscribe from emails. It's safe to say that the "spray and pray" method can be incredibly detrimental to your marketing efforts and should not be a strategy we take into 2024.

Personalization is mission-critical, and all offers should be as personalized as possible. Segment your messages according to customer segments that were derived from data and analytics. However, don't get overwhelmed with data, and don't be afraid to get granular.

Understand if Segment A prefers Monday mornings while Segment B prefers Thursday afternoons. Go more granular in your segmentation to unlock other optimization opportunities. Though it may seem minor, this approach can yield major results.

What's in store for 2024

As we ring in the new year, every marketer should aim to know their customers and grow with their customers as their buyer personas evolve over time. Every marketing team has an arsenal of tools, platforms, and partners to make sure they can execute their cross-channel marketing efforts. Ensure you have the right foundation of data flowing into each of these systems so that you aren't getting fragmented, inconsistent answers, and delivering disjointed marketing approaches.

Additionally, AI-driven tech and tools are growing in volume and expectations. However, AI is really based on a nucleus of data. In fact, OpenAI can be trained on private datasets. This means it's more important than ever to have your data house in order. This includes clean and robust first-party data paired with third-party data for a comprehensive, holistic consumer view.

However, with all this high-powered technology — don't forget about 'traditional' channels. All the fun and excitement of new tools, platforms, and AI-driven tech can give marketers and business leaders shiny object syndrome. Those tried-and-true strategies such as 1-to-1 marketing across direct mail paired with other data-driven digital strategies can truly take your marketing efforts to the next level in 2024 and beyond.