Improve these 4 areas in marketing by 1% each for significant gains

According to Sir Dave Brailsford, the former performance director of British Cycling, if you make 1% improvements in a wide variety of tiny areas, the results will accumulate into extraordinary gains in performance. What would this mean to your marketing actions? And what could the results look like?

Small deeds, fast results

The idea of 1 percent improvement comes from Sir Dave Brailsford, who was made the performance director of the British Cycling Team in 2003. His principle was a relentless commitment to finding tiny margins of improvement in everything you do.

The way Brailsford explained it: “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”*

What was notable about the way Brailsford and his team geared up was the way they tried to find 1 percent improvements in overlooked and unexpected areas. And when the small improvements stacked up, the results came faster than anyone could have anticipated.

4 ways to improve your omnichannel marketing by 1%

Now, imagine the potential when you break down every aspect of your marketing efforts and consistently seek out 1% improvements. Is this somehow different from what you may already be doing when you optimise your marketing automations, adjust your ad budgets, and A/B test or AI enhance your ecommerce site’s front page?

Well, keep reading, for here are 4 ways to improve your omnichannel marketing actions by 1 percent and the potential results they might yield.

1. Enhance cross-channel consistency

Ensure consistent branding, messaging and user experience across all digital channels (website, social media, email marketing, SMSes, mobile app…). Streamline design elements, tone of voice, and visuals to create a cohesive brand identity. 1 percent improvement in this can lead to increased brand recognition, improved customer trust, and reduced confusion, resulting in higher engagement and conversion.

Potential results:

• Increased customer trust and loyalty as they experience a consistent brand presence across channels.
• Improved customer engagement and interactions, leading to higher conversion rates.
• Enhanced customer satisfaction due to a seamless and coherent user experience, resulting in increased repeat purchases.

2. Personalise & time your communication

Leverage enriched customer data and behaviour insights to deliver personalised messaging and offers. Tailor content based on demographics, past interactions, and purchase history. Implement dynamic content in emails, website banners, and social media ads to increase relevance and engagement.

Remember, that timing is an important factor of successful personalisation. A customer who buys once or twice a year, every year, doesn’t need new offers every month or an automated activation of passive customers after 6 months. With Custobar, you can easily identify patterns like these and fine-tune your personalised marketing messages not only to the right person at the right channel, but at the right time, too!

Potential results:

• Improved open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates as customers receive more personalised and relevant content.
• Enhanced customer engagement and interactions, resulting in increased brand loyalty.
• Increased customer lifetime value as personalised recommendations and offers drive repeat purchases.

3. Optimise mobile experience

Focus on optimising your website and other digital assets for mobile devices. Ensure fast loading times, responsive design, and mobile-friendly navigation. Implement mobile-specific features like click-to-call, simplified checkout processes, mobile loyalty cards and mobile wallets for seamless transactions.

Potential results:

• Increased mobile traffic and conversions as users have a positive mobile experience.
• Decreased bounce rates and improved time-on-site metrics due to faster load times and intuitive mobile navigation.
• Expanded customer reach and improved customer satisfaction as mobile users can easily engage with your brand.

4. Integrate customer data

Start using the Custobar Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Marketing Automation system for increased conversion and revenue based on your customer data. Custobar offers a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system with its In-Store UI, and data integration tools to consolidate customer data from various channels. A single 360-degree customer view is created in real time by integrating online and offline interaction, purchase history, preferences, and demographic information.

Potential results:

• Improved customer segmentation and targeting for more personalised campaigns and experiences.
• Enhanced marketing effectiveness as you have a comprehensive understanding of customer behaviour and preferences.
• Increased cross-selling and upselling opportunities based on a holistic view (360-degree view!) of each customer’s journey.

How to leverage the Custobar Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Marketing Automation system for all 4 improvements

Custobar empowers you to implement these 1 percent improvements by providing a robust customer data foundation and enabling you to leverage all your customer data, from all touch points, effectively across all your marketing channels. Here’s how Custobar can bring the above mentioned 4 improvements about:

1. Cross-channel consistency

• Utilise Custobar’s unified customer profiles to maintain consistent customer information across channels.
• Leverage the segmentation capabilities to create targeted customer groups for personalised campaigns.
• Coordinate messaging and branding across channels using Custobar’s centralised campaign management features.
• Use the performance dashboard to monitor changes and verify successes.

2. Personalise communication & its timing:

• Leverage Custobar’s customer segmentation and AI-powered product recommendations to deliver personalised messages and offers.
• Utilise real-time customer data to trigger automated, personalised email campaigns.
• Implement dynamic content and personalised product recommendations on your website using Custobar’s integration capabilities.
• Analyse customer data to verify that the timing of your messages is right as well, not just the personalised messages and their channels.

3. Optimise mobile experience

• Use Custobar’s mobile analytics to understand customer behaviour on mobile devices.
• Leverage mobile app integration to track and analyse in-app user interactions.
• Implement mobile-specific campaigns and offers based on mobile user behaviour captured by Custobar.

4. Integrate customer data

• Integrate Custobar with various data sources, such as your website, POS systems, in-store UIs or CRMs, and mobile apps, to collect comprehensive customer data.
• Utilise Custobar’s data mapping and transformation capabilities to ensure accurate and unified customer profiles (audiences).
• Leverage Custobar’s API to integrate customer data with other marketing tools and platforms, enabling seamless data flow.

Double down on your results

As a Custobar client, you can implement the 1 percent improvements, in all your marketing activities across channels. You can also check the dashboards for an understanding of your performance. And if you’re not a Custobar user, you can leverage these tips with your current marketing software, or you could go above and beyond by implementing Custobar, such as La Mer did with

• a 63% increase in revenue from repeat customers
• 30% conversion rate, and
• doubling the share of email marketing in their total revenue in a course of one year.

Will you settle for 1 percent improvements, or will you go for greater overall gains all at once? Both are valid and solid ways to pedal for increased revenue, but if you are ready to double, triple or quadruple down in one go, contact our sales team or book a demo to find out more!

*Sir Dave Brailsford’s principle became known as ‘the aggregation of marginal gains’. His quote is from “Olympics cycling: Marginal gains underpin Team GB dominance” by Matt Slater in BBC.