Without a DMP system in place to link up known customer behaviors, brands run the risk of causing confusion among their customers if their messaging is inconsistent.
Do you really know your customer? Another favorite brand of mine is confused, and with their confusion it has left me questioning if they received my order or not.
Recently I received an email reminding me that my $10 rewards were awaiting its use. I checked my stock pile of vitamins (Yes I am a Vitamin Head), and realized that it was about time to reorder. The next day I got another email reminding me of the reward yet again, along with free shipping. Timing made sense so I made my purchase. The site has a great feature where previous orders can be pulled up for quick re-ordering which I find frankly kinda brilliant.
After completion of my purchase, I was pinged with my email order confirmation. I did a quick spot check to make sure everything was good and filed it. Two minutes later I was pinged with an email asking if I forgot something in my cart. The items featured in the email were the items that I thought I had just purchased. Confused, I went back into the website to verify my order information and clearly it was there and being prepared for shipment. The brand failed at linking my known behaviors together, which typically happens if you have multiple solutions and data in silos. It was also evident that their abandon cart program was wicked fast, however the segment criteria running it was clearly incorrect and not tied together properly. I also experienced several display ads for these "abandoned products" on Facebook and CNN.
All of this has left me, the loyal customer, confused and concerned about my order. About four hours post purchase I received my shipping confirmation telling me everything was in a box and on its way to me (good news!). But then 24 hours post purchase I got an email with the subject line to reorder the items I ordered about a month ago...and yes these were the same items that I bought 24 hours earlier. Now I am utterly confused; is my order really in a box? They already charged my credit card, so I would hope so.
Channel Orchestration is so critical for brands, from email, website, display, etc. Big Data can solve this if used properly. In my case the brand could have completed the sale, sent my confirmation email, and followed up 24-48 hours later by my shipping confirmation email with tracking ID. If they were really good about the data they could have sent me a Thank You for using my reward with an update on where my reward status stood post purchase. Instead I am left confused, with ads popping up everywhere for products I already purchased, and reorder emails in my inbox. I wonder how many other loyal customers are confused by the mixed signals, and I also wonder what happens if I go into the store and attempt to use the hard copy reward certificate I was sent in the mail...hmm maybe I should test?