To say that Artificial Intelligence is driving Marketing is all fine and dandy. But, it means nothing unless we UNDERSTAND how it works and how it DOES all it promises to do.
We already introduced Phrasee, a powerful tool to optimize B2B email marketing. Today, we add Boomtrain to the AI marketing tools stack. (Not to judge a company by its investors, but the acquisition of Boomtrain by Zeta in July 2017 is a quality seal we can’t ignore.)
The marketer’s conundrum: To keep users engaged, being on the right channel and pushing a relevant message is critical. The problem is, it is often difficult to know where you need to be and what you need to say.
The intelligent solution: Boomtrain is an AI-powered marketing tool that uses iNBOUND iNTELLIGENCE to figure all this out for you. As we can read on their website :
Nick [Edwards] and Chris [Monberg] started Boomtrain with two beliefs: first, that people’s online experiences need drastic improvement; second, that artificial intelligence will fundamentally change the way people interact with the digital world.
Boomtrain uses several different channels for use engagement:
- Email — including blasts through triggered messages, lifecycle campaigns, and broadcast messages.
- Direct — onsite and within apps.
- Mobile channels — SMS and push notifications.
In all cases, Boomtrain sends the right message to the right device in real time based on collected marketing intelligence.
The User Journey of Boomtrain
To better understand how it works, consider the hypothetical journey of mythical mascot Alfred as he engages with a new eCommerce site.
Stage 1: Unknown
When Alfred arrives at the site, he is anonymous. Once he starts engaging with different products, Boomtrain uses Lightbox technology to encourage him to provide the business with his email address.
Stage 2: Known
As soon as Alfred has opted in, it’s possible to associate all his past behavior with him and create a contact profile. Within the profile, Boomtrain combines all the information about his recent activities along with any associated properties, his email addresses and messages, offline data, his interests, and web activity.
Stage 3: Connected
Now, Boomtrain can start engagement. First, it sends him a welcome series of messages. By using predictive content in the first-touch email, click-to-open rates are 225 percent higher. Boomtrain monitors Alfred through different types of shopping events, engaging appropriately. For instance, there’s a window shopping series if he fails to complete a purchase, letting him know within six hours that the business has the product and is waiting for him to come back. This leads to a 45-percent higher conversion rate.
Stage 4: Engaged
After Alfred has made a purchase, there are yet more campaigns. For instance, Boomtrain may use a post-purchase series to let him know that his product is on the way. This series leads to 35 percent more return purchases. Another reengagement tactic is to show Alfred more products he will like, which doubles the chance he will reengage. Otherwise, it could be a mobile campaign to encourage downloads of the company’s mobile app. All these campaigns are possible and driven by the marketing engine with its omni-channel approach to engaging users.
Stage 5: Emotionally Connected
Lastly, Boomtrain keeps Alfred engaged with the brand: the Delight phase of inbound methodology. The ultimate aim is to evangelize Alfred — turn him into an emotionally-connected user. Rather than just being another shopper, he should become an advocate, telling his friends and bringing them to the brand.
If you have hundreds of contacts interacting with your brand, you’d need to dedicate hours to study their engagement to develop a process like the one above. With Artificial intelligence tools, use of behavioral marketing decides which path you should suggest Alfred take, to a high degree of accuracy and without any effort on your part.