Retention Marketing Through Shoppable Moments with Klaviyo

Are you looking for creative and effective ways to engage with your customers and grow your business? Well, you're in luck! Events and holidays can be excellent opportunities to showcase your unique brand personality, create memorable experiences, and drive higher customer loyalty with Klaviyo tools and insights.

We discussed personalized strategies during our recent Klaviyo SmartTake webinar. Our panel discussion featured Alex McPeak, Content Strategist at Klaviyo; Ryan O’Connor, Director of E-Commerce Marketing at SmartBug Media; and Belle Murray, Manager of E-Commerce Client Services at SmartBug Media. The three experts shared their strategies and techniques for using Klaviyo for personalized shoppable moments.

What are shoppable moments, why are they important, and why is it worth focusing on?

Shoppable moments can include the holidays we all know and love: Black Friday, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and so on. But there’s much more to them than that! Shoppable moments can also be unique to your brand and the customer—think anniversary, birthday, National Cookie Day ... 

There are many ways to use key moments throughout the year to drive sales, which is important considering BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) and many larger holidays are oversaturated. Using unique shoppable moments gives your brand a better opportunity to stand out.

“Everybody's going to be talking about Black Friday, Cyber Monday,” says McPeak. “But what about the Super Bowl or National Pet Day? Those things might be relevant to your brand, and they might not be relevant to other brands. So if you can talk about them in your messaging, it is a good way to kind of get in on the conversation that your customers are having or create maybe a new conversation that they haven't had yet.”

To break down what shoppable moments are, you can think of them in two ways:

1. Minor holidays: These are less-popular holidays that may relate to your products or brand, such as National Margarita Day. These types of holidays are not celebrated by all brands, which gives you the opportunity to cut through the noise and create value.

2. Customer dates: These types of shoppable moments revolve around your customers on a one-to-one basis: their birthday, engagement, pet’s birthday, and so on. Acknowledging these dates creates a deeper relationship with your customer and rewards them for being loyal to your brand.

What is the best approach to collecting and using data for successful personalization of shoppable moments?

There are many effective ways to collect and use customer data. As a brand, it’s important to test different strategies and then commit to the method that drives the best results. To help get you started with testing strategies, here are some things our panelists have seen work effectively in the past.

Post-Purchase Communication

The post-purchase experience is often underestimated when it comes to collecting important data. After a customer places their order, they are excited to receive their product and eager to hear more from you. During this period, your customer is a lot more likely to open an email or SMS, which makes this the best time to really learn about your customer. How did they hear about you, what products or collections do they find the most valuable, and how do they want to interact with your brand in the future? The options are endless when it comes to what you can collect within this period. 

Single Email Campaigns

Another effective strategy for gathering data is simply asking your customer for it in an email campaign. Send a simple email saying, “Hey! We’d like to know your birthday so we can send you special offers.” You might create a simple form they can fill out or even point them to their account preferences page and ask them to update their details there. This email could be part of your welcome series or a one-off campaign. 

Forms

A straightforward but still very effective method of data collection is adding new form fields to your sign-up or pop-up forms. The moment someone enters their name and email, you can collect additional data such as their birthday or pet’s name. Having those data points at the start of the customer relationship will help you be more personalized from the start, which will drive loyalty. 

Quizzes 

With quizzes, you can collect zero-party data before someone even makes a purchase. Imagine you’re a customer and you’re browsing a skin care brand website. You know you are looking for something, but maybe you need some guidance as to what the best product for you would be. Then you notice the website has a quiz called “Find out your skin type.” Now you are filling out this quiz-like form that will help determine if you are looking for products related to acne, sensitive skin, or anything in between. 

In instances like this one, brands can use the customer data they receive to promote specific products to that customer, helping increase the chances of them making a purchase.

What are some common mistakes companies make when implementing shoppable moment strategies?

The biggest mistake you can make is not using your customer data. The last thing you want to do is put in the work to get to know your customers and then not nurture that relationship. 

“Consistency is key,” says Murray. “If a customer takes the time to provide this data to you, there's a certain expectation that you will pay attention to their response and communicate with them accordingly.”

Let’s say we collect your customer’s pet’s birthday. The customer is going to be looking forward to that birthday offer and communication. Set up an automation so that every year on their pet’s birthday, they receive that email or text and they always know that is something to look forward to. Being inconsistent with whatever your shoppable moment is devalues its importance in your customers’ eyes.

It's frustrating for your customer to provide you with personal information and not receive personalized messaging back. Arguably even worse is to send unrelated messaging. If your customer indicates they are interested in sportswear and then you send them promo codes for beachwear, it tells them you’re not listening to their preferences, creating distance between them and your brand. 

The backbone of your shoppable moments should be customer data. Listen to this poor experience Alex had with a brand that attempted to use personalization without real data behind it: 

What are some successful examples of shoppable moments, and what factors contributed to their success?

Shoppable moments will look different for every brand depending on your product, how your customers shop, and when you’re looking to generate that additional sales peak. Let's dive into some examples of successful shoppable moment campaigns.

Floral Arrangement Brand

The problem? This brand was experiencing low sales outside of the major flower-gifting holidays such as Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day. It was looking for more opportunities to increase its sales year-round. The brand found a solution by creating shoppable moments based on birthdays and anniversaries based on zero-party data.

Here was the strategy that elevated the brand’s sales:

Phone Case Brand

This brand wanted to keep customers engaged year-round and win them back when they may need to purchase a new phone case. The brand accomplished this by setting up a first purchase anniversary shoppable moment.

Here was the strategy that elevated its sales:

These are just a couple of examples. The possibilities for cheating unique shoppable moments are endless. 

Use Klaviyo to fuel your shoppable moments.

By taking advantage of unique shoppable moments throughout the year, you have a better opportunity to stand out and connect with your customers. Klaviyo is our go-to tool that can help you collect and utilize zero- and first-party data to create these unique shoppable moments that resonate with your audience. With Klaviyo, you can create personalized campaigns and set up automations that speak directly to your customers and convert them into loyal shoppers. 

Ready to start leveraging the power of shoppable moments with Klaviyo and take your brand to new heights? Connect with one of our e-commerce experts, who can assist in auditing your Klaviyo account and strategize with you to create unique shoppable moments and start driving sales.