With B2B marketing, the worst thing you can do is get left behind.
You should be taking every chance to connect with a potential customer.
You can use a range of tools and techniques to stay top of mind.
Trigger marketing is a big one.
It's an effective technique that delivers significant results.
Forget about blast campaigns. They don't provide this level of customisation and segmentation.
It's all about personalised, relevant messaging at the right time.
Here, we'll cover everything you need to know about trigger marketing.
👇 Read on if you want to start an effective trigger marketing campaign that runs on autopilot.
What is trigger marketing?
Trigger marketing is the practice of using B2B marketing automation software to respond to specific customer actions. These actions include opening an email, viewing a web page, or speaking to a chatbot.
For example, when a prospect interacts with a particular webpage, a trigger marketing email will be sent to them automatically.
Sounds great, but why is this important?
It allows brands to reach customers with the right message at the right time.
Messages are relevant, personalised, and precisely timed.
Automation helps to scale your trigger campaign marketing, but not at the cost of customisation.
Customisation is maximised!
This all ties back to revenue. A relevant message at the right moment drives engagement.
Anything measurable by your automation software or CRM can be a trigger.
Here are some common SaaS marketing trigger event examples:
- Email opens.
- Chatbot interaction.
- Completing a form.
Follow-up tasks are carried out by a marketing platform. Tasks, such as email sequences, CRM, and customer list updates, are automated.
Any channel can be used for trigger messages, e.g. instant message, SMS, email, and post.
Internal actions are also carried out by triggers, such as: prompting MDR action, updating records, and sending notifications.
By now, it should be clear this is more personalised than mass advertising.
Want to know more about personalising your marketing triggers with automation? Watch this video to learn how they do it in sales 👇
The benefits of using marketing triggers
Trigger-based marketing is widespread.
Why?
For two reasons: relevance and timing.
According to a Blueshift Report:
"Trigger-based marketing emails are 497% more effective than blast emails."
Manually personalising your marketing efforts would take a considerable amount of time! Check out the list of the best B2B marketing tools.
Now your time can be better spent on maximising the performance of your campaign.
In this section, we'll zero in on the specific benefits.
1. Relevance and timing
Marketing triggers (or events) are used to send relevant messages at precisely the right time.
Trigger marketing ensures your prospect or customer receives the message just as they are making a purchasing decision or starting to search for a product or service just like yours.
And that's not all…
You should use the channel that’s most suited to communication. This has been found to boost receptiveness.
For example, a chatbot is the best response if they're on your website already.
This is all about keeping your company top of mind.
2. Increased brand awareness
Excellent brand awareness means you're likely to be recommended to others. It plays a huge role in dark social.
At every stage, leads should feel seen and appreciated.
So how does this help?
Ultimately, it leads to more conversions further down the line.
3. Customisation and personalisation
An essential component of marketing messaging is making your customer feel like they are more than just another revenue number.
Makes sense when you realise that 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalised messaging, right?
Not only that, it helps to build trust too.
Why?
Because each stage can be tailor-made for your customer. This includes welcome emails, post-purchase and retargeting.
4. Engage throughout the customer journey
How do you retain a customer until conversion?
It's about keeping them engaged throughout.
How?
By providing them with relevant content throughout the buyer journey.
For this to work, the information you provide must be valuable.
Take a look at your marketing data and share resources you know your potential buyer will enjoy. These can be blogs, ungated ebooks, free tools, and some of your top marketing podcast episodes.
Later on, in the B2B marketing funnel, you'll want to share social proof, pricing, and case studies to encourage a sale.
5. Improved customer relationships
Customers want to feel valued.
A great customer experience is vital for success. Those who feel valued and taken care of will buy more.
Trigger marketing helps to keep customers engaged and responsive. When you re-engage your customers, you can retain them.
In B2B, customer advocacy is critical. This is only achieved when you have an excellent customer experience.
6. Increased conversion and repeat sales
At the end of the day, growth is what we're looking for in marketing.
Marketers are measured on their ability to achieve it.
All of the above benefits lead to greater revenue.
Trigger marketing creates opportunities to improve trust, loyalty, and satisfaction. It’s the foundation of a winning B2B marketing strategy.
How do you ensure a successful campaign using trigger marketing?
You need to choose the right trigger for your event.
Let's take a look at some of the common triggers you’ll come across in B2B marketing 👇
3 types of popular marketing triggers
1. Event-based triggers
An event is an excellent opportunity to send subscribers an email.
One example is rewarding customer loyalty through birthdays and anniversaries.
You could offer discounts and coupons, provide them with other special offers, and various other loyalty programs.
With so much on the line, including the business reputation, you should only invest in the best customer loyalty software available in the market to help you build and maintain meaningful customer relationships.
Event-based marketing triggers are about creating an emotional connection with customers, which helps develop trust and brand loyalty.
2. Engagement-based triggers
What happens if users don't demonstrate a high level of engagement on your website?
It leads to low conversion rates, and no marketer wants that.
You can increase engagement by sending out a subscription-based newsletter or strategic email campaigns across multiple channels.
An email lets you outline benefits, and you can share reviews and other helpful content while you're at it.
3. Behavior-based triggers
This marketing trigger looks at online customer behaviour and activities.
By collecting B2B data on a prospect's actions, you can better meet their needs.
The reasons behind behaviour-based marketing triggers are registration, website activities, and conversion rates.
You can win back inactive users with a trigger marketing campaign. The idea is to re-engage them before they churn.
You can also entice them with attractive offers, new products, and discounts.
4 trigger marketing examples
1. Digital or live events
These are excellent starting points for trigger-based email marketing.
First, you need a landing page with a form where prospects can register for an event, like a webinar. The form should require an email address or other B2B contact data.
Upon launching a webinar or live event, send reminders to those who have signed up.
You can keep these content assets on your website for future prospects to access. All they'll need is to input their details on the landing page in return for downloading the recording or slides - giving you a whole new audience to nurture with trigger marketing!
2. Welcome message
It's a great idea to send an introductory email to everyone who signs up for your email newsletter.
A compelling welcome message shows appreciation. Use it to provide a short intro to the newsletter and what value readers can expect to get from it.
This is the foundation of trigger email marketing, where you can communicate with your subscribers one-to-one and start building trust.
3. Personalised messages for special occasions
Don’t forget about special occasions! Set triggers for important moments in your customer's life and their relationship with you.
It could be a milestone celebrating customer loyalty, or it could be a birthday.
Stand out by using specific user information to personalise the message. Nice graphics help too!
Remember, it costs less to retain a customer than to acquire a new one. They can also become champions, leading to referrals.
4. Follow-up messages
What should you do when a prospect hasn’t engaged with you for a set period?
Select a marketing trigger and send an email. This has the potential to re-activate them.
Your trigger could take the form of a simple reminder, such as a reminder to book a demo or an email with a discount code.
These types of messages can bring back your ideal customers who have faded away or haven't completed an action that they started.
Make the desired action as clear as possible in your messages. Highlight relevant information and provide direct links.
Want buyers who are likely to buy?
Cognism gets you on the radar of companies searching for your solution.
We provide marketing data to fuel your marketing triggers with hiring, funding, and job join signals.
You’ll make better use of your time, creativity, and budget.
