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Working in marketing, you’re probably frequently challenged by trying to better understand and influence user behavior. But, do the consumer behavior strategies that work for one industry work across them all?
Let’s dig deeper into the debate, exploring the merits of industry-specific user behavior strategies versus universal approaches. That way, you can make informed decisions around your marketing campaigns and optimize customer experiences.
Customer segmentation—the practice of grouping an audience based on the behaviors they exhibit—plays a key role in developing user personas. The criteria for segmentation could be anything from customer demographics and location to the types of products they like and how they interact with your media.
Specifically, behavioral segmentation tells marketers about the detailed actions users have taken on your app or website. These insights help businesses understand the action of their customers and develop complementary marketing strategies. That said, the question remains: can different industries use the same strategic approach?
While there are some tried and true strategies, you don’t want to apply them blindly. More detail is generally good, but the gist of user behavior strategies is to use the right detail. Rather than collecting the broadest range of user data, look for that which is most relevant to your industry. By recognizing the unique characteristics, preferences, and needs of a target audience, marketers can craft campaigns that are both compelling and relevant.
Think of user behavior strategies like food and wine pairings. Certain strategies elevate the products and speak more directly to a specific customer base, much like certain wines enhance the flavors of different foods.
Ecommerce platforms thrive on creating personalized shopping experiences that attract and retain customers. By using cookies and tracking customers’ accounts and browsing history, these sites can display recently viewed items and ask customers to reconsider potential purchases. Retail sites also implement similar industry-specific user behavior strategies, such as personalized email marketing strategies. Sending customers a birthday coupon code or a re-engagement email is a great way to remind them of the company’s offerings.
Travel companies aim to create a seamless experience for customers through personalization. By analyzing user preferences and travel history, they can offer tailored itinerary suggestions and recommend destinations that suit the user’s interests.
B2B sites have a different approach to user behavior strategies because they respond to a different set of needs. This involves providing tailored solutions to cater to professional clients. For this customer base, techniques like free trials and demo versions showcase their product’s value while building trust with a potentially skeptical client. Further confidence can be built through customer reviews and case studies. Businesses also see the value in a great website user experience, transparent pricing breakdowns, and detailed explanations of features that address specific pain points.
Once you recognize the general user behavior practices for your industry, you can start breaking the rules. Cross-industry strategies involve leveraging insights and techniques from one industry and applying them to another.
To continue the wine pairing metaphor, it’s like enjoying a glass of champagne with fried chicken. You wouldn’t expect it to work—but somehow it does.
It’s the same with marketing. Once you have a thorough understanding of your customer base, you can find ways to subvert their expectations. Rather than focusing solely on the specific characteristics of a single sector, this approach seeks to identify common behavioral patterns and preferences capable of transcending industries.
Cross-industry strategies are unconventional by nature. They borrow successful tactics from different industries, thus infusing fresh ideas into their marketing approach. Sometimes, using a new tactic can draw in new target audiences and broaden your reach. This may well give you an edge over the competition. Essentially, you’re more apt to register on a customer’s radar for doing something unexpected.
At the same time, this type of approach can be risky. Unfamiliar strategies might seem weird or out-of-sync to your customer base. Additionally, integrating a new strategy into your existing framework might be time-consuming and costly.
So, when should you stay the course, and when should you experiment with something new? Think of it like the champagne and chicken example. Use these approaches when you want to spice up the normal. To illustrate, you might consider applying a cross-industry user behavior strategy in one of these scenarios:
Innovative Disruption. Startups and businesses looking to disrupt traditional industries can benefit from applying innovative tactics to create a unique selling proposition.
Finance app Fortune City encourages users to be more diligent when it comes to tracking their expenses through gamification.
Saturated Markets. In highly competitive markets, cross-industry strategies can provide a competitive advantage by introducing concepts that capture consumers’ attention.
Spotify uses personalization to keep its users. The Only You campaign efficiently highlights this.
Emerging Trends. Industries experiencing emerging trends can draw inspiration from other sectors that have successfully navigated similar shifts and try to mirror their approach.
Maybelline has jumped on the AI train through its virtual try-on feature, which allows users to try on makeup before making a purchase.
Deciding on a user behavior strategy isn’t always straightforward. In some cases, it pays to stay true to your industry. However, in others, you might want to appeal to a broader audience—or even shed new light on your organization.
CleverTap is a customer engagement and retention platform that makes it simple to employ more tailored strategies to shift user behavior. Its built-in analytics help you to visualize customer engagement data and see the impact of campaigns on different audience sectors.
CleverTap’s intuitive platform can take your marketing efforts to new heights. Try a demo today to learn how CleverTap can elevate your marketing strategy.
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