After a tough year of reduced consumer confidence and spending, Australian retailers and consumer brands needed Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BF/CM) to be a success.
Data from ANZ released immediately following the sales weekend suggests it very much was, with a four per cent increase in sales from 2023.
As the global leader in customer communications technology, Sinch has a privileged window into how businesses engage with customers. Our own data shows that in Australia, brands and retailers sent 13 per cent more messages to customers compared to the same sales period as last year. The lesson I draw from this is that customer communication was a critical driver in making the Black Friday period a success.
However, early reports suggest consumer confidence is waning again in Australia after the BF/CM weekend. Marketing leaders at retailers and consumer brands will therefore have to pull every lever they have to make Christmas just as successful.
How can you ensure your customers are listening?
If I were to offer one piece of advice for brands to take into their Christmas campaign, it’s that customer communication hinges not just on delivery but on deliverability. Whether it is email or SMS, successfully converting a customer can determine whether your message is seen and read by them.
Marketers should ask themselves a key question: How do I make sure my message gets seen by customers and doesn’t disappear into spam folders?
This is where deliverability comes into play. Deliverability is all about ensuring that your messages not only reach the intended recipient but land in their inbox, where they are likely to be seen and engaged. A message that ends up in a spam folder has technically been delivered, but it has failed in its ultimate goal to engage the recipient.
Improving deliverability means tackling channel-specific challenges head-on. For example, email deliverability is challenged by strict spam filters that may classify legitimate emails as spam due to poor practices. SMS deliverability faces scrutiny as carriers and regulators combat spam, risking legitimate messages being caught.
How to avoid deliverability mistakes
Here are some tips that marketers can use to increase deliverability rates, helping to make Christmas as successful as Black Friday:
The importance of list hygiene: Maintaining list hygiene is key to avoiding deliverability problems. Avoid using outdated or purchased lists to prevent negative signals that damage your sender’s reputation. Instead, build lists organically through web forms and events, which forms the basis of a strong communication strategy. Regularly clean your list by validating and removing invalid addresses and using suppression lists for complainers to protect your reputation.
The role of list segmentation: Segment your customer list to improve deliverability by tailoring messages to specific groups, increasing engagement. Engagement is crucial for positive delivery signals, helping emails reach the inbox by focusing on relevant and engaged content. Segmentation also reduces the risk of causing reader fatigue through over-messaging.
By understanding the distinction between delivery and deliverability, retailers and FMCG brands can enhance their communication efforts, ensuring that messages reach customers where they are most likely to engage with them. This could make all the difference in making Christmas another much-needed sales success for Aussie brands.
About the author: Kate Christopher is head of marketing Apac, at Sinch.
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