Low Lift Hacks for Tech Stack Success

Marketers Are Getting Spooked

And it’s not because Halloween is tomorrow. The real scare? Many marketers are stuck with outdated tech stacks—and Black Friday, Cyber 5, and the holiday rush are just around the corner.

But slow, siloed systems don’t have to haunt marketers anymore. With refined data practices and strategic integrations, your marketing campaigns can transform from basic, run-of-the-mill content to highly personalized experiences.

This month’s newsletter is filled with tech stack tips, tricks, and a few extra treats to sharpen your strategy.

Get Your Data In Order

One of the primary reasons tech stacks are in trouble is data. Accessible, activated data is the litmus test for a healthy tech stack, yet almost 90% of marketers list data as an underutilized asset. But it’s not for a lack of, well, data—marketers are sitting on a veritable iceberg of data with relevant information just below the surface.?

But if the data is there, greater potential is too. Just use these two tips to get your data ship-shape:

Pair Up Your Data Tools

Cuffing season isn’t just for singles looking to partner up for the holiday season. It’s time for marketers’ data sources and tools to link arms and work together for a change.

Typically, marketers navigate between their CRM, mobile app data, API data, and more, but the goal is to access all of your customer data from one place. It’s the same concept as saving your family photos from 1999-2024 on the cloud rather than on the VHS tapes and USBs that inevitably go missing.

By creating one holistic data view, workflows speed up and marketers have a more accurate understanding of customers to aid personalization. So give your data a fighting chance by opting for solutions that are built to work with your existing tools, especially if you’re using martech giants like Salesforce or Adobe.

Speaking of Adobe ?? Our latest guide unpacks how you can perfect your data integrations.

Toss the Expired Data

Now that you’ve got your martech tools in check, it’s time to dig up all that customer data. But don’t hoard it all. While some data is pretty much eternal—such as customers’ basic information or your own business data—other data is as fickle as the latest TikTok trend and quickly grows inaccurate.

The key is to keep things fresh. Hone in on campaigns that prioritize data-collection like polls and quizzes, and never stop gathering behavioral data across channels.

Data-tivity

You’ve got your tools in line, so now it’s time to really put your tech stack to work with data-rich messaging. We’re not just talking about the classic trigger emails, either—add a little extra spice to your data-driven campaigns this season:

Makeovers Header-to-Footer

Personalized product grids are all well and good, but don’t stop your data-driven plays there. Sprinkle them in from top to bottom, especially in key real-estate areas like banners and hero images.?

Evergreen banners are the perfect spot to reflect recipients’ current stage of the customer journey and nudge them to the next step—think abandoned browse or cart reminders. With data automation, loyalty members can get a snapshot of their current points balance while new customers are encouraged to enroll in the program.

Hero images are the undisputed stars of any email, but getting your hands on new images costs a pretty penny. And personalized hero images? Don’t get us started. But with AI, marketers can always select and reuse the most relevant images for every customer.

Data Diversity

More data, more success. When activating data into content, opt for composite images with multiple layers of data: business data for product images and information, website data sources for real-time inventory, pricing, and social proofing, or even gamification plays like strikethrough pricing can all be used in one image.

Ulta gets it. Get more data quick wins in our eBook, 5 Ways to Personalize.

It’s All AI-bout the Journey

As inspiring and live-laugh-love as that sounds, for customers it really is about the journey, not the destination. Fostering loyalty and brand excitement in customers is a life-long task, and one where your tech stack plays a critical role.

But when thinking about the customer journey, typically only the stages of welcome, loyalty messaging, and winbacks come to mind. There’s a whole lot more that happens in between those milestones, and moments of possible disengagement is where the AI-driven tools in your tech stack can shine.?

By incorporating AI into your tech stack, marketers can send relevant, engaging content in every send—not just in the typical triggers and reminders. Rather than relying on customers’ most recent behaviors, marketers can craft an individualized nurture program for each customer that guides them to explore new products and strengthens loyalty.

Don’t stop believin’ in the perfect customer journey. Add AI to your tech stack with tips from the eBook.

Marketing Habits to Ghost

We’ve covered the dos of tech stacks, and now it’s time to quickly cover the don’ts. Put these habits to rest and move onto bigger and brighter things:

• Manual Mayhem. Clearly, data is a beast that can’t be tamed by your spreadsheets and over-tired brain alone. If you’re still relying on manual efforts for data hygiene or personalizing emails, it’s time to turn to automation.
• Dead Data. Browsing data from Black Friday 2023 isn’t going to help you now. Data ages faster than you think, so keep it Whole Foods-fresh.
• Chilling Channel. The scary part here is the singular channel. Omni-channel strategies have been touted in martech for years, but many are still relying solely on email and immature mobile apps. Each experience needs to be crafted for the particular channel, and it’s really not a heavy lift with the right tools.

922% Lift in Revenue? Yes, Please

The brand that completes all of these tech stack steps to perfection? Virgin Atlantic—and their results are undeniable. Snag a seat to hear how they drive unparalleled revenue through Black Friday, Cyber Week, the holidays, and beyond.

Marketing Moments to Watch ??

• 10 rolls a $1: Totino’s comedian-studded commercial has a “pizza” everyone’s attention with their ET-style script.?
• The Lost Remotes of Roku: Screaming aside, the most unrealistic thing about this campaign is a 5 year-old that doesn’t watch TV.
• Bland Slate: Move over, basic baby beige. Brands have a new trend in town, and customers are divided on whether they’re loving or hating the 2D blanding approach.
• Kids These Days: Just in time for hockey season, NHL’s tongue-in-cheek ad gets fans hyped for the new grueling season.