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Your Goal at the Retention Stage: Increase Lifetime Value
In the retention stage, your marketing persona is already a customer of your product. Your objective is to increase the value you can extract from them directly by generating repeat purchases, upsells, or reducing churn; or indirectly by improving brand image or promoting referrals.
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Content Marketing
The objective of the content you'll create at the retention stage is to keep your existing customers happy by providing ongoing value (even after purchasing.)
Content ideas:
Monthly spotlight video series featuring customer stories and experiences at the bar, boosting a sense of community among patrons like Party Pete and Social Sally.
Blog post: 'Top 5 Craft Beers You Need to Try Again!' encouraging returning customers to revisit fan-favorite beverages from previous visits.
Interactive social media polls asking patrons about their favorite moments or future events they’d like to see, actively engaging them and informing future offerings.
Behind-the-scenes look at upcoming drink creations and cocktail experimentation to keep loyal customers excited about new offerings.
Seasonal email campaign highlighting exclusive offers for returning visitors, including loyalty rewards for repeat customers during happy hour.
Customer appreciation event: An invitation to past patrons for a special night with discounted drinks and live music to strengthen community ties.
What to measure:
Engagement on customer story videos
Shares of blog posts highlighting returning favorites
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SEO
At the bottom of the funnel, you'll want to make sure your marketing persona can find all the information she needs to get the most of your product (e.g. knowledge base articles), or to solve any problems that may arise (e.g. support/contact page.)
Keyword ideas:
bars with customer loyalty programs
happy hour deals for repeat customers
ways to earn rewards at local bars
craft beer lovers community events
best bars for celebrating milestones
popular cocktails for summer gatherings
exclusive bar events for members
affordable group package deals for reunions
local breweries participating in loyalty offers
upcoming bar events to rekindle interest
What to measure:
Returning visitor traffic
Number of loyalty program signups
Keyword rankings for retention-related terms
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Paid Advertising
At this stage of the funnel, you might choose to be run campaigns promoting of new features, upgrades, or promotions.
Target audience ideas:
[Remarketing] Facebook Ads: Target individuals who visited the website and engaged with previous offers but haven't returned in a while, spotlighting exclusive loyalty rewards.
[Remarketing] Instagram Ads: Aim at past event attendees to showcase upcoming themed nights and limited-time promotions that motivate return visits.
[Prospecting] Google Ads: Target keywords such as 'best local bars for loyal customers' to attract new diners who appreciate commitment and rewards.
[Remarketing] YouTube Ads: Feature testimonials from loyal customers discussing and enjoying their experiences at the bar to reinforce community engagement.
[Prospecting] Facebook Ads: Promote new seasonal cocktail specials targeted to followers interested in craft bartending experiences.
What to measure:
Cost per acquisition for repeat visitors
Engagement rates on remarketing ads
ROAS on loyalty-driven campaigns
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Social Media
Retention campaigns on social media revolve around building a sense of community with your existing customers. You'll do a lot of monitoring of brand mentions on social media.
Social media campaign ideas:
Monitor social channels for positive mentions of the bar and respond to promote further conversation and community involvement.
Share highlights from customer appreciation events, showcasing feedback and builds excitement for future gatherings among followers.
Create a weekly themed 'Throwback Thursday' post featuring customer memories and experiences from previous events to encourage involvement.
Post regular updates about loyalty rewards progress and encourage customers to share their experiences using specific hashtags.
Engage actively with followers by responding to comments about experiences and recommendations on social media.
What to measure:
User engagement on community posts
Reactions on customer highlight stories
Reach of posts about loyalty rewards
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Email Marketing
Retention email campaigns will be a mix of educational emails (onboarding, activation, etc), transactional emails (reports, receipts, reminders, etc), and promotional emails (upgrades, upsells, etc.)
Email marketing campaign ideas:
Monthly newsletter to past customers offering sneak peeks at new drinks or bands coming up, keeping them connected without selling directly.
Personalized follow-up emails to patrons thanking them for attending the last event and inviting them back for future gatherings with added incentives.
Survey emails to gather feedback on favorite drinks and overall experience, helping align future offerings with customer desires.
Exclusive invites via email to member-only events, emphasizing perks and loyalty benefits that encourage repeat attendance.
Seasonal promotions sent out to returning guests with group booking benefits for milestone celebrations, reinforcing value.
What to measure:
Open rates for loyalty newsletters
Click-through rates on exclusive invitations
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Marketing Experiments
Your retention experiments will have the objective of maximizing lifetime value of existing customers.
Experiment ideas:
Experiment with varying incentives offered on loyalty signup forms to see which offers yield higher conversion rates.
Test different subject lines for email campaigns focusing on loyalty rewards to enhance open rates and engagement.
A/B test social media advertisements for member-exclusive events showing different visuals to find the most appealing creative.
Analyze the effectiveness of personalizing communication frequencies based on customer visit patterns to enhance retention efforts.
Review user flow on loyalty program sign-up pages to identify bottlenecks and optimize for smoother conversions.
What to measure:
Conversion rate for loyalty program sign-ups
Email click-through rates post-event invitation
Engagement metrics on A/B testing of advertisements