Evaluate your campaign performance by filling in the AIDA-model with Emarsys Data

Do you want to measure your marketing performance from a customer journey perspective, but do you find it hard to decide which data is useful? Since Emarsys data is structured and configured to highlight the most relevant data for you, SAP Emarsys can be the ultimate tool to measure your performance using the AIDA-model.

The AIDA-model

For the ones who do not know the AIDA-model yet, now is the time to get informed and get up and running with it. Especially because customer journey marketing becomes more and more important in this market where omnichannel sales and online marketing create an endless amount of customer touchpoints. The AIDA-model is a model used in marketing that describes the steps a customer goes through in the process of purchasing a product and therefore helps you focus on the most important parts of complex customer journeys. It is a 4-step model, as you can see below.

You can use this model as a checklist while creating a marketing campaign or you can use it to measure whether and how your current campaigns act on all stages. Next, I will show you how to break down an SAP Emarsys Automation Center program into the different stages of the AIDA-model and how to measure the campaign, using the key values of Marketing and the AIDA-model.

SAP Emarsys & the AIDA-model

Imagine you have created an Automation Center program in the SAP Emarsys platform. Your goal is to stimulate customers to purchase your new launched brand. So, an e-mail will only be sent to customers who abandoned the pages of your new brand, after a specified amount of time. In this example after 20 minutes. The picture below shows an example of how your Automation Center program might look like. Please note that I framed the nodes of the program related to the AIDA-model in the corresponding color.

Program with stages of the AIDA-model

The campaign is live for a few days now. You are wondering if it acts on all stages in the purchase process of your customers. You would like to measure how you are doing according to the AIDA-model. Do you even cover all stages and if so, on which of the stages are you performing outstanding and which stages need attention?
Below, I wrote down some examples on how to analyze this program per stage of the AIDA model. Please note that these examples do not cover all analytical capabilities related to Emarsys & the AIDA-model. I have also added some tips on how you can improve you campaign on every stage.

Attention

To analyze this stage of the AIDA-model, it is important to have a look at which parts of your marketing campaign are engaging and will attract attention. In this program, the first touchpoint of your target group with your new brand is the very first moment they view the product page. Let’s navigate to that specific product page on your website and ask yourself the following questions:

• Have you added enough visual content. For example, are there enough photos or videos from the products of your new brand?
  Do you see possibilities to improve this? Then please do so. You will improve the engagement of your e-mail campaign.

Interest

To analyze this stage of the AIDA-model, it is important to look at which parts of your marketing campaign are of interest to your customers. In this Automation Center program, this is where the e-mail campaigns are of importance.

How to analyze interest?

Let’s navigate to one of your e-mail campaigns from your program in SAP Emarsys by going to: Channels > E-mail Campaigns. Filter on your campaign, open it and ask yourself the following questions:

• Have you communicated your brand identity, to really spotlight the unique selling points of your new brand?
• Does the content speak to the desires of your target audience? In other words, do you send the right message to the right people?
• Have you used the Predict functionality of Emarsys for product recommendations and have you used tokens, to deliver a personalized campaign of interest?

Do you see possibilities to improve on the points mentioned above? Then please do so. This will help you to improve your campaign and will make it of interest to your target group.

How to analyze interest in rates?

Another very useful tool to evaluate the interest stage from the AIDA-model, is by looking at the open rate and click through rate (CTR). To analyze this, please navigate to the e-mail reporting page of Emarsys by going to Analytics > Emails. Here you will find an overview of all campaigns and the corresponding rates. Search for one of your e-mail campaigns and analyze the points below.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How many e-mails are launched already? Note that open and click rates are measured in percentages, this will influence your view on your performance. For example: when the Automation Center only launched 10 campaigns and you have a very high open rate of 35%, this could be pure coincidence.
• Is your open rate higher or equal to 20%? Then you are allowed to conclude that your e-mail campaigns are in some manner of interest to your target audience.
• Is your CTR higher or equal to 2.3%? Then you are allowed to conclude that your e-mail campaigns are in some manner of interest to your target audience.

Do you see possibilities to improve on the points mentioned above? Then please do so. Some of the following tips might help you with that.

Tips to grow open rates:

• Check if you can better the subject line with the following useful tips from SAP Emarsys https://help.emarsys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016375598-Best-practices-Writing-a%20good-subject-line.
• Search for ways to avoid spam filters and thereby indirectly increase engagement and grow deliverability. For example, have you already added the List Unsubscribe option to your email?
• Finally, look at your list hygiene. Do you really send your messages to people who opted in to receive marketing emails from you?

Tips to grow CTR:

• Have you added easily accessible links to the email which will bring your customers to your website? Check out all ways to do so on the SAP Emarsys Help Portal: https://help.emarsys.com/hc/es/articles/360016254077-Editing-Content-Working-with-links.
• Make sure your e-mails are optimized for all devices, use the inbox and device preview from Emarsys for this.
• Add call to actions to nurture prospects from your e-mail to the brand category page.

Desire

To analyze this stage of the AIDA-model, it is important to have a look at which parts of your marketing campaign create desire. In this Automation Center program, this is where the product pages from your new launched brand and the shopping basket/cart are of importance.

How to analyze desire?

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Once (potential)customers clicked through, how do you stimulate them to add products from your new brand to their cart?
• Which part of the brand category page or product pages make it clear that it is impossible for customers to not buy a product from this brand?

Do you see possibilities to improve on the points mentioned above? Then please do so. Some of the following tips might help you with that.

Tips on how to create desire:

• Create a web channel campaign in SAP Emarsys to offer a voucher to prospects that have added products from your new brand to their card. This will help to really stimulate them to take the next step in their buying process (undertake action).
• Communicate the advantages of the products from your new brand on the product pages.
• Communicate the position of the brand and products of the brand in a context of market trends.
• Create a sense of scarcity.

How to analyze desire in rates?

Ask yourself the following question:

• How many prospects and customers have added products from your new brand to their card, because of this email campaign? To measure the add to cart rate related to your E-mail Campaign navigate to Analytics > Conversion Reporting. Is the add to cart rate higher or equal to the average of 4.4%? Your campaign works as intended and you are doing a good job in nurturing your target group to undertake action. If or if not, either way you might want to have second look at the tips mentioned above to improve your campaign.
  To do this, you first need to set up the functionality Event Attribution in Emarsys to assign the conversion event add to cart to touchpoints from the Automation Center program.

Action

Finally. Your goal is to stimulate customers to purchase your new launched brand. In this case a purchase is the kind of action you want to stimulate. In the Automation Center program this is where the checkout page and possibilities are of importance.

How to analyze action?

Ask yourself the following question:

• Do your payment and delivery conditions match the expectations and desires of your target group? Do you offer enough possibilities?

Do you see possibilities to improve on the point mentioned above? Then please do so.

How to analyze action in rates?

Ask yourself the following question:

• Is your purchase rate higher or equal to the average of 3%? Then your campaign works as intended. If or if not either way you might want to ask yourself the question above. Can you improve on this point? To measure the purchases rate related to your e-mail campaign navigate to Analytics > Conversion Reporting. To do this, you first need to set up the functionality Event Attribution in Emarsys to assign the conversion event purchases to touchpoints from the Automation Center program.

I hope this blog inspired you to analyze your campaigns from a customer journey perspective and helped you match the different stages of the AIDA-model with data and functionalities from SAP Emarsys.