Growing with existing customers through remarketing and email marketing
Written by Jamie Schelling
Digital Marketing & AI Automation
Is it always necessary to win new customers for effective growth? For many businesses, especially SMEs, the answer is surprisingly “no”. Although attracting new customers is certainly important, businesses often leave major opportunities untapped by paying too little attention to their existing customer base. Does your customer know your full proposition? In other words, are they aware of all the services you can provide? Remarketing and email marketing offer the perfect strategies to seize these opportunities. We are happy to walk you through how you can accelerate your growth with these techniques and how AI makes this process even more powerful.
Get more value from your existing audience What is remarketing?
Remarketing is a digital marketing strategy that lets you show ads to people who have previously shown interest in your business. You can build these audiences in Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads or other digital channels and then show them a targeted message. This way you use existing data to approach audiences that are closer to a purchase decision.
AI tools make remarketing smarter and more efficient. Think of segmenting audiences within Google Ads or Meta based on behaviour: who has visited your website? Who left a product in their shopping cart? AI can not only identify these groups, but also predict which message will have the most impact. Brainstorm with AI about this to arrive at new insights and ideas, after which you can create scripts or designs for your campaign.
How to use AI in remarketing?
Remarketing applications by industry
1. E-commerce: winning back abandoned shopping carts
In the e-commerce sector, abandoned shopping carts are a well-known problem. Imagine a customer looks at a pair of shoes and leaves your web shop without checking out. With remarketing you can approach them again on Facebook or Instagram with an ad that shows the exact product, possibly with an extra discount to encourage the purchase.
2. Hospitality: attracting returning guests
Restaurants or cafés can use remarketing to bring previous visitors back. For example, by re-targeting customers who made their reservation via an online platform with offers such as “10% off your next visit”.
3. Local service providers: retaining customers with repeat services
For dental practices or physiotherapists, seeing customers return regularly is important. Remarketing campaigns can remind customers of a check-up or appointment via Google Ads or social media. Think of ads such as: “Time for your six-monthly check-up? Book an appointment now!”.
Email marketing, direct contact with your customer base
Email marketing is one of the most direct ways to stay in touch with your customers. It offers the opportunity to build a personal relationship and remain relevant on an ongoing basis, without being dependent on the whims of algorithms as with social media. AI makes it easier and faster to create and run effective email campaigns. Find out how:
- Set up email flows quickly:
Use AI tools to design an automated email flow in no time. Think of welcome campaigns, reminders, or follow-ups that directly match the needs of your customers. - Plan ahead with newsletters:
Create a content calendar with AI that is aligned with relevant holidays or seasons for your target audience. Let AI suggest campaigns and promotions, so you are always prepared. - Brainstorm about personas:
Work with AI to define your ideal customer. By combining AI insights with your knowledge of the market, you can perfectly tune the tone of voice of your emails to your target audience. Read more about this here. - Smart segmentation:
Automatically categorise customers based on purchase history, interests and behaviour. This allows you to send relevant content to exactly the right people. - Hyper-personalisation:
Create emails that really feel personal, such as addressing the customer by name, offering products that match previous purchases, or creating unique offers.
With AI you not only create more effective campaigns, but also save time and work more strategically. Ideal for businesses that want to make an impact with email marketing!
Applications of email marketing by industry
1. Retail: Boosting loyalty
A clothing shop can segment customers based on previous purchases. Say someone recently bought winter clothing. With email marketing you can send them a message such as: “Combine your new winter coat with these accessories – just for you with 15% off!”
2. Local service providers: Reminders and repeat visits
Dentists and physiotherapists can set up email flows to remind customers of appointments. For example: “It’s time for your check-up! Click here to book a new appointment right away”.
3. SaaS companies: Upselling and retention
For companies that offer software services, email marketing can help with upselling. Say a customer uses a basic plan. An email saying: “Upgrade to Pro for just € 10 extra per month and get access to advanced features!” can increase conversions.
Discover how you can achieve smarter growth with your existing customers
Winning new customers is not always necessary for effective growth. Remarketing and email marketing offer powerful ways to get more value from your existing customer base. With the integration of AI, this process becomes not only faster, but also more personal and more effective.
Curious how your marketing strategy could perform even better? Find out with our BE Digital Scan. With it, we quickly map out where your opportunities lie in AI, remarketing and email marketing.