Ideas and Innovations: Atomic Rewards, Action Ads
9. Atomic Rewards
Attention and engagement are upstream of transactions. Brands have focused on rewarding transactions either through loyalty programs of their own or partnerships with credit card companies. But what has been missed (or ignored) is what comes before the transaction – our attention. This is where “Atomic Rewards” can be the game changer as the solution to attention recession.
Atomic Rewards work across brands because no single brand engagement will offer enough incentives to become an independent program. These rewards are not linked with transactions. They come in the form of points (Mu) and are thus non-financial. The points aggregated across multiple brand engagements can be redeemed at the Mu Shop.
There are many uses of Atomic Rewards:
- Email Actions: Atomic Rewards within Email 2.0 incentivise customers to engage with emails, which can be an effective method for reactivating dormant users. Customers could earn rewards for actions such as opening emails, clicking links, or making purchases, thereby increasing their engagement and likelihood of reactivation.
- Progressive Profiling: By incentivising collection of zero-party data in the email itself (as part of the Engaging Footer), Email 2.0 allows for progressive profiling. What better way to know a customer than to ask directly? An ‘atomic reward” can facilitate this exchange by creating a “double thank you” moment.
- Referrals incentivised by Atomic Rewards: Brands can leverage Atomic Rewards to incentivise existing customers (especially the most valuable) to refer their friends and family, effectively turning satisfied customers into brand ambassadors.
- Atomic Rewards to power Email ID collection and gamification: To close the identity gap and encourage anonymous shoppers to provide their personal information, brands can leverage Atomic Rewards as a universal brand currency.
[Sources: Atomic Rewards: The Solution to Attention Recession and Email 2.0: The Fulcrum for Fixing Five Funnel Frictions]
10. Action Ads
We have always thought of ads as being associated with non-PII information (cookies rather than identities), on pull pages directed by user actions (websites and apps), and clickthroughs to landing pages. What if all of these assumptions were to change? Imagine “Action Ads” inside Email 2.0 messages – ads which can be associated with a PII, on pages pushed by brands, and where the actions are in-place without the need for a redirect?
In the dynamic realm of digital advertising, we’ve become accustomed to certain norms. Ads, as we know them, tend to follow a path influenced by non-PII information, typically relying on cookies and user-driven actions on websites and apps. The end goal? Get the user to click through to a landing page, thereby driving traffic and potentially, conversion. However, the world of advertising is on the brink of a transformative shift, with the introduction of “Action Ads”.
- A Paradigm Shift to Push Pages: Traditional ads wait for users to arrive at a certain page, be it through search or direct navigation. Action Ads invert this formula. They reside inside Email 2.0 messages. Instead of the conventional pull mechanism, these ads are pushed to the user, making them proactive marketing tools.
- Personalised Interaction with Identified Users: One of the chief attributes of Action Ads is their capability to be linked with Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This means ads are not just directed towards vague, cookie-defined personas but are aimed at identified individuals. The advantage? Tailored ads that resonate with users’ preferences, behaviours, and historical interactions, leading to much higher engagement rates.
- Eliminating the Clickthrough Bottleneck: One of the perennial challenges of traditional advertising is the clickthrough rate — only a fraction of users who see an ad will actually click on it. Action Ads break this chain. They permit in-situ interactions, allowing users to perform actions like lead generation or shopping right within the email. The immediate environment keeps the user engaged and eliminates the cumbersome step of redirecting them to a different landing page.
- Enhanced Relevancy and Responsiveness: Knowing a user’s email ID and profile paves the way for personalized marketing. Action Ads, residing in the email, can be curated to cater to the exact preferences of the user, making them more responsive and relevant. This also ensures a reduction in ad fatigue, a common outcome of seeing too many irrelevant ads.
- Seamless User Experience: Action Ads make the user’s journey seamless. From seeing the ad to taking the desired action, everything happens in one place, the email. This continuity enhances user experience, making it smoother and more intuitive.
- Revenue Generation: The transformative nature of Action Ads within Email 2.0 extends to direct monetisation. Brands can now generate revenue from their emails, thus enabling higher profits.
In essence, Action Ads stand at the forefront of a digital advertising evolution. Rather than simply serving as channels for passive engagement, these ads actively drive revenue by enabling in-email transactions. Alongside the incorporation of PII, Action Ads accentuate the personal touch in advertising, tailoring each interaction to the specific needs and preferences of the recipient. Their potential to both engage the user and directly boost revenue signifies a two-fold win for brands.
