Improve the efficiency of targeted campaigns using predictive scores

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In this recipe, we provide a step-by-step guide for creating personalized campaigns based on predictive scores. Starting with defining your marketing goals, we’ll cover setting up a targeted campaign in Segment and issuing loyalty coupons through Talon.One. Finally, we’ll demonstrate how to configure various KPI metrics. 

The key to an effective marketing campaign is defining the right target audience. Segment provides a comprehensive set of features that are used to create target audience groups based on filtering criteria that match the campaign objective and offering, and determine the optimal promotion parameters (discount amount, time, etc.) for each customer. While manual rule-based targeting can work, leveraging machine learning to predict customer behaviors significantly boosts the quality of targeting and personalization decisions, and campaign efficiency. 

Examples of campaigns that can benefit from this approach include:

• Loyalty campaigns: target customers with high lifetime value (LTV)

• Cross-sell campaigns: target customers with a high probability of making a purchase

• Retention campaigns: target customers with a high probability of churn (or probability of changing their mind upon receiving a special offer)

We’ll start with a high-level workflow overview and proceed to campaign configuration in Segment and Talon.One. The journey begins with cohort configuration in Segment, which involves segmenting users into groups based on matching filtering criteria. Once the campaign is executed, the results are visible in Segment, and user profile information is forwarded to Talon.One to issue loyalty coupons. In the described workflow, Segment is responsible for collecting information about user actions, analyzing it, and managing and segmenting user audiences. Segment’s Predictive AI features automatically build target audiences based on specific requirements and goals, such as ‘Likelihood to purchase’, ‘Lifetime Value’, ‘Likelihood to Churn’, etc. The user journey starts in Segment, while Talon.One manages promo campaigns, specifying schedule, budget, rules, and reward type (coupon, giveaways, referrals, etc), as well as managing coupon generation and redemption. 

The complete workflow is illustrated in the diagram below (Diagram 1):

Diagram 1

In the step-by-step guide below we’ll walk through the entire process:

1. Configuring Segment to ingest your customer event data (such as clickstream data)
   

2. Setting up the integration between Segment and Talon.One
   

3. Defining your targeted audience segments using Segment's predictive analytics
   

4. Configuring and executing the promotional campaign in Talon.One

This end-to-end workflow will allow you to leverage Segment's audience segmentation and Talon.One's campaign management capabilities to deliver highly personalized loyalty offers to your customers.

Step 1: Configure Segment to fetch your events

The first step is to connect your customer data sources to Segment. This will allow Segment to start collecting and processing your event data.

1. In the Segment dashboard, navigate to the "Connections" tab and click on "Sources".

2. Click the "Add Source" button.

3. Search for and select the appropriate data source type for your business, such as JavaScript, iOS, Android, etc.

4. Click "Add Source", give the source a name, and add any optional labels.

    

Once you've set up one or more data sources, you can start sending customer events to Segment using the provided API key, which you can find in the source overview tab.

For more detailed documentation on setting up data sources, refer to the Segment site.

Before proceeding to the next step, be sure to review any compliance or data requirements specific to using Segment's predictive analytics features here.

Step 2: Configure Talon.One integration

In this step we’ll cover how to integrate Segment and Talon.One.

1. In the Segment dashboard, navigate to the "Connections" tab and click on "Destinations".
   

2. In the destination catalog, search for and select "Talon.One (Action)". Then click "Add Destination".

3. Choose the appropriate Segment source or workspace to connect to this Talon.One destination.

4. Enter the API key, which you can find in the Developer settings section of your Talon.One account. Also, provide the domain for your Talon.One instance (e.g., https://your-site.talon.one).

For more detailed instructions on integrating Segment and Talon.One, refer to the integration guide on the Segment site.

Step 3: Setup computed traits

Once you have sufficient customer data flowing into Segment, you can configure and build computed traits that enable the use of Predictions to create targeted audience segments.

1. In the Segment dashboard, navigate to the "Unify" tab and click on "Traits".

2. Click "Create computed trait", select "Predictions" and choose one of the available predictive models (e.g., "Likelihood to Purchase") on the right, and then click "Next".

3. Configure the necessary customer events and data points required for the selected Prediction. Click "Calculate" to see the estimated eligible user count, and click “Next”. More information about expected event types for each Prediction can be found here.

4. Connect the destination you configured in Step 2 (Talon.One integration).

5. This process may take some time as Segment builds your predictions. Once complete, the prediction is live and available for use.

6. As an example, we’re using the “Likelihood to Purchase” prediction. This segments users into categories such as “Top 20%”, “Bottom 80%” and “Top 50%” based on their predicted purchase propensity.

You can now create separate audience segments for each of these user groups and use them to power personalized promotional campaigns in the next step.

Step 4: Configure a campaign in Talon.One

This final step covers the creation and configuration of a promotional campaign in Talon.One.

1. In the Talon.One dashboard, click “Create Campaign” and select the desired campaign type. Fill out the required fields and click  “Create Campaign” to get started.

2. Configure the campaign details, including the schedule, budget and any rules you want to apply.

3. As an example rule, you could be grant a coupon to customers whose session value is greater than $100.

4. If you plan to use coupons as part of the campaign, you need to generate the necessary coupon codes in the “Coupons” tab.

Talon.One automatically measures the performance of your campaign, which you can view in the “Insights” tab.

Using the campaign performance data, you can compare the average order value of customers who participated in the promotion versus your regular customers. This will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your targeted, personalized campaign.

Wrapping it up

Implementing robust customer loyalty programs can be a complex and time-consuming process. Typical implementation involves defining data schemas, managing integrations, and configuring the loyalty program itself–a process that can take months before going live.

In contrast, the recipe we've outlined above leverages the capabilities of Segment and Talon.One to provide a streamlined, nearly out-of-the-box approach. With Segment managing your customer data sources and predictive audience segmentation, and Talon.One handling the loyalty offer creation and distribution, the end-to-end workflow is significantly simplified.

This flexible, integrated framework allows you to adapt the solution to your specific business needs, while drastically reducing time-to-market. By combining Segment's audience insights and Talon.One's campaign management, you can quickly launch highly personalized loyalty programs that drive engagement and retention.