Retailers Can Now Predict When to Text Shoppers — And Exactly What They Need to Receive — with Bluecore Mobile

Bluecore, the retail technology company that transforms casual shoppers into lifetime customers for the world’s largest retail brands, announced the launch of Bluecore Mobile™. The company that previously replaced blast messaging with 100% personalized communications on email, digital ads and ecommerce sites is now doing the same on mobile. For the first time ever, brands can activate their data to put the right messages and recommendations in front of every individual shopper through text.

Mobile devices are the bridge between digital and in-person interactions, but communicating with shoppers through mobile messaging is still a new frontier for most retail brands. While mobile traffic and engagement are increasing, conversions are lagging. This is due in part to the fact that shoppers have a low tolerance for irrelevant notifications from brands, especially when receiving them in this highly intimate—but potentially invasive—mobile context. Yet, brands and retailers are still sending mass (one-to-many) messages—an approach that is at odds with shoppers’ expectations that the brands they engage recommend products and offers specifically for them.

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“Shoppers have the same wants, needs and preferences, no matter where they engage with brands, but their experiences are often fragmented as they move from channel to channel”

Bluecore’s shopper-first approach to mobile marketing is an alternative to the growing number of point solutions that specialize in sending undifferentiated SMS/MMS messages to large customer lists. Also unlike existing solutions, Bluecore Mobile™ can leverage text messages only when the platform predicts mobile to be the channel most likely to engage or convert shoppers.

Bluecore Mobile™ is an extension of the company’s core retail AI model, which acts on live shopper and product signals (or activity) to deliver precision messages to shoppers, no matter where they are, in the moment they need them. With an unparalleled understanding of constantly shifting shopper behaviors and live product catalog data, Bluecore enables retailers to deliver the same types of personalized and predictive messages on mobile that shoppers receive in emails, on-site communications and digital ads (think: abandoned cart, back-in-stock, price drops, category affinity).

Bluecore Mobile™ drives retail growth by extending to mobile the consistent, personal experiences that shoppers are accustomed to receiving elsewhere on their journey:

Identify and acquire new shoppers.

Bluecore Mobile™ introduces a frictionless way to acquire people on mobile through its Tap-2-Join technology. Sign-up prompts appear on owned and third-party digital channels, including brands’ own websites—as well as ads and social media—for further list growth. Brands using Bluecore Mobile™ in early pilot saw a 50% lift in subscribers to their existing SMS audience lists.

Send SMS and MMS text messages only when mobile is predicted to be the best channel for each shopper.

Bluecore is the first in the industry to help retailers be more efficient around their mobile messaging spend so they can send and spend less, and get more in return. Its Channel Affinity Model allows the platform to predict when shoppers will be most likely to engage on mobile (versus other channels) so brands can optimize their channel mix and maximize engagement with the text messages they do send. For retail brands with millions of shoppers, this AI-fueled predictive targeting optimizes spend on text messaging, where indiscriminately sending “more” to entire shopper lists, independent of outcome, is a pricey strategy.

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Send fewer messages, but get more conversions.

Bluecore Mobile™ is able to predict shoppers’ likelihood to purchase based on their affinity to things like a specific product category, availability of discounts, and other factors. Equipped with these insights, Bluecore can tailor text messages around the factors that actually convert individual shoppers, rather than sending out blanket discounts or recommending the same product to every shopper. Brands in early pilot experienced up to a 4X increase in conversion rates.

Guide shoppers to discover new products.

Bluecore enables retailers to transform mobile into a pocket-sized personal shopping experience that’s not obtrusive—and is even welcomed by shoppers. Bluecore uses predictive AI models to deliver recommendations tailored to the shoppers’ exact preferences, down to category, price, size, and other factors—all with the goal of driving repeat purchases. Conversely, if a product is out of stock in a shopper’s size, or other preferences are unavailable, Bluecore Mobile™ automatically chooses not to recommend it.

“Shoppers have the same wants, needs and preferences, no matter where they engage with brands, but their experiences are often fragmented as they move from channel to channel,” said Fayez Mohamood, CEO of Bluecore. “We’ve set out to solve for this by focusing on shoppers instead of the channel they’re on. Our mobile solution is the newest addition to the larger ecosystem we’ve built to make personalized, shopper-specific messaging ubiquitous across every channel where brands are connecting and building relationships with shoppers. This results in more personal experiences that have shoppers coming back for more.”

Bluecore Mobile™ is ultimately another lever within the Bluecore platform to increase the metrics that result in growth for retail brands: first-time purchases, repeat purchases and customer lifetime value. This approach spans the mobile environment and all other digital channels where more shoppers are discovering, evaluating and buying products.

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