SMILY

SMILY was a new brand without an existing marketing engine that simply needed optimising. We had to establish the following from the start:

• Positioning
• Acquisition
• Website
• Lead generation
• Customer dialogue
• Automation
• Creative
• Measurement

That made it possible to build the customer journey into the marketing model early. Rather than generating leads first and working out afterwards how to handle them, acquisition, website and CRM could be developed as parts of the same journey. Communication could then change depending on where the customer actually was.

Go-to-market strategy and marketing plan as Head of Marketing at Checkmate.

The website was part of the journey, not just a digital brochure. It had to explain a relatively complex product, build trust and help the customer towards the next action. I worked with the connection between:

• Marketing message
• Website
• Lead generation
• Online test
• Booking
• CRM communication

The goal was for the transition from ad to website and on to CRM to feel like one customer journey. It also made website behaviour and customer stage relevant as input to the subsequent communication.

A sign-up did not in itself say enough about the customer’s situation. A person might have signed up, taken an online test, booked an appointment, not yet booked, moved further into treatment or responded differently to earlier communication.

That required a model in which communication could respond to the customer’s progression. I worked with journey design based on sign-up, online test, booking, behaviour and customer/treatment stage.

Instead of planning “Which email do we send on Thursday?”, the question became: “What is the relevant next step for this customer?” That is the core CRM logic of the case.

When a customer journey has several stages, timing becomes critical. A generic newsletter does not necessarily know what the customer has already done. Trigger-based communication, on the other hand, could respond to changes in the customer’s status.

A customer who had already booked should not necessarily receive the same communication as someone who still needed to be motivated to book. The CRM setup had both to communicate and to keep track of progression through the journey.

1. 01 · Sign-upInterestLead from an ad or the website
2. ▾
3. 02 · Online testTest answers decide the next step
4. ▾
5. Likely suitableBookingReminders ahead of the appointment

   UnsureConsultationSuitability, treatment and price are assessed
6. ▾
7. 03 · TreatmentTreatment journeyHand-over, use of aligners and final check-up

The marketing automation setup was built in ActiveCampaign. Six automated journeys were established, with more than 100 emails and SMS in total. Communication could change depending on the customer’s actions and position in the journey, for example by:

• following up after sign-up
• helping a lead towards the next step
• responding to the online test
• following up around booking
• changing the communication as the customer progressed
• using behaviour as a signal for the next communication

The automations were not built as six isolated email series, but as different parts of one larger lead-to-customer journey.

SMILY is an early example of the way of working that later became central to my CRM work:

The setup was not on the same data scale as Billetto, for example. But it clearly shows the principle of letting the customer’s actions drive the communication. That is the difference between using marketing automation as an email scheduler and as an engine for the customer journey.

ActiveCampaign · automation flow.

Reminder during treatment.

SMILY generated more than 8,000 leads during the launch period. But a lead only had real commercial value if the marketing model could also help the person onwards. Paid marketing had to create relevant interest and leads, the website had to help the customer understand the product and take the next action, and marketing automation had to continue the dialogue based on what we knew about the customer’s situation.

It is this connection between acquisition and lifecycle that makes the case relevant as both a growth case and a CRM case.

SMILY launched a product that prospective customers needed to understand and feel confident about before taking the next step. Creative therefore had to do more than attract attention. It also had to:

• Explain the product
• Make the concept easy to understand
• Build the brand
• Create recognition
• Support acquisition
• Tie ads, website and CRM together

I worked with the marketing concept, communication, copy and creative direction, as well as with the design work around campaigns and brand. The visual and communicative world was used across paid, website and customer dialogue.