The importance of campaign goals and triggered events

5 min read

As a campaign manager, I've learned to approach every campaign from two perspectives: 

1. What's in it for us (the brand, team, and company)? I want to know that my hard work in planning, budgeting, and launching campaigns has a direct contribution towards the strategic goals of my organisation.
2. What's in it for the customer? There needs to be a reason for them to react to my campaign, whether it’s a humorous message, offers reassurance, or provides educational value.

So, how do we ensure this 'positive feeling' persists throughout a campaign? The answer lies in setting and tracking clear campaign goals and triggers.

Campaign goals are your marketing GPS

Setting clear, realistic goals helps align marketing activities with broader business objectives. These goals act as a compass, guiding our efforts and allowing us to measure our contribution to the overall strategy.

To effectively track our progress, we need to define:

1. What to track (the purpose)
2. How long to track it (campaign duration)
3. The numeric value that indicates goal achievement (the metric)

Using smart marketing software, such as Apteco Orbit, allows you to set specific, measurable goals for each campaign. This enables you to establish measurable outcomes – such as registrations, purchases, or app downloads – track its progress in real time, and report on success. 

Whether your aim is to increase sales, drive registrations, or boost donations, Apteco Orbit provides clear visual indicators to help you monitor progress at a glance.

Triggered events: Your roadmap to better ROI

There are many ways to achieve your campaign’s overall goal. Let's consider an example: converting 10% of ad hoc donors to regular giving over six months. To accomplish this, we might use various elements such as targeted messaging, physical events, or appeals. Each piece contributes to the goal, and we need to understand which elements are most valuable.

This is where triggered events come into play. These triggers are key achievements or touchpoints in the customer journey that indicate significant progress or interactions. They help us track and measure campaign effectiveness while understanding how recipients engage with our content. Each event achieved is recognition that our campaign is working.

Apteco Orbit allows you to set specific objectives for each message in your campaign. This feature enables you to track the performance of key events or actions and assess how individual messages contribute to your overall campaign goals.

10 examples of triggered events

There are many events that could be relevant to your campaign. From triggering a first contact, to gently nudging your audience through the funnel and reaching the ultimate goal, let’s look at 10 key triggered events.

1. Initial signup: This could be a customer subscribing to your email list or registering on your website. It's the first step in building a relationship with your audience.
2. First purchase or action: This often represents the transition from a potential customer to an actual one. It could be making a first purchase, downloading a whitepaper, or signing up for a webinar.
3. Repeat engagement: When a recipient engages with multiple pieces of content or makes a second purchase, it indicates growing interest and loyalty.
4. Customer feedback: When a recipient leaves a review, provides feedback, or participates in a survey, it shows active engagement and can provide valuable insights.
5. Loyalty triggers: These could include reaching a certain tier in a loyalty program, accumulating a specific number of points, or consistently engaging with your brand over a set period.
6. Referral actions: When a recipient refers others to your business or shares your content within their network, it's a powerful indication of their satisfaction and trust in your brand.
7. Upgrade or upsell: This is when a customer chooses to upgrade their service or purchase a higher-value product, showing increased trust and commitment to your brand.
8. Anniversary engagement: Recognising and celebrating events like a customer's first year with your brand can strengthen the relationship and encourage continued loyalty.
9. Educational achievements: For businesses offering courses or training, completion of modules or earning certifications can be a great opportunity to act.
10. Usage milestones: For software or app-based services, this might include reaching a certain number of logins, using specific features, or achieving particular results through the platform.

By tracking these events, we can tap into the customer's need for positive gratification. For instance, we might send a thank-you message when a donor increases their contribution or moves to regular giving. These acknowledgements help maintain a positive relationship with our audience.

Apteco Orbit's real-time response tracking enables immediate monitoring of message actions, providing instant insights into campaign performance. This allows for swift adjustments to optimise results. You can even track multiple call-to-actions (CTAs) within a single message, each with its own objective.

Key takeaways: 10 benefits of setting marketing goals and tracking triggered events

1. Clear direction and focus: Goals provide guidance for marketing efforts, helping to prioritise tasks and allocate resources effectively.
2. Enhanced customer understanding: Tracking events allows marketers to analyse customer behaviours, preferences, and pain points, leading to more personalised marketing.
3. Increased return on investment (ROI): By tracking performance, businesses can optimise campaigns and channels that generate the highest returns.
4. Strategic alignment: Marketing goals ensure that strategies align with broader business objectives, maintaining consistency across all channels.
5. Continuous improvement and growth: Regular analysis of tracked data enables businesses to learn from past campaigns and continuously improve marketing strategies over time.
6. Enhanced decision-making: Data from triggered events (such as clicks, sign-ups, or purchases) provides insights that help refine strategies and make informed data-driven marketing decisions.
7. Higher conversion rates: Identifying key touchpoints where customers engage the most helps to optimise conversion funnels and reduce drop-offs.
8. Risk management: Triggered event tracking can help in early detection of potential issues, allowing for proactive problem-solving. 
9. Customer satisfaction: Clear goals help in identifying and targeting the right audience, leading to more effective marketing campaigns and higher customer satisfaction.
10. Competitive advantage: Businesses that set goals and track events can quickly adapt to market trends, helping achieve a competitive edge.

Setting clear campaign goals and objectives and tracking triggered events is crucial for marketing success. It ensures your efforts align with business objectives while providing valuable insights into customer behaviour. By leveraging tools like Apteco Orbit, you can effectively define, track, and optimise your campaigns, leading to better ROI and stronger customer relationships.

Marketing is about building and maintaining relationships between customers and brands. By acknowledging customer actions promptly and relevantly, you create a positive feedback loop that benefits both the organisation and the customer. So set your goals, define your triggered events, and watch your campaigns thrive.