Global financial technology platform, Intuit has previewed its new revenue intelligence (RI) technology, a system of always-on predictive and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models to give marketers opportunities to win more revenue. 

Building on the launch of Intuit Assist last year, Mailchimp’s revenue intelligence will soon deploy Intuit’s data through AI technology to benchmark customers’ marketing against billions of industry-specific financial inputs from Intuit QuickBooks and marketing performance data points, recommend the right time to target customers, and generate more personalised content.

Mailchimp senior vice president and general manager, Rania Succar said, “Predicting what will spur different customers to explore, to spend, and stay loyal remains one of the most complicated challenges for marketers—and simultaneously one of their biggest growth opportunities.

“By building on our AI-driven innovations within Intuit’s data-rich platform, our customers can make smarter, more integrated business decisions that simultaneously grow their customer base and put more money in their pockets.”

Mailchimp’s new RI system will integrate with marketers’ daily workflow, turning over 60 petabytes of user interactions across the Intuit ecosystem into tools that can create personalised action plans that increase marketing effectiveness.

With revenue intelligence capabilities in Mailchimp, marketers will be able to maximise their ROI by leveraging financial data from QuickBooks, in addition to performance data from Mailchimp; experiencing AI natively in the platform to create more automated and personalised marketing; predicting revenue based on segmentation, anticipating when customers are ready to buy; targeting repeat purchases using predictive models to show marketers when to send an email or text message and generate multichannel automations; generating branded content using an improved brand kit that includes voice, tone, imagery, and logo; visualising revenue with marketing funnel with categories like potential customers, new customers, repeat customers, and VIPs.

In addition, Mailchimp announced the continued expansion of SMS features in the UK, following an initial launch in the US last June, equipping UK-based customers with a 360-degree subscriber view, allowing businesses to maximise engagement, track ROI, and streamline analytics reporting. 

Mailchimp chief marketing officer, Michelle Taite said, “SMS marketing has grown to become a critical component to engaging consumers. Our US customers are seeing up to 16x ROI in the first three months after launching their first SMS campaign, and with over 93% deliverability rates, Mailchimp’s SMS is an incredibly reliable tool for building a meaningful relationship with your customers and a powerful way to drive engagement, conversion, and brand loyalty.”

How brands can build trust and connect with conscious consumers

Intuit has also released a new report that shows brand trust and connection as a top factor that drives sales for 46% of Australian shoppers, ahead of free delivery (47%), regular discount codes and rewards (45%), excellent customer service (41%), free returns (38%) and quick shipping (38%).

For those aged over 65, the key purchase drivers were trust (60%) and excellent customer service (55%); while those aged 18 to 24 were also led by trust (40%), they were driven by discounts (39%) and environmental impact (36%) too.

Personalised marketing is especially well-received among 18-to-34-year-olds. Over half of this group in Australia (61% for 18-to-24s and 64% for 25-to-34s) believe that the future of personalisation means they won’t be searching for products and services, but the right products and services will be coming to them. 

Intuit Mailchimp chief sales officer, Adam Anger said, “As businesses continue to grapple with a challenging economic environment, it’s never been more important for Australian brands to build trust and engage with their customers.

“When brands deliver personalised messaging and targeted product recommendations, they demonstrate that they understand their customers on a deeper level—and our data says consumers increasingly see these kinds of tailor-made brand interactions as the future. By embracing authenticity, transparency, and advanced personalisation, marketers can forge the kinds of deep relationships that transcend passing trends.”

Data-led marketing tactics to build trust and drive sales

  1. Focus on quality service: A proven track record of excellent customer service ranks highly as a driver for both purchases and engagement. This ranked higher in importance for older generations, with over half (55%) of those aged over 65 versus one in three aged 18 to 24 saying it was a primary purchasing factor. 
  2. Ask for data and provide value: While four in five shoppers need to be assured by brands that they’re using their data responsibly, nearly half (43%) are happy to share it with brands they trust. However, more than three in five (62%) want to see more value and greater personalisation in exchange for sharing data, and only just over one third (35%) feel they’re currently seeing the value of doing so.
  3. Galvanise brand advocates: Word-of-mouth recommendations via friends and family are the most trusted endorsements (55%), followed by customer testimonials and reviews (33%), much higher than content creators and influencers (10%). Not only will the brand benefit from repeat purchases but from authentic following’s purchases (and advocacy) too. A marketing-savvy way to harness this push power and incentivise and reward can be through recommend-a-friend schemes.
  4. Communicate transparently: For Australian consumers, the primary way to rebuild brand trust when lost is through transparency of company actions (62%). Notably, in the face of inflation, 53% stayed loyal to a brand that raised its prices transparently.
  5. Live up to brand promise: The most important factor that significantly impacts purchasing decisions for shoppers is ‘a company with values to match my own”’(36%), so spending time on brand-building content to underline company ethics can pay off. Overall, customers care more about sustainability than affordability. 26% said they were more inclined to buy from a brand that has a positive impact on the environment, versus 16% who said they were more inclined to buy from a brand that is affordable but less sustainable. 
  6. Leverage smart discount strategies: Discount codes are an unequivocal sales driver. Nearly half of Australian consumers (49%) will look for a discount code before making any online purchase and nearly one quarter (22%) will delay purchases over $190 until they can get money off. While discount codes support customer purchases and engagement, they eat away at profit. The report reveals the discount sweet spot for Australian shoppers is 15%.