Customers and brands are not on the same page about tech

“The Sci-Fi Shopper: How to Future-Proof Your Brand for the New Consumer” is the title of the ebook they published on the subject. Darin Archer, Elastic Path’s Chief Strategy Officer, spoke to me about the difference between assumptions about the appeal of technology and how it actually can be useful in building better relationships between brands and consumers.

Their initial premise was that the “Jetsons” style tech that can be done today is what consumers want. But as it turns out, consumers don’t care about the wow factor of experiencing “sci-fi” style technology. What they really care most about is convenience.

The advanced tech that they found attractive was not “the super flashy,” Archer said, but “what makes my life easier.” As the report tells marketers, today’s consumer “expects streamlined, easy and frictionless” purchase processes. The brands that will win customers are the ones that will deliver it to them.

That means that brands should look into anything that can make it easier for customers to finalize the purchase. That’s where voice activation can be helpful. But as for the tricks of AR and VR, customers, they’re only of interest if they are perceived to be useful. Archer observed that they found that 56 percent of shoppers said VR was over-hyped, but only 38 percent said that of AR.

He suggested that this could be due to the fact that at present there are more practical use cases for AR than for VR. He offered examples like showing what a kitchen appliance would actually look like, in its place in your kitchen, or how a rug not just fills your living room but how it looks under your furniture.

Brands and customers not on the same page

What’s really interesting is how the brands are so far off in identifying the primary concerns of their customers. For example, the top item on a customer’s wishlist (67 percent) is checkout-less payment options.

Only 18 percent of brand representatives identified that as what their customers would like to have. They failed to perceive that customers really wish “to solve pain points like long lines,” Archer pointed out. 

The second technological convenience customers would like is smart devices. More than half (58 percent) identified that, but only a quarter of brand representatives understood that to be desirable for customers. There was a similar gap for voice-enabled commerce, which 57 percent of customers said they wanted, and only 23 percent of brand representatives anticipated that.

Read more in Convenience Drives Consumers’ Tech Demands

Related: When doing business with humans

From multi to omnichannel marketing

Photo by Pickawood on Unsplash

Not all marketing strategies deliver the same rates of returns. Omnichannel marketing outperforms single channel at the rate of 2.5x.

To get to that, it’s not enough to build an easy-to-navigate eCommerce site supported by marketing campaigns that reach out to them on various channels. All those components have to be integrated to work together through an omnichannel strategy.

The ROI of Omnichannel Marketing 

The returns of omnichannel marketing over single channel are quite impressive, according to the data offered on Clickz:

• Engagement rate: 18.96% on omnichannel vs 5.4% on single-channel

• Purchase frequency: 250% higher on omnichannel vs single-channel

• Average order value: 13% more per order on omnichannel vs single-channel

• Customer retention rates: 90% higher for omnichannel vs single-channel

One channel doesn't cut it

Most eCommerce businesses today do not rely on only one digital marketing channel. When competing for customer attention, you need to reach out to them in different ways in the hope that what they didn’t click on an email may still get a click on SMS or an ad served on social media.

 In a survey by HBR (Harvard Business Review), 73% of respondents said they use multiple channels during their shopping journey. That includes email, SMS, MMS, social media, as well as searches on the site.

The challenge for retailers is maintaining coherent and consistent communication that makes the most of the different ways of connecting.  A Facebook or Instagram ad may be what first grabs the customer’s attention, though they may need some follow up to convert to the level of putting together a shopping cart with an email or MMS  message that offers personalized recommendations.

So why do we call this omni and not just multichannel?

Multichannel marketing is simply messaging that a brand uses across various channels to try to increase its reach. In contrast, omnichannel marketing is not just about sending the messaging out across the different channels but linking up the data on feedback on each one back to the customer to personalize the experience through responsive adaption. 

Customer interests are not static but constantly changing as they respond to contextual triggers. Brands that utilize omnichannel use big data analytics to update customer data and adapt  each message that goes out accordingly. An omnichannel approach adapts to such shift to make marketing messages as relevant as possible.

Timely texts

Emails remain an important marketing tool for all businesses, especially eCommerce. However, widespread smartphone use makes texts a very effective way to get attention, as they work off a device many people keep at hand for most of their waking hours. 

Text messages the perfect medium for sending time-sensitive information. That includes:

• Announcement of new product drops, especially if one of the benefits you offer SMS subscribers is early access to what’s new.

• Promotions for  same-day  flash sales, particularly if they are set for certain times like noon to three. 

• Notification that something they wanted to order is now back in stock or is now on sale.

• An urgent notice that their selections in a cart they abandoned are in danger of selling out.

Channeling Success with Targeted Communication

Targeted messaging is much more effective than generic messaging. The basis of that communication is identifying customer segments, and it can get even more relevant with personalization with product offerings and promotions selected specifically for that customer’s interests.

No matter how responsive your customers are to emails or texts, it’s important to remember that a single channel does not fit all customers under all circumstances. You need to adapt to the needs and context of the moment to deliver the right message through the right medium.. 

For example, you could have a customer who has subscribed to both emails and texts. Even though sending an SMS is fast and easy, it's not an appropriate medium for longer messages. You also can use both channels for reminders say of an upcoming promotion or a price drop on something they have looked at but didn't end up adding to cart or that they added it to the cart but failed to complete the transaction.  

On that basis, you can get the right offer to the right person at the right time, and through the right channel.

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The Value of Zero: Accuracy and Trust

Data-driven marketing has always focused on getting as much information on your customers as possible through various channels. As privacy grows increasingly important and tracking becomes increasingly limited, zero-party data (ZPD) is on the rise.

Conventional marketing wisdom has always been that the more you know about your customer, the more effectively you can target them. For that reason, marketers have always been trying to get their hand on as much data as possible, relying not just on their own first-party data but even paying for second-party and third-party data. 

To clarify terms, here’s a rundown on the differences in data sources.
First-party data

First-party data is what a business receives directly from a customer typically as a result of purchases, subscriptions, or points of contact. It can be the result of what a customer actively fills in on a form or passively shares as a result of cookies that the customer accepts by using the brand’s site or the tracking that comes through use of an app.

While a complete record of information given by a customer is valuable, for businesses that haven’t had much time to gain a complete history, it may not suffice to inform truly tailored experiences. That’s why businesses will pay for access to additional information through second and even third parties.
Second-party data

Second-party data is first-party data acquired by another company that is then sold to a business that wants more information about its customer base. Drawing on the more thorough information can fill in more of the customer picture, but it’s still limited to what a single business has been able to gather on the customers, which is why some will pay a broker for data.


Third-party data

Third-party data is different from first and second party in that it draws on multiple sources of data that a separate company puts together into a single dataset to be sold to those in the market for that kind of customer information. Typically, the company in the business of delivering data will purchase first party data from a number of companies to create these data packages for others to buy through the data exchange marketplace.
Data drawbacks

While going from one to three increases your data resources, it’s not without its drawbacks. As anyone can buy third party data, what a business buys is not unique to it. As a result, it is very likely that all businesses competing for the same customers are working off the same data set.

Also since the establishment of GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, marketers have had to respect consumer-set boundaries for the collection, use, and sale of their data.

The rise of such legislation has shed more light on privacy issues that has created pressure for platforms to stop enabling data collection without users’ knowledge. That is the story behind Google’s resolution to phase out third-party cookies and Apple’s new iOS setup for informed consent on apps.

The new frameworks don’t only curtail marketers from using data obtained from outside sources. They can even limit some first-party data that businesses have obtained without informed consent by tracking consumer behavior with cookies, pixels, or cross-device identification (XDID).

That is why a couple of years ago, we started hearing about zero-party data or ZPD. The term has been credited to Forrester, which presented it in Predictions 2019: B2C Marketing Report.

This approach has gained momentum over the past couple of years. AW360 predicts that a quarter of CMOs will be looking to implement ZPD in 2021.
The zero-party solution

As both zero-party data and first-party data take in information directly from the customer, there is some overlap between the two. The crucial difference between them is that zero-party data only includes what a customer knowingly and willingly shares.

That means that customers are in full control of the information they share with the business. They are willing to give their data if they feel they can trust the brand and are getting something of value in return.

Read more in  Zero to Hero: Providing Personalization & Privacy

Today's targeted marketing is powered by data and automation

 Marketing is always more effective when it is more targeted. As a result of integrating data and algorithms, marketers are able to now deliver a personalized customer experience at scale. 

There are various ways to target specific customers, and approaches range from lumping customers into very broadly defined categories to getting a lot more fine-tuned about the segments and responsive to individual customer behavior .In collaboration with Google, Deloitte put out a Digital transformation through data: a guide for retailers to drive value with data that took a closer look at these gradations. 

It ranked them as follows:

• Limited segmentation: All users are analyzed in broad segments. 

• Basic segmentation: Uses standard characteristics (e.g., gender, geography) for segmentation.

• Detailed segmentation: Segments are based on personal and behavior

• Dynamic segmentation: The UX / UI can respond to a customer’s in-session behavior as he or she exhibits different segment characteristics.

Achieving the detailed level depends on much more data than the static kind that is used for basic segmentation, and advancing to the dynamic level requires a level of automation that will enable recommendations and responses to go out in real-time. 

 The coming AI revolution in retail and consumer products invoked the women’s clothing store,  Avenue Stores LLC as an example of dynamic segmentation. It explained that  it brings together “data across multiple touchpoints, including in-store activities and market trend analysis, to learn and reason about what customers want and when they want it.” On that basis it can reach out to customers with communication tailored to their situation in real-time, which makes it possible to capture their attention while in “‘shopping mode.” 

Marketing for loyalty

Being in touch with your customers to let them know you’re there for them without pressuring them to buy can pay off in winning their loyalty and business later. In this case, your automated messaging doesn’t have to respond to segment your audience, as you would be working off a general form of communication.

When you don’t have history

But what if you do need to sell your products now? Marketing recommendations can work even on the more basic level, not just for new customers for whom you have no history to flesh out a profile but for the type of marketing communication that depends on general trends. For example, a very broad segment of all people in the United States can work for promotions tied to events shared by all due to the calendar, whether it’s Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, etc. 

You don’t need to know much about your customer other than that they’ll know what these days are because they are on their calendars due to living in the United States for the trending algorithm to work well. That makes using this approach ideal for customers for whom you don’t have first-party data.

It doesn’t matter so much what they are normally interested in or what they’ve bought before when you’re sending out a marketing message about buying their mother something before May 10. However, if you do have information about the customer, say you know they’ve ordered flowers for their mother last year, then you can combine the trending recommendation with what you know about their behavior.

Read more in

Advanced Segmentation and Automation Are Changing the Marketing Game

Think marathon rather than sprint when planning content marketing

Photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash

Done right, content marketing will deliver an ROI measured in terms of the LTV of a customer. 

But it’s a marathon -- not a sprint.

What makes content marketing  distinct from other forms of marketing is that its primary goal is to engage your target audience’s interest rather than lead immediately to a call-to-action to buy.. The content can take many forms, and part of planning an effective strategy is selecting the medium that is most likely  to capture your audience’s attention. 

For example, a kitchenware seller may send out recipes or blogs that offer advice on healthy substitutions to make guilt-free desserts. But it can also use video content effectively to demonstrate techniques in cooking or offer a downloadable app that converts cooking  measurements from ounces to grams or milliliters.  

Even infographics can be tailored for such a seller. For example, it can show the shift in demand and supply chain issues to explain why you may find shortages of certain key ingredients and suggest possible substitutions for recipes.  

What all the approaches described above have in common is that they position the brand as a credible source of information within its own defined niche. Over time that leads to a deepened relationship with your audience. 

Content marketing goals

Some B2C marketers have trouble defining their content marketing goals, though it generally falls into one  of the top six for identified a  Content Marketing Institute survey: 

            Creating brand awareness (84%)

• Educating audiences (75%)

• Building credibility/trust (65%)

• Nurturing subscribers/audiences (49%)

• Generating sales/revenue (48%)

• Building a subscribed audience (38%)

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Seeing  you consistently address their  interests rather than just promoting yourself  makes them feel more connected to your brand. As a result, they will be more inclined to buy from you than from brands that have not invested in earring their trust. 

Seeing  you consistently address their  interests rather than just promoting yourself  makes them feel more connected to your brand. As a result, they will be more inclined to buy from you than from brands that have not invested in earring their trust. 

 Like SEO strategy, content marketing is a long-term strategy that can take six months or even longer to demonstrate significant lifts for your targets. However, truly solid content marketing that your audience really appreciates can sometimes even deliver more immediate ROI. 

The right way and wrong way to approach content marketing

So how do you know if you’re doing it right? You look at others who are putting out great content and those who can’t break out of the self-promotion mold even when they claim to want to do content marketing.

The point comes across clearly in my own experience in managing the content and advertising for a bridal magazine in which the hairstylist got it right and the photographer got it wrong. She gave readers tips that they could use, while he wrote about himself and his approach to photography. 

The results were clear. The photographer was disappointed that  the article didn’t generate sales instantly even though many people told him they saw it. The hairstylist was thrilled that the article brought her more customers than any advertising had ever done. 

Granted, women get their hair done more frequently than they hire photographers, but that is all the more reason for the photographer to recognize that he cannot expect immediate sales.  His real error was in squandering the opportunity to do content marketing right. 

The photographer failed to  offer the audience anything of value to them because he was so intent on self-promotion that he refused to put himself in the shoes of his audience and consider what they would want to learn. The hairstylist, on the other hand, instinctively understood what content would appeal to her audience and was rewarded for giving it to them. 

In the case of the hairstylists, the business leads came in right away, which is somewhat unusual. Typically, though, such a strong response only develops after a series of articles or videos build up a following.

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Do you think this level of content is beyond your budget? Think again. Poor quality content not only fails to deliver the ROI you get from high quality content; it can actually harm your brand by demoting the the site ranking you've invested so much in building up.

What you really can't afford is poor quality content. Hire a seasoned pro to craft the right message for your organization and your demographics. Learn more here and book a free consultation call.

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Marketing to Visitors Like Customers

Visitors to a site present marketers with a dilemma. Does it pay to pour resources into sending all of them ads, knowing that over 90% will not turn into customers, or do marketers risk losing those who would buy if they did get targeted? In the absence of a crystal ball, marketers can now apply AI solutions to identify which visitors are worth pursuing.

Marketers had already been using AI that identifies customer behavior to set up targeted communication for retention with the help of software from companies like Optimove. The Optimove Customer Marketing Cloud consolidates, mines, and models customer data to fit customers into micro-segments that accurately predicts their future behavior and value to a business.

That kind of customer profiling enables marketers to coordinate hyper-personalized communications at scale. However, it has been limited to customers who have already established their own history and pattern of behavior. In other words, it wasn't possible to predict the likelihood of purchase for a new visitor — until now . . . 

Read more in The Scientific Approach to Relationship Marketing