The worldwide growth of e-commerce is a reality. According to recent studies, global sales from e-commerce reached $3.53 trillion, and predictions are that by 2022 these figures could achieve $6.54 trillion.
This new consumer, who has rapid access via mobile devices to products or services from anywhere in the world, has brought new paradigms to companies and forced them to adopt digital marketing strategies. Companies are now in this new scenario, where they are available to an increasingly demanding consumer and have to offer a differentiated experience throughout their buying process, considering that what will influence consumers’ buying decisions is their experience as a whole.
Regardless of the country or market, it is an undeniable fact that digital transformation has changed the way the consumer behaves. The introduction of digital media in marketing, associated with rapid technological evolution, has provided quick access to information and a democratic relationship between consumers and companies, focused on experience. The consumer is no longer an anonymous figure and should be at the centre of all decisions, where new communication channels gain space.
With the technological evolution and the easy access to the Internet by consumers, who can quickly satisfy their desires and needs at the distance of a click, companies must adapt their strategies to this new digital world.
Several digital influences can impact the purchase decision in online media, such as a good evaluation of products, payment methods, delivery methods and an efficient search engine. Using digital marketing tools, companies can now know and monitor the digital consumer’s behaviour, gathering lots of customer profile data that will allow them to discover opportunities and threats. Analysing their habits and preferences, they can direct strategies that meet what the consumer really seeks, developing solutions that meet their real needs, favouring sales achievement.
The new consumer is intelligent, uses digital technologies efficiently and aspires for innovative ideas. Instead of looking for a product or a service, he looks for the brand’s value. How can it help him to achieve his lifestyle goals? How can it fulfil its desires or solve a particular problem? The way the brand acts in the market makes him comfortable or not? He is an insatiable consumer of multi-channel concepts, contents and ideas. In the near future, digital natives will be the most significant consumer segment at a global level, changing ways of research and interaction, requiring marketing tools to be in constant adaptation.
This new digital consumer requires companies to adopt a new way of managing their entire customer journey to improve the user experience. Through all the touchpoints, from websites adapted to mobile devices, efficient customer service using systems capable of providing quick answers as chatbots is considered the future of the interaction interface between the consumer and the company. It is necessary, through behavioural analysis, for companies to define interactive contact points through which the brand can provide the best shopping experience, as it is this experience that will impact the decision of this new consumer.
The behaviour of an online consumer differs from the way he behaves in a physical shop, and often the consumption habits differ. The consumer does not spend so much time looking for a shop that will satisfy his needs. If he enters a shop to buy, he will hardly decide to leave it and go elsewhere and compare prices or products. On the other hand, in the online world, he searches and filters information looks for opinions on the product he wants to buy to make comparisons and only then makes his decision to buy.
This new consumer seeks personal identification, proximity and involvement with a brand. He does not just want to buy a product or service but also be part of the whole process. He wants to be understood and know if his values are in the brand’s DNA. Above all, the brand should be a reflection of his purposes and passions.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in the purchase decision-making process and digital transformation of companies. We have seen a repositioning of companies that started to have a digital presence. Everything has changed: we have more options to choose from, we set our own time, and we go after what we want. The new consumer is looking for purchasing solutions that fit his routine and habits, that free up time for the activities that give him pleasure. The pace of life and the pandemic risk drove the search for more suitable and flexible products and services in the digital domain.
The increase of digital buyers and a massive increase of digital interactions stand out. Before the pandemic, only the youngest and the Y generations, also known as millennials or digital natives, had technology present in their daily lives. Generation Z, also known as centennials, came into the world with a tablet or smartphone under their arm and were followers of the “the world is digital” lifestyle. With the pandemic, we witness all generations being “forced” to manage part of their lives online.
The use of a Digital Marketing strategy creates a much greater possibility to follow this online journey. It allows brands to be present at each moment of the customer journey by developing strategies and proposals that awaken the interests of these consumers and meet their real needs. Whether at the time they search for a product or service, they effectively consider their purchase, when they make their decision and finally and at the time they evaluate the decision. The power of a well-designed digital marketing strategy is to guide the customers along their buying journey, from the moment they realise they have a problem or a desire to the final buying moment.
In conclusion, whether your choice is to adopt a traditional marketing strategy or a digital marketing strategy, keep in mind that the success of a marketing strategy depends on the way it is planned, implemented and controlled. This strategy should foster the consumer’s experience with the brand, which will enable a relationship of trust, which is the most efficient way to create and develop productive and authentic relationships with consumers.
In a Marketing 4.0 World, where great products and great services are universally available, the WOW factor – when the customer is left speechless – is what differentiates a brand from its competitors.
To get to this WOW moment, companies should develop a digital marketing strategy focused on what we can call the five A’s: Attention, Attraction, Advice, Action, Brand Advocacy.
Successful companies and brands do not let the WOW result from chance and have it as their primary goal supported by a well-defined digital marketing strategy.
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