Small Business has always prided itself on being close to its customers.
This was the one key edge they had over their larger organisations was the fact that they were closer to their customers and could respond quickly to answer their questions and concerns.
Is that the case today?
Through the use of algorithms and data business is now able to learn much more about their customer’s actions than they ever could before.
Speed is now a crucial ingredient to the success of a business.
The speed of your decision making.
The speed in which you analyse and respond to data, the speed at which you implement and learn from your testing, the speed at which you respond to customers questions and complaints, the speed at which you deliver your products and services.
Speed kills. If your business is not improving the speed at which it responds to customers and prospects then your business will die.
Customers are more informed, more knowledgeable and more in tune with how they can improve the world around them.
Consumer behaviour is changing and it is important that your business responds to the changing behaviour.
These 5 important consumer dynamics are changing the behaviour of your customers and prospects.
Your business needs to be implementing steps to ensure your marketing activities are responding and utilising these changes to strengthen your business.
Because if you don’t someone then else will.
1. Socially Responsible
Responsible consumerism will continue to grow in importance.
With the growing ease of buying goods, consumers will seek out brands that help them make better, more responsible choices, “whether that’s in stemming the tide of misinformation or cutting back on the vast amounts of waste headed to landfills.
Taking the lead in responsible consumerism is Ikea which challenges its customers to become instigators of social change, Nike that is aligning with its customers’ social issues and environmental concerns
Regenerative means having a net positive impact in myriad different ways, like restoring ecosystems and making people live healthier longer lives.”
Shoppers are demanding more transparency and more responsibility from brands and retailers. They’re paying more attention to the ethical practices of the brands they buy from and have considered the reality that their purchasing habits have an impact on the world around them.
From eco-friendly packaging to reducing food wastage and sustainable delivery methods, these initiatives are gaining ground and are being spruiked to attract environmentally conscious customer.
In a report, Deloitte and Chartered Accountants Australia reported that 64% of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region are willing to spend more on socially conscious brands. With this in mind, companies will have to consider the image they want their brand to publicly convey to the world, and to ensure their values are aligned.
2 Personal Safety
People are looking for their home to be comfort-first sanctuaries that can provide respite from an increasingly uncertain world
Technology in the form of easy-to-install home security systems will offer a safe haven and more control in the home. “Smart home integration can now offer more than just protection thanks to app-based access to lights, thermostats, garage doors and locks.
Amazon-owned Ring is a brand on the cusp of this trend. It is described as providing more than a home security system. It is a company whose mission is to reduce crime in neighbourhoods through a “Ring of Security” provided by networked doorbell and spotlight cameras.
Home security and safety has become a key battleground for Amazon and Google.
Inside the home, safety in the form of healthier indoor environments is another trend. Sensitive lighting that enhances energy and sleep, indoor noise control and improved air quality are all on the agenda.
For the later, people will turn to nature. We’re seeing more interest in using plants to create a sense of peace indoors, with various companies making it easy for people to grow personal indoor gardens that will lead to healthier indoor environments.
3. Multiple Channels
Today’s consumer uses multiple channels to research, compare, buy from and interact with businesses.
These can be both online and offline channels, and the latter includes your own website as well as Amazon, eBay, Facebook, etc.
Connecting the dots between multiple channels ensuring consistent user experience and encouraging the consumer to engage with your brand at every touchpoint across multiple channels is called omnichannel marketing.
These days nobody shops exclusively through a single medium
Younger generations use all kinds of media to purchase products, but they also know no other way to shop.
Younger generations shop in physical stores considerably less (Only 9.6% of Gen Z reports buying items in a physical store), they are more likely to return products and they value speed and ease of shopping experience
Determining how and where consumers shop is always top of mind for businesses, and we now know many consumers check multiple channels before they make a purchase.
Even if they’re “loyal” to a particular channel — like Amazon, an e-commerce store, or their preferred brick-and-mortar — they’re likely to visit multiple outlets and often like to touch and explore new products in-store.
eMarketer reports that 65% of customers expect “consistent levels of service across physical and digital experiences,” while 55% expect “frictionless flow of information between multiple channels.”
Online shopping has affected customer expectations in many ways, including the way consumers learn about products. They’ve come to expect detailed product information on e-commerce sites, and want the same thing in-store.
Consumers want a digital experience that’s seamless and meets their unique needs.
4 Mobility
Mobility is influencing customer behaviour and businesses are faced with embracing this change or becoming extinct.
Mobility is integrated into our day to day lives and expanding the power it brings to the everyday shopping experience is now commonplace.
In-store, Australian consumers want a faster experience complimented by customer-service enhancing technologies. With recent SOTI research finding that 64% of consumers choose to visit a store to buy a product there and then, the importance of using technology to ensure ‘immediacy’ is critical to physical retail stores today.
Today, mobile devices are so deeply rooted in our lives, as both professionals and consumers, that mobile habits should no longer be considered a "trend" — they have become the new norm.
As a business or a marketing professional, if you have not yet created and implemented a dedicated mobile marketing strategy, it needs to be done today.
Before we get started, here are six widely accepted takeaways to understand mobile consumer habits.
- First of all, it is safe to assume that if your buyer persona has the Internet, they have a smartphone.
- Secondly, people actually prefer reading emails on their mobile device, and they use their smartphones more for reading emails than for making calls.
- Thirdly, marketers are rapidly optimizing for mobile and focusing more on mobile marketing at an increasing rate.
- Fourth, consumers are more likely to recommend and buy from a business that provides a better mobile experience.
- Fifth, the majority of money spent on digital advertising is targeted towards mobile platforms.
- Sixth, most social media activity takes place on mobile.
As a business, you want to provide efficient and tactical marketing to show a potential consumer that you can give them what they want. When creating marketing campaigns, think to yourself, “What do our customers want?”
Consumers are continually entering and exiting different environments and are constantly being bombarded with messages of what to buy. Your marketing message needs to take this into account and stand out in a sea of noisy voices.
So, as part of your online marketing strategy, you need to observe and record how far into your site consumers are reaching.
For example, if you catch that a significant portion of your potential buyers make it to the product details page and then leave, here is an issue that you need to tackle. In this instance, you may want to rewrite or change the layout of your product details page, ensuring you are providing your potential customers with all the information they require.
5. AI - VR
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the branch in computer science that is all about teaching the machine to think and act like a human being.
Machine learning is usually what runs behind AI algorithms. While AI is all about basically teaching the machine to replace human beings, machine learning is about teaching the machine what a human brain cannot grasp, e.g. complex data mining and future predictions based on current patterns.
In many cases, machine learning and AI are the two terms that are used interchangeably.
To make it easier to fathom, here are a few examples of AI-driven technology we already witness in our digital lives:
Gmail Smart Compose and Smart Reply features allow the user to compose an entire email with AI-based on past emails and typing habits.
LinkedIn prompts value-added introductions based on who you interacted in the past.
Facebook Messenger sends auto-responses to your Facebook followers on your brand’s behalf.
The two well-known pioneers in AI-empowered marketing are:
Amazon: Using AI to analyze each particular buyer’s decisions and suggest them products they didn’t even know they want or need.
Netflix: Using AI for content recommendations and beyond. Netflix successfully applies AI for product development too. They have analyzed years of viewer data to create successful products of their own including the successful “House of Cards” show. Put simply, thanks to AI, Netflix knows what people want before they do.
With each new generation, consumers tend to rely on AI-powered algorithms for product discovery more and more. BigCommerce has found that consumers in the age range between 18 and 23 heavily rely on AI-powered personalized product recommendations, seeing ads on social media, and engaging with a brand’s social channels.
With the changes in consumer activity then a business needs to embrace the new and exciting ways to engage and interact with their customers.
What Next?
There are 5 key actions that you need to implement today to future proof your business and to give you an advantage over your competition:
1 Know Your Current Data
- Understand how your current customers and prospects are reacting when they visit your website and landing pages.
- Analyse this data frequently and begin to make decisions based upon customers actions, not your gut instinct.
2. Ask Questions.
- Ask questions of your current clients and prospects.
- Start with phone calls to your current clients
- Exit surveys on your website is a good way to learn more.
- It is important to not only ask questions of people who buy from you but of people who did not buy from you.
- You will learn so much in understanding why someone didn’t do something
3. Conduct A/B testing
- You should implement testing urgently.
- Start with your more popular pages and landing pages.
- Test big. Don’t try small subtle changes, try some big changes to really test the reactions of your clients.
4. Improve your current conversions.
- Work on improving your current conversions rates from your existing traffic and customers. This will give your bottom line a significant boost.
5. Ease of Use.
- Make it simple for customers to use and interact with your digital assets. Website etc. Make it simple for your customers. Cut out any distractions or noise and focus on the important things. Take away things don’t add.
By beginning to implement these activities into your business you will give yourself an advantage over your opposition and set a foundation for your future success.
