Paul Mandeville, Chief Operating Officer - Conversen
originally published in Chief Marketer
Every marketer's goal is to send relevant and engaging content to customers, but consumer buying behavior is evolving so quickly that the rules are forever changed. Reaching that goal now demands that marketers recognize the power has shifted to the consumer and adjust their old rules to respect that power.
THE POWER
(1) The first power source is the Web, which has put a wealth of information at the fingertips of every consumer. Statistics suggest that close to 90% of consumers research products online before they make a purchase and more than 50% rely on user reviews prior to buying decisions.
(2) Social Media's explosion has given the consumer access to hundreds of trusted resources on Facebook or Twitter who are a click away from offering advice or an opinion. And consumers trust friends above experts for product recommendations.
(3) Like it or not, consumers already know your brand. Armed with information from the Web and their networks, the consumer has a strong and well-formed opinion about a product, service, or brand long before they engage directly with it.
(4) Consumers want to be communicated with, but on their own terms, and in the channel that they choose. It's often not a single channel, but a general expectation that a brand can react to a request and deliver relevant content quickly, with no strings attached, and in whatever channel best fits the request at the moment. Sometimes this is an email, a website, a text message or even a printed piece of material.
THE ANSWER
Most marketers have interpreted the buying lifecycle of a consumer through the long-standing Purchasing Funnel's five phases: Awareness, Familiarity, Consideration, Purchase and Loyalty. Marketers assumed some control over how consumers experience and learn about the brand, then drove or influenced customers to a different phase. But now marketers have to answer to a new consumer power.
Customers are still going through a decision journey, although it will now challenge marketers to shift their strategies and adapt. And while the traditional “customer decision journey” is an often-discussed and debated topic, marketers need to quickly adapt and frame new programs that sell to customers the way they now buy. Here's how to fix the Funnel:
Awareness
Instead of building programs that push products, promotions, and discount pricing, marketers need to capture attention, pique curiosity and encourage exploration without any strings attached.
Familiarity
Rather than dive deeper into product features and benefits to suggest purchase, we need to encourage customers to explore and learn more on their own terms.
Consideration
We created programs that escalated promotional and incentive offers, looking to close the sale. Now, we need to arm the customer with information and stress value, overcoming the trust obstacle in the sales process.
Purchase
It seemed effective to communicate a quick “thanks,” but move immediately to cross selling. Now, it makes a lot more sense to build an on-boarding program that welcomes the customer to the brand and encourages a deeper relationship by asking the customer to share more information.
Loyalty
A traditional loyalty program asked for new business and referrals with incentives for both. The goal now is to encourage deeper exploration of the brand and build trust. The reward is the positive endorsement of the brand to the customer's 500 Facebook friends.
Marketers can pursue this shift in strategy with a host of new, accessible technology. And it will be worth it. Evidence is emerging that the empowered consumer, treated well, will become 10x more virally valuable than before -- a tantalizing prospect for brands on the move and marketers who respect consumers' new power.
Paul Mandeville is the chief operating officer of Conversen, the software-as-a-service marketing technology innovator. He can be reached at paul.mandeville@conversen.com