WebTrends Webinar Recap: Adapting to your dynamic customer base

I recently watched the WebTrends webinar “Adapting to Your Dynamic Customer Base” presented by Jeremiah Oqyang and Susan Etlinger of the Altimeter Group, and Justin Kistner from Webtrends. It was a very insightful presentation about what the dynamic customer is, what they expect from you, and how to meet their needs. The following is a recap of the exciting presentation:

In the last few years, there has been a drastic change in consumer behavior. Consumer purchase behavior no longer follows the purchase funnel of

  1. Awareness
  2. Consideration
  3. Intent
  4. Purchase.

Consumer behavior has become more dynamic, and in turn so must business’ marketing strategies. There are three emerging practices in the new dynamic customer journey:

  • Media Shift
  • Multiple Screens
  • New sources of data

These emerging dynamic consumers want to engage with a business through social media, mobile, and websites. The opportunity to reach the new dynamic consumer is found in building brand presence through an integrated campaign. Brands should focus on creating a community using multiple platforms, such as:

  • Main website
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Mobile websites
  • Mobile app
  • Facebook

In order to reach the emerging dynamic customer, use diff media types, new screens, and new sources of info. Using social media as part of your integrated marketing campaign has become vital because consumer’s now view their peers as experts and trust them most. Mobile apps and websites enable brands to reach consumers at the point of purchase. Mobile and social media campaigns are truly intertwined and show not be considered separate campaigns.

“More than 50% of adults are buying on smartphones today, more than 2/3 have the device in-store, still many aren’t being served.”

In order to track and determine success of a marketing strategy that spans multiple devices and channels, businesses need to determine measurements that will expand into all areas of the digital landscape. The following new measurements have evolved:

  • Innovation: Collaborating with customers to drive future products and services
  • Brand health: A measure of attitudes, conversion and behavior toward your brand
  • Marketing optimization: Improving the effectiveness of marketing programs
  • Revenue generation: Where and how your company generates revenue
  • Operational efficiency: Where and how your company reduces expenses
  • Customers experience: Improving your relationship with customers, and their experience with your brand

One of the biggest challenges for measuring how dynamic customers using an integrated campaign is the inability to track users using multiple devices. While cross domain tracking in social media is available, cross device tracking for mobile is not. (Deciding to view site on a smartphone then on a tablet) There is no single ROI for social media or integrated campaigns, ROI will differ by corporation, divisions, and business objectives.

 Have you seen a change in customer purchase behavior? Do you think of yourself as a dynamic customer?