COVER STORY OF THE MONTH
Direct to Consumer Prowess with Digital
Customer expectations and customer behavior is changing and brands are working hard to keep pace. With much of the information available at their fingertips, consumers are in control like never before. It is all about data – brands are expected to have more data about their consumers, and this data is today is the real power that is driving customer experiences and consequently revenues, market share and profits. At the same time, with these new channels, marketers are no longer required to invest heavily in the form of marketing budgets on traditional channels. Personalization is taking the lead. The more intense work that the brand does in creating and delivering personalized customer engagements, the more meaningful is their relationship with the customer while continuing to gain valuable customer data along the way.
Going direct to the consumer has always existed for quite some time – dedicated stores of the likes of Nike and Apple have always existed, however digital has brought in benefits in terms of significantly shrinking time to customer reach as well as the associated costs. Done effectively, these channels have delivered completely new business models for enterprises across segments. In a recent report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ), the use of mobile devices to access news on a weekly basis surged to almost half (46%) in the previous year and the rise of sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Traditional advertising based business models are being severely challenged with the consumer backlash against digital ads. The financial results of Facebook for the June 2016 quarter is just reflective of this trend. Going by its numbers Facebook will make more revenue in advertising than all of US newspapers put together – of a $6.4 billion of total revenue (59% growth), advertising revenue was 6.2 billion (63% growth) of which mobile advertising was 84% (81% growth). The travel industry is going digital – 60% of leisure and close to 45% of business travelers are making their arrangements via the internet. Recommendations and social media reviews are increasingly influencing consumer decisions relating to destination, choice of hotels etc. There is significant work being done to attract and retain customers using social and mobile platforms – right from AirBnB, Hilton, Accor to Denver International Airport and Four Seasons etc., the success stories are many. Take the case of Turkish Airlines which posted a record high net profit in 2015 largely driven by profit from main operations. Right from the world’s first ever “Periscope” live broadcasted flight to creating an integrated multi-platform approach that communicates that they fly to most destinations in the world, Turkish Airlines has been investing in several initiatives to reinforce the brand. The pharma industry is moving to a solutions and outcome based industry working with an ecosystem of players to offer combo solutions that leverages the strength of each partner for what it does best. Companies like L’Oreal and Nike are investing in portal e-commerce experiences that allow the consumer to continue the transaction across channels (physical or online) from where they left. Insurers like Aetna, MetLife and Aflac have been investing in creating personalized digital experiences to provide unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction, brand engagement and trust. The retail business model with digital is now a long told story.
Digital business is not only shaping new revenue models for enterprises but also helping them engage with customers during the sale, post sales in the form of taking feedback, reviews as well as ongoing customer support. There are predictions that sales professionals will be eventually replaced by robots. In fact some industries have already started doing it. The Forrester 2015 findings for pharma suggests in their report titled ”Its Death of a (B2B) Salesman” suggests that reps involved in basic ‘order processing’ for commodity products are most vulnerable, while sales professionals that promote more complex products will continue to add value to customer interaction.” As bots take over, they will soon become the face of a brand. They not only help consumers find the right product (ex. Sephora) but also provide recommendations and tips based on customer history and user profiles, allowing a great opportunity for brand to up-sell and cross-sell. Take Domino’s experimentation of tweeting the pizza emojis to take orders. Tailoring a service for each consumer has experienced several innovations using bots. It not only takes orders but could potentially also address customer complaints if the pizza delivery is late. A whole new market with bot builder platforms is now coming up allowing making it simple to create a customer satisfaction or a sales bot.
Today’s always connected consumer always wants their needs to be immediately met. Virtual reality is another potentially disruption that can shape customer decisions like never before. Goldman Sachs estimates that virtual reality will be bigger than the TV market by 2025. With VR and AR, customers can see exactly how products will look like and provide all the information they need to make the right decision. The hospitality industry is using VR to let consumers to transport themselves to the venue even before they make the booking and travel the world from anywhere they stand. VR is shaping new models for various industries including education, marketing, gaming, automotive, retail, manufacturing etc.
Beacon technology is another innovation driving customer engagement like never before. Retailers like Macy’s are using beacon to send special offers to customer smartphones in the form of coupons. Beacons are also used for instance to enable consumers to use their smartphones and do in-location store searches, get pricing information and so on.
There are several other technologies that have been shaping customer experiences. Personalized videos provides powerful ways to communicate with customers that are uniquely designed for each viewer. Social media is no longer a tool only used to get customers to comment and like but has now social networks have also opened up their systems of selling – Pinterest and Twitter for example have opened up their channels to allow customers to also sell their items directly. The Pop-up is making a comeback to offer something for free in exchange for say an email id – these pop-ups are designed to come very rarely and work wonders for email marketing. Call time wait diffuser that allows significant reduction in call wait times, call tracker to track traffic and measure performance, proactive chat that allows a non-intrusive user experience and innovation in on-line loyalty programs – the list is endless.
Highlighted below are the five picks for this month that showcases enterprises who have taken a lead in the DTC segment. This is only the beginning – there is more to come. As a famous quote by Rupert Murdoch goes – “The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow”.
Direct to Consumer Prowess with Digital
Starbucks
They sure know their coffee but it looks like they know their customers better. Starbucks introduced the Starbucks App to better connect & transact with their consumers. The App with its simple and trademark Starbucks design allows its customers to browse, pay and experience Starbucks from anywhere & anytime!
- Stay Connected with Starbucks. Check playlists, place orders et al. The Starbucks app brings you your Starbucks right into your hands.
- Stay Rewarded with faster payments, digital tips and rewards points from a single point access for customer transactions & history.
- Stay Social by sending eGifts to your friends.
http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps
Accor Hotels
Accor Hotels learned rather quickly that to stay relevant to your customers in the digital age one has to undergo a digital transformation within the organization. The Accor Live service is an internal platform for employees to connect, share and leverage the digital media with the goal of delivering exceptional customer service.
- An integrated Social Network for the employees to connect & collaborate.
- A powerful intranet platform for the global organization to work as a unified entity and deliver exceptional customer experience.
- Drive improved cultural exchange and customer connect with the creation of collaborative communities.
http://accor-public.sharepoint.com/
Liazon
Liazon was born with the very objective of transforming health insurance & employee benefits with digital technologies. And therefore, it comes as little surprise that they put together a consumer-facing tool that gave employees a vast pool of choices and then gave them informed guidance to make the right choice. This meant that employees now had the best of both worlds – choices & the advice to pick the most optimum option for their requirement.
- Personalized for every customer according to their needs & requirements. A truly transformational step which gave every customer exactly the health insurance that they need.
- A powerful intranet platform for the global organization to work as a unified entity and deliver exceptional customer experience.
- Drive improved cultural exchange and customer connect with the creation of collaborative communities.
https://twitter.com/liazonbenefits
Ancestry
Ancestry helps one connect. With your ownself and track back your roots. The Learning Center deployed by Ancestry is a great tool to truly understand the need & means to track your journey into the past. An inbuilt Social Network makes the learning more collaborative & fun. The tool is all about making individuals & potential customers more aware of the platform and then help them better use it!
- Exhaustive and yet focused on the relevant-material starting with the newest updates and going backwards.
- A step-by-step guide to discover and understand the platform as well as the paradigm of tracing genealogy.
- An online library to further accentuate learning capabilities of those interested in an in-depth study.
http://www.ancestry.com/cs/learning/Home
Medium
Medium is the truly Social & Mobile platform for exchange of ideas. Collaborative on the move and using the power of ideas – two of the fundamental principles of the digital era find a perfect collusion on the platform. Allows the users a personalized space to find stories that they are interested in with the option to write, share and recommend the same to others.
- Personalized & customized to the t. Brings users content that they pick for themselves and that they are interested in.
- Read, write & share. A seamless platform for ideas & exchange of ideas.
- Stay on the move and tell your story in the manner that befits your perspective.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medium.reader
