Five years in the past we talked a couple of then-new idea: the Now Economy. Back then, nevertheless, we targeted on the altering expectations of the customers. Today, we’re nonetheless dwelling in the Now Economy however we would like to take a better take a look at the way it impacts us—the entrepreneurs.
The Now Economy speaks to how customers count on immediacy. Fed by a tradition of quick outcomes, customers need what they need and they need it now. And, since we final talked about the Now Economy, lots has occurred. The pandemic compelled lots of manufacturers to pace up their digital timelines, solely fueling the fireplace of excessive buyer expectations.
By revisiting the Now Economy with 20/22 imaginative and prescient, we’re hoping to show what pitfalls entrepreneurs might face in the event that they’re not ready to ship on buyer expectations. Let’s begin with a fast refresh on the Now Economy.
A Quick Refresh on the Now Economy
According to a analysis article revealed in The Journal of Creating Value, “The Now Economy is service dominant and runs on speed—digital technologies and immediacy (Weinstein, 2019).” Consumers count on manufacturers to give you the chance to ship high-quality buyer experiences at a fast tempo.
Think about all of the providers prospects have entry to with simply the faucet of a display. Car providers, meals supply, even same-day Amazon drop-offs. Everything is quick, easy, and, most-importantly to prospects, correct.
As know-how continues to evolve, buyer expectations are solely changing into extra heightened. With the added potential for individualization, prospects are in search of manufacturers to know precisely who they’re, what they need, and to present it instantly. For entrepreneurs, this adjustments how we do our jobs.
Challenges We Face in the Now Economy
In our earlier article about the Now Economy we targeted on the shopper and how the Now Economy is impacting what they need and want from manufacturers. They’re anticipating on-demand comfort, real-time buyer help, customized service, and memorable model experiences.
While we all the time need to put the shopper first, for the sake of this text, let’s flip that round and take into consideration issues from our perspective. How can we guarantee we’re ready to meet (and exceed) buyer expectations in the Now Economy?
A Competitor Does What You Can’t
The know-how to present automated, instantaneous, seamless buyer experiences already exists. So, when you can’t ship a quick, correct service, there’s most likely somebody on the market who can. In reality, “in an internet-based world, brands are faced with the challenge of digital sameness—the customer experience across websites has become pretty uniform.” So, in case your model doesn’t at the least match different manufacturers’ digital capabilities, you danger offering a unfavorable buyer expertise.
In a earlier article, Winning Customer Loyalty, Pt. 1: From Good to Great, we talked about the instance of a buyer who goes to a banking web site and, when an account downside arises, is well led to customer support and the difficulty is resolved on the web site. The identical buyer then goes to their insurance coverage web site however as an alternative of getting automated assist to resolve a difficulty, they see a small telephone quantity telling the buyer to name if they’ve account points.
There’s an enormous distinction between the two experiences, and after the expertise with the financial institution, even with these industries being barely completely different, the buyer has new expectations of automation.
In the Now Economy advertising and marketing automation is extremely precious to entrepreneurs as a result of it minimizes guide carry, releasing up time for extra strategic initiatives. By utilizing sure occasion triggers in buyer journeys, you possibly can automate the path every particular person buyer takes as they work together together with your model, instantly satisfying buyer wants and needs.
To keep away from falling behind: discover a martech platform that makes use of synthetic intelligence to automate the buyer journey whereas utilizing current information to individualize the expertise at the identical time.
Distrust in Brands and Technology
There is lots of mistrust between consumers and brands and consumers and the technology manufacturers make use of. So, whereas prospects count on every thing instantaneously and precisely, in addition they need to make sure their information is getting used to assist them, versus in methods to which they’re not privy.
Dynamic content material is a characteristic that makes use of buyer information to present a hyper-individualized expertise, all whereas nonetheless being automated. By taking benefit of fields (consumer attributes, occasion information, exterior information, and metadata) and pulling from an current catalog, you possibly can simply populate advertising and marketing communications with related, hyper-specific messaging. This sort of messaging not solely helps alleviate any issues a buyer might have with an order or on-line expertise, on the whole, however it additionally builds belief by displaying that your model is paying consideration.
Take an deserted cart email, for instance. Rather than manually creating an deserted cart message for every buyer, or sending a imprecise promotional email, you possibly can automate an email that has a photograph of the deserted merchandise plus photographs of associated gadgets. If a sure buyer doesn’t interact with emails, nevertheless, you can begin to implement different channels to make sure you’re in a position to attain them.
To achieve and retain buyer belief: incorporate dynamic content material into advertising and marketing messaging to create frictionless experiences that reassure prospects by demonstrating how information is getting used.
Disconnect Between Digital Channels
The Now Economy is all about effectivity. But, by having the ability to join with prospects by way of a spread of channels, that effectivity can begin to deteriorate if the expertise is inconsistent.
Say a buyer has simply made their first buy by way of your on-line web site. You ship a welcome email to the buyer thanking them for his or her buy. But, you even have a cellular app the place you’ve seen excessive conversions.
Instead of preserving channels siloed, your welcome email might encourage customers to obtain the app, in the event that they haven’t already. The welcome email might characteristic the greatest methods to use the app and, when clicked by way of on a telephone, might take them proper to the app retailer. Now, the buyer is acknowledged as the identical particular person by way of each channels.
With cross-channel harmonization, you’re in a position to not solely ship messages to prospects the place and how they like, however, with the assist of centralized information, you can even create a seamless expertise throughout all advertising and marketing channels. This creates effectivity for not solely the buyer, however the marketer as effectively.
To join all advertising and marketing channels: Use a advertising and marketing platform that centralizes buyer information and permits for all channels to entry the identical info.
Reducing Friction in The Now Economy
We’re entrepreneurs, positive, however we’re additionally customers. We, too, are experiencing the Now Economy and need a seamless, environment friendly expertise. This additionally applies to the instruments we use. Having instruments in your martech stack that allow automation, dynamic content material, and cross-channel capabilities reduces friction and gives an prompt resolution to challenges.
To study extra about how to enhance effectivity whereas concurrently creating an individualized, harmonized buyer expertise, schedule an Iterable demo right this moment.