Digital-first customers use the Internet for everything—to learn, to create, to conduct business, to find news and information, to share, and to shop. And digital-first customers, like all of us, are searching for value and meaningful experiences. Yet they’re increasingly wary of brands that attempt to control every aspect of their digital experience. This insight is changing the way that businesses engage online in ways that are both productive and engaging. And whether your business is in the digital world or the brick-and-mortar world, this is a window of opportunity that you should not miss.
‘Salesforce Research surveyed over 6,700 consumers and business buyers globally. And the research found that 76% of customers say it’s easier than ever to take their business elsewhere – switching from brand to brand to find an experience that matches their expectations.’ As disruptive companies leverage breakthroughs in cloud, mobile, social, and artificial intelligence technology to deliver personalized, valuable, and immediate experiences, customers have more choices than ever.
As a result, today’s digital-first customer wants more from the companies and industries they interact with online. This category of digitally savvy customers, defined as a “digital native” is becoming increasingly important in determining the future of business. So how can marketers and business leaders use the information about this consumer type to create a better overall customer experience?
The following strategies can help:
Analyze customers’ online habits and preferences
Digital-first customers are members of social networks where they share their interests and find useful connections. They post about their experiences in their communities and become a valued source of opinions and experiences. They also carry other psychological and behavioral factors that may be especially relevant for your business. Some might prefer to be contacted by social media — while others may prefer email or text messages. Still, others might prefer to rely on customer reviews or online recommendations from their peers. The companies that succeed now and into the future will have to master their understanding of these behaviors and preferences in order to win them over.
Transform your customer experience to meet their digital-first needs
Efforts to create an online presence must begin with a customer-centric view of how the customer sees the Web. And then designing the different touchpoints in ways that meet their needs. Many industries are already using e-commerce, e-mail, mobile marketing, and social media, but they have to become comfortable with the new expectations created by their digital customers. By winning the trust of digital natives, companies will be able to attract and retain the most loyal customers. Those will see organic new growth and expanded revenue streams.
Learn to speak the language of digital natives
Successful marketers and business leaders have to understand the lingo of digital natives to communicate with them. The customer has become an online user from his or her very early years and is comfortable in discussing every aspect of their experience online. Creating an online presence to interact with customers is just the first step. Knowing how to deliver an excellent customer experience to attract and retain them is the next, more difficult step.
Deepen customer relationships across every touchpoint
You now have the ability to send your customer behavior data directly from your sales pipelines, right to your CRM platforms, knowing exactly how you can increase your sales volume (and the customer loyalty that generates it). You can access business metrics for sales and marketing and gain intelligent insights in a timely way. At Archima, we help our customers to do this with a wide range of tools that streamline and improve their ability to attract, engage, and convert digital-first consumers. The Salesforce Marketing Cloud is one such tool that helps our clients.
The Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a digital marketing platform that helps you connect with your customers. The product has features that enable you to market to your customers via email, SMS, social, and advertising platforms like Facebook. The Marketing Cloud seamlessly connects to its Sales or Service Cloud, allowing for CRM data to be passed into the tool. Salesforce also allows you to build your own applications on its platform. The platform enables your company to a number of things:
1. Build deep engagement, bringing consumers and businesses together around big, important, or life-changing moments.
Understanding what drives the buying cycle with consumers and identifying customers’ high-touch behaviors helps marketers build connections for all offers, marketing programs, and offers that move from awareness to intent.
2. Automate as much as possible so you can maximize ROI for your marketing dollar.
For example, companies large and small use digital platforms like CRM systems, email marketing, and social media engagement to monitor the overall health of their customer relationship and the actions customers take to do business with them. Marketers can simplify, automate, and optimize this complexity so they can create and build compelling customer experiences that are easy to update.
3. Extend the value of sales and marketing with a complete view of your customers.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud improves the measurement and management of a company’s marketing program by providing the right information about the customer, that is so current and relevant that it can drive action and results.
4. Streamline the planning, execution, and measurement of marketing campaigns, from program development to campaign analysis.
Through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, your marketing teams can do more than plan, execute, and analyze campaigns—they can also create highly compelling content that brings customers on a journey to purchase. The Marketing Cloud makes it easy to create content that resonates with customers, and helps develop related promotions and offers that are deployed through the entire customer lifecycle.
To learn more about the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and if it’s the right solution for your business, contact Archima to schedule your no-obligation consultation today.
