Is Your Business Fast-Tracking Its Digital Presence?
In this opinion piece, Jonathan Ryan (pictured), regional manager at ANZ Infobip, discusses how important a business’ digital presence is with sales season fast approaching, and how you can maximise your sales as a result.
The goal of a digital presence is to make your business noticeable on the web, so that potential customers can find out about your products or services without having to do much searching. It’s important for companies to establish a positive reputation online because potential customers often take their first impressions from what they find in search engines like Google before even considering whether or not to make an actual purchase.
Shopping season is right around the corner, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Singles Day all on the horizon and sure to deliver a spending spree that will lead into Christmas. Black Friday stampedes still happen, but there’s been a significant shift to online shopping and click and collect brick and mortar eCommerce sites.
Here’s why your digital presence is critical in the lead up to sales season, and what communications strategies you can adopt to maximise your online sales.
Online sales and revenue growth
It’s essential to understand the trends influencing retailers and their customers to increase your online sales. According to Australia Post, 9.3 million Australian households made online purchases in the year to March 2022, with 900 million parcels delivered in the last three years. Online sales are still rising, and customers are not returning to pre-pandemic days of buying in stores.
The way people use personal devices changes the way they buy online. To minimise pain points across the purchase journey, retailers need to understand how customers make purchases and which devices they use to do this. From there, retailers can develop a plan that will increase the chances of repeat purchases. Millennials are increasingly buying products through social media platforms, and retailers should be jumping on this new opportunity. This shows that retailers in the post-pandemic world need to be where your customers are, instead of forcing them to go looking for you.
Finally, email inboxes are bursting with new offers and discounts. There’s a lot of competition, so you need to ensure you are setting yourself apart from the crowd. Providing a connected customer experience across the right channels makes customers want to engage with you.
Begin with Data
Your communication strategy has to be smart and data driven. You’re likely sitting on a mountain of customer data, so it’s time to bring that data together, study your customer’s behaviour and develop a messaging strategy that delivers results.
Where to begin? Well, you need to segment your customers based on their demographics like age, purchase frequency and geography. This helps you to make offers aimed at their needs and desires. You should also take a close look at last year’s data, to better understand which of your products drove the most sales.
You also need to closely analyse shopping behaviour from lockdowns periods. This can help tell you the right products to get in front of customers at the right time and on the right channel. Lastly, you should identify loyal customers and provide an exclusive offer before opening it up to everyone else, to show you value their business with you.
Personalised communications
With price slashing a race to the bottom, personalisation means you stand out. Therefore, knowing your customers is key, as it allows you to create tailor-made offers, build highly segmented campaigns, and get super creative.
It’s important to ensure the messages and deals you send are personalised to your customers. A 50 per cent discount on everything in store is impersonal. However, promoting relevant high-range products to high-value customers isn’t. You should always use contextual info, and address messaging to customers using their first name to make sure it feels like you’re talking directly to them.
When it comes to engaging with your customer, you need to run targeted messaging campaigns across all your digital channels. You need to be communicating everything – from welcoming new customers to reminding them of an abandoned cart – so ensure you have engagement campaigns set up in your multi-channel cloud communication platform of choice.
Seamless customer experience
Shopping season means higher online volumes. To cope, your website, app or other sales platforms need to be capable to handle the traffic and enhance the customer experience in a scalable manner. This is critical, because delivering a seamless experience can help boost your conversion rate.
Investing in the right multichannel customer engagement solutions will deliver brilliant opportunities for connecting through digital channels. The right solution should allow you to build connected customer profiles and send automated campaigns at the right time across key channels.
Also, integrating chatbots can improve your brands responsiveness and provide 24/7 support to customers. The ability to conduct a smooth transition to live agents for complex or difficult inquiries means that customers will have the best possible support system available during the busy season.
Proactively connecting with your target audience is key to driving the correct engagement. Multi-channel cloud-based communication solutions let you reach your customers with the information you want to deliver at the time where they are most likely to receive it positively. From sales information to welcoming emails, these solutions drive engagement with your customers and help you establish and control your digital presence.
Latest News
‘Blair Is Mr Happy, Beau Is Mr Dopey, I’m Mr Grumpy’ – Top Gear Australia Hosts Reveal What It Was Really Like Filming
Top Gear features the cars you could never afford to drive. It's a bit like the bogan's Gourmet Traveller, really.
Nine’s Total TV Sales Lead Richard Hunwick To Step Down
Nine's Richard Hunwick calls time after 15 years. Hoping for a last trip to the Olympics before getting the gold watch.
Yahoo Academy Culminates With Pitch-Off For Musicians Making A Difference With Trip To Cannes In Cairns On The Line
B&T happy to support the Musicians Making A Difference initiative. Particularly any that encourages more Watusi.
TV Ratings 16/5/24: Nearly 2 Million Tune In To See Sky Blues Win In Women’s State Of Origin
B&T does make jokes about the Budget reply speech but, to his credit, Mr Potato Head rated OK last night.
Binge Launches “Scene:Scents” Sensory Entertainment Campaign, Via Thinkerbell
There's now scented candles to pair with BINGE shows. We're hoping Rex Hunt's Fishing Adventures doesn't hear about it.
Jolt Partners With Veridooh For Verification Of Its EV Charger Placements In UK
Although B&T's an avid supporter of EV cars, we'd definitely miss the smell of petrol and the service station pie.
Nine Ad Manager Named Principal Sponsor Of CommBank SmallBiz Week
CommBank's SmallBiz Week is coming to Melbourne on the 29-30 May. B&T's as confused as you are on how that's a week.
Pet Circle & Seven Communications Partner On “Pawtition” To Get Pets On Public Transport
B&T's concerned about the fleas, urine & faeces on public transport - and that's just from fellow passengers!
‘A Win-Win’ – How The Matildas Helped CommBank Become A ‘Globally Iconic Brand’ For The First Time
CommBank's sponsorship of the Matildas is a sport marketing masterclass. The opposite to Nick Kyrgios & his sponsors.
VML Australia Dominates The One Show With 5 Gold Pencils
VML Australia flying the flag at the One Show Awards in New York. Not that we need more flag waving at the moment.
Social Soup: Consumers Looking For “Informative” Not “Funny” Social Content When Making Buying Decisions
In a further blow to ventriloquism everywhere, new research says consumers prefer information over funny videos.
GIO Unveils New “Protect Precious” Brand Positioning & Campaign, Via Ogilvy
Insurer asks what's precious in our lives in new work. Which is better than asking is this business highly flammable.
Digitas & Heckler Singapore Launch Animated Symphony For Riot Game’s Valorant Champions Tour Pacific
Stony silence between you and the graphic arts team at Friday drinks? This gaming news could be an ice breaker.
Wavemaker Global CEO Toby Jenner Appointed Global President, GroupM Clients
Wavemaker’s Toby Jenner continues his career trajectory. But is it enough to move him up to the first class lounge?
Fast 10: Mindshare Head Honcho Maria Grivas On Her “Resting Smiling Face”
Mindshare is having a very fruitful 2024. Here, CEO Maria Grivas reveals her fertilisers & pruning tips to success.
Real Home Care Clients & Staff Star In New HammondCare Campaign
Aged care commercial uses real life clients & staff. B&T has not contacted the actor's union for comment.
Mutinex’s Henry Innis: “I’m Imperfect As A Leader”
Mutinex is being touted as one of the hottest start-ups in the land. And we don't mean that in an Elizabeth Holmes way.
Slew Of Senior Hires At Sparro by Brainlabs & Jack Nimble
B&T loves to report new hires as it shows the healthy state of the industry. That and cocaine usage at work functions.
Initiative’s Fein, Geer, Colter To Depart For Accenture Song
As you read first in B&T, there are significant comings-and-goings at Initiative. Though mainly goings, if we're honest.
Pizza Hut Fined $2.5m For Spamming Customers
To be honest, if you're going to spam customers, cheap pizza deals is probably on the low side of the dodgy scale.
Jetstar & Qantas Perception Ratings Soar After Bonza Cancelled Flights, YouGov Finds
This poll is further proof nothing builds a positive brand image like your competitor monumentally f@cking up.
Pedigree Launches AI-Powered Ad Initiative To Give All Dogs A Home, Via Colenso BBDO & Nexus Studios
B&T encourages this dog adoption initiative. And that's despite us barely being able to look after our own selves.
Apparent Launches “All Heart, No hassle” Integrated Campaign For Flight Centre’s Corporate Traveller
Apparent charged with Flight Centre's Corporate Traveller creative. Has avoided any gags about stolen hotel bathrobes.
South African Tourism CMO: ‘We Want Consumers To Experience SA Through The Eyes Of A Child’
B&T chats with South African tourism's Aussie CMO. Admittedly, we had to quickly rectify our Barossa Valley questions.
Market Research Firm TRA Names KFC’s “Look On the Fried Side Of Life” As Australia’s Favourite Ad
A poll of everyday Aussies has revealed our favourite ads. And it'll make difficult reading for the Harvey Norman team.
‘A Big, Big Step In The Right Direction’: Media Buyers React To News Corp’s D_Coded
There was a universal thumbs up for News' D_Coded event. Although there were calls for glitter bombs at the finale.
CommBank Announced As Presenting Partner Of Vogue Codes 2024
Vogue Codes is a top initiative encouraging women into STEM-based careers. All while wearing Jimmy Choos, apparently.
Brad Garbutt Joins OMA As Marketing Lead
Seasoned adlander Garbutt joins the outdoor association. Says he's got the DOOH down pat, but working on the PDOOH.
TV Ratings 15/5/24: Gruen Pulls A Crowd For Aunty As It Enters 16th Season
Although B&T typically shuns predictions, we're expecting big numbers for Peter Dutton's Budget reply speech tonight.
D_Coded panel: ‘If You Are A Marketer Handling Data And Haven’t Spoken To Legal, You’re In Trouble’
This fiery panel was a highlight of Tuesday's D_Coded event. Not that it spilled out into the carpark.
SBS Audio Campaign Tells The Stories Of New Australians, With Multilingual Content Offerings To Assist Migrants
SBS Audio has launched a new marketing campaign for its ‘Australia Explained’ service which supports new migrants to successfully navigate life in Australia and achieve a greater sense of belonging and social cohesion. SBS’s flagship service for new migrants, Australia explained, has launched a multi-platform marketing campaign that reaches into the heart of the migrant […]
Tracker App Launches, Promising Consumers A Read On Brand’s & Products Sustainability Chops
Shoppers can now get access to sustainability information at their fingertips through Tracker, a first-of-its-kind mobile app. The Tracker app centralises sustainability data into a single, easy-to-understand format, helping shoppers make informed choices about the brands and products they support. Shoppers can simply scan the barcode of their favourite supermarket, chemist or department store item […]
Channel Factory Expands Team Across Australia & New Zealand By 20%
Social media agency Channel Factory announces a significant lift in staff numbers. Doesn't thank Tuesday's Budget.
Jaywing Extends Strategy Team Appointing Fran Martin As Senior Brand Strategist
As is often said, you can never have too much strategy. Same can't be said of programmatic & AI.
Tourism Tasmania Taps Broadsheet For Latest “Off Season” Campaign Iteration
Do you like to drape yourself in sheepskin, flannelette & weird, wooly hats? Tasmania in winter is for you.
Netball WA Appoints 303 MullenLowe As Brand Strategy partner
Netball WA appoints 303 MullenLowe for its brand strategy. Any mention of Gina also now strictly forbidden.