Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Lazar Bošković, Creative Director, AgitPROP agency
The continuation of yesterday’s article about omnichannel marketing tells us about all channels that are part of it, gives us a survey of what makes a real omnichannel consumer experience: internet sites, social media, mobiles, promotion and advertising, new technologies, software solutions, reports and analysis, means of payment and sales locations.
Internet site(s)
A company or brand can have one or any number of internet sites, on one internet domaine (or more subdomains) or any number of domaines (national and/or global). If you look at allocation, sites can be home sites (company/corporation), a web shop (one or more), user service site, (micro) site of individual brands/products/services… Websites may differ from country to country and/or market or language, this makes internet domaines crucially important for the protection of internet identity and the brand.
The most important aspect of each site is content – people visit and revisit a site because of it. Google searches for content, and for a long time now internet searches have been made using mobiles.
The question is not whether the site should have a responsive design but whether mobile- first approach (site designed primarily for mobile phones) should be used? The third component of a site can tell us a lot about its importance – the technology it is based on – its name is CMS – Content Management System.
E-shop online catalogues are very often a first port of call for a prospective customer. Internet sites should have a good quality SEO – Search Engine Optimization enabling ease of access for their customers and positioning of their site in search engines using keywords to increase site visits.
We must not forget SMO – Social Media Optimization which enables site content to be shared on social media again with the aim of increasing the number of site visits. Research shows that online shoppers spend 9 seconds on any site, 33% of shoppers check web shops before visiting a high street store, and 40% of internet users globally bought products online.
Social Media
Depending on the industry and target audience, a company chooses social media for their company pages. The most usual DM solution includes Facebook, YouTube or Instagram which are, according to research, the most popular amongst Serbian millennials. Other players are Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, as well as specialised social media aimed at a younger audience or an audience with specialised interest.
Alongside web sites, a company can have several different social media pages depending on their activity, country, language…Certain social media groups, functioning as a loyal customers groups are particularly useful. Cleverly used social media can achieve a high level of user engagement.
Social Commerce is a social media subset of e-commerce that involves social media, online media that support user contributions to assist online buying and selling of products and services (by rating, searches, recommendations).
Mobile phones
Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) is a subset of e-commerce and can be defined as a sales of goods and services using hand held devices, 24% of global e-commerce is done via mobile commerce, 69% of tablet owners shop online and 67 % of people shop using mobile phone.
Mobile phone shoppers use their phones to find products and services either by text or voice search. They can log in to a web shop, social media and by doing so leave a trail of data such as present location, phone number and other preferences they are often not aware of. Mobile phone enables voice, SMS, MMS and email communication by the user with the company they are interested in.
90% of people use their smart phone whilst in a high street shop, 54% compare prices, 48% search product information and 42% check for recommendations. In some shops, the customers can use a mobile device supplied by the shop if theirs is not to hand.
Regarding mobile applications there are two key issues: which type of business really need an app (if they already have mobile optimised site) and if they do need an app whether to have a cross – platform app both for Android and iOS devices.
Promotion and advertising
Today, e-commerce platforms enable varied direct promotional activities. They can offer an overview of the latest products, emailing a friend and a mass email campaigns, Facebook pixel, Google summary, special offers, an option to “buy X and get Y”, coupons and vouchers etc..
Traditional media, due to digital transformation, are slowly losing their original look and their slice of advertising budgets. TV, radio, print and billboards have already created their digital platforms and formats, and their success largely depends on their ability to adapt to online business. TV, radio, newspapers and magazines sites have joined the race for online visits numbers to increase their advertising space, offering precise targeting of customers and potential customers. SEM – Search Engine Marketing is a form of paid advertising via search engines, with the aim of increasing the number of searches. SMM – Social Media Marketing is a form of paid advertising on social media with an aim of reaching the highest number of users from the target audience. The most effective marketing for both groups is to use content marketing.
The pressure to enforce consumer data protection is growing, to avoid misuse and overuse by advertisers. The EU adopted GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which will fine any company breaching the data protection rules up to 4% of their annual income or 20 million Euros. This tackles the problem of spam at its root, especially email, SMS and unsolicited phone calls.
Email marketing is a promotional sending emails to the interested consumers and assumes permission by the recipient. This is an aspect of direct advertising, for which permission by the recipient is required. It is regulated by four domestic laws (Law on Advertising, Law on Consumer Protection, Electronic Communication and Electronic Commerce). A message is considered a spam if it is a part of unsolicited mass communication, and if it is repeated for too long it becomes a criminal act.
New technology
IoT – Internet of Things is a network of devices able to gather information and send it via the internet to other devices and people can use that data to make quick decisions or act upon it.
Thanks to different sensors (mainly based on RFID technology) and monitoring systems it enables the gathering of in store customer behaviours, with the goal to reduce wastage and increase revenue. The Internet of Things enables shoppers to receive information about special offers when in close proximity to the shop, there are also smart shelves, shopping baskets and smart payment enabling the shopper a seamless experience.
VR – Virtual Reality requires special equipment – VR goggles (with or without smartphone) offering the user 3d virtual reality. It is used for research into customers’ behaviour in shops, as well as choosing your new kitchen, different spec for your car or virtual whiskey drinking in the mountains of Scotland.
AR – Augmented Reality allows shoppers to visualise products wherever they are by using their mobile device camera. They can check the product without going to the shop whether the furniture fits in their room or where to put their new TV before purchasing it. One can also try on makeup or clothes and gather more information on the product.
Software solutions
The business digital transformation brought many outsourcing solutions in the form of SaaS – Software as a Service, offering off the shelf software developed by the provider and stored in the cloud.
Companies who really wish to get ahead must use CRM – Customer Relationship Management to be able to advance communication and relationships with their clients, to promote their products and services and maximize revenue streams. CRM usually comes in a package with ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning to optimise business management, communication and cooperation with suppliers and customers.
The Big Data solution is vital for the processing of an enormous amount of customer data, it is equally important for the visualisation of the data. EDI – Electronic Data Interchange adds to standardisation and improves transaction speed. Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems with the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. It allows for the monitoring of user activity and improves functionality of sales.
Reports and analysis
In addition to HTTP cookies, tracking code allows websites and e-shops to see what users do after they’ve clicked on the page. It is a snippet of code that needs to be installed on HTML web page to track conversions and sends data to Google analytics. Facebook pixel can be also be embedded allowing for the monitoring of the effectiveness of Facebook advertising leading to the site.
Conversion rate is defined as the number of visitors to a website that complete a desired goal (more site visits, increase in sales and number of registered users…) out of the total number of visitors.
Modern e-commerce software solutions allow the monitoring of sales in real time and a graphic presentation of the statistics, lists and details of orders, creating PDF invoices, site reports and Google analytics, history of orders and an overview of sales on the global map.
Customer Journey Mapping is a visualization of the process that a customer goes through when in contact with a company. It’s used for a visual presentation of all interactions a customer has had with a company or brand.
CXM – Customer Experience Management is a collection of processes a company uses to track, oversee and organize every interaction between the customer and the company in order to optimise the experience and encourage customer loyalty.
Ways of payment
Payment as a service platform supports hundreds of global and local online methods of payment and offer eshops a unique interface as the simplest solution for their needs. Crypto currency, bitcoin for example, and instant payment available 24/7 completing transactions in seconds have changed e-commerce for good.
Customers wanting to shop wherever and whenever, without queuing, has been facilitated by mPOS – Mobile Point of Sale, which are wireless devices functioning as a till or a point of sale terminal. Mobile Wallets are a new means of payment intended for contactless payment using a smartphone or tablet.
Sales locations
From the customers perspective, the distinction between online and offline sales locations is not acceptable, this includes online and offline marketing channels and ways of payment. The high street shops will not disappear as was predicted – they will adapt to a new transformed, digital environment. Bricks and clicks is a term for the modern merchants, who combine traditional commerce with electronic services of supply, sales and communications.
It has become much easier to start e-commerce online business, there are numerous software solutions on the market. The new trends in e-commerce are emerging. The model B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer) is integration of previous models B2B and B2C where B1 sells their products and services to C (consumer) via B2, an experienced e-merchant and their online infrastructure.
Dropshipping is a model based on eshops exclusively dedicated to product promotion and attracting customers without any physical contact with the merchandise. The manufacturers receive orders from dropshipping eshops, they than pack and send the product to the customer.
The millennials like to deal with brands directly, which brought in a new business model D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) to the detriment of traditional distribution channels. O2O (Online to Offline)is a sales strategy for attracting potential customers from online channels to offline shops, because many people still like to feel the product or are distrustful of online shopping.
The omnichannel conclusion
All that has been written above is just the start of a new marketing era. The technology and its practical use is in constant flux and require new ways of thinking by consumers, merchants and marketing people.
One thing is certain – all new solutions are based on IT and are strongly connected with the internet. It is extremely important to use the services of an internet consultant with a knowledge of marketing, in order to use all the available tools correctly. An internet consultant can design your Online Presence Strategy as a key guide for the company’s performance on the Internet.