Over the past decade, marketing technology (or simply MarTech) has continued to advance at a rapid pace and there’s no indication of this trend slowing down in 2020. Some of the key factors fueling these quick changes include evolving consumer behaviors as well as the development of new technologies.
If you are looking to remain relevant in the highly competitive online marketing industry in 2020, the following five trends offer a good place to start.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is gradually but steadily taking over most aspects of human life where precision and efficiency are required. Put simply, this tech entails using robots or machines that come with the ability to work and ‘think’ like humans to execute tasks. In most cases, AI robots use sensors as well as some form of human input to collect and store information about a given task or situation. This means a majority of them keep getting better with increased exposure to the environment – same way humans gather more experience as they get older.
Take for example tools like Zendesk and Freshdesk which are excellent chatbots for online companies looking to automate their customer support. The two are very good at taking instructions from web visitors and answering common questions based on the information their managers have fed to them and memory from past interactions with other users. Implementing this tech in 2020 could see you save a lot of money in customer support costs and also improve your overall user experience.
Customer retention
Studies show that it costs as much as five times to book in a new client as it does to keep an existing one. As such, if you’re looking for ways to save money and time while growing your business in 2020, it would pay to keep your customers happy which is the first step to boosting brand loyalty.
So, how can you improve customer retention?
Well, there’s no one-fits-all tactic that will keep customers coming back to you for business, but there are a number of proven ways you can use to improve their overall experience. For starters, personalization is key in enhancing the retention of your existing customers. Try to personalize any interactions you have with them to ensure that they feel appreciated and well taken care of. In addition, improve their experience every time they are visiting your website. You can begin by making sure your site loads swiftly without lags. MangoMatter recently reviewed some of the best web hosts that can help to improve your site’s overall load speed.
Mobile and voice searches
Mobile searches now account for more than half of all searches while the popularity of voice searches is growing at an equally steady growth with more expected in 2020. As a forward-thinking marketer with a brand to look after, these trends ought to send a warning to you. It’s probably a good time to stop putting too much focus on text-based searches and consider optimizing for voice and mobile too.
Begin by ensuring that your selected content management system, themes, and plugins are all mobile responsive. In addition, consider implementing machine learning with natural language processing capabilities to help with voice search optimization.
Hyper-targeted advertising
resources. But that is not all. Potential customers can end up hating your brand if you keep bombarding them with irrelevant and aggressive ads that follow them everywhere on the web.
To avoid this kind of situation, try to conduct thorough market research, taking into consideration quality consumer data that provides you with accurate insights on specific customer preferences and needs. This way, you’ll be able to create and send tailored messages that your audience appreciates and is willing to click and act upon.
Data transparency
2018 marked the year when the GDPR policy was finally enforced to safeguard consumer data and to also control how companies and brands handle their sensitive customer information. Emphasis on this policy will certainly continue in the future and it’s therefore vital that you’re doing everything right.
To be on the safe side, consider implementing the following simple tips to boost transparency in your business:
- State clearly what your company values and ethos are. More importantly, stick to them.
- Whenever customers raise an issue about your company or its products online, try to sort it as soon as you possibly can.
- Try to remain transparent about your company activities, plans, and even finance books. This will help to boost customer confidence and trust.
What are your marketing plans and strategies for 2020? Let us know in the comments.
