Did your 2021 marketing strategy go exactly as you had planned it at the start of the year? There’s a strong possibility that you might have had to make changes to it at some point due to constantly changing consumer behavior. But the most successful brands were able to pivot quickly and efficiently in response to the evolving shopping habits and routines.
New advertising formats, privacy regulations, and emerging consumer behaviors significantly impacted marketers’ approach towards their digital campaigns in 2021.
So, here we are with a 2021 marketing review that will help you formulate a robust marketing strategy for 2022.
1. CTVs Aren’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon
CTV has emerged as the fastest-growing advertising platform. With its excellent targeting capabilities, strong user engagement, and sustained opportunities for continued growth amid lighter competition, CTV has become the rising star of video content. A Wyzowl survey revealed that 96% of the people surveyed had watched an explainer video to find more information about a product or service. 84% of the respondents also said that the video motivated them to make the purchase.
COVID-19 further pushed people who hadn’t interacted with online videos previously to get more comfortable with the concept. Almost 80% of U.S. households now stream video to a connected device. With streaming services quickly emerging as the new standard of entertainment, savvy marketers must now put a lot more thought into incorporating CTV ads as an integral part of their campaigns.
2. Ad Personalization Is the Key
2021 saw marketers balance their relevant personalization with potential over-invasiveness that puts off customers. Personalization in marketing campaigns can help marketers focus their efforts and budgets while also giving maximizing the potential of their ROI. A lot of useful data emerged in 2021, which gave valuable insights into the degree of personalization that is acceptable while shopping online.
For instance, 67.9% of the consumers welcomed a product recommendation based on their purchase history. 67.7% of the consumers appreciated receiving a birthday email. 61.6% of the consumers thought that an email reminding them of an item in their cart was appropriate.
Other than these, consumers also don’t seem to mind getting notifications from a site or platform that they engage with regularly. For example, 52.4% of the consumers don’t mind seeing ads of a site they have recently visited. Also, 21% of the customers don’t mind seeing pop-up ads for an item that they have been talking about lately.
Not many shoppers like to be bombarded with spam ads or emails. This is exactly why most of them respond more positively to ads that have been adapted to their taste. Enhancing their brand’s personalization practices benefits both the brand as well as the customers, thereby, building trust and loyalty amongst the shoppers.
3. Live Chat Continues Its Phenomenal Rise in Customer Service But SMS Adoption Lags
Any business works best when your customer service is at par with your marketing performance. It is understandable because easy access to your experts would instill in shoppers a send of confidence, which is of particular essence at a time when uncertainty is running rampant and consumers are looking for a safe, fast, and convenient place to make their purchases.
While Live Chat adoption is consistently growing across the retail space, there’s still enough room for improvement in how easy marketers make it for shoppers to contact customer service. This ranges from the basic inclusion of customer service information on the website to communicating through SMS.
While the aspect of customer service in e-commerce is of prime essence, how easily shoppers connect to customer service is even more significant. There’s still much room for improvement when it comes to making the audience aware of customer service communication paths.
4. Social Platforms Take Notice of the E-commerce Boom
Despite the flexibility in COVID-related protocols in different parts of the world, the time spent by consumers online continued surging. This clearly indicated more views on videos, more ad engagement, and more time spent in discovering products.
In June 2021, Bloomberg reported an increase in ‘Revenge Shopping”- an urge to go for impulse purchases both online and in-store to account for the social distancing measures and other Covid-related challenges. Many industries also observed a sudden boom in sales as user behavior adapted to post-pandemic conditions.
For instance, Amazon luggage sales increased by 460% compared to the previous year, which indicates a substantial rise in vacation and leisure trip planning. They also reported a tripling in the sales of party-fashion as there has been a gradual return of in-person events.
5. Retail Invests in In-Store Convenience & Safety
The ever-changing consumer behavior along with a steady increase in online sales has forced retailers to re-invent the in-store experience over the last year. The pandemic played a critical role in this shift in priority.
Instead of investing in physical experiences and community-building activities throughout 2021, retailers have laid special emphasis on reimagining their in-store footprints by investing in new fulfillment models and finding new ways to develop a safe physical space that pushes for in-store purchases.
Wrapping Up
Staying up-to-date with changing consumer behavior means being in tune with the changes in consumer expectations. This will not only help you monitor the success of your marketing efforts but also strategize better. However, this requires an agile and proactive approach and keeping your eyes open at all times to the ever-evolving trends. In 2021, that meant personalization, CTVs, and live chats. Let’s see what 2022 has in store for us. Cheerio!
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