The need for social distancing in the post-lockdown world has made going online imperative for businesses to survive and thrive in the changed business landscape. A large number of brands have gone online for the first time recently, others who already have an online presence are working towards further strengthening it. The online marketing is going to get crowded and closely contested space with brands adopting more or less similar digital marketing techniques to spread awareness, enhance engagement and ensure conversions.
Contrary to popular belief, taking the business online and realising the marketing goals will be a challenging task for brands. Brands will have to work hard to grab a pie of the new ecommerce boom sweeping the world. The only way brands can achieve this goal is by providing memorable customer experiences in all their online initiatives.
Take a look at how brands can enhance online experiences.
Virtual events
Whether you’re organising online conferences, web meetings or webinars, you need to deliver fantastic customer experiences to hold the attention of the participants till the end. Visually-appealing backgrounds having the product branding in webinars and web meetings conducted via Microsoft Teams, Zoom or other similar platforms can make participants absorb the theme of the event and feel being part of it. Live demos by experts at virtual events can encourage participants to watch it completely, ask questions and get their answers to them. Quizzes by an emcee at regular intervals enabling participants to win vouchers can go a long way in retaining their interest till the end. Games, especially those involving AR, can be organised to break the monotony and keep participants’ engagement levels high in the subsequent sessions. A mechanism to help participants share their feedback in real-time can be a great way to ensure their active participation. Similarly, integrating the social sharing feature to the virtual event can lead to the building of ample social media buzz.
Virtual Showroom
Virtual showrooms are all set to become mainstream in the post-lockdown world. While developing a virtual showroom for your brand, you should lay particular emphasis on offering an unmatched experience. The goal should be to replicate the experience that consumers get in physical showrooms in an online environment. You can do so by enabling visitors to take a virtual tour, see the products displayed from different angles, find product-related content, better understand the product features and benefits through exciting videos and check out offers, deals and financing options. For high-value products, live demos by a sales representative based on prior appointments can be organised. This will allow prospective consumers to get answers to their queries in real-time, just like the brick and mortar stores.
Ecommerce
The new ecommerce boom that has started due to the pandemic is going to get bigger over time. To make the most of it, you need to create an ecommerce website design that offers an engaging user interface and experience. Make sure that consumers can find the product they are looking for easily, check out its features and benefits and explore how the product will help them meet their current needs. Equip your ecommerce website with exciting videos that highlight the ease of using your products. Offer ample and easily discoverable information on offers, deals and financing options. Ensure that your website loads faster, both on desktops and smartphones. And, check the payment mechanism for bottlenecks from time to time to avoid consumers losing interest and moving away to other sites. Moreover, you can have an AI Sales Representative for a quick resolution to consumer queries at any time of the day.
Chatbots
The role of chatbots has increased manifold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers may be looking for information about your products and services, but are reluctant to visit your stores. Chatbots can help bridge this gap by providing them with the required information from anywhere, anytime. But having a Chatbot isn't enough, having a good one is. Invest in a chatbot powered by Artificial Intelligence to understand consumer queries better and respond to them satisfactorily. Such chatbots can also be used to provide better customer support as they can be programmed to access the information about your current customers in real-time and ensure faster query resolutions. Moreover, AI-powered chatbots can empower you to offer multi-lingual support so that you can overcome the language barriers and expand your market reach.
Website
When consumers hear about your brand, first of all, they do an online search to see your website. Therefore, getting your website in order is the first step to ensure online marketing success. You should invest your time and money in creating a seamless user interface and experience. Develop a user-friendly website flow so that consumers can find the information they are looking for quickly and easily. Show them the content they are likely to be interested in based on their past browsing experience. And, avoid making your website text-heavy by striking a balance between text and video content.
Another aspect of offering a compelling website experience is the use of the right technology. With mobile browsing on the rise and data speeds varying in different parts of the country, it is crucial to ensure that your website downloads smoothly on mobile devices. Building a PWA or AMP website can help ensure this and keep your search rankings high without huge SEO investments.
In the post-lockdown world, brands will have to compete online to garner a share of consumers' wallet to survive and thrive. The only mantra for online success for brands in such a scenario is to provide their consumers with captivating experiences so that they remain with the brands for a more extended period.
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