Customers today are connected like never before. Nearly 75 per cent of new users and more than half of India’s internet users in 2015 are likely to be mobile-only subscribers. The mobile phone has revolutionised the way we communicate and is transforming societies in a way that we cannot begin to imagine.

Customers access information, compare products and services, talk and shop on the go. The offline and online experience of the brand is significantly influencing their buying decision. Social media platforms are becoming the preferred channels of communications for customers to engage with brands. These trends indicate the changing customer behaviour. Customers today are more empowered, demanding, discerning and shape brands’ engagement.

In such a dynamic environment, every marketer strives to build brand loyalty and sustainable relationships with these new-age, connected customers. Indentifying customer’s future needs is becoming critical while catering to their existing requirements. The challenge for marketers is to move from building brands to building customer relationships. Marketers not only need to keep pace with the changing customer expectations, but devise ways to capture and harness vast knowledge to build deeper customer engagement.

Today, customers engage with a brand through multiple touch points – retail, social media, direct marketing, and such. Identifying the right customer for the product with the relevant message also becomes a challenge. Creating a sustained two-way dialogue with the existing and potential customers forms an important aspect towards this goal. Developing a collaborative approach amongst the team and consumers is another task for a marketer to offer differentiated customer experiences. For instance, seeking customer feedback after launching a product and co-creating products on the basis of customer suggestions might work well as they are increasingly influencing brand’s offerings.

Leveraging technology, harnessing existing data to gain consumer insights, developing digital and dynamic marketing strategy will play an important role in delivering great customer service and building on the relationships.

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Published on May 21, 2015