Customers journeys differ radically
Stepmiles insights, based on thousands of different user journeys over the last 5 years period, indicate unique shopping behavior among users. Even when shopping within the same product categories, consumers follow different paths to purchase. The reason behind this is that technology today allows users to have more control over their path to purchase, at the moments and touchpoints of their choice.
Personalization based on consolidated, cross-channel user data is key. Marketers must show up at the media touchpoints when people need assistance during their journeys. Anticipating when people expect to be assisted and knowing their intent, will make or break brands’ success, both in the short and long term.
Understanding the customer types, as well as their needs, interests and behavior gives brands an advantage over competitors. For instance, some users are bigger spenders than others and thus are worth investing more into digital campaigns that target them. While others, as uncovered by our data analytics, may rather be a waste of ad spend and optimization efforts.
Finally, the speed at which brands tackle customer needs and anticipate intention is vital. Certainly, technology helps meet today’s requirement for carrying fast and efficient digital marketing initiatives that create less bumpy experiences. Thus, it is important to prioritize mobile strategy, automation and machine learning to influence cross-channel performance. Aligning strategy with intent and interactions along users’ diverse paths to purchase is critical.
