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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Digital Consumers - Opportunities

I wrote this for a blog in my office. Just publicizing it here as well, though topic is little for from Cloud.:-)

Last week, I wanted to buy a mobile phone. I went to many websites to see the review and finally had 3 mobiles in my list of things to buy. I posted these three names in Facebook, twitter and in Infosys BB and asked for personal reviews. The replies that I got helped me to decide on which one to buy. When I went to the store to the buy, I was a ‘digital customer’ who didn’t need any help from the store employee. When I didn’t find the mobile that I wanted to buy, the store employee tried to sell a different mobile to me. But I had already done my research and I pointed out the pitfalls in the mobile. He was surprised with my knowledge and said “We don’t carry the mobile you are looking for. But our website has all the models on sale. Please order from the website”. I also want you note to that this is a story in India, still a developing country in terms of ‘Digital customers’.

Things have changed with broadband connectivity. Today’s digital customer posts the enterprises with a newer set of challenges/opportunities which were unheard of in the past. Let me try to list a few of them which are more relevant in the current context.

1. Today’s customer is well informed about the product that she wants to buy and has got personal reviews from her ‘Social Network’ friends. She will be a tough customer to sell a different product other than one that she has in her mind. How well the salesperson in store/customer service is enabled to handle these kind of customers? How internal systems help the salesperson to gain more knowledge about the product than what is available in open web.

2. Price comparisons are done online and discounts on marked-up prices will be captured easily. Customers know what is the median price range of a product and hence will easily find out fake promotions. Are systems enabled to grab the competitor pricing for a product and report them to the internal pricing team?

3. A digital customer wants a pure digital experience, as in, from ordering online to customer service either through online or phone. Are the systems equipped enough to give a complete digital experience?
4. Digital marketing/advertisement. As the customer discusses more and more about her plans of shopping for a product in the open ‘Social Network’ space, are systems equipped enough to capture this conversation and do targeted marketing? A famous line in Ad world is that, “50% of money spent on advertisement is waste, only that no one knows which 50%”. This targeted advertisement in ‘Social Network’ can yield a better success rate than 50%. What more, this advertisement can be done in a subtle way that consumer may not realize it as an advertisement.

5. As the ‘customer cribs’ on a product are now mostly vented out on the ‘Social Network’ space, are the systems equipped enough to capture them and report them as ‘customer feedback’ to the product development team/customer support representatives?

6. Creating brand ambassadors all over the digital space. A recommendation by a friend will weigh more these days than a recommendation by a famous sports star. So can systems help businesses to create brand ambassadors all over the ‘Social Network’ space to do unpaid advertisements.

As the customer spends more and more time on internet, investment on any of the above opportunities is sure to yield good returns. There are a few enterprises who have already taken these investments seriously and are laying out their strategies. The technology related to these challenges are in early stages and early adapters will get a lead advantage over others.

Needless to say that, I ordered my mobile online and I am very happy with my purchase. Thanks to ‘The Social Network’ which helped me to make that decision.