COMPLACENT MARKETING
Digital Body Language:
It Matters!
By Diana Obath
O
nline transactions are increasingly
growing
and
most
online
purchases are heavily impulsive.
Building connections with digital
customers is becoming more and more
important. This is now being compared to
creating an in-store experience online.
When battling to stand out in a congested
and highly contested digital space, being
able to cut through the clutter remains an
invaluable advantage. We all know that the
growth of remarketing is making digital
retail a cut-throat business. Remarketing
has the power to serve your ‘existing
customer’ a similar product from another
site at half the price they just purchased it
from you. That could be the number one
reason why keeping customers online is
difficult as most interactions are touch and
go.
By no means is this a ground-breaking
discovery, but it sets the stage for the
need for online brands and online
sales to begin to develop a digital body
language that customers will instantly be
endeared to once they purchase a product
from your e-store or social media page.
Personalization of content is one step
into this space but still does not guarantee
loyalty.
A more thorough understanding of
customer’s state of mind must be the next
level of digital interactions. Talk about
data mining and artificial intelligence
has clouded marketing discourse, yet the
outcomes of these tools remain to be seen
in present day marketing.
Only a few weeks ago after buying shoes
from a site I can barely remember, having
been led there from a Facebook post
that was served to me, I got a phone call
from a young enthusiastic sales man. He
reconfirmed my name and expressed his
gratitude for taking his call. He then asked
As trained, experienced and accredited
marketing professionals, we have long
believed in the key activations based
on a rigid, planned calendar that are
targeted to fluid customers. We must
begin to get in sync with the digital
body language of our customers and
work our online strategies around the
drastic shifts in consumer demand.
06 MAL30/19 ISSUE
if I liked the shoes I bought from their
site. I said I did. He also asked if they
looked the same as what I had seen online
when I visited their Facebook page. I said
yes. He then asked how comfortable they
were and if I would like another pair in a
different color.
I was surprised because this had been
an impulse purchase. I needed the shoes
for an event I was attending and had no
intention of buying more than one pair.
I politely said one pair would suffice. He
went ahead to tell me that they also have
gym shoes, ballet shoes. Kids and men’s
shoes, in case I was interested. He asked
for my email address and politely ended
the call.
I had barely gotten over the understanding
that he got my phone number from the
Mpesa message, when I saw an email
from the store. The e-shot has a whole
range of shoes for kids, ladies and men
and attached was a 25% discount voucher.
I sat back and retraced this purchase and
wondered why I deserved the discount.
It started with an ad that was served to me
from a Facebook page I don’t even follow
which led me into an impulse purchase
from a site I barely knew, to speaking
to a customer agent I didn’t even give
my number to a 25% discount voucher I
didn’t even ask for, that was going to push
me into another impulse purchase.
Obviously, I was intrigued by this customer
journey on a Ksh. 2,500/= pair of shoes. I
was more pleased by how this company -
probably operating from a dining table or
container somewhere in Nairobi - given