• by Russell Kern , February 9, 2022

How marketers market has always been ripe for reinvention. Today is no different. In fact, it’s more evident than ever that a reimagining is necessary in how we connect with multiple cohorts across multiple channels. The likes of Amazon, Target, and Netflix have certainly seen to that.

Enter the new consumers, who wants what they want, when they want it — with personalized recommendations on top of it.

Many marketers were quick to respond, believing technology held the answer to meeting the new consumer demand. It alone, however, can’t improve customer experience.

Not that technology doesn’t have its place. Your tech stack must be able to adapt and deliver messaging in near-real-time. Taking two days to send an email personalized to an individual’s shopping behavior is almost like sending no email at all. Another brand able to fulfill the desire for instant gratification can easily pick up the slack, and you’ll lose the sale.

Though speed is everything in marketing these days, that message will do nothing for conversion without relevance. It must resonate with consumers if you expect anyone to click, share, buy, or act.

Technology often falls short in this arena — and that’s where human creativity comes in. Technology used in tandem with marketer ingenuity offers the speed and relevance necessary to keep pace with the changing dynamic of the consumer marketplace.

Seeing that the new consumer is what some might call a multi-cohort buyer, brands are no longer competing — at least in terms of experience — with just direct competitors. Today, expectations are often set by the last brand interaction, meaning a brand is now competing with everyone. If a consumer comes to your site after a great experience on an unrelated site, that individual will decide within  50 milliseconds (according to an oft-cited study from Behaviour & Information Technology) whether they like what you’re offering.

And from a neuromarketing perspective, the fear of missing out or making a mistake is far greater than the emotional gain from a purchase. One study found that 62% of consumers, when given $50 and a choice to lose $20 of it or gamble all of it, were more likely to take the gamble.

Reduce the risk by adding another layer to the marketing equation with the addition of trust. Some of the most successful retailers, for instance, have a “100% satisfaction guarantee, no questions asked” policy. Find which trust factors work best for your target audience, and then go with the best option for each cohort.

The changing dynamic of the consumer marketplace requires marketers to really rethink how they connect with consumers. People make snap decisions these days, so you need to get the right message in front of the right person at the right time on the right channel — that’s a lot of “rights” to balance. But it’s all possible with a combination of technology and human creativity. Remove one, and your messaging will either arrive too late or fall too flat to win the sale.