Who remembers buying a car in the 1990s? I can remember my Dad looking in the newspaper or on TV. Then, the trips to the dealerships started. Long trips, He went to multiple dealerships, spoke to a lot of sales people, drove a lot of cars, got the ‘best deal’ from a few places and made a decision. When my wife bought a car, she went online, looked at reviews, looked at ratings from experts and industry publications, looked at features, colors and styles. Looked online at inventory. Emailed the dealerships to compare each other and finally went in. By the time we stepped foot on the lot, the deal was nearly done.
A shift happened – the buyer’s journey has shifted from a generic, seller-controlled process to a buyer-powered, self-guided tour. What were buyer-seller interactions like before this shift?
- Rich, personal, face-to-face conversations
- Seller qualified the buyer and tailored offers
- Buyer explored options and asked questions
- Both buyer and seller adapted to these exchanges
Conversely, what have buyer-seller interactions been like lately? Buyers wander in the dark, searching, sorting, and sifting, for static data points from a sea of information. Sellers too often scream at buyers from glorified digital billboards with generic content. Truly interactive, engaging, two-way communications between buyers and sellers are few and far between.
The Solution
What if you could bring the best of previous era human conversations to your new era digital marketing? Rather than using static, one-way web sites and generic email blasts, but with adaptive web sites based on needs, hyper-personalized relevant emails, and custom nurturing based on funnel stage. Personalized website content boosts conversion rates by 219%, and personalized emails boost click rates by 29% and click rates by 41%! Companies that succeed will adapt by providing plentiful, hyper-personalized communications, experiences and resources to facilitate the buyer’s journey.
Marketing automation is the key to leveraging this marketing strategy – for more information, check out this presentation by SharpSpring.
