10 Ways To Achieve Multichannel Commerce In the Year of the Digital Customer – Part 3: Content as a Differentiator

10 Ways To Achieve Multichannel Commerce In the Year of the Digital Customer – Part 3: Content as a Differentiator:

CHAPTER 3: Content as a Differentiator

65% of online users aged 18-24 considered information shared on social networks when making a purchasing decision (source: eMarketer)

Now, we all know the importance of ‘making a good first impression’, and there are a plethora of web development tools out there that can allow us to render even the dullest of propositions or Brands digitally cool. However, when we scratch away at the veneer, where is the hook that truly engages us, or compels us to return? What is it, that beyond that first digital impression, holds the attention of the new digital customer? The answer is in the value that they can elicit from the content you provide or – perhaps more importantly – the quality of the content that you can syndicate and present to an engaged audience that is contextually relevant and independently substantiated.

Today’s Digital Customer doesn’t follow a traditional marketing funnel approach where they are driven down a Brand or Retailer’s pre-defined ‘lead to cash’ model. They look around for information and syndicate this themselves from various sites, forums, social networks etc, BEFORE visiting a site to transact or engage. Now imagine how much more engaged they would be when they reach your site and find that all of this information is openly and transparently shared to help them (the customer) make an informed choice. The more a customer is able to self-qualify and select the most appropriate product for themselves through engagement with other customers and/or product experts the more satisfied they are likely to be with their decision. The credibility that displays and the subsequent trust built, between Brand/Retailer and customer, becomes a powerful differentiator and a route to repeat business and true customer loyalty.

From a purely technical perspective Enterprises face a tough job. There is no doubt that they are sitting atop a vast wealth of information but how that information is surfaced and presented to their customers is an all too common problem as you will see and hear in the third part of our Digital Customer series below. ‘Every Business is a Content Business!’ asserts Allen Bonde, CMO of The Pulse Network. Watch and Listen, as he and Michael Krigsman, CEO of Asuret discuss the importance of ‘Content’ and how Enterprises can leverage their rich sources of information and connect Content to Communities to build mutually rewarding and engaging experiences for the Digital Customer.

Also be sure to check out this blog post by Allen Bonde from The Pulse Network. The Pulse Network has created a model which shows the four most common types of content – expert, curated, filtered user-generated, and unfiltered user-generated content, as layers in a pyramid. A great starting point to help businesses start to think about what types of content they have, and the right mix of content to share.