It’s hard to believe that we are one month down in 2023.
This year is going to look vastly different, thanks to economic instability, budget cuts, layoffs, forever-changing consumer behaviours and most importantly, the demise of third-party data. However, with every challenge comes opportunity. With the changing landscape and fresh challenges, user experience (UX) will become crucial for businesses and their bottom lines. Teams need to be more agile and adaptive to new ways to communicate with customers and explore different channels. Let’s look at the 3 key marketing trends that will take precedence in 2023.
- User-generated content will grow in importance to marketing strategies
Customer behavior isn’t the only thing that’s constantly changing – your audience demographics are too. Gen Z, the first generation of “digital natives” is entering the workforce. They’re evolving; changing the game for B2B and B2C businesses alike.
Gen Z uses Instagram almost as often as they do Google. They don’t browse the internet as much as those aged 25 and over, in fact, since 2018 using the number of people using the internet to generally browse the web has dropped by 14%. Instead, they head to platforms like Instagram and TikTok for inspiration. If you haven’t used Tiktok to search yet, I highly recommend it – every new recipe I’ve tried since lockdown is from this platform (and at least 60% have turned out edible).
We can speculate as to the many reasons why Gen Z are turning away from the internet, but market research suggests anxiety and mistrust could be behind the decline. Information overload is all too real, and for Gen Z, seeing is believing. User-generated content (UGC) is the content in any form (e.g., blogs, videos, pictures, etc.) created by people, rather than brands. Since 2020 there has been an 11% decline in consumer trust in online reviews. This distrust is even higher amongst younger people.
Instead, they’re more likely to turn to social media to get reviews from real people. For marketers to connect with the growing Gen Z demographic, it’s vital to have a strong and genuine presence on social media. Making connections with influencers from the industry will help businesses cut through the noise and gain the audience’s trust. Being real and authentic, supporting the creation of UGC, and adding it to the marketing strategy will help expand your reach significantly in 2023.
- Human-to-Human (H2H) interaction will be crucial
One of the biggest ongoing challenges marketers is having a competitive edge over others. Staying ahead of the curve is especially relevant as we head towards economic uncertainty. Retailers need to demonstrate their brand values and ensure to make customers feel special through personalised human interaction. That means personalising marketing, protecting data privacy, and utilizing channels to demonstrate behind the scenes talent.
During difficult times, customers choose brands they trust over those they don’t know. Data privacy experiences impact customer trust. Data shows, 43% of customers will switch allegiances to another brand if they do not feel as though their privacy is being respected. When collecting customer data, it’s important to be transparent about why you need it and how you will use them. Whether it’s an ecommerce, B2B, or NFP business, everyone wants to be treated like an individual.
- Sustainable and responsible businesses will thrive
According to the Finder’s ‘Going Green’ report, more than half of Australians (57%) are more mindful of their environmental impact since COVID-19. The findings further show, while Gen Z (83%) are the demographic groups most concerned about their carbon footprint, 1 in 2 Australians actively looks for greener products or services.
There’s no simple formula to achieve a ‘go green’ or reach carbon-neutral status – the businesses got to work at it and gradually introduce sustainable practices into the operations. Here at Dotdigital, before we became the world’s first carbon-neutral marketing automation platform, we set about evaluating every element of our business, from how we host our servers to how we heat our offices. It was not easy, but it was necessary to achieve our sustainability goals.
Sustainability is quickly becoming a key requirement to make an impact on today’s conscious consumer. You need to be open, honest, and accountable. At the same time, you need to balance customer demands for greener business practices with their demand for convenience.
As marketers, we are aware of the importance of a good customer experience (CX). It can make or break the business. It’s the decision-making factor that determines whether a customer will do business with you or not. Getting it right is essential.
Article By – Jannat Dawra, Head of Marketing -APAC, Dotdigital