E-Marketing and the Buying Decision Process

 E-Marketing Influence on the buying process 

 

The use of social media has altered the buying process and has given customers many different outlets to research goods. 

Before the Internet and social media exploded, the buying process was simpler and more straight forward. Businesses would advertise and reach their customers by TV commercials, newspapers, radios or magazines. Now that social media is pretty much a part of everyone's daily lives, it has changed the way people buy products. Choices are broader and feedback is greater. 

Feedback:

Whether you are buying a product or looking for a service, social media has made it easier for customers to buy smarter and more efficient. With websites (and apps) such as Yelp and Facebook, and product reviews on websites or even videos on YouTube, customers now have many opinions and recommendations from experts, friends and customers from around the world.  Customers can also compare prices and products easier with the help of apps such as AmazonPriceCheck or RedLaser, where you can scan a product's barcode and see reviews, ratings and cheaper prices offered in different locations.

 

How E-Marketing has affected my buying process: 

When I explore new restaurants (Which I love doing) I almost always look at reviews on Yelp to see what previous customers' experiences were and what recommendations they have when it comes to price, food quality and experience.  I have discovered many amazing private restaurants that I would most likely have never known of, or considered experiencing if it wasn't for online reviews. 

Another example would be YouTube reviews on products such as electronics. Since the iPhone 5S recently came out, I wanted to see the comparisons between the iPhone 5 and the new iPhone 5s. I went to YouTube to look at reviews (and parodies) on the new phone and confirmed my decision on not buying the new phone. (It's pretty much the same phone in my opinion). 

The buying process:

Ex: 

1. Customers become aware of something they need, want or a problem they would like to solve. 

• Taking public transportation is a hassle, I need/ want my own car.  

2. Research-  Learning how to satisfy their need, solve their problems and look for potential alternatives. 

• Get advice and suggestions from friends on what type of car to buy.
• Research alternatives to buying a car (bicycle, car pooling or taxi).
• Looking online for car reviews and car quotes.
• Alternative evaluation: Compare products, choices and options.

3. Make a decision- Narrow down choices/ make a decision. 

• Decide to buy a car.
• Narrow down car dealers to visit/ potentially purchase from.
• Wisely pick a car after much advice, research and consideration.  

How social media marketing influenced consumer choice: 

Instead of making it easier to narrow down choices, choices are constantly being revised and expanded. Social media information are constantly altering our decision process because we are constantly hearing new opinions and facts on the product/ service. 

 At least one step in the buying process is done through some sort of app or online source. 

According to a Google research on holiday shopping,

• 51% of customers visited the store and purchased at the store

• 45% researched online, then purchased online

• 35% researched online, then went to a store to purchase

• 21% researched online, checked out products in the store, then went

          back online to purchase

• and 14% visited the store first, then purchased the products online.

 

 

 

Sources 

Chandra, Steele The 10 Best Shopping Apps to Compare Prices PCMag.com November2012, http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/290959/the-10-best-shopping-apps-to-compare-prices


David Court, Dave Elzinga, Susan Mulder, and Ole Jørgen Vetvik June 2009 , http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/the_consumer_decision_journey
 
Google/OTX U.S.,February 2011, http://www.gstatic.com/ads/research/en/2011_Google_Post_Holiday.pdf
 

Interactive Marketing- Why businesses should take advantage of social media outlets

 Interactive Marketing

Interactive marketing attracts and engages customers, gathers data, keeps customers coming back and makes the relationship between business and customers more personal.
What is interactive marketing? Exactly what it implies. It is the interactivity between companies and their customers. Unlike traditional marketing that just places ads on TVs, radios and print, interactive marketing reaches its current customers and potential customers through social media websites such as Facebook, twitter and even the new social media Instagram. Through interactive marketing, companies can enhance their service or product delivery, engage customers to become advocates for their company/ brand and help customers and businesses interact with each other unlike traditional marketing outlets.

 PROS

 Engage and Interact

In this social media generation, it is crucial for a business to be actively involved in social media and to keep customers interested and engaged. According to Remi Carlioz, senior head of digital at puma, he states that "It is undoubtedly necessary to find and engage with this demographic where they digitally reside, rather than relentlessly, always trying to usher them back to a brand’s owned platform. Brands are too self-centered and must boldly act on the desire that the consumer possesses the desire to transparently experience and interact with a brand online." Examples of ways that businesses have been doing this are through Quick Response codes (commonly known as QR codes) that give customers options to scan a code on their smart devices to receive discounts and/ or special messages from the company. In 2011, Nike launched a campaign in Austria, Germany and Switzerland to promote their "Vapor Flash" jacket, a completely reflective running jacket. They named the campaign "catch the flash" where they had 50 Nike runners "The Flash Runners" with the numbers 1through50 on the back of their jackets running around a town for 90mins. The task was for Nike customers and enthusiasts to take a picture of as many runners wearing the Vapor Flash jackets. The winner of the Flash campaign received a ten thousand Euro platinum bar. Nike benefited from this campaign by receiving an immense amount of  publicity on hundreds of blogs, news stations and social media websites. The $350 jacket (yes that's $350 dollars for a running jacket) completely sold out within hours of being available for purchase.


Customer Service: Here are some facts I found on why customer service in social media is crucial to keeping customers happy, coming back and engaged in your brand/company.

Crisis Communication- Listen, Engage and Respond

Through social media, companies could better handle crisis response to their customers quicker than before.This is a positive thing for the company because it gives them an easier and faster way on clarifying issues, complaints or company crisis.

  
CONS

Consumer interactivity is not always a love affair between costumers and businesses. When customers experience a bad service or product from a company, they are now most likely going to complain on the company's social website for the whole world to see. Customers are now publicly airing out company's dirty laundry, and we all know bad news usually gains more momentum quicker than good news. A great example of customers' public complaints is one of a carribean airline named LIAT. LIAT is an airline that many Americans, unless traveling in the carribean, might have never heard of. This summer, a customer who experienced horrible service from the airline, published their sarcastic complaint letter in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) newspaper. The letter went viral to millions within a month and a half when Richard Branson, the king and founder of Virgin Airlines, found the letter hilarious and posted it on his blog of 3million followers. The letter was definitely not good publicity for LIAT, comments on the blog ridiculed the airline, dissecting every negative aspect of the airline. Some customers ridiculed the company's name saying that LIAT stood for "Leave Island Anytime" or "Luggage In Another Terminal". So what can businesses do to turn this negative into a positive? Understand what they're doing wrong, what their customers are expecting and change their business for the better. Any feedback should be seen as good feedback.                 

Another Negative aspect of interactivity is that it is harder to reach out to all of your customers. Many, if not the majority, of comments on social websites get replied by companies leading customers to a FAQ page or getting a computer generated response. The sense of having a personal relationship with the company could get lost. Although free, interactive marketing on social medias take a lot of time and dedication to maintain a strong audience (Time is Money!).


With the amount of users social media draws in from around the world, all businesses should become more involved in social media outlets to engage customers, have a better company image and to help their business thrive. With 850million active facebook users, 175million daily tweets and the billions of Google users its only smart for a company to become involved in the social media scene.

What other outlets, besides the ones I've mentioned, do you guys think businesses should utilize in interactive marketing?

 

Jessica Decatrel

Interesting articles, videos and facts that will tickle your brain:
 Branson, Richard (2013), "How to Write a Complaint Letter", Virgin (June 10), https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/how-to-write-a-complaint-letter

Grenoble, Ryan (2013), "LIAT, Caribbean Airline, Receives Hilarious Complaint Letter From Passenger Arthur Hicks", Huffington Post (July 1), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/liat-complaint-letter-arthur-hicks-branson_n_3529385.html

Honigman, Brian (2012), "100 Fascinating Social Media Statistics and Figures From 2012", Huffington Post (November 29), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-honigman/100-fascinating-social-me_b_2185281.html

Schnitzer, Erika (2012), "The Modern Brand’s Biggest Challenges", Digiday (August 13), http://digiday.com/brands/the-modern-brands-biggest-challenges/

 Vong,Katherine (2012), "3 Key Advantages of Interactive Marketing Campaigns", TrendReports (August 27), http://www.trendreports.com/article/interactive-marketing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g98nDUg7yxU
http://blog.getambassador.com/social-customer-service-infographic/