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Digital marketing trends 2020

2020 is already in full swing and we at Contitude see some trends that we believe will be prominent this year:

  • More contact surfaces
  • Meeting customers' information needs
  • Own your data
  • Optimize for voice search

More, easier and faster contact surfaces

Once upon a time, companies would hide their contact details and only refer to contact forms to force their audience into their own feeds. This doesn't work so well anymore and only creates frustration for the target audience. We at Contitude believe that creating more contact areas with your potential customers will help you close more deals and get more satisfied customers.

Contact forms and emails will continue to be essential contact points, both on the website and for the company's regular contacts with existing and potential customers. Some issues, such as lost returns or problems with system integrations, are simply better handled by phone or email.

However, we at Contitude believe that it will become increasingly important to have more contact surfaces with the customer to suit different contact persons who have different needs for contact and information seeking. Notifications about product deliveries or booked appointments are better suited to be sent as SMS or via chat tools and facilitate communication for quick and simple questions.

As consumers, we have become accustomed to being connected and closely linked to our suppliers. Being able to log in and identify yourself with your email or Facebook profile is no longer a big deal and being able to chat via social media communication channels, such as Messenger or WhatsApp, will also be more and more commonplace.

It's simply a matter of having as many contact points with the customer as you can in a good way. By working in this way, you increase the likelihood that your target audience will find a way to communicate with you that is appropriate for them and that they will actually get back to you when they have a question or just need more information.

Meeting customers' information needs

With the rise of the Internet, we have all become accustomed to information being close at hand and at our fingertips. Instead of asking an expert or looking in some kind of encyclopaedia, a relatively simple search in a search engine is now enough, whatever the time of day.

This applies not only to B2C but also to B2B.

  • 94% of total organic traffic is through Google. (Web Presence Solutions, 2017)
  • B2B e-commerce expected to overtake B2C e-commerce in (Ecommerce Platforms, 2018)

What does this mean for you as a company? Well, that you need to meet the new demand for information from your customers. In addition to a good sales pitch for your product or service, you also need to be able to provide answers to any questions before they are even asked. You need to explain the value of what you offer by describing the problem area and then answering in an informative way how your product or service solves the problem that your customer has.

For this reason, it is extremely important that content marketing becomes part of your marketing strategy and that you constantly work on conversion optimisation to reach as many of your customers as possible in a seamless way.

Greater focus on collecting and analysing data

To make smart decisions within your marketing budget, it's important not to rely on gut instinct alone. Your instincts can help you in the creative process, but don't forget to take into account all the data that is collected in this process.

According to Gartner's 2018 Marketing Analytics Survey, 81% of marketing professionals believe that the majority of their decisions will be data-driven in two years, i.e. 2020. It's been almost 2 years since Gartner presented these figures and while many are not yet fully data-driven, there is no longer a good excuse for not looking at and analysing the data you receive. In 2020, marketing teams need to both master the creative and learn to interpret data to make smarter decisions.

For example, if your landing page contains both video and text, 72% of visitors will choose to watch the video to learn more instead of reading the text (HubSpot, 2018). If you have a landing page that is performing poorly, it may be a good idea to add a video to see if you can entice more visitors to stay and engage with the content.

Also remember to follow up and measure the difference after you have added, for example, a film. Has the number of visitors changed? Are they staying longer on your website? What is the next step to help the visitor further in their buying journey?

Own your data

Partly because of the GDPR, there are restrictions on what data you as a business can access. You can no longer just buy information about your target audience without getting your audience's permission to give you the information you are interested in.

Owning your data provides valuable insights into your target audience, but the same advice can also be given to you as a business owner. Make sure you own all relevant accounts related to your business. Social media is a powerful channel, but it's important that you also own the rights to any data generated through that specific platform. Therefore, make sure that you also collect followers in, for example, email lists that you always have your own access to.

The same applies to analytical accounts. It is perfectly possible to outsource help from different types of agencies and marketing partners, but you need to be the owner of these accounts so that you are not tied to a specific partner. After all, it's your data that's at stake, and you should make sure you own the rights to it.

Optimize for voice searches

Voice searches are becoming increasingly common. According to OC&C Strategy Consultants (2019), Voice is expected to be an incredibly strong channel as early as 2022 and is estimated to be worth around $40 billion. According to Wordstream (2018), 50% of all searches in 2020 are expected to be voice searches.

Although these figures are currently largely B2C, we also see the trend spreading to B2B. Voice search and voice-optimised content is still in its early stages, but the pace at which it is growing suggests that it will soon be an incredibly important channel.

More and more people are starting to use voice searches, partly to look up prescriptions or call family members, but also to find information about a company's opening hours or, for example, where there are available conference rooms.

A study conducted by CNBC (2018) showed that 2/3 of people who used so-called "digital voice assistants" such as Google Home also use their phones to a lesser extent. This is something that is also in line with the fact that more and more people are trying to limit their screen time but still want access to information in different forms.

Learn more about how to optimise your website for Voice Search here.

Summary

We at Contitude believe that these 4 trends will be more prominent this year than in the past:

  • More contact surfaces
  • Meeting customers' information needs
  • Own your data
  • Optimize for voice search

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