The field of marketing has undergone dramatic changes over time, but the modern era has had the maximum impact on many important aspects of it. The advent of the internet has played a huge role in shaping the way products and services are viewed, presented, received, purchased, sold and reviewed. Today, new spheres of marketing such as behavioral segmentation are the biggest mobilizers of marketing strategy for businesses, whether big or small.
History of Marketing
In the early part of the 20th century, Daniel Starch, an American psychologist at Harvard University began studying marketing. He founded his own market research company and authored a series of books on the subject.
Some of his famous experiments on the effectiveness of advertising, brand recall and recognition shaped marketing strategy for several decades.
Starch’s theory stated that to be effective, advertising must be seen and read, believed and remembered and crucially, it had to be acted upon to be considered effective.
Around the same time, in parallel, George Gallup, a professor of journalism and advertising at Northwestern University, was working on sampling techniques, surveys and statistical methods of measuring public opinion.
Post-war America saw the rise of consumerism and psychologists such as Ernest Dichter used Freudian psychoanalytical theories to buttress their somewhat bizarre theories of “Motivational Research.”
When the 1960s dawned, quantitative methods emerged as the main measurement tools aided by advances in telephone, computer and internet technologies.
Gradually, these were combined with insights from other disciplines such as anthropology, economics, semiotics, sociology, management theory, etc to focus on the experiential aspects of marketing.
The present digital era has emphatically changed the goalposts and provided marketers with precision tools to analyze and understand consumers at the micro and macro level, as individuals, segments, groups, etc.
Ultimately, the goal of marketing has remained the same;
• Increase sales and revenues
• Build and grow brand awareness
• Reduce customer turnover
• Expand the suite of products/services offered
• Promote and grow a visible market presence
• Establish an enduring base of loyal customers
• Create a good reputation for products/services offered
Additionally, in the digital era, new goals would include:
• Boost lead generation
• Build and maintain a strong social media presence
• Explore all the available digital channels for marketing
What is Behavioral Marketing?
In the early stages of marketing studies, the “market” was viewed as a heterogeneous, undivided, monolithic mass of consumers. While a certain amount of fragmentation and product/service differentiation was incorporated for different markets, goods and services were distributed in a largely standardized manner.
However, better transportation and communication facilities served to bring home to sellers the fact that there were indeed differences in markets.
Sellers and manufacturers found that there were variations in the way each group of buyers responded to the offerings. These differences are based on:
• Geographic location, climate and terrain differences
• Demographic differences in age, gender, income-level, education, ethnicity, family-size, occupation, etc.
• Firmographic differences in the way demographics worked for organizations rather than individuals
• Behavioral segmentation that recognizes behavior patterns in purchasing habits and lifestyle parameters
• Psychographic differences in people’s values, personality traits, interests, opinions, etc.
Understanding Behavioral Segmentation
The access to enormous amounts of online data gives marketers a great opportunity to strengthen and target their marketing campaigns. Data is collected via various Data Management Platforms (DMPs). For instance, from mobile device data where cookies are stored, subscriptions/registration details on websites, from first/second/third-parties, demographic details on social media, etc. There are several tools, both paid and freely available to collect, compile, analyze the data and provide analytic reports.
Browsing and shopping behaviors are compiled every time a potential customer enters a website up until they leave it.
Typically, the important areas covered are pages viewed, previous terms of search and last date of visit, total time spent on the site, ads/content/buttons clicked on, etc.
The data collected may also include login details, IP address, geolocation, demographics, sections that are regularly visited, other websites visited, time gaps between visits, purchasing history, progress of the transaction, what elements of the website the consumer tends to interact with, etc, based on the CRM (customer relationship management) systems and other automated marketing software on the site.
Goal of Behavioral Marketing
Since the data compiled gives marketers very specific information on the actions and behaviors of the customer/visitor on a website, it’s possible to shape and mold this information into a distinct “persona” who responds and acts in certain well-defined ways.
It’s important that marketers follow SMART goals and objectives when they deal with behavioral data.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound.
These goals can be further subdivided into Cognitive, Affective and Connative.
• Cognitive goals are focused on providing information, knowledge, beliefs, etc. that could help to change the target audience’s behaviors.
• Affective goals aim to evoke emotions and induce an emotional response in the target audience.
• Connative goals are focused on inducing actual behaviors, influencing, sustaining and repeating them.
Keeping these aspects in mind, behavioral marketing aims to;
Boost User Engagement: Providing interesting and engaging content helps to guide the user from the initial click-through ad into the store-front and from then into purchasing behavior. This is based on the data that has been compiled about this particular category of consumers, based on a behavioral segmentation database.
Improve Conversion: Transforming the clicks into revenue is easier when you know that your ad message has reached the right target. The users may complete the purchase immediately, or they may request more information, thus demonstrating willingness to buy. This helps marketers to follow up with the right kind of emails, reminders, etc.
Enhance Personalization and UX: More than 51% consumers expect the seller to anticipate their requirements/offer relevant suggestions even before they make actual contact.
Nearly 74% of customers report feelings of annoyance/frustration if content on websites is not personalized.
Homepage promotions that are personalized influence 85% of consumers to move forward into purchasing.
Additionally, 57% consumers report that they’re OK with providing personal information on websites if they’re convinced that it will be used responsibly.
With higher levels of personalization, it’s possible to provide the perfect UX to the right consumer.
Maximize Efficiency: The consumer’s journey through the website can be made more convenient, much smoother and swifter with the help of behavioral marketing data. Right from the time they view an ad on their browsers, to click-through into the store-front, placing in the shopping-cart and then checking out and making a payment according to what they’ve done earlier, the customer feels secure and comfortable all the way.
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