Editor’s note: Lou Carricarte is owner and founder of consulting firm Artful Decisions, Doylestown, Pa.
The honeymoon is over and consumers are expecting brands to understand them. Ready or not, real-time engagement has enveloped the enterprise of business. Customers want to be heard and companies have the opportunity to give them a distinctive voice. Real-time engagement simply did not exist until recently and now companies that understand its significance in today’s market and use it to their advantage have the upper hand. The definition of market research is “the action or activity of gathering information about consumers’ needs and preferences.” But customers often feel ignored due to the lag time and methods of currently outdated practices.
The willingness of leadership to thoughtfully incorporate real-time engagement practices in an organization has an immense impact on its ability to meet the needs of the consumer quickly. Because feedback is in real-time, customer needs can be met within days, if not hours. Applying this type of engagement to a company’s marketing strategy provides not only real-time market research but also the predictive analytics necessary to make good decisions by the company leaders, driving an increase in the bottom line. This provides a leverage factor for companies to get ahead of the competition. Today’s consumer expects a rapid response from companies they do business with, so today’s marketing efforts must coincide with the instant gratification expectations that have become the norm. When companies sit on the sidelines – or don’t change with the times – their bottom line will suffer.
Just about all companies are on board with social media marketing, which offers its own form of engagement. Yet there is a big difference between consumers posting on a brand’s Facebook page and the pinpoint precision of information and analytics provided from a well-defined real-time engagement marketing strategy. It’s very important to understand the distinction. While social media is an imperative part of any brand’s marketing plan, it’s just that: social. It’s not necessarily one-on-one. Yes, it’s possible to tweet to the CEO of a major brand or use a hashtag that may get picked up in a search but it doesn’t provide companies with the all-important data analytics the same way that a specific real-time engagement plan can.
Businesses often wade through big data, building behavioral profiles and sharpening segmentation dimensions. This takes time, which is in short supply when it comes to a more current means of successfully conducting market research. Big data brings big baggage along with the promise of consumer insights but the information is bulky and diluted. Smart data gathered through real-time engagement platforms provides high-confidence analytics at a much quicker pace. This streamlined approach offers more reliable information, faster and without compromise, because it’s honest information, directly from the consumer.
There is a solution to answering the age-old question: Why do customers make specific decisions? The solution can be found at the intersection of mobile technology, emotion and real-time engagement. Where the three elements meet is the pivotal point of action, opportunity and success. Each element is integral to obtaining faster and more accurate data.
- Mobile technology is the essential avenue to capture real-time data. Mobile technology is innately personal as participation is shared though one’s own mobile device. The user maintains control with tools literally at their fingertips that have a direct line to companies and organizations.
- Emotion is authentic – people react to a brand on their own terms, not based on company-centric touchpoints as seen on inorganic surveys. This is where brand loyalty is tested. Based on customer feedback and frequency of that feedback, organizations can derive insights. A smart brand can leverage this by building a more interactive experience where the consumer knows their feedback can have a direct and positive impact on the company and on the buying experience. The consumer’s voice is heard, their concerns addressed and the company reacts to the emotional reaction at the point-of-purchase.
- Real-time engagement is inevitable – organizations that master this art form will be positioned for success. Real-time engagement is growing exponentially every day because it captures a true piece of data in the very moment that it is happening. Today, we see consumers are eager to post their emotions; in fact, they run to social media to do so. Real-time data cuts out the middleman and lets companies collect consumer emotion, derive insights and make better business decisions.
It’s the intersection of these three units that is the great differentiator. Emotion organically comes from the user and is shared via a mobile device, which then delivers real-time information to the company or organization. The trifecta of bringing these components together and shifting perspectives to customer centricity is what makes the difference and what makes companies get the very most out of market research. When real-time engagement is the tool, companies and customers are the winners.