Human Touch in a Digital World: Bringing Your Events Online

With the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly here to stay for the time being, societies across the world have begun to settle into their version of the “new normal”. Co-existing with the highly contagious virus has meant a change in priorities, as well as both lifestyle and work habits.

One of the few positives this year has been the uptake in digital adoption. Workplaces have now implemented increasing use of collaborative software and apps to ensure that their businesses can continue to function even as their employees remain at home. The events industry, for one, has begun to undertake innovative measures through the use of technology to bring their events online with mixed success.

Case-study: Online Events for Consumers

Most recently, Detective Comics (DC) Entertainment staged what was possibly the most successful online consumer event to date. Titled DC FanDome, the 24-hour online event was a celebration of its multiple franchises and superheroes. Eight hours of fresh content including highly anticipated teasers and appearances by actors and other personalities, ran thrice to ensure that everyone around the world had equal opportunity to attend the free event. The event was largely lauded by critics to be a huge success. In contrast, Comic-Con@Home, the similarly-themed five-day online convention failed to garner any positive reviews or hype – with tweets about Comic-Con sharply falling a steep 95% from the previous year.

Understanding Your Platform

While admittedly not being a fan of pop-culture, I attended the DC FanDome out of professional curiosity. While Comic-Con at home focused largely on online panels for fans, the organisers at DC FanDome understood that online events focusing on personalities such as content creators and actors would undeniably deny attendees of the excitement of meeting these personalities face-to-face. Instead, DC FanDome chose to focus on exciting content that would engage its audience. Never-before-seen trailers for upcoming movies, shows and even games surround the DC Universe kept online attendees enthralled throughout the event.

The end-result spoke for itself, and DC FanDome recorded 22 million online visitors by its end. The massive online buzz that the online event created far outstripped any live event and fully showcased the possibilities that technology can bring. Online events, when done right, bring accessibility to a global audience, truly shrinking the distance, making location a non-factor in the grand scheme of things.

The Case for Digital Solutions for Online Events for Businesses Beyond COVID-19

Similar to consumer events, businesses have also pivoted to hosting webinars in place of live seminars and workshops. Digital platforms that facilitate these online activities such as Zoom and WebEx have seen a drastic increase in adoption and activity. Zoom in particular, saw its meeting participants grow from an estimated 10 million in December 2019 to over 300 million in April 2020. Recent research has in fact concluded that the pandemic has fast-forwarded digital adoption, exceeding global projections by an estimated five years.

Webinars and online events enjoy the same advantages that consumer events do. Location flexibility and cost-effectiveness translate to the ability to reach out to attendees from the world-over at lower costs. Truthfully, such business-based virtual events have been on the rise even before COVID-19. Various businesses have already seen the effectiveness of webinars for lead generation, as well as a means to interact with their customers to present after-sale value and engage them through their mid and late stage after-sales conversations.

The emergence of the pandemic has surely hastened more companies to adopt webinars and other online events. While 2020 will continue to be seen as a year of experimentation and adoption out of necessity, there is wisdom in adopting sustainable solutions that go beyond the pandemic instead of looking for a fix-gap solution to tide your company through the pandemic.

To that, businesses must answer these questions:

  1. Is my target audience responding well to my webinar/online event?
  2. If not, why?
  3. And finally, how can I permanently integrate and optimise these digital solutions to my business strategy beyond COVID-19

A Final Word: Putting the Human Before the Technology

As it is with most things in business, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to creating an online event for your business. A good understanding of your platform will go some ways in helping you to work with its limitations, while taking advantage of its strengths. However, with all this talk about technology and digital adoption, it is easy to forget the true focus of your business – your customers.

In the earlier consumer case-study, we saw how the organisers at DC FanDome benefited from insights into the thought process of their target audience. Similarly, businesses looking to launch webinars and other business-related online events must take a user-centric approach in order to create meaningful engagement with their target audience.

Human Touch in a Digital World: Bringing Your Offline Retail Experience Online

In 1979, an English inventor named Michael Aldrich connected a modified television set to a transaction processing computer – making secure data transmission via telephone line possible, and essentially marking the birth of modern e-commerce as we know it. Of course, very few then imagined the scale to which it would grow to. Following that, each decade saw major developments in the world of e-commerce. The 1990s saw the introduction of Amazon, eBay, PayPal and Alibaba – while the turn of the new millennia saw Google introduce Google AdWords, and in turn set the wheels in motion for the marketing industry’s digital revolution. In the last decade, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have picked up where Google left off, monetising through the propagation of sponsored posts.

The booming growth of e-commerce, specifically in the last two decades, essentially meant that retailers could no longer afford to ignore it. According to a report by Kantar consulting group, Southeast Asia’s e-commerce sector grew by 600 percent in value from 2015 to 2019, amounting to a $38 billion dollar valuation in a span of four years. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has done nothing but speed up digital adoption. International e-commerce grew 41 percent in a span of three months, coinciding with the global lockdown in the months before September.

Brick-and-Mortar Stores: A Relic of the Stone Ages? 

For brands that rely largely on offline sales, the lockdown measures have seen many struggling to adapt. Singapore, once referred to as one of Southeast Asia’s shopping havens, has seen many notable retail chains shut down physical stores. Notable names like Topman, Esprit and Tokyu Hands have shut down their physical stores, while legacy businesses like Sportslink have permanently ceased operations.

So, what does this mean for the future of retail? Obviously, we will see an increasing number of businesses pivot to online channels. However, the transition from physical retail to e-commerce is not the same for every brand. Luxury brands for example, cannot afford to totally erase their physical presence. The majority of consumers looking to purchase big-ticket items still prefer to have a feel of the product before purchasing, as well as the level of personalised shopping experience that comes with engaging with luxury brands.

Many e-commerce and online sales platforms, however, fail to provide this level of personalised service. Customer experience is often overlooked as businesses shift their business strategy online, and keeping customers engaged is one of the key challenges for the retail industry in the digital age. In days past, many customers have sworn by brands, returning time and again because of the level of service afforded to them. In a way, these brands provided more than a product, but also a service – where their employees were a key part of the business in retaining customer loyalty.

The Challenge of Digital Adoption

Digital adoption is key in this day and age, but application of the technology is an important factor that is often overlooked. Last month, The Activation Group (TAG) held a webinar series centred around the theme, “Human Touch in a Digital World”, which talked about the relationship between technology and people in business. One of the key topics discussed in the webinar was the use of technology in people-oriented businesses such as retail.

Rather than replacing people, it is my personal belief, that technology exists to enhance the human experience. Data-driven marketing for example, is a diamond mine for brands looking to personalise consumer experiences – one whose potential we have yet to fully explore. As it is, shifting to online sales channels is a pressing challenge for legacy retail brands, one that has been made more urgent by the current pandemic.

Introducing ENGAGE: Bringing the Offline Retail Experience Online

As some of you may know, Oomph! – one of the six pillars under The Activation Group, is a bespoke brand engagement agency that prides itself in training and matchmaking the right people to retail brands. While the manpower matchmaking agency has traditionally centred its business around the offline retail experience, at its core the business has always been about building brand loyalty through consumer engagement. The pandemic-driven shift to online retail posed not just a business challenge, but an opportunity for Oomph! to explore the digital space.

Late last month, the agency announced the launch of its online ambassador platform, ENGAGE, with the aim of helping retail bridge the experiential gap commonly found on online shopping. More than just a platform, ENGAGE combines the efficiency and convenience of technology with the personalised experience that comes from human interaction. Aside from an optimised user interface and cutting-edge AI chatbots, ENGAGE also provides retail brands with trained and dedicated brand ambassadors to enhance online shopping experiences – recommending and matching consumers to the right products and offering assistance in matters such as booking appointments to physical stores.

A Final Word

It is undeniable that the e-commerce industry continues to grow and eat away at the retail market share. This is not to say that brick-and-mortar stores have lost their place – and I fully expect shopping malls to continue thriving post-pandemic. As I mentioned previously, human interaction is still necessary as a retail experience for many brands, and the business challenge is for brands to successfully balance its offline and online channel strategies.

The launch of ENGAGE is an example of how people-oriented businesses can thrive in a digital age and is a step forward in creating a harmonious relationship between people and technology. If anything, the shift in consumer behaviour and reliance on technology, represents an opportunity for businesses to evolve and explore the digital space.

You can find out more about ENGAGE on our website: https://www.oomphpl.com.sg/engage/

Relationship Marketing: The Art of Customer Strategy

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This age-old proverb holds true even in today’s dynamic and competitive business environment. Many marketing strategists today preach the importance of customer retention, even going so far as to place it as a priority ahead of customer acquisition.

Yet, we continue to see focus on customer acquisition in marketing. Industry experts have attributed this gap in marketing strategy to an oversimplified understanding of business growth, ignoring data that loyal customers are several times more likely to try new offerings. Lest we forget, charting a company’s growth can often be a number’s game, and customer acquisition represents quick wins for companies looking to pad their KPIs. Despite its costs, customer acquisition is a lot more straightforward than customer retention, as is seen in digital marketing where ad spend is positively correlated to new customers.

Having worked with various brands in all my years at The Activation Group, one of the most common pitfalls I have noticed is the active separation of the two strategies. In my opinion, both customer retention and acquisition are integral parts of customer strategy and growth and represent two sides of the same coin – but what exactly does it take to build a successful customer strategy?

Taking Customer Retention to the Next Level

As I mentioned earlier, successful customer strategies bank on a holistic approach to both retention and acquisition, ensuring that they retain their customers by fostering brand loyalty while expanding their pipeline by attracting new customers. How can brands achieve this? The answer is relationship marketing.

Last month, we held a webinar touching on the key points of brand loyalty, and one of the things we mentioned was establishing a relationship with the customer. The key difference between a retention-centric strategy, as opposed to one that is loyalty-centric, is the approach taken in getting customers to return. Retention-centric strategies approach existing customers with the idea of attracting customers to make a return purchase. As such, they look towards reward systems, and incentivization. While this is a necessary goal for brands, it is a missed opportunity for some to take it to the next level.

Loyalty-centric customer strategies rely on fostering relationships. Economist, Tom Hockley, from the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote in his findings that loyal customers perceive their bond with brands in a similar manner to the bond they have with friends.

Adopting this insight means that brands must take a human approach to winning customer loyalty. Asking the right questions such as, “How can we forge empathy and trust?” or “Are our engagements with customers honest and sincere?” is crucial in establishing an environment where consumers are more willing to advocate for your brand.

I think one crucial question that companies looking to establish customer loyalty must ask themselves revolves around their own loyalty to their customers. A quick scan of a brand’s marketing efforts can easily answer the question. If your brand is spending a disproportionate amount of resources in looking to establish new sales leads and allowing customer service training, technology and the overall return experience to fall behind, then perhaps your company needs to look at strengthening its own loyalty to customers. If your brand is also merely rewarding existing customers, without investing in proper communication channels to engage them, or looking for avenues to personalize their experience – then you may need to look at how you can evolve this transactional relationship to one that goes beyond the dollars and cents.

The key concept to remember here, is emotional investment, and just like any other relationship, you must give to receive.

Relationship Marketing and Effects on Customer Acquisition

As a consumer, think back about the last time you had a disappointing experience with a company. Perhaps you saw an interesting digital ad on Facebook, clicked on it and had an intuitive purchasing experience. The product, unfortunately, comes damaged – and you are faced with customer service representatives who are not empowered to help customers resolve their issues, either from lack of knowledge, or authority. This disconnect could quickly turn the good work your company has done into something negative – losing not only a new customer, but turning that customer against you.

Aside from the knock-on effect of grooming organic spokespeople through relationship marketing, the approach also holds another distinct advantage for customer acquisition. Brands that take the time to consider the experience of walking a mile in their customer’s shoes before even the first engagement often end up providing a seamless experience from introduction, to engagement, to purchase and even the after-sales experience.

To me, that is they takeaway to the reason why relationship marketing is such a key strategy in customer acquisition. It allows you the opportunity to gain insight and remove any points of friction from the customer’s entire experience with your brand.

Humanizing the Digital Era: Managing Relationships with Technology

Amazon CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, was once quoted saying how the company had “an obsessive-compulsive focus on customers over competition”, attributing this approach to be one of Amazon’s four pillars of success. Know what your customers want, and you win half the battle.

This is where technology comes into play. Social media, and other digital tracking tools, have allowed brands to collect and study market data like never before. Expert marketers today can turn collected data from existing customers and potential markets into highly personalised and seamless experiences for consumers.

Summary

In summary, using technology to humanise customer experience may sound counter-intuitive but is exactly what is needed in today’s ultra-competitive landscape. It is an effective tool, and paired with skillful use of relationship marketing, can reap a bountiful harvest for brands looking to foster customer loyalty or build new pipelines. Like all gardens however, you only reap what you sow, and brands must continue to invest in their customers to see the relationship bloom.