PAID FOR POST
With Christmas creeping ever closer, Adobe’s Suzanne Steele explains what consumers really want from retailers this festive season is empathy
The period leading up to Black Friday and through to January is always a dynamic, challenging and important time for retailers, with great competition for consumer attention and crucial revenue opportunities.
This year, against a backdrop of climbing energy costs, rising interest rates, inflationary pressures and supply-chain issues, this period is even more crucial. With falling year-on-year spending figures, and months of low consumer confidence, retailers are caught between higher costs and lower revenues.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. As we know there are no diamonds without pressure and experience has shown us that how retailers support customers in turbulent times pays dividends in the long run.
Competition will be fierce this festive period, but we will all need to be compassionate towards consumers and tread carefully.
Our ‘Make It Personal’ research, which surveyed 2,000 UK consumers, found that seven out of 10 say brands should demonstrate empathy by seeing things from their perspective and understanding what is important to them.
“It is not all doom and gloom. As we know there are no diamonds without pressure and experience has shown us that how retailers support customers in turbulent times pays dividends in the long run”
Amid a cost-of-living crisis, retailers and brands can’t afford to take a broad brushstroke approach to pushing deals and offers, and risk damaging their relationships by seeming out of touch with customers.
We will all feel the pinch differently this year, so being able to really understand each consumer as an individual will be hugely important in marketing to them in an empathetic way that is sensitive to their current situation.
In our research, half of those polled expected brands to understand virtually every aspect of their life and to know them as a complete person; and 44% prefer frequent, thoughtful gestures that are relevant to them over one-off deals not specific to their interests or current situation (21%).
In order to create digital experiences and offer deals that are relevant, consistent and personalised, brands will need a Customer Data Platform that allows them to track preferences in real time, on an individual basis and act in the moment.
Respecting privacy and protecting data will also be a key marker, with seven in 10 consumers saying they would stop buying from a company completely following a breach of trust.
This year, more than ever, brands that take a considered, individualised approach to their marketing will go on to reap the benefits, not just in revenue now, but in deepening their relationship with their customers.
After all, customer loyalty is for life, not just for Christmas.
To find out more about how you can engage with each of your customers, personally, at scale and with empathy, visit here.
