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As every industry prepares for the challenges of the coming year, new trends are expected to emerge as technology innovates faster than ever before. From overcoming the expected economic slowdown to leveraging first- and zero-party data, here are some of the ways we can expect the Martech sector to evolve in 2023.
While concerns about inflation are causing consumer confidence to fall, marketing teams will be tasked with driving continued performance with fewer resources. Marketing teams and budgets will shrink as companies look to cut costs; however, expectations of meeting lofty marketing goals will not.
Customer retention will be critical in this environment. After all, retaining a customer is far less expensive than acquiring a new one. Loyalty programmes are a low-cost and cost-effective way to reward your best customers, as well as a platform for brands to continue to reinforce the value your brand brings them. Sixty-eight percent of consumers say they are more likely to be loyal customers if a brand engages and builds personal relationships with them, and 33% say these programmes make them more likely to spend more.
Marketers’ current strategies, such as email and mobile marketing, will continue to produce excellent results. Companies, on the other hand, will need to explore new marketing avenues while maintaining their proven methods if they are to thrive. Mobile-driven programmes, such as app prioritization, will likely have their most important year yet in 2023, as their importance grows, while existing programmed will evolve to become more sophisticated and personalized in order to stand out among the competition.
With new technologies coming to the forefront of the industry, there is higher risk for any overlooked flaws in security to be potentially exploited by hackers looking to steal consumer data. Government scrutiny on tech companies will grow as politicians seek to expand citizen protections. Companies would be smart to get ahead of the curve to ease consumer and political fears.
The European Union set a global precedent introducing its General Data Protection Regulation law in 2016. As of 2022, the U.S. still does not have an all-encompassing national law to regulate data privacy. Many critics argue that the GDPR is too weak to be effective, and that the U.S. has instead opted for state-level legislation.
While 2023 might be a bit soon to see this having a major effect on customers and businesses outside of a few states, big tech companies, such as Apple and Google have established new privacy protections on their own to address consumer demands for more transparency regarding how their data is used.
These changes will disrupt the way many marketers have operated until now, forcing marketers to pivot to zero- and first-party data sets. Yet, the changes also create new opportunities while giving consumers more control over their online interactions and privacy, especially as new technologies, like AI, gain prominence in marketing strategy.
When most people envision a future run by AI, images like HAL 9000 come to mind. If marketers want consumers to accept AI, we must do everything we can to alleviate the fear of opening Pandora’s box. Humanising AI can be beneficial, and it has never been easier to do so.
Brands can remove the creepiness factor and build trust among customers by leveraging only zero- and first-party data provided with consumer consent. Brands should then go one step further, assuring customers that AI adheres to the same level of data confidentiality as employees. Once trust has been established among your end users, AI can function as a highly effective personalised sales associate, advisor, or customer service agent, ensuring its smooth and ethical implementation.
Another common issue that can undermine consumer trust in AI is bias. For marketers, audience segmentation frequently exacerbates AI bias by forcing every customer into a limited, and frequently inaccurate, selection of categories. However, advances in artificial intelligence are resolving this issue, opening new doors to audiences who were previously pigeonholed under demographics they may not have fit well into. Marketers can reduce bias and foster more valuable connections with customers by serving up personalised marketing content based on how each individual behaves rather than attributes such as age, gender, and geography. This method has the added advantage of being more adaptable as a person’s preferences and behaviours change.
There are additional advantages to using AI for marketing teams: by automating personalisation, human error is eliminated, and marketing teams gain time back for strategic and creative initiatives, driving value on a one-to-one level, and assisting in the development of long-term relationships and value. They can be more adaptable in responding to feedback in a more direct, individualized manner, adjusting strategy on the fly.
As we head into a new year and see new trends take over, companies that remain nimble and adjust to the challenges thrown their way will emerge as the winners. By leveraging new technologies like AI, keeping in mind new legislation, and respecting your customers and their data, marketers will be in a better position to navigate uncertainty while cultivating strong customer loyalty.