Comment Central

Amanda Arthur, EHS Brann Discovery

Digital digital digital – isn’t it wonderful?!  With its power to engage, its speed, the huge choice and access it offers consumers and, not least, the vast opportunity it provides for marketers to get under the skin of prospects and customers like never before.

Well, a resounding ‘yes’ to all of the above and more.  As marketers we must all learn to adopt and adapt to all things digital if we are to maintain currency, credibility and capability.  Traditional DM agencies can no more afford not to have some kind of digital skills now than their above the line colleagues and, in the heady world of data in particular, digital’s role is rapidly moving from peripheral to central.

The richness and depth of the data that can be captured, analysed and manipulated takes us closer to real-time customer insight and understanding than ever before.  Clickstream and web analytics are just a couple of the many tools now at our disposal to track consumer behaviour and preferences in minute detail.  There seems to be daily coverage on some clever new way of using web, e mail and mobile data to better effect, eclipsing other channels in a frenzy of new technology-itis.

And at this point we need to sound a cautionary ‘But’.  Yes, the speed of technological change in the digital channel is exponential and very, very exciting – of course, this brings its own challenges with almost instant obsolescence of the latest gadgets – but let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture.  Data to drive consumer insight comes in all shapes and sizes – at campaign level, at channel level (including digital) and at customer and household level.  Clever tools such as web analytics are excellent when well-used at campaign and channel level.  The problem is that they only give a part of the picture, so whilst the digital channel and the data-rich benefits it brings are growing rapidly in importance, a little perspective can go a long way.

High streets may have suffered in the last few years but we still see millions of people browsing and shopping in-store every day of every week.  Direct mail volumes may be dropping but there’s still plenty piled up waiting for us when we get back from holiday.  Call centres are also still seeing a brisk trade for both sales and service, and for more complex, big ticket products (especially such as pensions and mortgages in the financial services market) many consumers still prefer the reassurance of dealing with someone face to face.

So digital, although growing very rapidly, is still only part of the whole channel mix.  What’s more, most consumers will often use a mix of channels - sometimes over a sustained period of time – to make their purchase.  Using data from all relevant channels and bringing it together at the customer level is where we get the real insight for improving communications and targeting. 

So the value to be gained from data sourced from digital activity is enormous, but let’s not lose sight of the basic (and still valid) principles of what makes great direct marketing.  By looking at the picture from the customer perspective the whole really does become greater than the sum of the parts.