Page 9 - AeM_March_2022

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES

Success with individual content and

customer experiences

When shopping online, more and more
individual, emotional, and informative shopping
experiences are expected. For many it is no
longer enough getting served uninspiring
product data. They want digital channels with
comprehensive information that speaks to them
on a personal level. The dovetailing of content
marketing and e-commerce is therefore gaining
in importance, encouraging companies to
increasingly integrate their content strategically
into their customers’ digital customer journey,
besides offering their expertise and consulting
services. … for a comprehensive customer journey

Through content-driven commerce, companies can also
Content-driven commerce… offer their customers exclusive shopping experiences
online. This not only makes it possible to retain custom-
For a long time, only brief product information and SEO ers and stand out from the competition, but to increase
texts could be found in online shops. If potential buyers the purchase rate. At the same time, it brings benefits
needed further information, they had to research it else- for search engine optimization. High-quality content
where. However, with the content commerce trend, means that the so-called crawlers, which read web-
content is playing an increasingly important role in in- sites, use algorithms to create keywords and display
spiring, enlightening, and entertaining online customers the indexed data in the search results of the search
throughout the buying process. In fact, the entire digital engines. Websites should therefore be perfectly legible
customer journey should be supported by content – and well-structured as well as provide comprehensive
from the first scrolling around on the website or in the answers to the respective questions of the search en-
social media channels, through product selection and gines.
purchase, to delivery and subsequent use.
Due to the comprehensive range of content, however,
In every phase and at every touchpoint, interested par- there is also a risk that the one or the other customers
ties and buyers must be able to access the required will be overwhelmed. It is therefore important to only
content and information: text, images, videos and chat present them with the content they need at the respec-
offers should create high-quality shopping experiences, tive point in their customer journey and that it is of inter-
as customers cannot touch or try out the products on est to them. The success factor is therefore as usual
offer. Especially when it comes to technical products, “personalized content”.
travel or fashion, the need for advice is usually very
high, with many customers having questions and need Individualized newsletters, campaigns or product sug-
for support in making a purchase decision. gestions address potential customers on a personal
level and filter out products and services that do not
In addition to product descriptions and data such as interest them. Companies can personalize content by
specifications, technical data, prices and delivery infor- creating different customer groups and so-called buyer
mation, images, videos and animations of the product personas. In the meantime, however, this is mostly
and its use as well as instructions, editorial contribu- done by algorithms that divide website visitors or cus-
tions such as blogs, advice texts or test reports also tomers into different groups based on certain character-
belong on the own digital channels. Configurators, istics such as gender, age or interests.
FAQs, chat functions, ratings, advertisements and
email newsletters complete the range of information. I don’t have to say that the more data companies have
Advertisements or affiliate and influencer campaigns at their disposal, the more personalized and successful
can also be integrated on social media platforms. content can be presented. ◊

By Daniela La Marca

March 2022: Content Marketing 9