We entered 2023 still in the shadow of the pandemic; inflation continued to rise, the war in Ukraine continued, and there have been plenty more headlines since then. People everywhere can’t help but ask – is the worst behind us, or is there more bad news to come?

This is the trend that is likely to influence spending for some time. Consumers will have a constant battle on their hands between seeking stability and wanting to move on. 

Right now, consumer spend isn’t slowing down. Most people are spending to make up for lost time due to Coronavirus. This is called revenge spend.

• In 2022, online revenue increased by 23%
• Shopify announced a record-breaking BFCM weekend
• Forrester predicts that spending will increase a further 5%

But when you combine this type of spending with economic concern, the result is a demanding customer base with high expectations. Consumers are looking for quality over quantity and are more selective about which brands they engage with. Consumers may be eager to spend their money, but they’re not looking to throw it at anything and everything – it’s targeted spend. 

This should be a wake up call for marketers everywhere. Due to economic difficulty, marketers are under pressure to improve ROI, take stock of existing set up, and even re-arrange teams, but now is not the time to slow down marketing efforts. Consumers are looking for places to spend their money, and someone needs to tell them where.

Keep reading for practical tips on how to keep up with high consumer expectations and come out on top in 2023.

Effective tactics to overcome purchasing objections

The key to overcoming purchasing objections is to build trust with your customers and leverage it across the whole purchasing journey.

There are many ways to build trust, including press releases, features in industry magazines, utilizing a founder’s or company story, and aligning your company mission with the beliefs of your customers. 

Building trust among consumers is incredibly important, and one of the most effective trust signals is reviews. Customer reviews should be incorporated throughout the buying journey to better overcome objections at the different stages of the purchase. For example, you should feature reviews on your website’s homepage, product pages, and even at the checkout. Also, reviews should be used in wider marketing, such as social media and email campaigns.

Another important trust signal to customers is done through responsible marketing, data processing, privacy, and security. Consumers want to trust that a brand will use their data responsibly and with the right level of security to feel comfortable making a purchase. 

Growth strategies that will work in a difficult economic climate

There is no silver bullet when it comes to growth. The most important thing is to do the basics really well, stay consistent and trust that customers will come. 

One effective growth strategy that is often overlooked is focusing less on acquisition and more on loyal customers. Take the time to find out who your best shoppers are, their behaviors, and what they respond to. Analyze why these customers purchase multiple times and use this research to drive more shoppers to do the same. Your top 20% of customers are responsible for 80% of your total revenue. This is the group that brands need to focus on to grow. 

According to Matt Johnson, the key to winning over customers is by being the closest to them. The way you interact with your customers after they make a purchase is important for building loyalty and growing your business. Treat your repeat customers differently, show them you understand them, and make them feel special. Use data and segmentation to deliver this level of personalization at scale. Collect zero-party and first-party data to understand your customer better and bring that into your marketing tech stack to run more effective marketing campaigns.

Three tips for effective data acquisition and usage in 2023

1. Better personalization and segmentation

The best way to spot shopping behaviors and trends that you want to target is by looking at your customer data from all sources in one single view. Combine this holistic approach to data with a powerful segmentation tool to easily create lookalike segments to send personalized, specific marketing.

2. Customer insights beyond the norm

Use custom data fields to collect customer attributes that you can use to further personalize the entire shopping experience. For example, if a skincare brand knows a customer’s skin type or age, they can tailor everything from the onsite experience to paid social posts so the end user will always see relevant content.

3. Build authenticity

Collect higher quality reviews that include images and videos. You can also showcase user-generated content (UGC) on your website to be more genuine. This will help you to stand out and look more authentic. It will also help deliver the right content back to the customer through the right channels and at the right time.

How can businesses create meaningful hybrid customer experiences?

The first way to bridge any gap between physical and online shopping is effective data collection and utilization. Collect your customers’ data at every point and leverage this during in person as well as online experiences. So when a customer visits your pop-up or brick-and-mortar store, they will be recognized as a previous customer and reap the benefits. 

Another key way to create meaningful offline customer experiences is through the unboxing experience. Leverage your ecommerce data to deliver personalized notes and offers to customers as a part of the delivery experience. 

Events are also a great place to build relationships with customers offline. Businesses should consider how in person experiences like events can be used as part of their strategy to strengthen their connection with customers and also as a way to reward them for their customer loyalty.

Are you up for the challenge?

Consumers everywhere are still spending money on brands they love and that offer engaging and personalized experiences. Are you ready to meet their higher expectations? To satisfy shoppers, use data to build authenticity, trust, and offer personalized shopping experiences that make them feel special.

REVIEWS.io was founded in 2010 to focus on authentic and genuine reviews to help customers make a real difference to their business. The solution has been built to put clients at the heart of everything REVIEWS.io do and support their customers’ businesses to monitor and grow their reputation online through the power of review collection, management, and publication.

REVIEWS.io is a global Dotdigital partner. Dotdigital and REVIEWS.io together help you seamlessly target your audiences and send personalized campaigns based on their review history. Strengthen your email campaigns, click-through rates, and increase your revenue using our joint technologies. Or why not learn more about our partnership with REVIEWS.io.