Today, in our Tallinn office, we had a discussion about digital relationships with scientists from the Centre for Applied Anthropology. We talked about how to create digital relationships and keep your customers active and happy. Dr. Keiu Telve talked about what triggers people, how to get to know your clients and how to find a common language with the customer.
As in Estonia and elsewhere in the world, the main concern of marketers is to reach the customer in the conditions of increasing media noise and advertising darkness. Targeting potential customers in the right channel and at the right time is becoming increasingly difficult.
Each target group has its own communication channel and they are changing all the time. “Communication is a fine-tuning that requires precise messages and approach to the target audience,” said Dr Keiu Telve and brought an example from Cadillac’s “Breakthrough” advertising campaign.
When is the right time for interaction?
As long as there has been something to sell to someone, there have been theories about when and how is the best way to do it. Everybody is looking for that one single magic solution. We have all seen the data and lovely colourful charts about conversion rates for emails sent on Thursday at 10am vs at 8 pm, that 20 or 10 percent of the letters are opened. The only thing everyone agrees upon is that they are mostly viewed within an hour of receiving the email, and if your letter is not read within 24 hours, the chances are slim for it ever to be opened.
The reality is that everyone’s “right time” is different and habits are different. It is time for marketers to accommodate your personal needs and let the AI learn about your clients behaviour. And use that personal pattern for communication.
A few years ago we thought there was no point in sending emails during lunch, now everybody is on their phone at that time. There is no one best solution, there are only personalised solutions. Salesforce allows you to talk to your customer in their desired channel at the time they want to. There is no point in sending emails when a customer wants to talk to us on Messenger, Whatsapp or elsewhere.
The unusual user
Dr Telve says that when mapping your customers, one should really be as specific as possible and always consider focusing on the unusual user. For example, ask kids to describe or use your product, this will inspire new exciting sales messages and will bring forth unusual patterns.
By asking questions of why and how you find out what people really think and do, what their expectations for your organisation are and how you can meet the needs of your target groups even better.
The Centre for Applied Anthropology of Estonia (CAAE) is the research centre for forward-looking companies and institutions. They conduct qualitative research that enables them to find solutions to problems that occur either in the society or within companies and organisations. They prioritise the knowledgeable action of companies and the application of research findings to the development of the organisation and the subject field.
Photos by Kateriine Krigul
