The Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Behaviour.

Digitisation has definitely gone on to push marketers across the globe to transform the marketing game. Not just that, the shift in marketing technologies has even evolved consumer behaviour and their decision making abilities.

In this post, we are going to help you quantify these changes in consumer behaviour. This will help you understand the importance of the latest consumer trends, and build better online marketing strategies. So, without any further ado, let’s dive in!

What is Consumer Behaviour?

Consumer behaviour is essentially the purchasing patterns and decision processes of consumers. These are people that are looking for products and services for personal consumption. 

Information about consumer behaviour is important to businesses around the world. This is because they are constantly looking to boost their shopping experience and eventually their sales figures.

The study of consumer behaviour allows them to understand the expectations of consumers in the market. It also helps them make changes that will empower consumers to make better purchasing decisions. 

The study involves information about what consumers buy, where they buy and when they buy. It also showcases information regarding their intent, buying frequency, and more.

8 Ways Digital Marketing Has Influenced Consumer behaviour 

Here are some of the ways that digital marketing has gone on to alter consumer behaviour.

1. Ability to Research and Experiment

   Modern-day consumers have become exceptionally good researchers when it comes to making a purchasing decision. They are gaining more insight and awareness as technology empowers them with a critical approach to making decisions online. 

   They are being exposed to a magnitude of content as brands try to market their products on the Internet. This has helped facilitate the purchasing process for consumers, wherein they are now able to research and compare products online before making a final decision on what to buy. 

   The amount of information available on the Internet has even allowed them to experiment with different brands and come to a conclusion. While they have allowed brands to influence their purchasing decisions, the same technology as empowered them to a huge extent. 

   Digital marketing has helped customers make the most of the transparent relationship brands are willing to have with them, in addition to providing them with better understanding of certain services and products. 

2. Accessible Word-of-Mouth

   Word-of-mouth is not something new. It is used both by brands and consumers to make business happen. Word-of-mouth is definitely the biggest factor that affects consumers behaviour. 

   Consumers are always looking for what other people have to say about a brand. This is especially for a product that they are interested in purchasing. For brands, it means a lot when a consumer shares their experience with their network of people. 

   With the advent of technology, especially social media, consumers now have the power of projecting their opinion on a large audience. For instance, reviews from bloggers, comments on a sponsored post, customer reviews left on brand pages, have all helped people widen their approach to consumerism. 

   This has also helped businesses maintain an online presence. Word-of-mouth can significantly affect any brand’s sales figure. It would also be safe to say that digital marketing has put consumers in the driving seat.
   

3. Inconsistent Customer Loyalty

   However, digital marketing has also made it very difficult for consumers to stay loyal to a particular brand. Before the digital marketing revolution, consumers were always partial to a brand of their choice. They often preferred to stick to familiar products and brands. 

   This was due to the fact that they were not exposed to a large range of products and services like they are today. Nowadays, customers are looking forward to products that provide them with better value for the same amount of money. 

   Not just that, they even take other factors into consideration; like customer support, brand value, discounts, and more. So, as more brands come out with better features and offers, customers now have choices. They show less hesitation when switching from their go-to brands to completely new ones.

   When it comes to customer loyalty, we can say that digital marketing did not change consumer behaviour. It only highlighted it. This has made brands compete more fiercely, which only helped customers get better services at lower costs.
   

4. Boost in Customer Engagement

   Customers have always liked to be a part of a bigger thing. They don’t let go of an opportunity where they can interact with their favorite brand.

   There has been a significant increase in customer engagement thanks to the incessant penetration of mobile technology and the internet. 

   Social media sites are accessible to everyone with an internet connection. Therefore, people are actively engaging with their brands on social media pages and consumer forums. While customers always have the power of choosing their brand and building its reputation, digital marketing has only amplified their capacity. 

   Customers can engage with their brands on social media, search engines, and other review websites. They can now instantly share their opinions with their brands. If the brands respond to their feedback quickly, they will ultimately receive even more engagement and witness a growth in sales.

5. Artificial Intelligence Impacts Consumer Behaviour
   

   One should not underestimate the role of artificial intelligence in influencing consumer behaviour. It is a powerful medium that enables consumers to make better choices. 

   Digital marketing is driven by the efficiency and feasibility that technology like artificial intelligence brings to the table. 

   Artificial intelligence is definitely going to have a huge impact on consumer behaviour, since brands that make use of artificial intelligence are able to present their products and services more efficiently than those who don’t. 

   Being that consumers are looking for convenience, they generally go forward with such brands. 

    

    

    

   For example the AI technology plays a big role in search engine optimization and how Google algorithm works, in SEO the user intent on search is taken into consideration for adapting the search results, for example if you search for SEO in Jordan from UAE market the results will be definitely different than if you are searching for the same query from Jordan! also if you are searching for Arabic SEO services, from KSA the results will differ from UAE.
   Moreover, artificial intelligence has helped brands improve customer support, and build and maintain solid connections with customers.

   Such features are definitely going to affect consumer behaviour and make an impact on many brands’ online success. 

    

6. Impulsive Buying Behaviour
   

   Digital marketing has successfully augmented the impulse buying phenomena. An impulse buying decision is essentially made directly before making the actual purchase. In other words, impulsive buying is a spontaneous decision that is made in a spur of the moment, when generally, customers usually pre-plan their purchases and pre-choose the products that they wish to buy.

   This common phenomena is used by digital marketers to positively steer consumer behaviour. Through advertising online, brands highlight attractive deals, discounts, and offers that customers are happy to explore. 

   Brands use social media platforms and third party websites to consistently promote their featured deals, which in turn affects consumer behaviour.

    

7. Less Patience, High Expectations
   

   With technology, the consumers have become noticeably impatient as their expectations for fast, efficient service have doubled. Exposed to online customer reviews and forums, they receive sentimental, real feedback on products and services. 

   Subpar services and facilities are unacceptable. Consumers expect brands to respond to queries as soon as possible. They express their dismay on public portals when they don’t receive what was promised, which directly impacts a brand’s online reputation negatively.

   The abundance of information they get through digital marketing has a serious implication on their purchasing behaviour. Services like hassle-free exchanges, and next-day delivery are quickly raising the expectations of consumers across the globe. 

   Almost every brand is looking to provide standard features and services. However, it is the brand that goes on to provide more value that wins the competition.

    

   at Chain Reaction, we work with our clients  clear KPIs, especially for measurable ones such as SEO services in the UAE

8. Personalised Shopping Experience
   

   Digital marketing has also accustomed consumers to a personalised shopping experience. 

   Today, they don’t want to spend a great amount  of time researching and purchasing their desired products. 

   Brands have realised this change in consumer behaviour, and they have geared their online marketing and branding strategies towards providing a personalised experience to all consumers by curating personalised content. 

   This tailors the entire shopping experience to fit the needs of each individual website visitor. 

    

Wrapping Up

We have shared some of the many ways digital marketing has changed how customers look at brands. With the emergence of advanced technology, customers are going to get more power over their shopping experience. For businesses, however, the same incessant development in technology helps manipulate the purchasing habits of their potential customers. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how digital marketing will shape the future of consumerism. 

Have questions? Feel free to put them down in the comments section. We’d love to hear from you!