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Authored by Janet Muto, President, and Co-Founder at WEVO.
On episode 7 of the WEVO Podcast, I (virtually) sat down for a chat with Tomer Azenkot, WEVO’s Chief Revenue Officer. We discussed some of the data from the past 2-3 months of buyers being at-home and how this is affecting the choices that both marketers and consumers are making.
The Challenge: What worked yesterday, may not work tomorrow
As we adapt to working, socializing, and consuming all of our information from home almost every interaction we are having is on our computer, phone, or tablet. With the world of digital and physical blurring, digital marketers need to understand where their target audience is right now – mentally, economically, etc. – in order to sell to them. If you’re just guessing and trying to push what used to work, you will lose them. As discussed in our recent webinar, the marketing that is working is authentic and empathetic, but it’s not always clear what that means for your audience.
When this all started, brands had to be cautious and many took a wait and see approach before adapting their messaging and targeting their customers again. The key is that your customer persona is still shifting rapidly. A recent study by EY found that 45% of people surveyed are consuming in a way that is permanently changed from pre-COVID. In most cases, what you know about your audience from 3-4 months ago is no longer relevant. We need to get smarter and faster to make our digital marketing efforts resonate.
The Solution: Marketers must adapt to new consumer behaviors
So, what’s the solution for digital marketers? Testing. iterating, and adapting. You have to do the homework to understand how to make the change that’s right for your target audience, especially as “consumers are more mindful of what they are buying” (Accenture). The conundrum is – we need to test, but we don’t have time to go slowly. Brand loyalties and impressions are being formed in this “new normal”, and you want your brand to stand out. So how do you test in a way that’s risk-free and fast?
The Approach: A/B marketers must go beyond A and B with Pre-live testing
Traditional A/B testing is effective, but it’s inherently slow. You need to isolate different variables with every test in order to get meaningful results. With Pre-live testing, you can go beyond traditional A/B testing, and test multiple different variations of a landing page or campaign (design, messaging, imagery, narrative flow) at once – so you get real results, fast, without the risk of live traffic or wasted marketing budgets.
And, from the time you run a series of traditional A/B tests, to the time you go live, things can change dramatically. Because Pre-live testing lets you move faster, you can keep testing and iterating so your campaigns are never stagnant, and you’re able to keep up with changing consumer behaviors, even as we continue to face uncertainty.
As the world continues to adjust to a “new normal”, consumer behavior will continue to change as well. With frequent testing and the ability to adapt quickly, your digital marketing efforts will stand out among the rest
