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Thriving after the crisis - how brands can build a digital strategy for the future

Lauréline Saux

Published on

July 7, 2020

Article

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us all and dramatically changed consumer behavior for both the short and long-term.

To understand what it means for brands and how it affects their future digital strategies we undertook qualitative and quantitative research into consumer behavior:

First we surveyed over 5,000 consumers across the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy to get first hand insights into what the virus and lockdowns meant to them.

We then worked closely with our partners at international experimentation network the GO Group, including Widerfunnel in North America and Conversions.com in the UK to benefit from their analysis and experience, gathered directly and through a series of webinars.

We’ve used the results to create a global report that looks forward to the post-lockdown world. It outlines key insights for brands, recommendations for strategic change, country-by-country analysis and actions companies need to take now to seize competitive advantage. Here are some key highlights from the report:

1 Key consumer findings - digital behavior has changed for the long-term

Our research clearly found that the switch to digital channels has been rapidly accelerated by the pandemic. Not only was there an immediate spike in digital activity, but this brought new audiences online, widened the reach of existing digital consumers and will have a long-term impact on behavior.

Here are the top-line findings:

34% of consumers increased the time they spent online during lockdowns
24% say they’ll use digital channels more in the long-term
73% want to receive a personalized experience
75% believe that brands do not personalize their experience enough
41% will switch from brands that offer a poor online experience

Download the full report to access a country-by-country breakdown of the results.

2 The 5 lessons for digital brands

Our analysis highlighted five key themes that every brand, in every country need to understand and use to drive their future strategy:

The crisis has accelerated the long-term shift to digital

A large proportion of consumers won’t go back to offline channels, bringing new opportunities and challenges for brands.

Customer-centricity and experimentation is key to growth

Consumer needs are changing - it is only those brands that truly understand consumer behavior and experiment to improve the experience that will flourish.

Wider usage of new digital services

The range of online activities is broadening into areas such as e-learning and telemedicine. Brands in these spaces that deliver the right experience will gain significant first-mover advantage.

The importance of personalization to meeting consumer needs

Brands can only meet the requirements of a larger, more diverse audience by delivering the personalized experience that consumers expect.

Rising competition

The economic downturn will bring new challenges - the brands that succeed will be those that invest in customer understanding and embrace experimentation and personalization.

Read the complete analysis in our global report.

3 The US and UK partner perspective

To provide on the ground insights and advice we worked closely with our partner agencies in the US, UK, Germany, Italy and France. They shared their current experiences and recommendations for how brands need to change their future digital strategies. Here’s a flavor of their views:

The pandemic is simply accelerating a shift to digital that was already happening. This is where there is an opportunity for digital brands. Right now it is more important than ever to understand your customers and to optimize their experience using insight-driven experimentation programs.

Chris Goward

CEO Widerfunnel (GO Group Strategic Partner, NA)

At times like this people have to be prepared to take risks, so now is the time to do things that you wouldn’t have done before. Test the things you were previously scared to try - you can start at a small-scale and then grow. Don’t just test the things you were going to do anyway - test the things that make you and your boss uncomfortable.

Stephen Pavlovich

CEO Conversion.com (GO Group Strategic Partner UK)

What better time to experiment than a moment like this? Behaviors and customer needs are changing and companies should be responding to that through analysis and iteration. Ultimately, these times of uncertainty mean your organization likely has more questions than answers and that's a key opportunity for an experimentation program to shine.