2016 was another banner year for online marketing as digital ad spending approached a record $15 billion. E-commerce marketing teams invested heavily in social media, mobile, and video marketing while also allocating ad dollars toward mature channels such as paid and organic search.
I expect more of the same in 2017, especially in these five e-commerce and marketing areas.
Individual consumer marketing
One of bricks-and-mortar retailing’s fundamental advantages is its ability to sell to the consumer on a personal level. It’s difficult to replicate the efficacy of walking into a store and having a salesperson cater to an shopper’s specific needs. However, speaking to customers on a one-to-one basis will be easier than ever in 2017.
Marketing channels such as Facebook and Google AdWords now allow e-commerce marketers to upload lists of customers to their respective channels (via the Custom Audiences and Customer Match tools) so marketers can speak specifically to a group of customers with more granularity than ever before. For example, if data shows that customers tend to buy blue scarves after they purchase black boots, companies can craft ad creative that speaks to this specific merchandising preference. The ability to systematically show messaging that resonates with a specific group of consumers will cause response rates to skyrocket and acquisition/retention costs to drop.
Cohort-specific targeting tools will continue to spread. Should marketers require more reach, prospecting technologies built around finding similar cohorts based on seed lists already exist and continue to show promise.
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