Engaging today's consumer to boost sales: Digital Marketing

By Calista Sprague

Like it or not, the digital revolution has taken hold, and there is no going back. Americans spend an average of 60 hours a week viewing content on their digitized screens—phones, tablets, computers and televisions—and today’s consumers prefer businesses that offer the same digital fluency that they experience with large national chains like Target or Best Buy. 

Retailers who hope to stay relevant must invest time and resources to develop and maintain a compelling digital strategy. Although the overwhelming majority of final flooring purchases still happen in-store, retailers must engage consumers in the digital realm in order to coax them into their brick-and-mortar stores.

Nielsen’s 2014 Digital Consumer Report reveals that more than 70% of the U.S. population owns a smartphone and almost half access social media every day. And 80% of American homes now have Internet connected computers. These statistics have been growing at mind-boggling rates. Consider that in 2000, only 42% of American homes were connected to the Internet, social media didn’t exist, and the iPhone wouldn’t hit the market for another seven years.

In the early days of the Internet, no one cared if a business had a website or not, but before long a web presence became an expectation, although sites were little more than electronic brochures. Early users visited websites much like a phonebook, mainly to get basic contact information. Next, social media burst onto the scene, led by MySpace in 2003, and people began connecting and interacting through Facebook, LinkedIn and a host of other networks. Meanwhile, mobile devices and their apps proliferated and evolved, bringing the Internet and social media into the palm of our hands. 

All this technology has dramatically changed the way we shop. At the Solutions convention in December, Mohawk informed its dealers that five years ago, the buying process for flooring took 65 days and 10% was spent researching online. Now the process is over 110 days and 60% is spent online. Again, the rate of change is swift and continuing to swing toward consumer preference for virtual shopping. 

Industries around the world have taken note of the burgeoning digital usage. “If we look at all the industries out there, all of them spend greater than 6% of annual revenues on information technology and have for the last 20 years,” announced consumer shopping expert James Dion in an education session at Surfaces. “And all of them have had double digit productivity increases every year for the last 20 years.” He went on to explain that retailers collectively spend less than 2%, recommending that they spend at least 2% to 3%, which is only half of other industries. Dion, who has written three best sellers about successful retailing, warns that the longer flooring retailers delay participation in digital marketing, the farther they will fall behind. 

Already stretched thin from running a small business, retailers now face the daunting task of assembling a comprehensive and cohesive digital marketing strategy, replete with a multifaceted website that is search-engine friendly and tied to active social media outlets and lead generation programs, all of which must work on any platform of desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. And all of which take time to implement, time to learn and time to maintain. It’s no wonder retailers have been reticent to launch fully into the digital realm.

THE NEW CONSUMERS
As technology has changed, so have people. Consumer research psychologist Dr. Kit Yarrow spoke at the Shaw Flooring Network Convention in January about her new book, Decoding the New Consumer Mind. “Our use of technology is really changing the way that we think,” she explains, saying that our brains are functioning differently. “We have shorter attention spans; we get bored more easily.” 

She says that anxiety and anger are also increasing in society, brought on in part by technology with its information overload and lightning speed. Although digital users demand access to more and more information, Yarrow says that psychological research shows people actually prefer fewer choices. Today’s consumers often feel overwhelmed and welcome help in narrowing down their field of options. 

Technology has had deep effects on community as well. “We used to see our community as the people we saw in our lives, the people we saw in church, at school, at the Rotary Club,” Yarrow says. “Now our community is online. The word of mouth today is not just in the physical community, but also in the virtual community, so things like ratings and reviews are so tremendously important.” 

The increased use of social media has also minimized in-person communication, making connections more superficial, so people now crave a sense of belonging as a result. “They need to feel relevant, seen and respected,” Yarrow notes.

These new consumers have new shopping habits, too. “Just like it is in our life now, digital is ingrained in every aspect of the shopping process,” says Kent Clauson, VP of brand and digital at Mohawk Industries. He points out that digital resources allow the consumer to stay out of the store longer, but says that the process is not a linear one from Internet to brick-and-mortar to purchase. “We know they go online; they go into a store; they go into a home center. They go back to the computer; they do more research. They try to validate their decision, then they go back into a store.” 

Once the purchase is made, the transaction may be complete, but the shopping process is not. “The digital component is now integrated into the shopping experience at all points, even post sale,” Clauson says. “Now post sale, they’re going in and writing ratings and reviews. They’re posting on social media about their new floor. They’re talking about their experience with their retailer.”

Newly armed with a wealth of information and choices, consumers demand more and more from their shopping experience. “The bar gets set from the consumer’s perspective by major retailers on the web and in-store,” says Clauson. “The story is the same, the messages are the same, the products are the same, so that consumers have a cohesive omni-channel experience wherever they encounter that brand.” 

Todd Callaway and Misty Hodge oversee the digital programs for Shaw Industries. Callaway points out that not only do consumers expect digital marketing to be cohesive, but they also expect it to be omnipresent. “With the digital revolution, consumers expect to find whatever they’re looking for wherever they look. Whatever channel is their favorite, they expect to find you there. Those are high expectations to fill.” 

Beyond demands for information, today’s consumers also want the shopping process tailored to their needs. “Personalization is a very important part of what the consumer expects,” says Hodge. “It’s not one fits all, it’s one fits one. Everybody expects their own personal experience.” So rather than view generic design ideas, they want to see products matched to their individual color scheme, or visualize flooring superimposed in their own environment.

“The consumer is in control,” agrees Christine Whittemore, founder of Simple Marketing Now. “She is going online on her time, when it’s convenient to her. She’s going to start searching to get information and educate herself about her options because no woman wants to go into a store and have the same experience she has when she goes to the mechanic.” Whittemore admits that for a retail sales associate, an informed consumer can be scary, “because sometimes the consumer comes in knowing more than he or she does.” 

THE NEW RETAILERS
Whittemore says that these changes in the shopping process, brought on by technology, indicate a paradigm shift for retailers. “In flooring, we tend not to think of the customer first. We tend to speak in code: short staple and BCF and LVT. We’ve not made the adjustment to speaking in customer friendly terms and focusing on the customer experience.” She sees the educated consumer as an opportunity rather than a threat, allowing the conversation to move from price range to inspiration: “What are you looking to achieve? What’s your dream? How do we make it happen?” 

However, Whittemore says that the time consumers spend educating themselves online does present a challenge. “Up to 90% of the decision making process is done before they even speak to a sales associate. That doesn’t leave much room for a retailer to develop a relationship that goes beyond the transaction.” 

She recommends that retailers ask themselves new questions. “If people can go online to do so much, yet we’re selling a physical product, how do we make that physical experience mind blowing? How do we make it so it’s talk worthy and worth coming back to as opposed to a painful, boring, utilitarian experience?” 

If retailers want to engage the new consumer, they cannot continue doing what they’ve done in the past. They must evolve with the technology and with the consumer. In his Surfaces presentation, Dion quoted Lou Pritchett, a former VP at Proctor & Gamble: “If the rate of change outside your company exceeds the rate of change inside your company, disaster is imminent.” Although the quote is 25 years old, it was never so apropos as today. 

For many retailers, especially those slow to join the movement, catching up to the digital revolution seems like a daunting task at best. “It’s difficult for the retailers,” Shaw’s Callaway empathizes. “They are trying to juggle so many things day to day. That hasn’t changed. They are managing logistics, financials, human resources, growing the customer base, and now they’re expected to be digital marketers, as well.” 

Dion sets the stage, saying that in the last two or three years, retailers have begun to realize that they need strategies for social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Yelp. They need a robust website that is mobile friendly with phone and tablet applications for heightened communication with consumers. “And is that a seamless experience for the customer?” he asks. “Is what the customer saw on the phone what they are experiencing in the store? And are you using technology in the store to more deeply engage the consumer?” 

A growing list of digital marketing service companies have sprung up to “help” retailers navigate these high demands of digital marketing. They bombard store owners with daily emails and phone calls to tell them that they need website development, search engine optimization, lead generation, email blasts, point and click ads, and social media management. 

“In the good old days, there used to be this thing called the mass market,” explains Dion. “Today, digital is giving us the ability to market to a specific individual. The digital strategy is far, far more complex. If you choose the wrong technology partner, you can go down the wrong path. And consumers are not very forgiving today, so if you go down the wrong path, it could have serious implications for your business. And if you don’t go down any path, that could have even more serious implications.” 

Dion recommends that retailers hire a professional to help implement digital strategies, but he cautions them to do their homework. “There are a lot of bad agencies out there. Rely, as you always should, on fellow companies and retailers. Find somebody who is doing well in a non-competitive market and ask them who they use.”

Not all retailers are behind the curve. Clauson says that more than 1,300 retailers, which represents approximately 75% to 85% of aligned and Karastan dealers, have signed up for the Mohawk Social Media Tool, and more than 85% of those who signed up actually utilize the program on a monthly basis to push content to their social media sites. “The response has been tremendous, but it hasn’t been without a lot of learning,” he admits. 

Retailers aligned with large companies like Shaw or Mohawk and buying groups like Carpet One or Abbey Carpets can plug into comprehensive digital marketing programs designed with the latest technologies, which gives them access to customized web pages, content for social media sites, search engine lead generation and much more, but very little of it is completely automatic. Retailers still must invest time and energy.

It used to be that retailers paid for advertising and waited for people to come through the door. With consumers spending so much of the shopping cycle online, retailers need to actively find and engage consumers online. “That’s been a big shift, and we have a training program around this,” Clauson explains. “You can’t just have leads generated; you’ve got to follow up on them. You’ve got to pull people into your store. It’s a much different model than our industry is used to.” 

WEBSITE ENHANCEMENTS
Today’s consumers are no longer content with landing pages with basic contact information. When they look businesses up online, they expect to find fully integrated websites with a cornucopia of information, including a full product catalog with high quality images and interactive apps to allow them to visualize the products in their home. And they expect all these bells and whistles to work on any device, anywhere, any time. Putting a website of this caliber into place may be a tall order, but it comes with benefits for those who manage it. 

A compelling website can give a company a strong head start against competition with a lesser online presence, and it can set the tone for your relationships with consumers. “Your website may be the first impression that anybody has of your store before they ever see your actual location, before they meet a single employee,” says Shaw’s Callaway. 

“I like to refer to a website as your 24/7 sales associate who never sleeps and you don’t have to pay,” says Whittemore. “Your website needs to work very hard on your behalf. It needs to be there educating. It needs to be there communicating who you are as a company. If you’re a people business, then you need to have a page on your website where everyone in your store has an image and some information about that person, maybe a link to that person’s LinkedIn profile and an email address, so you start trust building before the customer comes in.” 

To grab the new consumer’s attention and engage them, a website needs to include high quality images. Imagery, visualization and video have become more integral to the Internet experience and the shopping experience. Shaw Web Studio, for example, now includes photos of every style color in high resolution, allowing the viewer to zoom into the fiber. 

Jay Flynn is VP of sales and marketing for Creating Your Space, an online marketing company that specializes in retail flooring and related interior finishes. “Make sure you have a website that represents your business and will engage the consumer,” he recommends. “I still run into a lot of retailers who will spend thousands and thousands of dollars every month driving leads to a landing page with a photo of their store and their hours, their phone number and their address. What a lost opportunity. It’s essential that you’re representing the products and services that your business provides.” 

Flynn points out that consumers use websites to not only narrow down product preferences, but also to narrow down business preferences. Only about 1% to 2% of shoppers actually buy flooring online, “They’re not looking to finalize the purchase, but they are looking to narrow down who they’re going to buy from,” Flynn says. He suggests retailers include a custom catalog of products, rather than everything the manufacturers make. Include tools for consumers to save favorite products, ask questions and set appointments, and give consumers several opportunities to share their contact information to generate leads. 

Technology gurus like Flynn don’t suggest relying 100% on digital marketing, however. “Our successful clients don’t replace all their traditional marketing, but it has shifted. Just a few years ago, people were doing 90% to 95% traditional and just a little bit online. Now a third to a half of their advertising budget has shifted to online marketing.”

He points out that digital marketing provides a much broader reach. “Think about the limitations of a billboard or a 15-second TV commercial—the cost of doing those things versus driving people to a website where you can have pages and pages of products, galleries of photos from installations, and testimonials from customers. That’s what consumers are looking for.” He says that when retailers choose to do traditional marketing, they should make sure their websites are prominent. “You’ve only got a few seconds of their time. You want them to easily find your website where you can really make an impression.”

Since most consumers start with keywords in a search engine, Flynn and others recommend starting with search engine optimization (SEO). A website that is optimized for important industry keywords will show up sooner in the search results and garner more attention. 

“If you don’t have a really incredible website, then you’re really far behind,” Dion admonishes. “That’s retail 101 today, and if you haven’t invested, you better right now. He says to look at competitors’ sites for ideas, and attend workshops and seminars at conventions and shows like Surfaces and Coverings. “Even if you’re just getting established, your website has to be a really engaging way to connect with that customer. And as we see more and more mobile devices, a mobile application is almost a must.” He ends with good news for retailers: “It’s not going to cost you a fortune.”

Related Topics:Mohawk Industries, Coverings, Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Creating Your Space, Carpet One, Karastan