Top Digital Trends of 2022: Let’s Get Personal

Feb 10, 2022

Another year, another opportunity to build impressive digital marketing strategies! Digital marketing channels are cluttered with noise which means we must invest in marketing tactics that can evolve to ensure we are finding and converting high-intent customers. 

Our team of digital marketing experts have leveraged our experience and research to predict the top trends to watch in 2022. Each of these trends is paired with practical implementation advice to ensure your digital marketing strategy is aspirational and executable.

TREND: First Party Data Will Be More Important Than Ever

“The war on data will escalate and marketers will lose access to more data they have come to rely on,” says global marketing consultant Tim Parkin. “First-party data will become the foundation of all marketing initiatives. Many organizations, who have not prepared, will scramble to collect this data to stay competitive.” This means targeting on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google are going to become less sophisticated due to updated privacy options for consumers.

BLUE DOOR RECOMMENDATION: Leverage Social WiFi To Collect Emails And Data

92% of leading marketers believe using first-party data to continuously build an understanding of what people want is critical to growth (Google/Econsultancy). Social WiFi is the perfect solution for your brand to collect valuable, first-party data from your customers. This system actively works with the WiFi at your business to collect email addresses, names, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. This information can not only be used for email marketing campaigns, it can also be used for sophisticated retargeting campaigns on digital advertising platforms. Ownership of data is going to be more important than ever in 2022, as it’s no longer safe to assume user data will be fully available.

TREND: Personalized Email Marketing Will Deliver Highest Return On Investment (ROI)

Did you know that for every $1 you spend on emails marketing, you can expect an average return of $42 (DMA)? Email marketing allows us to demonstrate consumer intent right away because of the nature of the “opt in” process. This means that we know the people we are talking to are interested in our communications and have a higher probability of converting. Additionally, because email marketing is a monthly fee based on the size of your audience (versus cost per acquisition model), we can realize much higher ROI than traditional digital advertising.  

While digital advertising is an effective way to convert customers, we know that these are passive consumers, versus active ones. Email marketing on the other hand is a communications channel where consumers must actively “opt in” showcasing a high level of intent right away.  Additionally, digital advertising campaigns work on a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) model, meaning you pay for every purchase. Email marketing, however,  merely has a monthly fee based on the size of your audience, given this channel a much higher ROI potential.

BLUE DOOR RECOMMENDATION: Set Up Email Database Tags And Send More Targeted Emails

Email inboxes are full of spam and promotional emails that are easily identifiable by the language they use. Platforms like Google Mail natively sort emails into a promotional folder, which means your messages are not top of mind. Your brand can work against this algorithm by using dynamic text options that pull elements like a customer’s first name into the subject line or body of an email. Furthermore, by tagging your customers in your email list based on their relationship with your business, you can send out many small (targeted) campaigns, rather than large general list campaigns.

TREND: Membership Models Will Overtake Loyalty Programs

“Loyalty programs will become a thing of the past and evolve into membership programs,” says Jay Myers of Bold Commerce. “People crave membership and community; it’s human nature. What’s not human nature is to crave being in a loyalty program.” This methodology is the perfective model disruption for several industries including cannabis, retail, and grocery.

BLUE DOOR RECOMMENDATION: Test A Subscription Model With Loyal Customers

Instead of users working tirelessly to accumulate enough points for a promotion, consider offering a subscription model to your most loyal customers. For a nominal monthly fee, you can offer them exclusive discounts, experiential offerings, and more. A lot of customers are willing to pay for the convenience of being treated like a VIP, rather than punching holes on a loyalty card.

TREND: Discounts Will Be Replaced By Personalized Incentives

65% of consumers say that receiving rewards impacts their frequency of purchase (Annex Cloud). Everything about digital marketing in 2022 comes down to personalization. Customers want to feel like they are winning in every transaction, which is why offers must be unique and desirable.

BLUE DOOR RECOMMENDATION: Find Out What Customers Want Most And Offer It To Them

Replace discounts including 10% off with things that your customers really want. This could be free shipping, product personalization, or in-store experiences. Consider leveraging email marketing to send surveys to your customers and find out what they value most.

Are you ready to make your digital marketing strategy more personalized? Chat with our team of experts today to learn about how we can help create a new digital marketing ecosystem for your business to ensure you are capitalizing on all the opportunities that 2022 will bring. 

 

Blue Door is a public relations, digital marketing, and design agency based in Toronto. We pride ourselves on being a modern agency with a sophisticated approach to marketing. As an award-winning agency, we have earned the trust of major organizations across the country in virtually every sector from hotels to healthcare. Check out our Services Page to learn more. Is your business in need of a brand but not sure where to start? View our capabilities deck here and connect with us at hello@bluedoor.agency or 1 855-854-5594



Source(s):

https://www.forbes.com/sites/henrydevries/2021/12/16/10-trends-for-digital-marketing-in-2022/?sh=9e3c34d755ac

https://theconversation.com/six-big-digital-trends-to-watch-in-2022-174144

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/01/14/15-top-trends-that-will-impact-marketing-in-2022/?sh=47e250936f0c

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/first-party-data-user-statistics/

https://dma.org.uk/uploads/misc/marketers-email-tracker-2019.pdf

 

 

About the Author:

Aaron Lieberman is our Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Blue Door and helps strategize, execute, and report on all digital marketing campaigns on behalf of our clients.