Marketing to anxious customers

It’s been a wild year. Nothing’s the same, and neither are your buyers. Between the pandemic, financial stress and social unrest, it can be tough to discern how to strike the right tone with customers. After all, you don’t want to come across as insensitive and out of touch. “Help, don’t sell” has been the mantra of astute marketers, and for good reason. In times of uncertainty, branded content should add value, educate, and alleviate pain in some capacity, caution Gartner researchers. How do you do that? Gartner offers four general recommendations for marketing in uncertain times:

>> Emphasize values that matter most to your customers.

>> Provide products that hearten people in times of panic.

>> Avoid the temptation to bombard consumers with information.

>> Avoid inadvertently exploiting the vulnerable.

Researchers at McKinsey agree, and get a bit more specific in their guidance. We’ll highlight three key recommendations below:

1. Focus on care and connection.

“Our research shows 64% of customers choose to buy from socially responsible brands, a figure that has grown significantly in the past two years,” McKinsey reports. Your customers want a resource they can trust, that makes them feel safe, and offers support when life feels overwhelming. Is that you? Note that customers can detect B.S. from a mile away, so you’d better put your money where your mouth is. One way to earn their trust and credit cards is to show you also care deeply for your employees and community.

2. Meet your customers where they are today.

“Customers need digital, at-home, and low-touch options. Digital-led experiences will continue to grow in popularity once the coronavirus is quelled,” the report reads. Perhaps you’ve learned this the hard way. It’s common sense, but not necessarily common practice. If you’re quick to innovate your delivery model, you’ll have a strong advantage, now and in the future. What are some ways you can combine greater ease with greater safety for customers and employees?

3. Keep a real-time pulse on changing customer preferences.

As conditions shift, you’ll need to find quick, new ways to keep a pulse on customer sentiment and habits, argues McKinsey. The most obvious way to do that is to simply ask them, though you don’t have the luxury of waiting a month for survey results. A less obvious but effective tactic: Listen to frontline employees. “While 78% of frontline employees report that their leaders have made customer experience a priority, nearly 60% say they believe their ideas for improving that experience often go unheard.” Once you identify a way to improve your customer’s journey (say, shorten delays, eliminate a useless form or source of confusion), implement changes quickly — the sooner, the better. Improvements or innovations don’t have to be perfect. Think of them as experiments, adapting and refining as you go.

Not sure where to start? When in doubt, focusing on what you can give rather than get is always a winning strategy. Empathy is a heck of a market advantage.

>> Could you use some help? Drop us a note and we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction, whether or not we end up working together.