I recently had the opportunity to host a webinar with some true experts in the field of consumer behavior, Martie Woods, Lead Strategist at Stone Mantel and Stacey Symonds, Senior Director, Consumer Insights at Orbitz Worldwide. Together, the two discussed recent insights from Stone Mantel’s Digital Consumer Collaborative, a research-centered, cross-industry collaborative approached designed to predict where the digital consumer is headed.
Among the insights they shared:
- Consumers are expecting to reduce the gap between thinking and doing. Consumers today are essentially eliminating their to-do lists, and going directly from thinking about something they have to do to simply doing it. Because they want to shorten this gap, consumers will almost always give up information about their behavior if they think that information will help reduce steps and accomplish a goal quicker.
- Consumers surround themselves first, then make all sorts of micro purchases. Most consumers are doing multiple things at once, surrounded by multiple voices. They rely on queue to manage content, purchases and their day. It’s important for brands to be a part of that queue.
- Consumers are seeking to maximize their attention. The more empowered people are to accomplish more in a short period of time, the more they meander and move from one task or thought to another. Instead of trying to combat multitasking, brands should focus on being a part of the “while,” and being relevant while people are meandering.
- The journey is less about a linear path and more about a constant state of moving. Customer journeys are often depicted as linear routes that consumers follow in a purchase cycle, but the constant state of movement means that the consumer journey is more dynamic and interrupted than we think. Brands should understand a consumer’s different modes and strive to work with consumers in a way that supports what they value, and in a way that works across all technologies.
- Consumer behavior demands more than omni offers. Thinking on channels must evolve. The change in thinking behavior demands digital context. It is not just about mobile. It’s about how mobile (including wearables, sensors) media, data, and location come together. These forces create digital context.
