Consumers’ reality has changed. Even before COVID-19, more and more people have begun ordering everyday items – as well as rarer purchases – online. Shoppers obtain product information from communities and from testimonials, from publishers with high credibility, from product comparison sites, and then, prior to purchase, from sites that show the best price or offer discounts. For advertisers, this means they need to be present in different ways and advertise in exactly those digital places that play a role in the purchase decision process for their customers during the customer journey. This approach to digital marketing is new. It requires a different, holistic way of thinking about advertising. And it requires tools and technologies for advertising that lead to an actual conversion and enable customer centricity. All of this exists – and we are bundling it in our new platform mrge, under the new term Commerce Advertising.
A holistic approach to digital marketing
E-commerce marketing has changed. The last point of contact with a product no longer triggers the impulse to buy. Instead, the decisive factor is all the experiences that a customer has when he or she is interested in a product and researches it. Product reviews are at least as important as the brand promise and, of course, the price. For advertisers, this means that they need to know where and how customers find out about their products, and which arguments convince them before they buy. Only with this knowledge do advertisers get a holistic view of the customer journey. And only then can they pinpoint the purchase-relevant touchpoints and address them with advertising.
What does the purchase-oriented customer journey look like these days?
We are probably all familiar with this situation: Searching online without knowing exactly what product you want to buy. Let’s say you are looking for a new backpack, one that is waterproof but looks good downtown as well as on the trail. You often start your research on sites of publishers you already trust and then you go to special-interest media, communities, and social media. All of these sources offer information about differences, advantages, and disadvantages.At this point, many shoppers make a pre-selection and narrow down the search, looking for which brand offers the best price. Sources now include price comparison sites as well as discount and coupon providers. If then everything fits, if the model and price correspond to shopper’s wishes, the purchase of the new backpack takes place. To be successful, an advertiser must be present in all the places that are visited digitally during the shopper’s research, so that a competitor does not win out.
Commerce Advertising sets a new standard
In order to generate these decisive buying impulses, advertisers need to combine different tools and technologies. Here, the key is to use those that most efficiently create a conversion between the ad format on the various pages and the advertiser’s online store or offering. For example:
- Technologies for pages with product reviews, product comparisons, tests, coupons, or cashback
- Widgets in Google Shopping
- Affiliate marketing, which plays the crucial role in commerce content (publisher strategy)
We have coined a new term for the sum of all these opportunities that are clearly focused on a target transaction: Commerce Advertising.
For advertisers, Commerce Advertising leads to additional revenues. Their advertising appears in an environment that interests their potential customers and that customers actively use. This makes it more likely that the customer will respond to the campaign. Conversion increases.
D2C, Direct to Consumer, can also be implemented efficiently, as the click leads directly to the store or the offer that the advertiser is promoting. The offer can also be a sign-up or a download.
Connecting Growth – by mrge
Traditional online advertising has reached its limits. Consumers have become banner-blind but still need reliable information to make better purchase decisions. Third-party cookies no longer play a long-term role in the advertising of the future. Advertisers must find new answers to the question of how to reach their audiences. Currently, publishers are looking for new digital ad instruments to monetise their services through their content. The answer is mrge, the new Commerce Advertising platform which incorporates best-in-class solutions in commerce content, performance marketing, and affiliate marketing.
Three market leaders in their fields have already joined forces at mrge. We are very familiar with the e-commerce and publishing markets; we know the potential but also the challenges in data-driven marketing. It is important to us that we set forward-looking impulses and combine both sides, commerce and content. And mrge isn’t done yet: We’re expanding the umbrella brand worldwide and working with companies that make further contributions to the conversion-oriented customer journey. If you are ready to grow, visit mrge.com.
Meet us at PI LIVE in London: October 18-19, 2022, on the mrge Terrace on the Grand Hall floor.
