IMPACT OF DIGITAL MARKETING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Digitalization has dramatically affected our daily lives. There has been a grave impact of digital marketing on consumer behaviour. Over the last few decades, the number of internet users all over the world has increased in millions. India is no exception and is known for an increasing number of internet users. The popularity and growth of digital media have drastically changed consumer behaviour, which led to the development of another field of marketing called digital marketing or e-marketing.

Digital marketing can be described as the strategies and techniques that utilize online ways to reach target customers. The majority of companies today are using digital platforms to market their products or services. Today digitalization is a need of an hour. Indian youth spend most of their time surfing the internet on smartphones. Hence, companies cannot neglect to occupy a part of smartphones. Apart from travel and ticketing that has experienced a sea change due to digitalization; apparel, beauty care, consumer electronics, books and even financial services are also marketed and sold online.

Here are some points to assist you to understand the impact of digital marketing on consumer behaviour.

1. CONSUMERS HAVE BECOME RESEARCHERS   

With easy access to the internet, today, consumers are way more empowered and enlightened. They are full of digital content every day. With nearly every brand promoting their products on the digital platforms in current times, it’s more than suitable for consumers to research & compare online. Their purchase decision is vastly prejudiced by the communications they have with the brand and other influencers online.     

2. DIGITAL WORD OF MOUTH IS THE MOST TRUSTED THING   

In previous times, word of mouth was the most reliable form of reference that the customers trusted. In today’s digital time of life, word of mouth is made in terms of the reviews given by the customers, recommendations of the digital platform influencers, testimonials, ratings, etc. Mostly, customers ensure that they look at what the current brand users have got to say about the service/ product deciding on their purchase.   

3. CONSUMERS ARE NOT AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT   

Customers in the previous days were very sceptical about changing brands that they have been using all along. However, things have changed with time. The outlook of customers has changed immensely today. They have become more friendly towards products and brands which offer improved features than before. All this was only conceivable through digital marketing which has made it effortless for these new brands to reach out to the consumers.   

4. CONSUMERS FREQUENTLY SWITCH BRANDS   

Brand loyalty used to be a gigantic thing in the old times. Very sporadic is when you would see customers switching brands. Though today, customers are fast to switch brands given that the new one is providing products with better features. With a ton of choices available in the market, customer loyalty is hard, and switching is simple.   

5. CONSUMERS NOW HAVE A LOWER TOLERANCE LEVEL   

Lastly, customers, these days are not okay to settle down or negotiate in any way. They wish to get an immediate response to their questions and grievances if any. They frankly share their thoughts and views on the digital platforms which can make or break a brand's image in seconds. Generally, consumers tend to believe negative news/reviews quickly, and only a few share positive reviews. Also, many competitors misuse this by posting unfavourable reviews on brand pages via fake accounts. 

This can be managed with a powerful Online Reputation Management (ORM) Strategy, wherein interactions with the consumers can potentially convert their negative status to the positive. Consumer behaviour in today's technological age keeps changing and expanding now and then. Being in sync with consumers' choices and the recent trends is the only way that can help brands stay in the game.

You can approach any digital marketing company in Delhi or some advertising agency to grow your business, so that they may help you with the following-

1. Expand to new areas without any kind of geographical hurdles 

2. Reach more and more people with the lowest possible cost
   

3. Measure every click and helps in identifying user behaviour and buying patterns

4. Use Seach Engine Optimization as a tool for a long term traffic source.

5. Give detailed insights regarding your target audience so that you can make super-targeted ads

6. Generate higher revenue in comparison with traditional marketing channels

7. Gets a steady flow of targeted traffic of people who convert into sales and leads 

8. Make use of strategy and techniques which would not only attract more traffic to the business but even quality traffic that will engage and convert more.

CONCLUSION

Digital marketing is the contemporary style of marketing as it concentrates on opening new horizons for marketers to advertise a service or product as compared to conventional media. In recent times, consumer behaviour and satisfaction have become an essential asset for any organization to attain its position in the market and to increase its profitability. For this purpose, organizations are employing social media techniques. Companies are employing digital marketing to interact with consumers. Seeing the impact of digital marketing on consumer behaviour, it has given organizations a new way of dealing and changing the buying behaviour of the consumers.