Adapting to the changing consumer beliefs, behaviours and habits in the new normal

Brand trust is often built from customer’s beliefs. These beliefs are deeply rooted in their psyche. Dr Ramesh starts his day at 8 AM. He gets ready, goes to his study, opens his laptop and starts his practice. His first appointment starts at 9 AM. The appointments go on till 11 am. He spend at least 8 -12 hours a day connected to an online device. Dr Ramesh is a practitioner in the new normal.

No one is untouched by the pandemic. It has forced the customer’s world over to change their behaviours, attitude and lifestyle. Every marketer across the globe is grappling with this change and working to focusing on new ways to delight them. Mr. Aditya Vikram Singh, AVP -Sales and Marketing shares his views on bringing customer delight amidst the accelerated digital transformation and the new normal.

Find more about the new beliefs of your customers

India’s online grocery market is poised to surpass USD 3 billion in sales this year. This is a 76% increase from the year before. A reason for this growth is the significant uptick in the demand for home delivery of day today items. The new normal states that we don’t leave home often, come in contact with lesser people and follow social distancing. These precautions I believe are here to stay & hence it is important for us to accept this and adapt accordingly.

The new beliefs are shaping new behaviours and ultimately new habits. As marketers your products and messaging both need to cater & complement each other and consequently become a part of their habits. The recent boost to at home fitness, streaming services, multivitamins, home cooked meals are a result of the new concerns and beliefs that the consumers have. Marketers needs to move away from traditional thought process.

We have seen players from Prescription, OTC and FMCG come out with new products such as masks and sanitisers in a bid to support the consumer and meet the current demand for hygiene products. Players like New Balance i.e. an athletic footwear and fitness apparel brand come forward to produce masks. Decathlon snorkelling gear has been modified into emergency ventilator mask. These innovations and brand extensions are all part of the new normal.

Build better stories to connect to your strategy

Storytelling becomes even more important in the new normal. It’s important to note that people are spending maximum time online. When this happens the tendency to skip through information increases and the attention span would reduce further. It is more important than ever to make sure that the stories remain interesting.

Pharmaceutical marketing has been primarily dependent only on science since decades. This will definitely change. You will see brands telling more stories and trying to engage the customers with innovative storylines. Another aspect to ensure is that brands are built on consistency in messaging and hence these stories cannot be standalone gimmicks. Every story that a brand shares, needs to be part of a greater, continuous brand narrative.

A world forced to stay away from each other is coming together by means of a simple online tool. The efforts parents, families and loved ones are putting in to stay connected or keep their kids engaged using technology of a mobile device. These are all examples of interesting stories that help strengthen a brand’s or product’s positioning in this new environment. The emotional appeal forms the instant connect that every brand looks for.

Deep dive into data and develop new insights

We are all in this together, the pandemic has changed a lot of things and it’s time for almost everyone to start thinking differently. Organisations, old and new everyone has work today. The parameters in which insights were developed earlier might no longer be relevant. The new beliefs leading to different customer behaviour means that marketers have an opportunity to reinvent their brands. But none of this is possible without data and that too at a very deep level.

The recent data from IQVIA shows that sanitisers and topical disinfectant market has grown by 85%, same is the case with demand in Vitamin C, Vitamin D and multivitamins. This data clearly shows that the demand has increased for these due to the change in the consumer behaviour. More insights would come forth as we dig deeper into data.

People will become more health conscious, more hygiene conscious, we have already seen a rise in mental health awareness, these are all trends to follow. A deeper understanding of each of these is required to deliver more value to the customer. In a lot of ways the pandemic has levelled the playing field. Traditional mediums might no longer fetch you the returns you are looking for, it’s time to focus on new models and new mediums.