What Is Behavioural Marketing And Why Do You Need It?

Marketing can be understood, in simple terms, as delivering solutions to those who might need them. A digital marketing strategy was previously based on metrics such as how many pages consumers visited on a site and how long consumers spent on a certain page. However, this is all changing with the innovation of behavioural marketing. 

By making use of this robust digital marketing strategy there is better access to data on consumer behaviour. Marketers are able to focus on individual patterns of behaviour and engagement, allowing them to match the intent, interests, and needs of their ideal market. Now, this probably sounds a little technical and difficult to understand, but it is really quite simple. 

If you are interested in leveraging behavioural marketing for your business, keep reading below for some helpful information. 

What Is Behavioural Marketing, Exactly?

Instead of creating a large volume of advertisements and sending these out to consumers in the hopes that one (or two) make an impact, behavioural marketing involves targeting audiences based on their intentions, interests, interactions, location, and other demographics using tools such as web analytics, cookies (no, not the chocolate chip ones), search history, and more. 

These metrics are used to create a more defined profile of the consumer so that the marketing team can tailor the messages accordingly. As the consumers visit more pages of the websites, spend more time on certain pages or categories, or lingers on certain coupons, so your team can gather this data and create more targeted offers. 

Markets are often segmented into the following groups using the data:

• Geolocation: This is often a very accurate market segmentation. It is based on the continent, country, region, and sometimes even the building in which the user is located. This can help with local targeting and local content creation which is especially useful for retail businesses that want to drive more foot traffic to their stores. 
• Visit data: Visit data is a useful metric to have in your digital marketing strategy arsenal. This information will tell you whether a visitor is new to your website or if they have visited it before. You will be able to offer return customer higher-value offers in order to encourage them to make a purchase.
• User Intent: When consumers research products and services, data is gathered on the motivation and intent of these searches. This might mean that two users could fall into the same segment according to their location or age demographic, but their intent will change their final segmentation. For example, one user might want to make a repeat purchase while another is looking for something new.
• Transactional Data: Transactional data is some of the most valuable data that you can collect. This is because customers who have already made a purchase from your website are aware of your brand and are willing to make another purchase. You can collect data on how many purchases have been made, the average order value, as well as the product category in order to better understand your audience. 
• Level Of Engagement: Different organisations define engagement differently. But it is almost always positive when consumers are interacting with your brand! Collecting this data will show you the level of consumer trust, perception, and how likely they are to make a purchase. 

Gathering and combining this data will provide you with a much clearer picture of the behaviour of your consumers. 

Why Do You Need It?

Gain A Better Understanding Of Your Customers

Understanding your customers is tantamount to a successful digital marketing strategy. Using behavioural marketing will provide you with a much deeper understanding of your consumers, and will allow you to fine-tune your marketing efforts to be more effective and consumer-centric. Providing more tailored offers will show your consumers that you have been paying attention to their needs and wants, which will improve brand loyalty and return custom. 

Anticipate What Customers Want And Need

Seeing into the future might sound like a mystical power from a fantasy novel, but by using behavioural marketing methods, you can do just that! Gathering current consumer data and information allows you to anticipate what future consumers will want. You can also predict trends and challenges and use this information to provide customers with exactly what they want from your brand.  

Improve Your Content Strategy

Every digital marketing agency knows that having a content marketing strategy is the key to consumer interaction success. Behavioural marketing allows you to create completely tailored email marketing, remarketing, and social media marketing campaigns. For example, you can send an email based on a customer segment and behaviour that you have gathered rather than simply sending one out at a random time of day. Consumers will be more likely to open a relevant and targeted email. 

Want to improve your content marketing strategy? Drop the NetMechanic team a line today to find out how we can help you.