PwC Report: Welcome To The ‘Post-Purchase Funnel World’

Every interaction is “just one step from purchase–and that’s a very important challenge and opportunity for marketers and brands,” said Chris Vollmer, partner, PwC’s Strategy&.

Consumer adoption of digital channels and platforms is giving today’s marketers more options than ever before to engage people. At the same time, earning consumer time and attention has never been harder. All of this has had a profound effect on marketing priorities and strategies, according to a new study by PwC’s Strategy& group.

PwC’s report, “The Marketer’s Dilemma,” is based on conversations with CMOs, senior media publishers, and advertising agency executives about their changing priorities, strategies to cope with growing marketing and media complexity, and their expectations for an increasingly converging landscape of vendors, media channels, and partners.

According to the report, U.S. adults are spending about 25% of their 12 hours of daily media consumption on a mobile device. Additionally, the rising generation of consumers identifies with YouTube more than it does with movie and television actors. And, with technology ranging from ad blockers to DVRs, consumers are becoming less willing to pay attention to traditional advertising messages.

“This new ecosystem has fundamentally changed how marketers think about engaging with consumers,” said Chris Vollmer, partner, PwC’s Strategy&. “Historically, marketers focused on how to move methodically from awareness to purchase–the classic marketing funnel. Now, every interaction with a user is an opportunity for a brand to not only drive that user toward a transaction, but to drive to that transaction in the very next step.”

Every interaction is also “just one step from purchase–and that’s a very important challenge and opportunity for marketers and brands,” he continued. “In a post-purchase funnel world, the new game is about how marketers can engage and convert as precisely, as personally, and as promptly as possible.

The good news, Vollmer said, is that marketers are actively building new capabilities to address the dilemma. They are already reconfiguring and reprioritizing their relationships with media companies/publishers, as well as agencies, marketing services players, and technology companies–which changes the game for all involved, Vollmer said.

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, marketers can take some “proactive” steps to reimagine their capabilities and their partner relationships so that they are prepared for the future.

Vollmer said CMOs need to focus on five key capabilities:

1. Firsthand insights: Marketers need to build actionable and predictive insights via first-party data, which will enable them to connect with their marketing targets more effectively and more efficiently. The best way to get a meaningful understanding of customers or users is to go directly to the source.

2. Integrated brand experiences: In a nonlinear world, every marketing action has to be connected to other potential actions—and it has to be no more than one step away from the point of sale.

3. Breakthrough content: Marketers must learn how to develop entertaining, informative, and shareable content with which young consumers are more than willing to engage on social media.

4. Experiments to gain return on investment: If something works, it must be analyzed and scaled up as much and as rapidly as possible. If the return is minimal, it should be discarded.

5. Trust but verify: Marketers are well-advised to ask their partners for transparency and to know that their money is efficiently spent. Internally, they need to build processes and systems to be able to regularly review and act on this information.

“[My advice for CMOs is to] manage your agenda and related initiatives with a portfolio manager’s mindset: If something works, understand why it achieved product/market fit, and scale it up as much and as rapidly as possible,” Vollmer said. “If the results are mediocre, learn from it, discard it, and move on.”

Vollmer also advised CMOs to build more direct-to-consumer capabilities and become comfortable with testing and learning. That means spending as much time as possible with startups, tech companies, producers, design firms, publishers, and other disruptors as they do with traditional agencies and marketing service suppliers, he said.

“Create breakthrough content that earns attention rather than just buying eyeballs,” Vollmer suggested. Marketers can produce a greater impact by creating engaging content and experiences than what can be achieved via traditional forms of interruptive advertising, he added.

Last, “Never forget that your job as CMO is to drive brand growth and revenue expansion in excess of your competition,” Vollmer said. “As you look to address the marketer’s dilemma, make sure that you are prioritizing capabilities, partners, and new initiatives based on their ability to deliver superior user experiences and business growth.”