The beauty and broadly understood wellness industry is leading the way in implementing the most modern solutions at the intersection of marketing and technology. What is a song of the future for other market segments is becoming the necessary minimum for those fighting for expansion in the world of health and beauty.
It is not easy to maintain a position in this dynamically changing world of new brands and product seasonality, let alone outpace ambitious and numerous competitors. However, we believe there are many great ways to become a leader in this demanding market. In our publication, we present the top ten Health & Beauty Marketing trends for 2018.
-
Online User Experience and Customer Service
User Experience is becoming more than a way to encourage sales; it is also a way to build loyalty by providing key information when the customer needs it. These can be as simple as scheduled reminders about the need to repeat check-up tests, or encouraging customers to take advantage of seasonal sales based on their previous choices.
Most important, however, is opening up the possibility of contacting an advisor through online channels. Excellent customer service in this system is not only relatively inexpensive, but thanks to easier access to key information, it also ensures a significant increase in satisfaction with the services used.
The goal is one – it is time to stop flooding the user with useless information about short-term promotions and focus on providing information that may genuinely interest them.
-
Marketing Automation of the new Era
Personalization in 2018 will go one step further – the user's first name in a newsletter subject line is no longer enough. To give recipients a sense of security, marketing automation must go beyond its traditional role, ceasing to focus only on delivering advertising content in a coordinated, automated way.
An excellent solution is to use the resources that have already been gathered – information. An internal loyalty system provides an excellent basis for obtaining and processing information about previous purchases, visits to individual specialists, needs, and expectations. Combining the loyalty system with automated marketing does not entail significant costs, while at the same time increasing sales and customer satisfaction with the service received.
-
Digital Channels Overtaking Traditional Marketing
Our lives are moving online more and more each year, and there is no indication that this will change in any way. We are witnessing the death of traditionally understood marketing, moving it from the analog era into the digital era.
Although in the healthcare sector, which is also largely aimed at older people, television or press advertising still has its honorable place, more and more users expect analogous online activities.
-
On-line doctors, on-line fitting rooms
We have less and less time for long marathons around the shopping center. Increasingly rarely can we also set aside time for a doctor's visit. The industry has therefore revolutionized the most important aspect of our lives, namely health, through the emergence of interactive platforms that not only mediate in scheduling appointments and rating individual specialists, but also, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, have created the possibility of online medical consultations.
The same applies to the beauty industry. Online stylist advice is growing in popularity, as is the case with makeup or skincare. In this aspect, customers are accompanied by intelligent software that makes it possible to try on a new outfit, makeup, or hairstyle in real time. Outside Poland, such a solution can be found in stationary service points and stores, thanks to which the customer can make a purchase aware of how it will actually look on them.
-
Grow of social media platforms monitoring
Social media has forever changed the way we communicate. It is time to use this potential in a completely different way – to start monitoring it.
It is in social media that we most willingly share opinions about products and services, advising friends and acquaintances, often also people we do not know in the real world. It is worth monitoring this virgin space for purposes other than sponsored content. How users associated in inclusive groups relate to our services provides a hint about necessary changes. This voice should not be ignored, but used to our advantage.
-
Social engagement is king and content is queen
Reach no longer counts; engagement with content does. Attractive content may help build this engagement, but it does not translate in an obvious way into its growth in the longer term.
2018 and 2019 will be years in which we learn to build engagement beyond content. It will remain an important but not the only element of our strategies for building real attachment to a brand or service. However, there are certain types of content that may prove indispensable in this process...
-
Everything live
Television and internet advertising are going through a serious crisis, and everything indicates that this is a long-term trend. What interests users much more are live broadcasts, thanks to which their sense of real involvement in the shared content increases.
Content becomes not only a tool of communication but part of the experience with a product or service, and in many cases identical to the product.
Facebook statistics do not lie – it is live broadcasts that enjoy the best reach and popularity among users.
-
Digital Content is Key to the Decision Process
We make many decisions a day, but health and beauty issues are among the most important. Health allows us to function, while beauty and fashion are part of lifestyle, determining our social position.
If we look at it from this perspective, it will be much easier for us to understand that the one lipstick we sell in an online store may have exceptional significance for the customer. If the customer does not receive enough information about the product, information that is engaging and presented in an attractive form, they will abandon the purchase or turn to the competition.
In a world where digital is the standard, we need to take one more step forward and exceed users' expectations with responsive, individualized content.
-
Voice Search is Becoming a Priority
Life in 2018 does not slow down – it seems to keep rushing, accelerating at a geometric pace. Sometimes typing a few lines of text on a smartphone takes too much time. Instead of typing, we prefer to talk to our phones!
Voice search functions among the most popular internet search engines and is present in car navigation, but it is rarely found in an online store application or on a website dedicated to medical services. This is a big mistake, considering the simplicity of implementing such a solution and the potential benefits.
Voice search makes it possible to reach customers previously unavailable online – seniors. Voice-based use of website resources makes it easier for them to adapt to digital tools, which is not easy after all. Our society is aging, and average life expectancy is increasing at a dizzying pace – today's 60-year-olds will still be a significant segment of our customers 20 years from now, so it is worth meeting them halfway.
-
Focus on mobile
We use personal computers less and less often now that smartphones allow us to browse the internet. Research shows that significantly more users access websites via phone.
Nevertheless, we still design beautiful, responsive websites that admittedly look great on a laptop, but lose their beauty and functionality when viewed on a phone. This is a serious mistake, because it may cause the user to lose interest in shopping on the site due to a difficult-to-use website that does not evoke positive associations.
A website should above all present itself excellently in mobile view, giving the user comfort in using it in that mode, while being readable and visually attractive. Although the issue seems obvious, many large and medium-sized companies still treat the appearance of their website carelessly, wondering why it does not bring the expected conversion.
The most important Digital Marketing trends for the Beauty & Health industry are the subject of Poland's first conference in the Marketing Summit 2018 series, which will be held on May 15-16, 2018 in Warsaw.
