Want to Win Client Loyalty? Solve for the Digital-First Promotional Products Buyer
Your oldest buyers are millennials. One-third of your customers are Gen-Z.
That’s a reality for many of you now. And if not now, then in 24 months, it will be.
By 2025, over 75% of the workforce will be digital natives. What’s more, in the late 2020’s Gen Alpha enters the workforce. Gen Alpha. (Did you even know there was a Gen Alpha? Now you do).
Digital natives live with life-changing tech at their fingertips. Everything they want —food, house, car, mate, career— can be found by activating their tech.
So, it’s no surprise that research shows by 2025, 80% of B2B sales will occur through digital channels.
B2B BUYERS NOW DEMAND DIGITAL SELF-SERVE OPTIONS.
But what does that mean for promo? After all, when 4Imprint first arrived on the scene, the industry shuttered. We thought the end was near. Same for Amazon’s rumored disruption of the industry. Or Ali Baba (when that was a thing). But it never happened. Why?
We misunderstood “digital.” Customers are moving to digital channels, just not solely through the traditional way a digital channel is often perceived (i.e., all purchasing done through a consumer-style checkout via a shopping cart).
Shopping cart purchasing did increase in promo, but not through 4Imprint style purchasing, rather, through custom-built e-com experiences. Brands wanted boutique experiences tailored for them, hence the rise in shops and company stores.
Custom + complexity: As demand for digital grew, so did complexity. The pandemic ushered in an avalanche of kitting, fulfillment, shipping, and that new level of service is today, a baseline expectation. Plus, today’s buyer wants bespoke merch experiences, unique to them, which means fewer white C-handle mugs with logo slaps.
When the pandemic hit, digital purchasing skyrocketed, some reported the leap was 10 years growth in 3 months time; others report that it is settling back to pre-pandemic levels.
Regardless, the buyer -a digital native- is now accustomed to completely bespoke experiences and digital self-serve tools and require digital self-serve as a first option; not secondary to a salesperson: primary.
So, buyers are digital natives. Projects are more complex. And clients demand digital self-serve as a first option. What’s a smart, savvy, agency to do? Two action steps you can take to win new clients and secure client loyalty:
(1) ACTIVATE PORTALS FOR YOUR CLIENTS NOW
Why? A portal is exactly what your bespoke client wants: all their projects in one place. All current and past orders. A homebase to place reorders. Start a new project. In other words: Your digital native’s digital-first option. A portal keeps good clients –and digital natives – happy. But you don't have to believe us! You can hear it from Tom Rector, who landed a new customer, all because he understood the perfect storm opportunity portals can create:
(2) Make Shops a priority for every brand you serve
We’ve seen a spike in shop creation, and not just through the pandemic. Year-to-date, commonsku shops are still on the rise. Even on-site (shop) activations are on the rise. Why? Because shops are the answer to the consumer-based shopping cart solution. Boutique shopping experiences, custom-built for brands, easily built by anyone on your team. And now in one convenient place.
The demand for digital-first is high, the demand is now. When the economy hits uncertainty, client relationships can become fragile as well, but fierce client loyalty can be secured by creating a “compelling customer experience” that responds to a digital native’s demand for self-serve options without sacrificing your creative consultation.
”B2B sales culture must change. Integrating digital and consultative salespeople to create a superior customer experience requires a robust digital support system.” (Harvard Business Review, published just two weeks ago).
And, according to HBR, those who win “will be those that move faster than their competitors to break down barriers to creating a compelling customer experience.”
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