The previous year kept the marketers busy. On the one hand, the marketers had to contend with all the new tech from their field flooding the market. On the other, they also needed to pay attention to digital marketing predictions for 2020. Now that the new year is already a month-old, the latter job takes precedence.

The digital marketing experts at Alight Minds thought we’d share our perspective about what will go on in our field this year.

You’ll find the most explosive digital marketing trends of 2020 below:

Predictive Digital Marketing

Indeed, we live in an age where there is no dearth of data. Brands use multiple channels to engage with their potential and existing customers. The latter may be consuming content like never before. But they’re putting the knowledge they gain to good use before they make a purchase.

Predictive digital marketing refers to noting these interactions and positive patterns in data. It helps brands and businesses anticipate accurate results. But it isn’t just the more mature platforms that are interested in predictive analytics anymore. Relatively smaller but mainstream businesses will also be turning their gaze this way. Unsurprisingly, the market size of predictive analytics will grow to $10.95B in 2022.

You can expect companies, particularly hotels, resorts, and ecommerce businesses, to use the insights from the analytics in:

• Identification of which new leads will be soon making a purchase decision
• Suitable target messaging approach
• A promising channel for message delivery
• Determining the messaging type based on buyer stage
• Estimating the number of buyers/guests and measures to increase it
• Recommend the right product by leveraging past purchases and click through activities

Smarter, Not Just Higher, Ad Bidding

Emarketer reports that Google and Facebook earned $103.73B and $67.37B last year. So, we can assume they must have spent quite a lot too. But in 2020, that won’t be enough. Brands will need to bid on ads more smartly. The giants have come up with some creative ideas already. Google’s auction-time bidding and Facebook’s ad support to local businesses and events are two examples. But there are other strategies that advertisers can use, including Target CPA and Enhanced CPC.

Shoppable Posts & Digital Marketing

Even though they have been on the digital marketing horizons for two years now, 2020 will be the year shoppable posts will explode on social media. We’re talking their integration with eCommerce marketing tech and third party apps. And since about 90% of Instagram users already follow brands, you can predict the effect such integration will have. A seemingly seamless shopping trip that takes customers from a brand’s organic post to a shopping cart. Consider how it will shorten the sales funnel and reduce bounce rates.

SEO Structured Data

The rich snippets on Google are a part of the Schema Markup. The proportion of searchers who derive most of the information they require from the snippets is increasing. As more mainstream platforms like Shopify and WordPress offer plugins for the Schema, more businesses will adopt it. Consequently, informed click-through will result in decreased bounce rates.

Emails that Really Engage

They were a big trend in digital marketing in 2019. But due to the evolution of email design, consumption, and delivery methods, engagement-based emails have increased staying power. Dynamic content boosts user engagement and reduces the time in which they act. Expect to see a lot of interactive emails, bristling with polls, animated CTA buttons, quizzes, add-to-calendar events, and surveys this year.

Multi-Channel Social Messaging & Digital Marketing

Potential buyers and the existing ones both prefer a way through which they can transact with their favorite brands via a messaging channel of their choice. Therefore, new APIs are in development that allow that to happen! Facebook’s bots already have the marketing tech they need to make this happen. Of course, more businesses will adopt several new channels to ensure they aren’t losing a sales opportunity.

What’s more, it opens a new section of the target market to brands. Would-be customers who worry about their anonymity can now use such platforms to shop. On the flip side, marketing departments can accurately predict where the conversions are coming from. Thus, they can build a better attribution model and address their strategies specific to the most profitable channels.

Increasing Adoption of Voice Search

It is possible for a business to transform their product catalogs into marketplaces that function on voice search. Their customers can place orders, using their existing voice enabled devices. As a result, we’re looking at a simpler and quicker customer experience. And one that always achieves results their customers desire.

Your business depends on how well informed you are on the emerging trends in digital marketing. With Alight Minds’ help, you can always keep up with these changes. Get your brand in gear for 2020! And should you need more information on this front, get in touch with us.