Top 10 Marketing Technology Trends in 2020

1. Chat-bots, but better

Chatbot has been considered one of the technologies that gained the quickest popularity in marketing. AI chatbots are growing in sophistication and are expected to help retailers save $439 billion annually and increase sales by $112 billion, by 2023[1].

The next generation of chatbots are promised to be more intelligent, with brands beginning to create advertisements linked to chatbots, or even creating bots with outstanding personalities.

2. Augmented and Virtual Reality Marketing

According to research by Statista[2], the forecasted world market for Augmented (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) will reach 160 billion dollars in 2023, in which the largest proportion will be given to consumer spending. 67% of business leaders believe that AR/VR technologies will be important in the next three years[3].

Increasingly, AR and VR are being used in the advertising and customer experience landscape. Michael Kors created Facebook augmented reality adverts to let users try on their glasses before buying. A huge number of brands are applying AR and VR to enhance their customers’ experience.

3. Voice Search Optimization

50% of all mobile searches will be voice searches by 2020, as estimated by comScore. According to OC&C, voice commerce sales will be around $40 billion in the US and $5 billion in the UK[4].

It is the time for all businesses to start optimizing their content for voice search. For example, making sure that the ‘voice’ responds in a natural conversation tone and language, and building out the view in the form of question-based queries. It is a new challenge for SEO in the era of voice search to make your online content stand out.

4. Smart Assistant Advertising

65% of executives said that consumers are going to adopt smart assistants in the coming three years[5]. According to OC&C Strategy Consultant Study (2018), the voice shopping market is expected to jump to $22 billion in 2022. Amazon will enjoy $10 billion in revenues from shopping with voice queries (i.e. Alexa) by 2020, with 85% of consumers selecting the products Amazon suggests through voice search[6].

Amazon will enjoy $10 billion in revenues from shopping with voice queries (i.e. Alexa) by 2020, with 85% of consumers selecting the products Amazon suggests through voice search[6].

5. Video Livestreaming

Live streaming entertainment is reaching its peak. Facebook broadcasted UEFA League Soccer and Major League Soccer games in the U.S., Snapchat signed a global agreement with Formula 1 to create exclusive content during the Grand Prix races, and Twitter negotiated a deal to stream the PGA Tour for free. These gaming and eSports live streams constantly break the viewership record.

Live streaming video is reinventing how brands think about marketing and eCommerce, and it is becoming an essential part of many brands’ social strategy. Has your brand caught up with this?

6. Stronger, Faster Data Management Systems

Amidst the consumers’ privacy chaos, lots of research points out that consumers are comfortable sharing data, as long as it helps to bring about better experiences. Consumers are sensitive to sharing their personal data if they feel that the data is not used to their advantage. Clear information about their benefits and data operation would help eliminate the barrier.

The coming years promise a better revolution of data management system with the growth in Big data analytics. Future streams of systems expect to link diverse datasets, data sources and manage a larger volume of data.

7. Content Personalization

Personalization becomes the biggest expectation of customers towards new marketing technology[7]. 51% of consumers feel it is important to get a personalized experience across all digital channels within a brand (2018 Digital Commerce Survey, BRP Consulting).

With the aid of data, individualized content is getting more advanced than ever. Monetate has cooperated with Bazaarvoice to deliver better customer personalization. Monetate will use Bazaarvoice’s shopper profiles to help brands create more personalized product recommendations to post-holiday consumers, using customers’ experiences and online behaviours. This aims to boost post-holiday engagement and increase brand loyalty.

8. Real-time Analytics

Future analytics software can quickly reduce the time lag between analysis and action, to the point of real-time analytics. Miami-based brand Melissa Shoes utilizes an opt-in facial recognition kiosk to recognize repeat customers and notify sales associates of their arrival, together with a record of their past purchases and preferences for a better buying experience.

Miami-based brand Melissa Shoes uses an opt-in facial recognition kiosk to recognize shoppers and notify sales associates of their arrival, providing employees with their previous purchases and preferences to enable a better buying experience.

9. Subscription delivery

Subscription delivery is now widespread, which reflects a need for more convenience from customers. From grocery to contact lenses, companies are harnessing the power of data, to provide a suitable subscription plan based on customers’ shopping behaviours.

10. Predictive Analytics

With powerful data analytics, brands are now transitioning from descriptive to more predictive analytics, which provides customers with more real-time offers and anticipatory support. For example, Amazon Alexa has registered a patent that enables Alexa to analyse users’ voices and capture any sign of illness. Personalized offers of relevant products ensue before a request or query about the treatment is made. Chinese’s superstore Tmall, analyses and stocks products based on the shopping habits and likelihood of its residents within 5 kilometres, to ensure better inventory efficiency. 

The Martech landscape is changing in the most drastic way ever, putting companies in the most intense competition to keep their customers. It is time you should think about how to future-proof your marketing department and stay in the game. Let’s do a quick 5 step Martech safety check!

1) Have you got an aligned strategy that embraces them? You may not have it, and may need to update it or realign your team to it; Flock consultants have more than 100 years of combined experience to help you best manage your brand strategy.

2) Do you need new capabilities, a new organisation design, or new skill training on new technology?  Flock has helped various clients to identify what skills they need to win in a changing digital age and organised their teams in the most efficient way!

3) Have you got a suitable process and KPIs in place to exercise, measure and test & learn new technology?  If not, no worries. Flock will build you an effective agile marketing processes that adapts to and capitalises on the technology wave.

4) Do you have the right agencies, doing the right work, to support you to excel with the new tech trends? In case you are in doubt, Flock has immense expertise in optimizing the agency ecosystem and selecting the best partners using our exclusive procurement tool.

5) Finally, have you got the optimal tech stack, data platforms to stay ahead in the competition? Not sure? We are here to help. We have examined, updated and transformed multiple clients’ tech stacks and made hundreds of marketers’ lives easier.

Would like to have a chat? You are welcome to contact us.

[1] Grand View Research (2017)

[2] Consumer virtual reality software and hardware market size worldwide from 2016 to 2022 (2018)

[3] Tech Trends in Marketing and Consumer Life, Nielsen, May 2019

[4] OC&C Strategy Consultants Study, 2018

[5] Tech Trends in Marketing and Consumer Life, Nielsen, May 2019

[6] OC&C Strategy Consultants Study

[7] Tech Trends in Marketing and Consumer Life, Nielsen, May 2019