1. Countries chosen for same criteria: Japan and France (Medium, Arts &
Entertainment). How do the digital touch points differ?
France
Japan
As far as we can see, social aspect
is the first to occur in Japan, followed by the generic paid search. In France
however, the referral is the first to come, followed by organic search. It
tends to show us that Japanese customers are relying very soon on their
relations to have advises when French people prefer referral.
The third step for each country is a
mix. For Japan, it is a blend of referral (already occurred in France) and
organic search (also already occurred) when France is more about social and
generic paid search. The very
interesting thing to realized is that the four first steps are the same, only
the order is scrambled, meaning that these very different countries share
common points when it comes to purchase.
The common points are now over,
because Japanese, after the fourth step, will buy anyway, relating to brand
paid search or direct buy when French will rely on e-mails and brand paid
search way before the direct purchase.
To end the comparison, we see that
the arts and entertainment business is closely related regarding the beginning
of the assist interaction but the closer you get to the last interaction, the
most changing are the mean.
The most important thing to
understand is also that France and Japan are sharing a high culture and a high
level of quality regarding arts and entertainment. It is common knowledge that
these two countries are closely related when it comes to finesse, authenticity
and craftsmanship, and this is why the relation is so tight, even if the
marketing channels are not exactly the same.
2. USA has been chosen for Automobiles & Vehicles, and Computers & Electronics.
How do the digital touch points differ?
USA: Autos &
Vehicles
USA: Computers & Electronics
In the USA, marketing channels always start by
organic search, because this is the root for American people before purchasing
anything.
Then the second step starts to put a
difference: if computers marketers go straight to the generic paid search, the
car marketers will blend it with the referral channel, which is just putting
ore precisions about the product.
Then, and this is where the comparison is
great, is almost the middle step. Here, for auto industry, three ways will be
used: social relation, e-mails and display click to show more about the
products or the company. The mix might look big and very concentrated, but if
we compare to computer marketing, this is soft and sweet. Computer marketers
will blend not less than five channels: social, referral, e-mail, display click
and brand paid search. This is their way to take the heavy artillery in order
to show that on every aspect and every channel, the product is great for the
customers.
The last part is to go straight to the buying process
for the computers (after all, they gave everything) when the car marketers will
use the brand paid search before the final act of purchasing.
Here, we found that for these two markets, the
channels use for the purchasing process are quite different, from the use to
the moment of use, autos and computers are very different. The reason can stand
in the confidence that American have in their car, after all, this is a part of
the American lifestyle to have a great car. Computers are different. Even less
expensive than cars, they remain expensive and the choice is huge, which is why
they need to use plenty channels at the time in order to make sure about their
coming choice.
3. Of the various touch points, how many a typical hotel use to convert
lookers into bookers?
Among the touch points, hoteliers will mainly
use organic search at first, because it is free and quite rewarding, then
generic paid search in order to stay on top of the researches. For the rest,
social medias are very wide spread now through Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and
so on, so this is quite important (they are hiring social media managers currently,
meaning that the channel is dynamic). To finish with, display click and e-mail
are also well spread and allow the hotels to enjoy extra views without even
being searched by potential customers.
4. What are the most important touch points for hotel?
I believe that it will depend of the type of
establishment. A palace will not use social medias the same way as a regular
hotel wanting to attract C generation customers. For me, as luxury hospitality
professional, the best way is to use is paid results. Why? Because they give
hotels legitimacy, top of the pages, first result on SEO and the extra is that
they will remain exclusive, so if you type palace, only top notch will appear,
the rest will be hidden, and this is exactly what the guests want.
5. How many screens can people use in the decision journey?
To that question, I would see a maximum,
because you do not decide all the time in front of one device. For instance,
you can check a room on smartphone, get pictures on phablet, see information on
TV, receive a notification of smartwatch and finally, decide to book on laptop.
Now that everything is connected, it is easy to use anything on the purchasing
journey.
