By Pablo Rubino, Gelt Marketing Manager

2020 and 2021 were not only protagonists of the advancement and consolidation of digital purchases, they made it clear that the ways of buying and selling are not going to return to what they were. Social networks, online stores, shipping, Google Ads. That people stopped entering a store meant for many that they began to figure out how to go out and look for it.

Having strategies to know where to look for information and how to use it directly impacts decision-making: with data science, you can create new processes, redesign existing ones, and leave behind ineffective steps. In short, it allows you to make better decisions about where and how to invest in the new year.

At Gelt we have been carrying out an in-depth analysis of consumer trends, and based on our experience we recommend taking into account the following 5 tips to transform information into effective business decisions.

1. Starting point: looking at user needs
Knowing the differentials of the product or solution offered is important, but what happens when we do not know the user's needs? We may be focusing our efforts on communicating something that we consider spectacular, but that does not catch the client's attention.

The most common mistake is to analyze the attribute of the product or solution, instead of the user need. To change this error, it is first necessary to know who the target audience is and what they are looking for.

2. From the easiest to the most difficult: knowing the profile of the already loyal audience
The best thing is to start by enhancing what you already have. That is, carry out a quantitative analysis to know the main characteristics of current users. A basic example: at Gelt we analyze the beer consumer profile. We look for the day of the week that users buy the most, what ages they consume the most, if there is a gender difference, if buyers live alone or as a couple, among other similar data. This information is translated into conclusions that allow beer brands to boost their results: what days it is most convenient to push a promo, whether it is better to target an audience that lives alone or those who live with someone, etc. Knowing the exact profile and behavior of users helps brands enhance the reach they already have.

3. What do you consume and why the audience I want to reach?
Now, if the objective for 2022 is to address a new profile, it is best to aim to understand what that audience that does not buy from us and that we want to reach is looking for. Classic qualitative tools such as face-to-face surveys, focus groups or opinion polls, as well as more effective and economical alternatives such as segmented surveys, can tell us what the public thinks about an idea, before all the investment in launching it to the market is made.

For example, in 2021 at Gelt we surveyed our users to better understand their opinion on sustainable consumption: the study revealed that 60% maintain that it is important to consume more sustainably, but almost 48% would not be willing to pay more for an ecological product. This type of information, if specifically segmented into the desired audience, can help us take into account variables that can hinder great efforts.

4. Broaden the picture: look at the other variables in the purchasing process
There is another very common mistake when analyzing data: not looking at the process completely and focusing only on the initial solution to the need.

Analyzing the whole implies that once knowledge about the public is obtained, the other variables must be taken into account in the purchasing process. Take the user's side, understand each step and analyze possible obstacles so that they can be transformed into solutions. Said with a classic example: if a person in a virtual store selected products and carried out the first steps of the purchasing process, but abandoned the items in the cart, it is possible that the problem is the next step, in this case logistics. That is, she was convinced to pay the price of the product, but probably rejected the purchase due to the cost of shipping.

These types of conclusions help us define which purchase drivers we want to promote. Purchase drivers are those that function as drivers and move the user to take the last step to purchase a product. If consumers belong to a profile that above all wants to save, this data will help us define our future purchase drivers: discounts, 2×1, cashback. On the other hand, if the main concern of those who consume is to have everything resolved, it will be necessary to think more about solutions such as free shipping, safe packaging, and complementary products.

5. Performance analysis: this yes, this no
This point is of essential importance when looking to try a new product or service. If the strategy to launch it involves new ideas, the advice is to be judicious: do not try everything together. Returning to the examples given, if we try putting promotions on a specific day, we launch new packaging, we add free shipping, or we advertise on networks at the same time, that is, if we try all the ideas at the same time, we will not know exactly which idea worked, and we may be allocating time and resources to something that doesn't really add up.

For this, it is important to distribute the tests in cycles: in the first it is always good to evaluate how it works organically, without guidelines, without promotion, without anything. In a next cycle, you begin by testing one of the ideas, in the next another, in the next a combination of two, until you know what works best.

It is different if the product or service does not convince. Based on our experience, in that case, it is best to generate an interaction with users and potential clients seeking to understand why. Basically, have feedback. The key is to approach commercial strategies by proposing a new way of interacting with end consumers, seeking to specifically consult the consumer of a product at the post-purchase moment so that they can give their genuine opinion.