AdLift successfully hosted the second installment of their Drive Digital Webinar Series, featuring an engaging agenda. A panel of marketing experts from various industries shared their opinions on the best practices in the industry. Practices and how to drive leads or sales during the holiday season. Panelists included Vaibhav Kumar, VP and Head of #eCommerce and Digital marketing at Max Life Insurance Company Limited; Nirmal Pulickal: Head of India the Creative Shop at Facebook; Sonali Singh: Brand & Digital Marketing Director for BSH Home Appliances Group; Nameet Potnis – VP Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, PayU, Jai Dhar Gupta: Founder and CEO of Nirvana Being. The discussion was led by Prashant Puri, the CEO, and Co-Founder of AdLift (Moderator ).
The discussion started with various opinions, “Eight months into the pandemic, a lot has changed, from evolving trends to changing consumer behaviour, what are some trends that we are seeing in the different sectors across markets?” Vaibhav Kumar of Max Life Insurance said three main trends characterize the current time. One is a remarkable increase in digital technology use and growth in term insurance and risk-byproduct purchasescts. He also said they’ve gained a quarter of their new customers via Digital within the last six months. Another reason is a massive increase in hyper-values and a preference for small-sized, concise propositions. Since many work from home, there’s been a significant increase in the willingness to pay for the most important things, such as protection products and assurances (regarding insurance). Thirdly, this new remote method of working and living has created a “heart to heart” selling strategy.
In response to the question, Nirmal Pulickal from Facebook explained the constant growth of current trends and more intelligent shopping. An increase in payments, e-commerce, and the high savviness of digitally affected purchases. The Facebook CEO also said, “There is a 20 percent increase in digital-driven purchases over the past three months. The new habits are beginning to form as people become more familiar with virtual experience like Facebook live. We’re experiencing a surge in high-value consumption of utility products.”
Nameet Potnis from PayU claimed that overall when it comes to payment processing in terms of companies increasing, some major categories are rebounding (like food delivery) because of substantial changes in the way people behave. “It’s an ongoing graph, not a single increase. The people are now more comfortable buying online. Conversational commerce is gaining more traction today. Many people have been encouraged to use digital media during the lockdown. People are trying to avoid the use of cash and also transact online.” Additionally, he emphasized that big corporations are working out how to make the most of this shift by utilizing the tools and platforms accessible to them to make a significant change.
Sonali Singh of BSH Home Appliances Group further stated a massive increase in the use and demand for home appliances. “The ways we use appliances at home has changed in the past couple of months. The brand we represent is interacting with consumers more than ever before.”
Jai Dhar Gupta of Nirvana Being said, “There is a big revolution taking place in our society at the moment. Health and hygiene were never at the top of our list however now they are. Health and hygiene is a must. and hygiene that came out of the pandemic is here to stay.”
The conversation then turned to content marketing and its importance from an ‘always-on’ and seasonal (festive) viewpoint. The speaker, Mr. Potnis, begand, “At PayU, we believe in the importance of content. Content creation, distribution & augmentation. Making sure that it is accessible on every platforms where our potential customers, clients could be interested, this investment in content has a long-term view. It expands our sphere of influence and helps us move higher in the conversion funnel. The people who come across us are an entity before thinking about making a move into payment. We are now thinking about how we can get enough content on the market without requiring to convert, but instead create informative content with the intention to help others instead of driving a sign-up or purchase up.”
He also said, “We have created 600-800 blog posts that are topic-specific over the past two years. About 80percent all leads we receive, resulting from this currently are organic. Organic leads behave better once they’re inside the funnel due to having found us, they read about us, believe in our story, and they think we’ll add value to their company.” He also stated how the caliber of leads derived through content-related activities is very high. “As an organization we’re creating a community. At PayU we’re aware that content is a good investment and we make a significant investment in it. The goal for this is not always about conversion, but the goal is also to inform.”
Mr. Kumar agreed with these methods and the results they’re bringing across different industries. “About 20 percent of our customers converted read our blogs and content naturally before purchasing. Content acts as an aid to your conversion machine. Anyone in the current circumstances cannot purchase without first consuming content or referring to a source before making a purchase. Particularly in the insurance field, there is nothing better than references and relevant content.”
