The "KYC" Factor Through D2C
Data-driven tailored experiences are at the core of what brands offer their customers today. Using various digital channels as a medium, brands create direct contact with the consumer that helps build a lasting connection.
Using this method, D2C brands have pioneered some impressive strides in the market, both in terms of product offering and generating a healthy revenue mix. A great reason for brands to use the D2C platform is that it helps them ‘get introduced’ or ‘know their customers better.
Building on D2C
As competition has increased over time, adding several hundred brands in each category, the retail space appears both crowded and expensive. For brands sensitive to their customer needs, targeting their end-users directly beyond the geographic and economic constraints has proven to be a successful approach.
Focussing on the opportunities that direct-to-consumer relationships offer, ensures that brands can develop a unique customer experience and product management that is primarily driven by the ‘KYC’ or ‘Know Your Customer’ factor.
Besides offering a greater understanding of the buyer, multiple benefits stand to be gained from this. The direct-to-consumer route lets brands improve their reputation in the market, develop brand advocacy and consumer loyalty, offers better control and scope for innovation and improvisation over brand packaging, and other such details. All this is done through a D2C marketplace that acts as the eyes and ears for seeing and hearing the customer better.
Following the direct connection that online retail and mobile e-commerce offer, the D2C route has now made activating direct relationships with customers using new channels of communication a far simpler yet extremely gratifying way of doing business.
The Why Factor
Buyers today expect to be in full control of their shopping journey and decision-making experience. What this creates are endless opportunities that allow brands to offer seamless shopping experiences for the users with D2C.
‘KYC’ through D2C, goes on to offer brands a far more established insight into consumer behaviour. It explains the Why behind this behaviour. Mapping these patterns lets brands have the advantage of correctly aligning product experiences with identified customer values.
Delivering a hyper-personalized customer experience makes access to behaviour data necessary. The data mined from these direct conversations is a boon that lets brands chart out the necessary steps. A D2C route ensures that brands forge deeper relationships by creating improved service yardsticks. It importantly helps brands establish themselves as differentiators and above all to use this knowledge to fine-tune their product offerings through better marketing and channel strategies.
Expanding Mindshare
Understanding the measurement that rates the popularity of a given product or brand is something every seller has to know. Known as mindshare, this measurement is a display of product awareness in the mind of a customer or popularity that surrounds a product.
Offering products tailor-made to the expectations of the customers comes through D2C after brands have understood consumer needs. The power of being able to expand the mindshare is easily made possible on a digital platform using the D2C approach as it reduces the time needed in marketing since there are no middlemen involved. A direct-to-consumer brand has direct control on the pricing, placement, and promotions of a product. Depending on customer data and controls on the flow of sales, product presentation to the customer, and how it is perceived by the users can be better understood.
In conclusion, selling directly is today being recognised as reignition or fuel, depending on whether the company is an existing one or new. Either way, D2C has ensured that an interaction with a customer is just a click away. Since sales or customer support are better channelised, consumers too expect a quicker solution. Customer experience today is about immediate action when there is an issue. And the best user experience can only come from a brand ‘knowing its customer’ well through D2C.
The Author is Ankur Dayal, CEO & Co-founder, Primarc Pecan
