META Key Takeaways: How Conversational Support Builds Lifelong Loyalty

At this year’s Accelerate 23 event hosted by Pattern, participants gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah to slow down, learn from industry experts, and use their new insights to accelerate their work in ecommerce. As part of the Ecommerce Trends track, brands heard from META’s Head of B2B Marketing, Gabe Larsen, about some exciting research his team is doing to understand current and future trends in ecommerce.

Below, we’ll go over key takeaways brands can adopt now to stay relevant as the ecommerce landscape evolves and newer generations gain more buying power.  

Reconsider Your Ecommerce Channel Strategy

One of the first big ideas Gabe discussed was why brands should be thoughtful when choosing which channels to use to communicate with their customers. When most product brands think of getting info to their consumers, they think of traditional channels, like email and advertising.

His research shows brands also need to be on channels where the younger generation is more active, like on social media and conversational apps like Whatsapp. Consumers within the age ranges of 18-24 and 25-34 have the highest adoption rates of social, SMS, and live chat channels, and those generations will possess more of the buying power in coming years.

When considering your channel strategy, Gabe recommends giving email a break—it’s been an effective channel in the past, but is quickly becoming oversaturated, with an estimated 376.4B emails set to be sent per day by 2025.

Cater to Priorities of Younger Demographics

When Gabe’s team studied the way people are using social media, they learned its use and purpose is changing for facilitating sales for brands. Social media platforms aren’t just marketing or sales tools anymore—they’re now doing so much more than advertising products and promotions. People increasingly expect to be able to communicate with brands on social media and form real connections with them.

On average, Gen Z consumers follow 4-6 brands on social media. And, they choose who to follow based on whether they align with that brand’s values. Brands that are succeeding in capturing the market share among these demographic groups are the ones that are being smart and strategic about this shift and how they show up across all available channels.

Strategize Around the “Now Economy”

The “Now Economy,” or the “Meconomy” is all about providing a well-tuned experience for your customers. Gabe’s research showed there are three things consumers value most regarding service: convenience, connection, and continuous conversation. To provide all three of these things, Gabe recommends brands think about the channels they’re reaching their consumers on.

When asked about whether they like to communicate with brands on the same channels they use to communicate with their families and friends, 64% of consumers, across every age group, said yes. 83% said they believed they should be able to contact brands on any channel they want. Channel switching is a new strategy Gabe referenced as a way to provide a continuous, convenient, and connected experience for customers. It means when consumers reach out to you on one channel, you can pick up the conversation on a completely different channel without missing a beat.

Join us for Accelerate24 for More Industry Insights

The opportunity to connect with and learn from industry and global thought leaders like Gabe Larsen at Meta was one of the highlights of Accelerate23. Join us on May 9th-10th at Accelerate24 to learn from the best and brightest minds in ecommerce and collaborate with other brand leaders in an immersive, one-of-a-kind experience. Register for Accelerate24.