What’s in a name? Facebook, Meta, and trust in the metaverse

Posted on by Jennifer Ryan
BORN Views
What’s in a name? Facebook, Meta, and trust in the metaverse

Towards the end of October 2021 Facebook announced big news: the corporate business was changing its name to Meta, while Facebook the social media platform would remain. 

Mark Zuckerberg has solid reasons for the rebrand. The company needed a broader title, now that it also includes Instagram, Whatsapp and Oculus VR as well as mobile web analytics company Onavo, and Messenger precursor Beluga. Meta reflects a new focus on the metaverse and demonstrates the ambition to lead the way in this future digital realm. As an aside, it’s also worth noting that Facebook the social media site is more popular than ever, but it’s not attracting young people like it used to. A shrewd operator like Zuckerberg knows that it’s better to shift focus when a successful product is at its peak rather than on the decline.

All of this makes sense. First imagined in a 1990s sci-fi novel and conjured up in movies from Total Recall to Wreck-It Ralph, the future metaverse is an exhilarating concept, a place of boundless possibilities and experiences. Zuckerberg wants his company to be its guiding light. Yet many people are sceptical. Was this really the deciding factor for the name change, or was it to distance the business from negative press? 

Trust in Facebook was already low after testimony from whistle-blower Frances Haugen hit the press, telling of polarizing algorithms, understaffing in key areas concerned with safety and a culture that ignored known problems. The rebrand hasn’t helped its cause. A survey by SightX reported that 37.5% of respondents did not believe the name change would bring any real changes to the organization. Many believe it was because of poor public perception, rather than to better fit the company’s future goals and vision. Still, 2022 is a new year and as people start to see the metaverse taking shape they may be more accepting of the reasons behind the rebrand. 

The good, the bad, and the need for regulation

Like Coca-Cola, Facebook the platform is nigh-on universal; open to anyone with internet access. Most of us have been Facebook users at one time or another and have had largely positive experiences. We’ve enjoyed its window into the lives of friends, family and colleagues, the way it has re-connected us with those we had lost touch with and enabled groups of people from all over the world to create communities around niche interests. But there’s no ignoring the bad stuff.

That bad stuff has been coming from all angles. Privacy and a lack of transparency over user data is one issue; the company’s low tax contributions is another. Cloning competitor apps like TikTok (Instagram Reels), and Snapchat (Facebook Stories), has also attracted criticism. Content moderators brought a lawsuit after reporting poor working conditions and post-traumatic stress disorder; some have now been compensated for their experiences. 

But the biggest concerns are to do with the disconnect between Facebook’s mission statement of bringing the world closer together, and the real-world damage caused to individuals, minority groups and sometimes entire nations because the business hasn’t done enough to take down and prevent the spread of fake news and harmful content.

A Wall Street Journal investigation found that changes to Facebook’s content algorithm stoked division and did not do enough to reduce Covid 19 vaccine hesitancy. In addition, Instagram was harming the mental health of teenage girls. UK natural beauty company Lush recently took the radical step of quitting Facebook and Instagram alongside Snapchat and TikTok, citing the negative impact the social media sites have on young people’s mental health.

Comments made by ex-members of Facebook staff together with the company’s own leaked research and that of many other organizations also suggest that not enough is being done to deal with misinformation and malign content. Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya didn’t pull any punches about the seriousness of the issue, saying ‘We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works’. 

Meta/Facebook stress that they make robust efforts to deal with negative content. The company has just announced the development of a new AI which is quick to ‘learn’ to spot harmful content, rather than taking months of training. 

However, the company has been criticised for placing too much emphasis on reacting to problems and not enough on preventing them. So far, AI does not seem to have been able to spot harmful content before the damage is done. Is it possible to do enough? And how can they be confident about policing behaviour in the future metaverse, with its billions of tiny interactions in every moment? We just don’t know the answers yet. 

Meta’s Horizon Worlds platform may provide a clue as to how moderation of the metaverse might work. Users in this colorful virtual space can report harmful behavior and send recorded data from their device as evidence. They can also activate a ‘safe zone’, a personal space where they can take time out and mute, block, or report users if necessary. Users can be suspended or permanently excluded if they are found to be breaking the rules. Community Guides with their own avatars inhabit the space and keep an eye on things. It’s a mostly reactive rather than preventative approach, but then it’s hard to see how prevention could work. Though some warning signs can be noted, we can’t – yet – predict crime in the way shown in Minority Report.

People might just have to accept that a future virtual world, like social media, reflects society and so will never be perfect. Techdirt editor Mike Masnick put it like this: content moderation is impossible to do well at scale, because in a situation where there are billions of interactions, even if 99.9% of content decisions are ‘right’, the 1% of ‘wrong’ decisions could still represent thousands of negative experience. It will be up to individuals to decide how much time they want to spend in the metaverse and, to a degree, how to keep themselves safe.  

But more regulation will be needed. Businesses exist to make money; it’s governments who must take charge of putting in measures for the sake of the public good. Future metaverse users will be under constant surveillance. VR headsets will be tracking what users see, hear, feel and how they react, both physically and mentally. This puts current concerns about how much Google and Facebook/Meta know about us in the shade. In the metaverse, users could be subject to a constant deluge of exceptionally nuanced marketing that taps directly into the emotions felt during virtual experiences. It needs regulation to ensure that users can control who their data is shared with and always know when they are being marketed to, whether they’re watching a video or talking to an avatar. Somehow, limits for manipulation, whether political or commercial, need to be set, so that people are free to enjoy the metaverse without fear of exploitation. 

The metaverse must be built

The consensus is that the Metaverse should be built by communities, rather than by one corporate entity with a guiding hand at best, or ultimate power at worst. Even Zuckerberg seems to agree, stating in his Meta Founder’s Letter that ‘The metaverse will not be created by one company. It will be built by creators and developers making new experiences and digital items that are interoperable and unlock a massively larger creative economy than the one constrained by today’s platforms and their policies’. Though it’s hard to see Facebook’s name change to Meta as anything other than an attempt to ‘own’ the space. 

Just in 2021, Meta spent $10 billion developing metaverse technologies. The company is creating 10,000 jobs in the EU as part of its growth program. It recently invested more than $50 million in non-profit groups to help ‘build the metaverse responsibly’. Other major players turning their attention to the metaverse are Epic Games, creator of Fortnite, Pokémon Go developer Niantic, graphics technology company Nvidia, blockchain-based virtual world Decentraland, Microsoft, and Apple. 

Meanwhile Elon Musk believes that his own Neuralink brain interface products will eventually offer a better way to experience virtual reality than spending much of the day trying to move around in a VR headset.

So, the issues of the future metaverse, the problems around trust, privacy, transparency, manipulation, and possible harassment are not just Meta’s to solve. All the more reason why it’s important that government regulations keep up with the technology. 

The metaverse will transform our lives. It could enrich our day-to-day experiences, and even reduce our environmental impact by allowing us to be ‘present’ in the office, ‘attend’ concerts hundreds of miles away, and ‘travel’ to see the world’s sites without ever leaving our homes. 

Like the internet in general, and social media in particular, the metaverse will hold a mirror up to our world. There’s extraordinary potential for good, and equally for bad. Meta and others cannot just go through the motions. To create trust, companies need to demonstrate that they are truly doing all they can to keep users safe. 

Above all, metaverse businesses and governments must work together to build the metaverse we want – a creative, inspiring space worthy of exploration, a place where we feel safe and protected, but have the freedom to make up our own minds. 

  1. Founder’s Letter, 2021, Meta, https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/founders-letter/
  1. Facebook Wants To Attract Young People, But Gen Z Teens Say It’s A ‘Boomer Social Network’ Made For ‘Old People’, Insider, https://www.insider.com/facebook-gen-z-teens-boomer-social-network-leaks-2021-10
  1. This 29-Year-Old Book Predicted The ‘Metaverse’ — And Some Of Facebook’s Plans Are Eerily Similar, CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/03/how-the-1992-sci-fi-novel-snow-crash-predicted-facebooks-metaverse.html
  1. Facebook Whistleblower Hearing: Frances Haugen Calls For More Regulation Of Tech Giant – As It Happened, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2021/oct/05/facebook-hearing-whistleblower-frances-haugen-testifies-us-senate-latest-news
  1. Facebook’s Name Change Receives Poor Marks In New Poll, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2021/10/29/facebooks-name-change-receives-poor-marks-in-new-poll/?sh=30c5c49a444b
  1. Facebook Will Pay $52 Million In Settlement With Moderators Who Developed PTSD On The Job, The Verge, https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/12/21255870/facebook-content-moderator-settlement-scola-ptsd-mental-health
  1. The Facebook Files: A Wall Street Journal Investigation, https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039
  1. ‘I’m Happy To Lose £10m By Quitting Facebook,’ Says Lush Boss, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/26/im-happy-to-lose-10m-by-quitting-facebook-says-lush-boss
  1. Ex-Facebook Executive Chamath Palihapitiya: Social Media Is ‘Ripping Apart’ Society CNBC (via YouTube), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MakEIlvlyfE
  1. Our New AI System to Help Tackle Harmful Content, Facebook/Meta, https://about.fb.com/news/2021/12/metas-new-ai-system-tackles-harmful-content/
  1. Horizon Community, Oculus, https://www.oculus.com/facebook-horizon/community
  1. Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem: Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible To Do Well, Techdirt, https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191111/23032743367/masnicks-impossibility-theorem-content-moderation-scale-is-impossible-to-do-well.shtml
  1. Founder’s Letter, 2021, Meta, https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/founders-letter/
  1. Facebook Says It Expects Its Investment In The Metaverse To Reduce Its Profits By ‘Approximately $10 billion’ This Year, Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-metaverse-investment-reduce-profits-by-10-billion-2021-10
  1. Investing in European Talent to Help Build the Metaverse, Facebook/Meta, https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/creating-jobs-europe-metaverse/
  1. Building the Metaverse Responsibly, Facebook/Meta, https://about.fb.com/news/2021/09/building-the-metaverse-responsibly/
  1. Breakthrough Technology For The Brain, Neuralink, https://neuralink.com/

Elon Musk Sits Down With The Babylon Bee, The Babylon Bee (via YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRKd4U6Ixg

What’s Causing The Supply Chain Breakdown And Why eCommerce Should Care

Posted on by Jennifer Ryan
BORN Views
What’s Causing The Supply Chain Breakdown And Why eCommerce Should Care

Supply chain disruptions are causing price increases and a growing shortage of goods as the global economy attempts to deal with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Retailers must navigate an unprecedented set of challenges as they contend with delays, stock issues, and customer expectations.1 As lockdowns lift, extraordinary demand for goods has outpaced supply. Consumers are ready to spend money they saved during 2020 and 2021 and are accustomed to readily available goods and nearly instant gratification.2 Unfortunately, the global supply chain bottleneck has resulted in record shortages of once easily accessible products, such as household items, electronics, and automobiles. 

What Caused The Supply Chain Crisis?

The pandemic disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain. It placed enormous strain on the usually invisible manufacturing, transportation, and logistics pathway that delivers goods where needed. The supply chain bottleneck led to PPE shortages such as N95 respirators, gloves, cleaning supplies, and other critical care items needed in medical settings, which threatened our ability to fight the COVID-19 threat.3 The supply chain is like an ecosystem with each part playing an essential role and one unfortunate event can result in repercussions downstream. As the world closed down in response to COVID-19, consumers discovered the safest way to buy products was through eCommerce retailers. Skyrocketing demand for products combined with limited supply led to unprecedented delays worldwide.4 The shipping industry did not have the technology or processing ability to cope with the extreme shift in consumer behavior, and items became backlogged. The disruptions stemming from the pandemic combined with economic issues, such as energy shortages, production shortages and issues at key shipping ports have all contributed to the supply chain problems eCommerce businesses face today.

Chip Shortages

COVID-19 mitigation strategies reduced the production of goods and services as many factories entered lockdowns. Workplace shutdowns in chip manufacturing companies in countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and South Korea have resulted in a global shortage. This shortage affects the production of electronics like laptops, phones and webcams, appliances, and new cars in which chips are vital components.5 Currently, production of these items remains severely limited, while demand remains high.  

Labor Shortages

Much of the world is facing labor shortages. As companies struggle to find workers for their warehouses, production has struggled to keep up with demand. In August 2021, 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs, and the warehouse industry recorded 490,000 job openings.6 The labor shortage forces companies to go to great lengths to attract workers. Companies are increasing wages to keep up with rising prices, and in some cases offering incentives like free college tuition. Even with these attractive incentives, many potential workers have difficulty reconfiguring their post-covid work futures and are reluctant to return to work as the risk of COVID-19 infection persists.

The Energy Crisis

In countries with manufacturing economies, energy shortages and power cuts have forced productivity to slow in factories, threatening already stressed supply chains. Natural gas supply has failed to meet post-pandemic demand as the energy sector has recovered more quickly than anticipated following a year of reduced coal, oil, and gas extraction.7 Over 20 Chinese provinces are rationing electricity to meet energy efficiency and pollution reductions targets.8 However, there is insufficient renewable energy to replace natural gas, and a coal shortage worsens matters. Global prices for goods and resources produced in China, such as steel and aluminum, will significantly increase if factories contend with widespread power shortages. 

Transportation and Logistics Challenges

A global shipping problem is compounding the supply chain crisis by making it difficult for sellers to obtain needed goods, even if they are available. Transportation bottlenecks at ports such as Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland have increased wait times for ships to unload cargo.9 A robust trade of goods strained the available supply of shipping containers, ships, and port operations worldwide. 

When the pandemic halted international trade in April 2020, empty containers were no longer collected and redirected for reuse. Over a year later, shipping companies are still trying to get containers to ports where they are needed most. In response, the cost to ship items has risen by 480%, which makes some international trade no longer profitable.10 To complicate matters, a shortage of dockworkers and truck drivers prevents goods from being offloaded and reaching their destination in a timely fashion.11 The lack of these critical components results in more scarcity in the supply chain, leading to even more shortages and price increases. 

What eCommerce Retailers can do to Mitigate the Impact of the Supply Chain Crisis?

The global supply chain is a fragile and highly interconnected ecosystem. When unprecedented issues occur, they produce a ripple effect that eCommerce retailers can feel on the other side of the world. Businesses will need to be proactive in their approach to managing these effects. Optimizing operational performance and prioritizing efficiency at every leg of the supply chain is essential to ensure the best use of existing capacity. Retailers should consider implementing productivity improvements such as redesigning warehouses and investing in lean operations to increase productivity and mitigate the risk of disruptions caused by labor shortages.12 It is imperative retailers understand precisely how their supply chain functions. It can be helpful to locate and work with alternative suppliers to ensure a steady flow of necessary parts and materials.13 It is tempting for retailers to concentrate the majority of their business with one supplier in pursuit of volume discounts, but fragmenting the supplier base can help to ease capacity constraints and create new opportunities for sourcing materials as demand for products continues to fluctuate. 

If a business can source more of their needs locally, that can also be helpful. Though adding new suppliers is not an easy solution and may result in a higher cost of sourcing materials, it can help a business mitigate risk and avoid disruptions to production.14 Additionally, eCommerce retailers should consider allowing double or triple the lead time for ordering stock due to potential shipping delays.15 It’s essential to stay ahead of seasonal curves when consumers are more inclined to make purchases. Finally, retailers should maintain customer expectations of quality while being honest with their customers and communicating any potential delays.16 Customer expectation management is critical when it comes to protecting brand reputation. 

1)https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/whats-causing-americas-massive-supply-chain-disruptions/story?id=80587129

2)https://cnet.com/features/you-shopped-like-never-before-the-supply-chain-couldnt-handle-it/

3)https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/whats-causing-americas-massive-supply-chain-disruptions/story?id=80587129

4)https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/supply-chain-disruptions-almost-too-many-reasons-to-count

5)https://www.bloombergquint.com/gadfly/supply-chain-disruptions-almost-too-many-reasons-to-count

6)https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/whats-causing-americas-massive-supply-chain-disruptions/story?id=80587129

7)https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-27/europe-s-energy-crisis-is-about-to-go-global-as-gas-prices-soar

8)https://blog.edesk.com/resources/us-supply-chain-crisis/

9)https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/business/shortages-supply-chain.html

10)https://blog.edesk.com/resources/us-supply-chain-crisis/

11)https://info.waxie.com/blog/key-factors-responsible-for-supply-shortages-in-2021

12)https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/ten-steps-retailers-can-take-to-shock-proof-their-supply-chains

13)https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/risk-resilience-and-rebalancing-in-global-value-chains

14)https://blog.edesk.com/resources/us-supply-chain-crisis/

15)https://www.modernretail.co/startups/dtc-briefing-how-supply-chain-shortages-are-impacting-e-commerce-operations/

16)https://blog.edesk.com/resources/us-supply-chain-crisis/

17)https://blog.edesk.com/resources/us-supply-chain-crisis/

Why Retailers And Consumers Are Embracing The Buy Now, Pay Later Trend

Posted on by Jennifer Ryan
BORN Views
Why Retailers And Consumers Are Embracing The Buy Now, Pay Later Trend

As the popularity of online shopping continues, buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms are becoming a popular way for businesses to offer their customers flexible payment options. Though larger companies traditionally used this service, BNPL is becoming increasingly popular with companies of all sizes.1 Providers like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay enable shoppers to purchase products online from participating merchants and pay for them through a series of installments, often interest-free.2 This app-based hybrid version of layaway and credit is growing in popularity with retailers and consumers alike as brands like Amazon, Walmart, and Target offer installment plans to increase sales.

Buy Now, Pay Later is Gaining Momentum 

The continued growth of online shopping resulting from the pandemic has catapulted BNPL into the mainstream. While BNPL was gaining popularity leading up to the pandemic, BNPL deals exploded when retailers were forced to close brick and mortar stores. Covid-19 produced a shift in consumer spending habits as an increased number of consumers spent more time at home and embraced e-commerce.3 BNPL generated almost $100 billion in transactions in 2020 as millions of shoppers financed their purchases.4 The pandemic left millions of consumers out of work and in need of greater flexibility with their purchases, which increased the demand for easy online financing options. Unlike credit cards which were intended to be used multiple times, BNPL solutions are applied to individual transactions, which appeals to consumers wanting to make less of a financial commitment.

Advantages for Consumers

Consumers are more likely to make significant purchases if they can pay for them in installments rather than the total price upfront. Popular among people under thirty with tight finances and less available credit, consumers welcomed the ability to delay payment for goods and access financing.5 Many consumers see BNPL as an appealing alternative to racking up another high credit card balance. BNPL services claim they are a better alternative to traditional banking and credit cards because it is easy for consumers to get approved for this type of loan, even with a low credit score.6 Provided consumers stick to the payment terms, BNPL offers the chance to pay in interest-free installments. Though BNLP offers many advantages to all parties involved, consumers should ensure they understand the repayment terms. Late payments have the potential to affect an individual’s credit score, and customers who default on their payments may be banned from future purchases.7 BNPL is a loan, and consumers should plan their purchases with their income and expected expenditure in mind. 

Advantages to eCommerce

Just as BNPL is a preferred payment method for many consumers, it can also be useful for businesses. By integrating BNPL, companies can attract new shoppers, improve customer relations, and increase sales. It is important to provide many different payment options to give customers their preferred choices and appeal to as many potential first-time shoppers as possible.8 Consumers increasingly utilize BNPL platforms, which means companies willing to work with BNPL providers will appeal to a new set of customers. Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to use BNPL platforms when shopping online than any other age group, so if a business is interested in attracting these age groups, they should strongly consider using a BNPL platform.9 Additionally, customers are more likely to return to a business that offers BNPL options, and with so many companies providing this service, it is essential to remain competitive. 

BNPL delivers a quick and straightforward payment process and is a viable alternative to traditional payment methods. BNPL platforms allow a business to get paid in full immediately, while the consumer has the instant gratification of receiving the product directly at a low upfront cost. In exchange for providing interest-free loans to customers, these platforms take only around 5%-6% of the purchase cost from retailers.10 If the customer does not make the payment on time or the payment is not collected, businesses do not have to worry about lost revenue. 

Why Buy now, pay later platforms can be a valuable tool for both businesses and consumers. The potential for BNPL platforms to drive sales and increase income with no risk to the company is an appealing prospect, and customer demand for this payment method is high. While consumers must be mindful of their purchases and not spend beyond their means, BNPL can be a great way to finance items if used responsibly. With research from Kaleido Intelligence estimating that online consumers will double the amount of money they spend using BNPL to $680 billion by 2025, there is a massive opportunity for businesses to profit.11 BNPL is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Footnotes

1) https://www.paymentsjournal.com/buy-now-pay-later-what-businesses-need-to-know/

2)https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-to-buy-now-pay-later-and-when-to-just-pay-now-11631957401

3)https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/21/how-buy-now-pay-later-became-a-100-billion-industry.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Tech&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1636972847

4)https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronshevlin/2021/09/07/buy-now-pay-later-the-new-payments-trend-generating-100-billion-in-sales/

5) https://www.paymentsjournal.com/buy-now-pay-later-what-businesses-need-to-know/

6)  https://www.investopedia.com/buy-now-pay-later-5182291

7)https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-to-buy-now-pay-later-and-when-to-just-pay-now-11631957401

8)https://www.paymentsjournal.com/buy-now-pay-later-what-businesses-need-to-know/

9)​​https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/07/why-millennials-and-gen-zs-are-jumping-on-the-buy-now-pay-later-trend.html

10)https://gocardless.com/en-au/guides/posts/how-does-buy-now-pay-later-affect-your-business/

11)https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200922005066/en/Buy-Now-Pay-Later-Digital-Spend-Led-by-Klarna-PayPal-Afterpay-to-Double-by-2025-Reaching-680-Billion—Kaleido-Intelligence

Recommerce: Exploring Reselling Within eCommerce

Posted on by Antony
BORN Views
Recommerce: Exploring Reselling Within eCommerce

The resale market is getting a makeover. Companies are finding ways to take back used consumer goods and repurpose or resell them to interested customers. Recommerce refers to the buying and selling of previously owned items and is set to grow at a rate of 11x that of regular retail.1 Consumers are keen on the idea of recycling and repurposing and have been increasingly buying secondhand goods. In response, the number of online resellers has exploded to keep up with consumer demand for affordable and sustainable alternatives to buying new. While the concept of reselling goods is nothing new, the way that consumers and sellers are coming together is currently evolving.2 Recommerce platforms have enabled peer-to-peer transactions to increase. Even high-profile brands recognize the opportunity resale has to offer, and have created their own recommerce marketplaces. Recommerce is more than just a cost effective way to achieve sustainability; it is a business opportunity rooted in circular economic principles.

The World of Recommerce is Changing

Once confined to brick and mortar stores, sites like eBay and Etsy now provide a platform that allows buyers and sellers to purchase and sell items in a thrift-like marketplace. However, a plethora of online startup recommerce brands like Poshmark, Mercari, Tradesy, ThredUP, and The RealReal have allowed the industry to grow to new heights.3 While eBay and Etsy allowed for sellers to list just about anything for sale, these newer sites have boosted transactions by building online communities and using data to learn which brands are currently trending. Poshmark’s annual report revealed consumer buying habits depend greatly on generation. Baby Boomers favored well-known, higher-end brands, like Coach and Michael Kors, while Generation X preferred more mid-priced goods like Tory Burch, Kate Spade and Patagonia. Millennials are most likely to purchase goods from brands that would typically be found in an American mall, like Nike and Antrhopologie, and Gen Z purchased secondhand items from across the spectrum. Their top Poshmark brands are Gucci, Adidas, and Brandy Melville.4 

Recognizing the success of recommerce among peer-to-peer platforms, large companies, particularly clothing retailers, are seizing the opportunity to connect with consumers like never before. For example, buy-back campaigns create incentives for recycling and strengthen the relationship with consumers by offering a way to address concerns over sustainability.5 In moving towards a circular economy, companies can generate profits and eliminate waste by keeping materials in use for as long as possible. The cost effectiveness of recommerce combined with the ability to strengthen the bond between retailer and consumer makes it an appealing strategy for businesses.

Recommerce is Gaining Traction

An emphasis on conscious consumption has grown in the past few years, but changes in attitudes and actions have increased significantly in response to the pandemic. Consumers are concerned about the effects of their purchases and are re-evaluating their priorities and choices. By changing their buying habits, consumers can continue to shop while still caring about sustainability, and resellers can earn extra money, save space and avoid waste.6

Already gaining popularity pre-pandemic, recommerce websites received a huge boost when COVID-19 forced many stores to close their doors and individuals to tighten budgets.7 With more free time, reliable internet (5G), and a desire to escape the pandemic, shoppers discovered an endless aisle of secondhand goods to browse on the internet. Despite decreased disposable income, retail therapy continued to thrive as recommerce websites connected shoppers with affordable goods without ever leaving home. To make the situation even more appealing, apps like Poshmark accept almost every form of payment including credit or debit cards, Affirm, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo.8  All of these factors encourage shoppers to visit recommerce marketplaces and contribute to the growing recommerce economy. 

Benefits of Recommerce

Both individuals and large companies can benefit from recommerce. While individuals have much to gain from peer-to-peer platforms that allow for an easy exchange of goods, large companies are finding different ways to capitalize on the recommerce industry. Consumers are concerned about the negative impact of their purchases on the environment and are looking for ways to reduce their consumption. In response, retailers are developing creative solutions to source and reuse materials for new products so that consumers can feel better about buying their products. 

Upcycling, the act of converting a used product into something new,9 is a concept that is being adopted by many notable companies such as Timberland, Adidas, Zara, and Patagonia to name a few. Timberland is reusing rubber from used tires for the soles of many of its boots. Similarly, Adidas has produced nearly 6 million pairs of shoes using recycled ocean plastics, and Zara is producing a line of denim made exclusively from recycled denim waste.10 Programs that provide customers with incentives for recycling such as Patagonia’s Worn Wear initiative encourage customers to return used goods to be refurbished and sold in exchange for credits towards future purchases once received.11 All of these measures are cost effective means of sourcing materials. 

Recommerce is Here to Stay

Many notable companies are embracing the concept of recommerce as a way to reconnect with customers. There is a changing consumer mindset regarding ethical and environmental issues. Younger consumers care deeply about the environment and will continue to demand accountability from companies.11  According to a study conducted this year by Green Print, an environmental technology company, 75% of Millennials and 63% of Generation Z are willing to pay more for an environmentally sustainable product.13 In many cases, younger consumers prefer secondhand products because they are more affordable and better for the environment.

Recommerce offers an avenue for retailers to acquire new customers who might not have previously purchased full-price items in the past. For example, Levi created a buy-back and resale program where customers return their used denim in exchange for a gift card. Levi then sells the used clothing at a fraction of their original cost on the store’s website. This allows Levi to reclaim and authenticate its goods at a low cost to them, and turn a profit on an item that they have already sold once. This is a win-win as shoppers know they have made a sustainable purchasing decision, and Levi can earn additional profits, protect the authenticity of their brand, and strengthen the relationship they have with their customers.14

There is real consumer demand for sustainable recommerce models. Consumers will seek products from brands that align with their values and will expect retailers to offer transparency regarding how they source materials and manufacture goods. Through the implementation of recommerce initiatives companies can save resources, restore value to used items, improve brand image and generate profits. With increased pressure on the retail sector to act more socially and environmentally responsible, recommerce offers an opportunity for businesses to succeed in the post-pandemic world. 

Footnotes

1. https://www.greenbiz.com/tag/recommerce

2. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/sus.2020.29178.ers

3. https://nymag.com/strategist/article/recommerce-apps-changing-online-resale-depop-poshmark-real-real.html

4. https://superposher.com/blog/top-poshmark-brands/

5. https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/what-are-circular-economy-business-models

6. https://www.easyship.com/blog/rise-of-recommerce

7.  https://support.poshmark.com/s/article/284791087?language=en_US

8.  https://getshogun.com/learn/what-is-recommerce

9. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/sus.2020.29178.ers

10. https://www.zara.com/us/en/z-join-life-mkt1399.html

11. https://www.easyship.com/blog/rise-of-recommerce

12. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210322005061/en/

13. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmurphy/2021/02/17/theres-a-quiet-revolution-underway-with-recommerce/?sh=7b2c9a405bfc

14. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmurphy/2021/02/17/theres-a-quiet-revolution-underway-with-recommerce/?sh=7b2c9a405bfc

NFT Artworks Find Their Place in the Metaverse

Posted on by Antony
BORN Views
NFT Artworks Find Their Place in the Metaverse

In March of 2021, American digital artist Mike Winkelmann, otherwise known as Beeple, made history. His artwork, Everydays: the first 5000 days, was the first non-fungible token (NFT) ever to be auctioned by a major auction house1. Sold by Christie’s for a head-spinning $69,346,250, it became, to date, the fourth most expensive artwork by a living artist2. Numerous platforms such as Opensea and Rarible provide places to buy and sell NFTs costing anything from the equivalent of a few dollars to millions. 

NFTs are a revolutionary new art form for artists, musicians, and makers. For the benefit of those who haven’t already fallen down the crypto-art rabbit hole, an NFT is a unique digital asset or token, a ‘proof of ownership’ on a piece of digital art. They can be bought, sold, collected, and displayed in virtual or physical galleries. Because they are recorded and stored on the blockchain, there is a permanent record of authenticity, ownership and transactions related to the asset. Just one NFT, or several, might be ‘minted’ (created) for a digital artwork, an analogy in the physical world might be a one-off painting, vs a print in a limited number of editions. NFT owners can also action fractionalized ownership, allowing a multitude of people to each own a ‘piece’ of perhaps a very valuable artwork. Art, photography, animation, video, music, cartoon cats, tweets, any of these can become the basis of an NFT, and some rapidly become highly valued. This very new market is awash with possibilities but has numerous challenges too. 

A new world of opportunities for artists and creators

Creating NFTs give artists and musicians a chance to connect with a new audience, selling their work directly with no need for agents or dealers. It’s an opportunity not just for those who don’t yet have industry connections, but also for many whose lifestyles are marginalized in their own countries, allowing a freedom of expression that may not be possible or even legal at home. Artists can always see the latest value of their work, as each NFT has a public ledger of its creation and ownership history, whereas in the physical world it’s easy to lose track as art is bought and sold. Even better, creators can opt to automate a royalty paid on their work, so that every time it is sold on, a percentage of the price will come back to them. 

Barriers to entry are low to moderate, though not non-existent. A digital artist won’t need to rent a studio to work in (unless their NFTs are based on physical paintings or sculpture that require space). Instead, they’ll need access to the internet and some cryptocurrency, most likely Ethereum as this is the blockchain the majority of NFTs are stored on. This is necessary to cover the costs involved in verifying and processing transactions and might work out to between $50-400 per asset or collection of them. Once armed with cryptocurrency, a would-be NFT artist just chooses which platform they want to use to mint and sell their wares. 

A new means of support for museums, galleries, and charities

As well as providing a new revenue stream for artists, NFTs are raising funds for museums around the world and other non-profit organizations.

In Russia, St Petersburg’s State Heritage Museum is creating a limited edition of NFTs created from masterpieces in its own art collection, including works by Leonardo Da Vinci, Monet and Van Gogh. The project, titled ‘Your token is kept in the Hermitage’ is intended not only to raise funds but also to provide a new kind of accessibility to the museum’s collection and lend gravitas to the idea of collecting digital art3. In Italy, after months of revenue loss due to the pandemic, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence created a one-off edition of Doni Tondo by Michelangelo, selling it in May 2021 for $170,000. Hot on the heels of that success, the gallery is now minting NFTs for works including Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus4. 

Meanwhile, reference book publisher Merriam-Webster minted ‘The Definition of NFT’ and raised around $48,000 for children’s education charity Teach for All5, while NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden worked with photographer Platon Antoniou on a portrait that raised $5.4 million for the Freedom of the Press Foundation6. 

NFTs are not only making headlines and raising funds, in the future they may also make museum collections more accessible. Even large museums often only have the space to keep a small percentage of their works on show. Creating NFTs can open up the wider collection to people all around the world. 

NFTs and their place in the Metaverse

But one of the most fascinating things about NFTs based on art and collectables is their status as elements in the ‘Metaverse’, a concept set to transform our world in the next decades just as the internet did in the last 20 years. The future Metaverse is a shared, inter-operable digital space containing all the virtual worlds we know, not only in gaming but also social media, ecommerce, education, and recreation, with its own economy and experiences. Sometimes it may be in VR, resembling a next-generation Second Life, sometimes it might be AR, where digital elements are overlaid onto our physical world. Mark Zuckerberg sees it as a means of accessing ‘presence’ in the digital realm, imagining our future Zoom calls with holograms of colleagues, or loved ones seemingly sat right next to us7. At this early stage no one, not even Zuckerberg, can be quite sure what the Metaverse is. Although it was named nearly 30 years ago in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash8, the word doesn’t even feature in the current Merriam-Webster or Cambridge dictionaries. 

What we can be sure of however is that NFTs, and galleries in which to view them, will feature in the Metaverse, because they’re already here. Individual Metaverses created largely to display NFTs already exist. This year multinational auction house Sotheby’s opened a prime-location gallery within Decentraland9, the ‘virtual destination for digital assets’, while CryptoVoxels allows users to build stores, museums and galleries in a Minecraft-like environment. In both cases these spaces have their own economies: users can buy ‘land’ with cryptocurrency, ‘hire’ a digital architect to build out their spaces and sell NFTs once they’ve created them. This is a whole new world of art, enabling people all over the world to ‘teleport in’, ‘visit’ galleries and see famous artworks without having to get a visa or pay for a flight. One day the hope is that all these individual Metaverses will link up, allowing people to move seamlessly between different experiences. 

The issues still to solve in the new ‘Wild West’: identity, property, and theft

The industry is in its infancy and there are a number of legal and security issues still to be ironed out. Theft is a problem; with not much to stop someone ‘stealing’ a digital artwork and minting it into an NFT. There’s plenty of reported instances of this happening, from people finding false ‘verified accounts’ offering their own work to the heart-breaking story of the Japanese artist whose work was tokenized after her death10. Platforms will take down NFTs based on stolen artwork, and once deceit is discovered an NFT is discredited, but it can be akin to fighting a forest fire, stamp out one and more pop up elsewhere. 

In March 2021 hackers stole thousands of dollars’ worth of artwork from NFT marketplace NiftyGateway from users who had neglected to set up two-step authentication on their accounts11. A month later an anonymous artist known as Monsieur Personne ‘sleepminted’ a copy of Beeple’s market-busting Everydays: the first 5,000 days, creating a token that looked like it had been created by Beeple but wasn’t and proving that even NFTs can be fakes12. No doubt all NFT marketplaces are working on ways to stay one step ahead of bad actors. 

In this largely unregulated space, tax evasion and money laundering are also potential problems. The IRS sees NFTs as a tax evasion risk, since in theory people using cryptocurrency to buy and sell NFTs may be liable for tax during different parts of the process. Because the ‘value’ of an NFT is subjective, it’s also not too difficult to collude with others, for instance selling an NFT for a hyped-up price to an associate, in order to collect ill-gotten crypto gains. Existing laws may cover some issues but as so often happens, the regulators need to catch up with the technology. 

A greener, more sustainable future for NFTs

Like many new art forms throughout history, NFTs have caused controversy, much of it centred around environmental impact. Most are built on the Ethereum blockchain, which is ‘mined’ using the energy-heavy ‘Proof of worth’ system to ensure security. It’s hard to calculate exactly how much energy creating an NFT might use, but it’s been estimated that one Ethereum transaction consumes as much electricity as the average U.S. household uses in just under five days13. Some artists have attempted to make their NFTs carbon neutral by offsetting potential emissions caused by energy use. Opinions differ on how effective this really is. 

The good news is that the Ethereum Foundation and others are already finding solutions to radically reduce the amount of energy needed by NFTs in the first place. Ethereum has been working on a move from the electricity-guzzling ‘Proof of work’ system to the far more efficient ‘Proof of stake’ for some years. A 2022 upgrade promises to cut energy use by more than 99%14. In the meantime, some artists are choosing to use Tezos, Wax and other energy-efficient blockchain alternatives to Ethereum, including the British artist Damien Hirst who is using Palm for his monumental new enterprise, The Currency Project, comprising 10,000 oil paintings on paper, each accompanied by its NFT15. In terms of both legal and environmental issues, it is of course in the interests of the entire industry to find solutions, whether through regulation or by vastly reducing its environmental impact. 

Some people, particularly those who came of age before the digital revolution, struggle to get their heads around the idea of NFTs. How can anyone assess their value? If things only exist as pixels, do they really exist at all?  But this exciting realm is awash with possibilities, not only putting a value on digital art, but opening up to artists and audiences who are entirely new while creating an economy and an ecosystem already worth billions of dollars. With individual Metaverses like Decentraland already offering a ‘place’ to view NFTs in the virtual world, this is no mere fad. As the Metaverse comes of age these experiences will become mainstream. So perhaps it’s time to start breeding those CryptoKitties – NFTs are here to stay. 

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Footnotes

1. Beeple’s Opus: Created Over 5,000 Days By The Groundbreaking Artist, This Monumental Collage Was The First Purely Digital Artwork (NFT) Ever Offered At Christie’s, Christies, https://www.christies.com/features/Monumental-collage-by-Beeple-is-first-purely-digital-artwork-NFT-to-come-to-auction-11510-7.aspx

2. Beeple’ NFT Sold For $69 million Is The Fourth Most Expensive Artwork Sold By A Living Artist, Cryptoslate, https://cryptoslate.com/beeple-nft-sold-for-69-million-is-the-fourth-most-expensive-artwork-sold-by-a-living-artist/

3. Tokenized Art From The State Hermitage Museum, Including Leonardo Da Vinci, Will Be Featured On The Binance NFT Marketplace, The State Hermitage Museum, https://nftcalendar.io/tokenized-art-from-the-state-hermitage-museum-including-leonardo-da-vinci-will-be-featured-on-the-binance-nft-marketplace/

4. Uffizi Sells Artworks As NFTS To Recover Losses, The Art Insider, https://www.art-insider.com/uffizi-sells-artworks-as-nfts-to-recover-losses/2238

5. The Definition Of NFT, Opensea, https://opensea.io/assets/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/13014153790550692438812020292530308527796599818332639642513535596840089550849

6. Historic Snowden NFT Auction Benefits Freedom Of The Press Foundation, Freedom of the Press Foundation, https://freedom.press/news/historic-snowden-nft-auction-benefits-freedom-of-the-press-foundation/

7. Mark In The Metaverse: Facebook’s CEO On Why The Social Network Is Becoming ‘A Metaverse Company’ https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview

8. Snow Crash, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

9. Sotheby’s Opens A Virtual Gallery In Decentraland, Decentraland, https://decentraland.org/blog/announcements/sotheby-s-opens-a-virtual-gallery-in-decentraland/

10. An Artist Died. Then Thieves Made NFTs Of Her Work, Wired, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/nft-fraud-qinni-art

11. People Are Reporting Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Crypto Art Was Stolen On An NFT Marketplace, Business Insider, https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/stolen-nfts-on-nifty-gateway-reports-nft-art-marketplace-2021-3,

12. A New $69 Million NFT Was Sleepminted, NFTheft, https://nftheft.com/

13. Ethereum Energy Consumption Index, Digiconomist, https://digiconomist.net/ethereum-energy-consumption/

14. A Country’s Worth Of Power, No More!, Ethereum Foundation Blog, https://blog.ethereum.org/2021/05/18/country-power-no-more/

15. 1The Currency By Damien Hirst Is Now Live On HENI, Palm, https://palm.io/studio/the-currency-by-damien-hirst-is-now-live-on-heni/

The Next Growth Frontier: Reimagining Telecommunications in the Digital Age

Posted on by Antony
BORN Views
The Next Growth Frontier: Reimagining Telecommunications in the Digital Age

Telecommunications has always been an important Industry in contemporary economies, but with the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding, society has relied even more on interconnectivity to access essentials of day-to-day life, As a result, telcos today are looking into their business & operating models with a new lens, creating a strong foundation for digitalization with a potential value of US $2 trillion through 2025;

As the digital revolution unfolds, the telco ecosystem has opened up to an immense opportunity to move up the value chain to explore new revenue levers. BORN’s own Aditya Basu, Head of Corporate Strategy and Marketing in APAC and MENA, notes

“Today the telco ecosystem represents an increasing competitive pressure on core business and an immense opportunity to move up the Value-Chain to explore new sources of revenue levers. To excel in today’s ever-changing market dynamics and customer needs, telco needs to build agile, modular, customer-centric & intelligent platforms that leverage their own & partner’s services.”

Key-Value Drivers & Market Levers in Telecom

Telcos over the past decade have seen revenue growth stagnate, despite exponential growth in bandwidth usage, forcing them to contemplate upon the new age growth drivers. Even today, telcos are more prone to diversifying their revenue streams but margin management still remains a challenge. Some of the key pain points & opportunity drivers for telcos across the pivots of business, operations, customers & services can be seen in the graph below.

Hence the key value drivers & focus areas for telcos across the globe should be:

  • Omnichannel Experience: The ability to provide an omnichannel experience by enabling the front (digital) to quickly adapt to market realities without having the backend (BSS systems) undergo major changes.
  • Modular new-age scalable platforms to onboard and bundle new partners and their offerings quickly and consistent product & services information across channels.
  • The ability to track consumer behavior across channels and achieve personalization at scale, thereby providing a superior customer experience.
  • Expanding product portfolio from Core to Complementary and beyond, thereby increasing channels & digital touchpoints to reach a larger audience.
  • Building and participating in ecosystems to collaborate and create economic value.

Now coming to niche focus areas of digital levers in the telecom, “Network of the Future” is a term telecom operators should swear by when developing their business models. Virtualizing current legacy Infrastructure promises to fundamentally change the basis of future service, as it can create self-optimizing and safe zero-touch networks. Expanding the product portfolio from core to complementary and beyond is another key driver. The increased digital transformation presents the telecom industry with opportunities to extend revenue streams beyond connectivity through IoT solutions, consumer and enterprise digital services across digital touchpoints, and reimagined digital communication models leveraging augmented reality/virtual reality and smart mobile advertising. Lastly, to win the race for customer loyalty and wallet share, telecom industry players should focus on providing superior customer experience and building and participating in ecosystems to collaborate and create economic value and exciting digital experiences.

Customer Experience Management in Telecom: What, Why,  How?

We can break down the elements of a telecom value chain as follows; Network convergent technology and infrastructure, Products and services, Partner and ecosystem, Enterprise technology, and Customer Experience Management(CXM) form the core of it. 

Drawing our expertise in CXM, we define CXM in Telecom as the amalgamation of the ‘system of records,’ ‘ system of intelligence,’ ‘system of engagement’ & ‘system of things’ for an end to end digital transformation across the customer lifecycle. Essentially, it means mapping customer interactions across touchpoints & channels and optimizing customer journey by delivering personalized experiences with Integrated technology & services. However, the needs and expectations of the partner ecosystem are always changing. Telecom providers will be facing discrepancies in consistent brand & omni-channel experience, and contextualizing personalization to align with the customer demands.

The need & expectations of our core partners and customers are changing rapidly and some of the key challenges in delivering a best in class experience are 

  • Consistent Brand Experience & Engagement – Customers expect the brand’s value proposition to be delivered consistently across their customer journey. Currently,  there is a value leakage across the  customer journey due to channel  proliferation & inconsistent interactions  across touchpoints
  • A Holistic customer profile – Organizations & brands should strive for having a single source of truth on customer’s interactions, channels,  purchasing behavior, experiences &  social interaction to create an integrated & unified communication strategy.
  • Omnichannel Experience – Omnichannel experience is one of the biggest challenges for organizations. An  integrated channel experience is highly  desirable, but hard to achieve
  • Contextualizing Personalization – Every customer wants to be treated as a  valued individual. Hence businesses should be able to chalk out relevant user persona and optimize their touchpoint management.

Aditya Basu further notes,

“Enabling telcos to measure customer experience by creating a differentiated experience across channels will be a major competitive advantage and will enable combat some of the bottom-line pressures “

Walking the Talk Leadership: Enabling Telco Transformations Across the Globe

BORN built a commerce platform for a leading telecom player in Malaysia that delivers an exceptional customer experience. One of the hallmarks of the solution was the implementation of the headless commerce architecture with a common commerce platform providing unified catalog, Payments, Order Management, and Fulfilment capabilities across all channels. As a result of the solutions implemented, over 3.5 million users were registered across digital channels in 8 months since launch. There has been a 150% increase in the number of transactions on web channels, a 300% increase in conversion rate, a 30% reduction in bounce rate with a 10% increase in average web session duration.

We were also approached by one of the global leaders in Communication Technology, to create a fully integrated solution that could deliver advanced services to 3.5 million businesses across six continents. We implemented a diverse range of technology improvements, including new feature development, integration of multiple updated applications, and development of automated workflows. The company saw an improved user experience with a 5 point NPS improvement while the bottom line improved with a 70% reduction in the manual intervention. Our solution combined insight-driven CX and strategy frameworks to deliver the best outcomes. The accelerator methodologies used, delivered a customer-centric approach at speed. The company was able to apply a catalog of behavioral nudges to review their current user journeys.

Behavioral Sciences in Branding

Posted on by Antony
BORN Views
Behavioral Sciences in Branding

It is essential for any designer to understand customer psychology in building a solid visual brand and digital experience. While design aspects such as typography, imagery, and color scheme play a huge role in branding, it’s also important for brand’s to gather data revolving around a customer’s online experience – including what pages they visit, the ‘digital routes’ they may take, and so on. By reviewing visual identity, behavioral maps, and behavioral science, we can get a clear idea of how to create effective branding for any consumer.

Visuals can make or break the customer experience

Color schemes, shapes, typography, fonts, and other design elements are integral to a company’s visual brand. Effectively communicating a brand’s message through visuals is helpful in multiple ways. It allows customers to get a sense of what to expect from the brand, highlights a brand’s uniqueness, and educates consumers on where the brand fits in a larger market. 

Visual identity comprises a brand’s logo, imagery, typography, colors, and creative design. A brand’s logo should be simple, communicative, and reinforce a positive brand image constantly. A good logo strikes emotion – the classic Nike Swoosh does an excellent job invoking a memorable connection. It represents triumph, victory, motivation, and optimism1. Seeing the Nike Swoosh at the end of a commercial or promo video often leaves the audience feeling encouraged and inspired. 

A strong visual identity leaves a powerful first impression on its audience. BORN Group’s design approach and content guidelines speak to the ever-changing global market. We focus on keeping our visual aesthetic in tandem with our tone and voice, reflecting our values in innovation, transformation, and strength. The marriage of compelling images with insightful content represents our branding, leaving a sophisticated first impression on our audience and potential clients.

Behavioral Maps

To truly follow a user’s journey on a site, a brand needs to think from a user’s perspective and  understand complex user behaviors. It is a common mistake for brands to get caught up in their own presumptions and neglect users’ real needs and pain points. In such cases, a behavioral map can be an effective solution.

A behavioral map focuses on a certain action performed by a customer that is deemed as ‘successful.’ Mapping exactly how the customer gets to the desired action will give us insightful information on how to keep users engaged and entice more users to complete the same action. Examples of helpful behavioral information include most-viewed pages, CTA or filters toggled, the engagement time spent on certain content modules, and the digital routes taken to an action, etc2.

To design a seamless user experience, a brand should identify key behaviors and reduce any obstacle a user may face to achieve said action. Utilizing behavioral data will help brands convert first-time users as well as increase ROI in the long term. 

Pictured above is a simple example of a user’s behavior map on Klick, a digital healthcare hub3.

Choice

Behavioral science, as opposed to cognitive or social psychology, deals with the processes and heuristics of decision-making4. Personal preferences, purchasing power, and economic climate all have an impact on a consumer’s buying habits. Being able to identify product value propositions and occasions of purchases will also provide marketing professionals insightful information on building a successful brand5. 

Design elements, consumer behavior, and user experience are integral to a brand’s digital strategy. Leveraging natural human instincts and user behavioral data will improve users’ digital experiences and elevate the overall storytelling and brand identity to a new level.

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Footnotes

  1. https://www.brafton.com/blog/graphics/visual-branding/

2. https://www.mindtheproduct.com/how-to-design-products-using-behavioral-science/

3. https://www.klick.com/health/news/blog/insights/using-behavior-and-surveys-for-patient-journey-mapping/

4. https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/publication/documents/2019-04/external_ipsos_besci_advising_-_vf.pdf

5. https://www.omniconvert.com/blog/consumer-behavior-in-marketing-patterns-types-segmentation/