The Multi-Screen Path to Purchase

Long gone are the days of predictability, as consumers are now consuming more content on more devices across more channels—with 70% using more than two devices on a regular basis. The latest data from Forrester shows that the purchase process has been wholly consumed by digital—with 50% of all transactions utilizing a digital channel at some point, and 33% of purchases now being made entirely online. That’s a paradigm shift if there ever was one.

 

That said, consumers really haven’t changed—they’re still moving from Discovery to Evaluation & Comparison to Close—they’re just using a different, more bespoke set of devices, and most importantly, multiple devices during this single purchase decision. Naturally, the device type is a critical consideration for how consumers prefer to interact with a brand’s content, as the desktop experience is (traditionally) an entirely different animal than the mobile experience—purely due to screen size. About 18% of consumers will actually take the initiative to switch devices mid-stream in order to optimize their viewing experience.

 

However, a surprising number of consumers disregard “optimal viewing experience” and instead choose the most convenience device that’s on-hand—especially during the critical research phase. These findings reinforce the criticality of cross-device optimization, as we can no longer reliably predict where a customer will be coming from. In this new reality, all devices are equal, and brands must acquiesce to the 52% of consumers who demand the same experience across all devices, optimized for the device they’re using at that exact moment.

 

This insight and demand for cross-device consistency becomes even more powerful when you consider that a full 33% of consumers will change devices mid-stream, and 71% lose interest in a brand whose content isn’t cross-device optimized, meaning that replicability of content and functionality is no longer a differentiator, but a critical requirement for doing business in 2014. Achieving this goal, however, requires a massive time and cost investment, or a highly specialized toolkit that allows you to serve a customized, optimized experience to users regardless of the device they’re using. A toolkit like the Digital Publishing platform. Using the platform, our customers are already ahead of the cross-device curve, able to set up customized rules and viewers that allow them to serve up a different experience to users on desktops, mobile devices and tablets—ensuring that the experience is always consistent, optimized and (most importantly) engaging.

 

Give us a call today to find out how you can join the revolution and start capturing the eyes, hearts and wallets of your customers, wherever they’re coming to you from.