Internet has opened up new possibilities for communicating, from emailing and blogging to mobile video chatting. Most businesses now communicate with their customers through multiple online channels. As brands prioritize this digital experience, they often overlook communicating by voice is faster, easier, and more effective than typing messages. According to the advertising and marketing advisory firm BIA/Kelsey, calls to businesses are expected to exceed 169 billion per year by 2020. These calls are 10-15 times more likely to generate a successful sale or follow-up activity than digital form submissions, which means they are more efficient in generating revenue. Voice is central to communication, and because it’s not strictly an online channel, it presents a challenge for brands that treat digital transformation as a matter of generating clicks and website views. The challenge is particularly acute for businesses that operate in categories such as insurance, lending, travel, or healthcare. In these “considered purchase” categories, consumers typically reach out to a brand after conducting preliminary research online, and are thus well qualified to buy. Read more at https://hbr.org/2017/07/your-customers-still-want-to-talk-to-a-human-being

Demonetization was a shock to the growing Indian economy. The effects of demonetization are steadily getting neutralized. With banks issuing more liquidity in the market,availability of cash has almost come back to that of the pre-demonetization era. Government online initiatives in the form of BHIM and Aadhar Payments have gained massive popularity and private companies like Paytm and Mobikwik have found grounds in the Indian online market post demonetization. A fully digitized economy is not feasible but the country has at least taken a huge step forward to be a digital-friendly economy and the government has to properly nurture the ongoing trend to materialize its motives. Read more at:http://www.indiainfoline.com/article/general-editors-choice/demonetisation-impact-as-the-effects-of-demonetisation-is-fading-govt-plans-to-nurture-a-digital-economy-117050800111_1.html

Instead of conducting traditional in-person focus groups with these difficult to reach audiences, webcam-enabled online focus groups engage the audiences in real time group discussions. These tools have improved our ability to collect in-context consumer feedback and it is easy to conduct research with participants that are more difficult to recruit, widely geographically dispersed, or otherwise challenging to engage in research. Respondents seem to be more relaxed and are thus more open and willing to share their true thoughts, because they are participating from their natural home or work environment. Online focus groups participants seem willing to disagree with one another because there is not an in-person social pressure to conform to group opinions. Online focus groups also eliminates the need for research teams and clients to travel providing further benefits of convenience and travel cost savings. Read more at: 

One of the marketing questions is: "Is there a pattern to how best customers are acquired, and if so, how to repeat it?" If customers' interactions are tracked prior to their first purchase, and track which ones remain good customers and which ones we never see again, then we much more informed decisions can be made about spending precious customer acquisition marketing budget. Three things we should consider are:  Firstly whether you're an online-only or a multi-channel retailer, think about how to collect pre-purchase activity data, even if the data is anonymous. Secondly, think about how you can correlate this data with your customer purchase history. Thirdly, look for repeatable acquisition patterns among your customers, and don't forget to look at timing patterns as well as the usual sources and marketing types. Read more at: