5 internet marketing trends to watch for in Thailand(and Asia....)

Machine learning. Individualized advertising promotions. Mobile web vs. mobile apps. Digital marketers are viewing the world change under their feet. As we transfer to the second half of 2017, Google Thailand’s mind of marketing, Mike Jittivanich, peeks into the future and stores five predictions about where it’s all headed.

Pop quiz: Which country leads the world in mobile internet use? Okay, we gave you a large hint with the headline, but you might be surprised to hear that the answer is Thailand! Thailand is ripe for innovation as users have leapfrogged desktop and are receiving online mainly via their smartphones. Thailand is also in the very best 10 countries for YouTube watch time, driven with a mobile watch development of 90% YoY.

With all of this growth, it’s time for you to check out where we’re headed and exactly how marketers can arrange for the near future that is quickly approaching. Looking at my crystal ball (of inner and exterior research) and speaking with marketers around Thailand, here are my five predictions for where our industry is headed:

#1: Divisions between online and offline will go away

Go for a walk through any Thai brand or agency, and you’ll see that a lot of still have artificial lines separating offline and online. Many companies have traditional purchasers, planners, and creatives, and then digital counterparts and groups for those same functions. Promotions tend to be first considered from a normal perspective, and then later from an electronic perspective.

My prediction is that the series will blur increasingly until it eventually disappears. Digital is no more merely an element of consumers’ lives-it is becoming ubiquitous. Internet penetration in Thailand has strike a crucial mass: more than 42M people, or 60% of the Thai inhabitants, are online, driven mainly by smartphone growth. Obviously, organizational buildings and promotions need to capture up quickly with people’s daily practices.

What’s to come

It’s time for you to re-evaluate both organizational constructions and strategies. Thinking about digital as the market isn’t heading to work any longer; it requires to sit down at the primacy of strategic planning.
Think holistically about the buyer trip. As customers leap backwards and forwards between on- and offline (and back again), what do they want at each minute on the way? What’s the simplest way to activate with them?

Digital- or traditional-only firms will have face issues addressing clients’ complete needs. Organizations should partner up, acquire, or expand to have the ability to understand and address today’s nonlinear customer trip more holistically.

#2: Brands will rethink their mobile web strategies

We reside in a mobile world-and most brands are accounting for this. Smartphone penetration in Thailand has already reached 70% and 15M smartphones can be purchased each year. Sixty-five percent of YouTube watch amount of time in Thailand originates from mobile-and over fifty percent of queries globally result from mobile as well.

Many Thai brands have stepped up to the plate by firmly taking an app-first technique to connect to their customers. While it has offered them well, our research shows symptoms of app exhaustion. Average Thai smartphone owners only use 24% of the (average of) 32 applications on their cell phones on a regular basis. Also interesting to note is that the average Thai user installs four applications per month and uninstalls three.

All of this means that it’ll get increasingly tougher for branded applications to state a permanent spot on Thai consumers’ mobile phones. That, combined with a high cost of application development, means that mobile web will be a priority for marketers.

Advancements in mobile web technology now enable interfaces and functionalities that are as engaging as apps-and at a faster acceleration. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are good middle ground, providing users the application experience with no heavy costs of application development; in addition they don’t have to be installed. Another option is to consider Accelerated Mobile Webpages (AMP)that open up mobile webpages almost instantly.

What’s to come

Thai brands will begin to rethink their mobile strategies and what different sections of their customers actually need. Developments in the mobile web (namely PWA and AMP) will be indispensable as it pertains to acquiring and nurturing clients and (re-)interesting with informal customers.
Native mobile applications will remain very important to traveling customer loyalty as well as for services that want complex systems (like obligations and gaming).

#3: Machine learning will business lead just how on automated individualization

Lately it looks like we can’t go anywhere without hearing “machine learning” appear in conference rooms, informal conversations, and industry thinks pieces. And that’s not heading to change any time in the future. I predict that we’ll begin to see wider applications and adoption of machine learning as the technology becomes older and more accessible.

We’ll see machine learning integrated into things we use every day like talk apps, digital assistants, and natural language and image control. Consumers will begin to get used to hyper-customized experiences, this means objectives will continue steadily to soar. This is already becoming the case-customers will expect nothing less than information and encounters that are individualized, contextualized, and useful.

What’s to come

Customers will be prepared to see just of the same personalization from brands as they are doing from other mobile encounters.

Individualization won't mean addressing a consumer by name within an email. It'll include from brand websites to promotions and messaging-the works.

#4: Digital obligations will open the entranceway for omnichannel commerce

In just days gone by two years, e-commerce has flourished in Thailand. Now customers can do things such as find clothes in their size or “put on” different pairs of eyeglasses online and also have them shipped-all using their smartphones. Taking that last step-from choosing to buying has been the bottleneck. Credit cards penetration in Thailand is at 5.7%,6 so most users still rely on traditional bank exchanges, which can create security risks. Having less convenient and secure payment solutions has stalled Thailand’s e-commerce development.

All that is going to change. The release of Quick Pay is a huge first rung on the ladder in consolidating the highly fragmented digital payment industry. Soon, cashless obligations will be accessible to the people, paving the best way to a really omnichannel business culture.

What’s to come

Payment barriers shall be dismantled. Businesses that previously didn’t become digitized consequently of the barriers will begin to make the changeover.

E-commerce businesses will increase their services, utilizing their websites as digital showrooms for consumers to browse, try, and purchase their products.

#5: Brands are certain to get better at measuring what counts

View-through rates. Clicks-to-call. Impressions. Viewability. Store visit conversions. Given that we can measure so many minute information on our marketing promotions, it’s time for you to tie everything together. I predict we’ll see a new concentrate on “impact measurement,” which is how our marketing strategies are straight influencing business objectives.

We’ll see more attempts to build up and monitor what’s working across all stations and the phases within each route. Rather than measuring offline and online methods separately, we’ll have the ability to keep an eye on customers who buy waiting for you or on websites-and see what affects that way to purchase.

What’s to come

Marketers won’t (and shouldn’t) be happy with wide and superficial metrics anymore-they should be measuring what really issues most with their brands. They’ll start implementing more advanced metrics that will assist them to assess each platform’s business impact and how to be a lot more targeted, and they’ll make sure they’re aligned using their business goals.

We’ll see higher demand for data scientists and data analytics companies. Experts will play an extended role in marketing, assisting everyone in optimizing promotions across media, stations, and creatives.

Five predictions, countless opportunities

I am hoping you’re as energized as I am to deal with what’s next for marketing in Thailand. The very best brands and organizations will be the ones that can stay nimble and adjust to the changing pushes around them. Consider what opportunities each one of these tendencies presents for your brand or agency when you can get a join where in fact the industry is headed, the near future will be shiny indeed.