Putting together your 2023 marketing plans without including how you’ll incorporate the metaverse is like leaving out investments in social media back in 2010. Be wary that an ignorance of the metaverse may be a one-way ticket to failed outcomes and your rapid exit.
In 2010, the audience was on the move from mainstream media to social. By the end of 2023, a billion users will be making regular visits to the metaverse. Three-quarters of US adults are considering joining.
When we surveyed 22 CMOs from Global 2000 enterprises, we found 30% had got the message in Exhibit 1, and plan to invest in Web3 and metaverse among their top-three investment priorities. In greater context, this number represents only as many as are queueing up to spend on quantum computing. But add augmented and virtual reality, and the percentage of CMOs intending to invest in related technologies and services increases to nearer half (48%). CMOs are keen on the experience-enhancements of AR/VR, and the potential to monetize that other web3/metaverse technologies represent.
* Includes machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and NLP/NLG
Sample size: 22 CMOs across Global 2000 enterprises
Source: HFS Pulse Dashboard, 2022
While nearly half of CMOs want to invest in AR/VR plus the metaverse, they face a challenge. Only 35% of CEOs prioritize the same as a rank 1, 2, or 3 investment priority. CMOs have some convincing to do to secure the funding they want.
The metaverse benefits for employee experience (EX) are more proven than those within the CMO’s realm such as customer experience (CX). Any large enterprise battling the challenges of continued work-from-home behaviors is learning it can gain from training, onboarding, and collaborating in the metaverse.
To get their share of CEO-backing, CMOs and customer experience leaders must be able to tell the story of the benefits the metaverse can offer for their needs. These should go beyond the “PR win” of going where the influencers go, to include immersive experiences which build awareness and provide new sales experiences, communities to build long-term bonds, and value-add benefits to drive loyalty. CMOs must gather evidence to prove the value.
If your plans don’t already incorporate metaverse activities, at the very least everyone in leading roles in customer experience and marketing should familiarize themselves with virtual worlds, augmented reality, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). For definitions, refer to our A-Z of Web3; browse the additional reading listed at the end of this article for more information.
Service providers such as RRD and Publicis Sapient approach the metaverse with a tradition of customer experience excellence behind them.
Publicis Sapient has already developed proofs of concept (POCs) in a beauty experience product firm. It’s also working with a multinational FMCG firm on a metaverse strategy, and it built an NFT marketplace and a blockchain-based loyalty scheme. They say coupons on the blockchain are easier to track, unique, and unforgeable.
RRD focuses on a content and experience metaverse with the aim of helping CMOs do business. Its offerings focus on “return on learning” from workshops, pilots, and POCs. It is developing an NFT platform for the publishing industry and applying AI to using and managing digital images.
Publics Sapient is also applying gamification to e-commerce in the metaverse, enabling clients to offer rewards to targeted customers along the road to conversion, such as personalized content, quizzes, and access to next steps earned through engagement.
Service providers such as Tech Mahindra see increases in conversion rates through the immersive and augmented worlds metaverse technologies enable. They say it gives customers a greater sense of control, encourages collaboration with brands, and builds trust. Tech M claims conversion rates as high as 70% – at the end of a dedicated metaverse sales funnel.
Most service providers with a tradition in digital marketing and customer experience have relevant offerings. This focus on conversion may make it easy for most CMOs to think the metaverse is all about virtual and augmented experiences, a new place to give away promotional items (virtual events and NFTs), and a way to hang with the cool kids. But that mindset would mean you are missing out on the power of digital twins.
Accenture insists the metaverse must be core to every enterprise’s plan for the next decade. It sees industrial applications leading the way. But at the heart of this belief is the role of the digital twin, a digital representation of real-world objects and processes. Digital twins in a 3D virtual environment offer data visualization at its best.
That may sound more core to understanding how and when big industrial processes may fail, but enterprises can apply digital equally to marketing needs. Consider any customer journey. Rather than mapping it out on the wall or in a 2D flow tool, now you can design it in 3D, walk through it, and experience it yourself before ever committing a dollar to the physical development of any interaction points along its way.
Retailers already use digital twins heavily when planning and optimizing display space usage. They are also used in new product development, often the domain of the CMO. They can help us design in the metaverse to shape products for the real world at much lower cost and reduced wastage.
Marketing needs to get metaverse-ready in 2023, just as it needed to be social media-ready in 2010. Use the growth of social media from 2010 to communicate to you CEO the risks of falling behind. If you don’t extend your brand into the metaverse now, then you could end up paying much more in the near future to achieve the same impact – because your competition will have beaten you to both current and future customers, and markets.
Focus your spending on tests with identifiable returns on investment. As we have said before, the metaverse honeymoon is over. Get CEOs on your side by taking a mature approach to metaverse investments in which ROI is both clear and measurable.
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