By Anubhuti Sharma
As social impact is quantified, it begins to inform commerce, how we reach consumers, and how we interpret consumers´ actions. While marketing objectives and social outreach have rarely existed in siloes, it is the nascent ascent of impact-oriented MarTech that has fortified these routes for marketers, scholars and social workers to walk on.
The metrics of impact are as critical as the metrics of profit. They demonstrate how social factors impact commercial outcomes, gauge marketers’ funding accountability, and help reassess ROI with quantified social impact drivers. As we move into 2024, impact MarTech will act as a strategic ally, driven by the trends of tokenisation, data-driven personalisation and transparent impact metrics, that will be enabled by the rise of gamification incentives at each step.
Digital Incentives for Real-World Gains
The advent of tokenisation will allow all essential customer information to be retained inside a digital token with real-world benefits. Their spending patterns will inform the character and worth of their token value and as an impact-based marketer, your job will lie in gamifying the process to make it sweeter to attain.
For instance, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s recent policy guidelines stated that insurers can offer reward points to policyholders who comply with or meet the set criteria for wellness and preventive features.
This promotes healthier habits in a preventative sense to the policyholders while de-risking the insurance companies’ payment liabilities. The data-backed success of such tokenised systems, enabled by gamification, allows tracking customer patterns while promoting customer loyalty in the long run. Not only have interactive campaigns become a cornerstone in the impact of MarTech, but they also foster a higher conversion rate among the target market.
Quantified Impact Measures Accurate ROI
ROI asks the question – “Is the project worth it?”, and social impact metrics answer that question as well as year-end balance sheets. Beyond assessing the financial viability of corporate projects, one may also run a social impact analysis, to measure the difference these initiatives make on a macroeconomic scale.
This is where impact metrics come into play, demonstrating a graphic report card to stakeholders explaining how marketers communicate the social impact of the company’s business and philanthropic investments and how ROI alters when social impact informs the discussions of key trade-offs in capital-intensive projects. Leadership is interested in this new ROI because they can use this data to convince other organisations to become involved.
The other face of this coin is data-driven personalisation. Acting as an impetus in this social impact quantification journey, individual consumer preferences can be driven by gamification processes, that surpass the one-size-fits-all address and reach relevant customers to quicken conversion, saving millions. This is why personalised recommendations must align with the cause to enhance user engagement.
Converging Impact With Tech
Regularisation and gamification incentives have invited a plethora of tech extensions to the systems in MarTech to carry forth the cause with commerce on an expansive digital scale.
For reaching a B2B clientele, who deal in highly sophisticated tech purchasing, augmented reality serves as a revolutionising method to make brands engage with their audiences. Similarly, the immersive and interactive nature of AR can enhance how commerce can interact with the green architecture of the future, how tourism can boost small-scale artisans and businesses and drive social media campaigns associated with donations and relief funds.
Additionally, blockchain technology is increasingly being integrated into Impact MarTech to enhance transparency and accountability in impact initiatives. Technology ensures that every transaction, donation, or engagement is securely recorded and easily traceable. A noteworthy case is the partnership between UNICEF and H&M Foundation, leveraging blockchain to enable transparent donation tracking. Consumers can trace the journey of their donations and witness the impact on the ground.
Thus, philanthropy is closer to tech-enabled marketing than ever before, guided by impact gamification at each step. The usage of social impact metrics is forecast to grow and become a multidisciplinary tool, becoming an essential performance marker across all industries, and demographics, paving a path for humans to thrive before profits.
The author is founder of Impresario Global