In digital marketing, it’s not enough to only advertise products or services online.
Today, the most important thing for success is making experiences that matter to users (customers). Design Thinking is really important in Digital Marketing for this.
What is it and what is meant by Design Thinking in Digital Marketing?
Design Thinking, also called “design thinking,” is a way to solve problems in Digital Marketing. It helps tackle challenges in making products, services, and good experiences for users. This method focuses on what customers want, using things like understanding, working together, and making small changes often, instead of just looking at past information.
So, it starts by really understanding what customers need. This means looking closely at how they act, what they like, and what they want. Once we know this, Design Thinking helps create new and clever ideas. We quickly make simple versions of these ideas to test them. This way, we get direct feedback from users and keep making things better in small steps.
Design Thinking is a method that has changed a lot over time. It began in the 1940s as a way to be creative and later became a way for designers to think and solve tough problems. It’s a useful method for handling problems that aren’t typically dealt with by science. In the 1980s, it started focusing on people and was used in companies. But it’s really in the 2000s that it became popular and used in workplaces, services, and new ideas, both in research and in university courses.
In Design Thinking, it’s about being creative and using things like drawings and models to make new ideas. These tools change abstract thoughts into real solutions that can be tested.
Another important thing is that in Design Thinking, the problem and the answer change together. While working on a problem, understanding it can get better or change. This can lead to new and surprising solutions. This way of working keeps bringing new ideas, which helps marketing change and adapt to what customers need.
The pillars of design thinking
Design Thinking usually has five main parts that make up the method:
- Understanding people’s needs by doing research, talking to them, and watching them closely is the first step.
- Next is figuring out exactly what problem you’re trying to solve.
- Then, it’s time to come up with lots of new and creative ideas to solve that problem.
- After that, make some early versions of the solutions to test them and get feedback.
- Finally, test these versions with the actual users to make the solution even better.
This way of working helps make solutions that really fit what users need, making Digital Marketing strategies work better.
Design Thinking makes a strong connection between customers and the people creating the products. These creators are actively involved in making new things by truly understanding what users need. They listen, watch, and sometimes even use the product or service themselves to make the solutions better. They can then use what they’ve learned to make products that are more likely to do well when they’re introduced to the market.
The role of Design Thinking in Digital Marketing
Design Thinking is super important in Digital Marketing because it helps companies make their business and create great experiences for customers online using specific strategies:
User-Focused Content Creation: Design Thinking starts with understanding what users need. Companies using this method create content that deeply connects with their audience, making people more involved and loyal.
Easy-to-Use Websites and Apps: Design Thinking aims to make websites and apps simple to use. This makes it easier for users, improves their experience, and reduces them leaving without finishing what they wanted to do.
Creating Useful Digital Products: Making apps and software that solve real problems for users. This not only creates new business chances but also makes customers more loyal.
Tailored Marketing Strategies: Understanding what users really need helps companies make their digital marketing strategies personal. This means providing content and deals that meet each person’s needs.
Solving Tough Problems: Design Thinking is great for working on problems that are hard, unclear, and tough to solve with normal ways. This different way of thinking can bring new ideas and solutions to business issues.
Constant Improvement: Design Thinking encourages always changing and improving. Companies can quickly change with user behavior and new market trends, keeping up with other companies.
Improving Conversions: Design Thinking can help companies make more people do what they want on their websites. This might mean making the website easier to use or simpler to buy things, making it easier for users to do what they want.
How to exploit Design Thinking in marketing: the tools available
Understanding our users really well and making detailed descriptions of typical customers using both numbers and descriptions becomes very important. That’s why empathy, which is the ability to really understand others without judging and share feelings effectively, is key in this process.
Design Thinking has a lot of tools that help teams understand what users need, make new ideas, and test solutions.
Some of the main tools are:
Research to Explore: This helps to gather first info about a problem or chance. Ways like interviews, group talks, surveys, and empathetic interviews (they help people know about a brand) are used. These let us understand more about what users really need and care about.
Customer Journey Maps: These are pictures that follow a customer’s journey from finding a product to buying and more. They show where users might have problems and help us understand what they think, feel, do, and say.
Brainstorming: This is an important part of Design Thinking. It helps make creative ideas for marketing plans, content, and strategies.
Usability Testing: This helps us see if the new things we make work well and find ways to make them better.
Tracking: Using data and tools to watch how users behave and see how well our marketing plans are working.
Of course, all of this assumes that we can understand and feel what users feel, like seeing things from their point of view. It means recognizing their view as important, not judging, and being able to notice and talk about feelings.
How to carry out a Design Thinking session: a concrete example
Let’s try to identify with a Design Thinking process.
The Digital Marketing team of a company:
Talked to existing and possible customers to understand their needs and what makes them frustrated. They found out that many people leave the website before buying because it’s hard to use.
After looking at the research results, they saw the main problem: the website is not easy to use and is making the company lose possible customers.
They had a meeting to think of new ideas to make the website better. Some of these ideas were making it easier to use, having a simpler way to buy things, and showing different content based on what users like.
Once they had the solutions, they made quick versions of the new website parts, like drawings of new pages and better ways to buy things.
They tested these new versions with a small group of users. During the test, users said what problems they had, suggested how to make it better, and talked about how they felt about the new design.
In the end, by listening to users and making many small changes, the website got a whole new design. It’s now easier to use, has a chatbot to help customers, a simpler way to buy, and shows content based on what each person likes. After a few months, the company saw lots more people buying and being more loyal.
Conclusions
In short, Design Thinking in Digital Marketing is about making customers the most important. This not only makes marketing better but also helps make strong relationships with customers. If you want to do well in Digital Marketing, think about using Design Thinking as a big part of your plan. Get in touch with us, and let’s discuss it together!
