Customer expectations are changing. Customers in 2017 expect brands to deliver service and value in any channel, irrespective of the channel or what kind of industry or product your brand represents.
As customer expectations change a new commercial prize is becoming clear (and as an IT Marketing Agency, we want to take that prize). Customer Experience (CX) is the battleground for competitive advantage, where customers will be won or lost.
In fact, for 80% of B2B customers, CX is the biggest influencer in the decision to work with a certain vendor. And, Walker insights indicate that by 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiators.
What does this mean for Marketers?
1. Marketers will become accountable for the end-to-end customer experience. The IT marketing role will move beyond traditional campaign marketing.
2. Marketers will be measured on customer retention, engagement, and Lifetime Customer Value, in fact, any customer metric, not just sales and customer acquisition. Campaigns will become an invitation to longer term relationships.
3. Marketers will become far more engaged in Customer Journies, using real-time journey analytics to really understand their customers’ behaviour, needs and preferences.
What can you do to stay ahead?
Ultimately there will need to be a switch to real-time super-personalisation. Moving away from the days of (Hi Dave - look we used your first name. Aren't we clever?) and towards a more subtle, moment by moment type of personalisation at every point of interaction in any channel.
It's not a "creepy follow your customers around the internet and be in their face whenever you can" type of marketing. Instead, it's simply customers feeling that at every point of interaction with your brand, they feel that you understand them well enough to make their experience relevant and add value every time.
Final words
Think about which areas of your online presence that can be enhanced for your particular audience (for us, it's IT experts), and put together an experience strategy that takes it a step further -- or better -- than competitors.
And remember -- observe your customers, imagining yourself in their respective places. What’s missing? What do you wish was there? Answer those questions, and you’ll be on your way to an action plan for CX that excels.
If you want help with any area of your IT marketing strategy, then get in touch here.
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