In the age of the hyper-connected consumer, delivering a personalized experience is key. We are entering a new year in martech where organizational metrics of success will increasingly be aligned with customer success metrics. In today’s age of dynamic digital disruption, consumers are becoming not just more connected, but hyper-connected. The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) has meant that more and more customers are becoming hyper-connected across multiple devices that can range from desktop to laptops, mobiles and smart devices people use on a daily basis: wearables like Fitbit, the Apple Watch, car navigation and entertainment, and even home appliances.
While this brings massive opportunity for marketers to communicate across all areas of the martech stack, it also brings with it challenges in communicating and connecting effectively across a fragmented customer experience. By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator, according to Frost & Sullivan. Hence, the biggest challenge martech companies and digital marketers now face is how to connect the dots with the way that their brand constantly communicates, engages and delights customers across multiple channels, formats and device types. Success lies in creating personalized experiences and delivering them in an authentic manner spanning marketing, sales and customer service aimed at resonating deeply with customers so that they feel valued and appreciated.
Traditionally, personalization had been associated with email marketing and CRM (customer relationship management), where marketers messaged to customers what they thought they wanted. However, now strategies are changing as consumers tell us what they want and how, where and when they want it. This applies to every form of marketing (search, social, content, email, display, digital) across the entire martech stack. There are many ways organizations can bridge the gap between their perceptions of what customers want and the reality of what customers “actually” want. Personalization and providing content that resonates, engages and delights customers from the moment they search to the moment they buy to the moment they become valued customers and advocates is the key.
Success in a new era of personalization requires martech organizations to plan, structure and align around the customer. The martech ecosystem has the right technology to do this, but perhaps not yet the right approach. Building customer experience projects and agile teams across all parts of the organization will better help marketers align all communication programs and ultimately improve their customer experience and corresponding company performance. It’s the perfect win-win if executed correctly.