Digital Disruption from EX²

Once reserved for only the "big players," sophisticated solutions for merging digital and offline marketing efforts are now available to virtually all companies. The new automated systems make it easier to collect data while the explosion in smartphone usage gives marketers the opportunity to literally put their messages in the hands of their customers. However, you must have a detailed understanding of your customers, such as where and when they want to interact with you, what they need and what they insist you supply.

The era of big data has given marketers many new opportunities, and it is the driving force behind the ability to develop accurate analytics or customer personas. Ultimately, however, your success depends on your ability to manage your data efficiently.

The basic concept of augmented reality, or AR, has been around since the turn of the 20th century. As early as 1901, author L. Frank Baum, creator of the Oz books, discussed spectacles and electronic devices that could overlay information on top of real-world images. Hollywood began experimenting with AR during the 1950s, but it was not until the 1970s that significant progress began to be made on AR wearable tech. The "next big thing" in AR was its use for television weather maps, followed quickly by its implementation in video gaming. 

Today, developers are creating a vast array of devices and applications specifically designed to merge the physical world with the digital. However, AR should not be confused with virtual reality. Virtual reality completely replaces the "real world" with a totally virtual world; augmented reality blends the two worlds into a single experience. Savvy marketers have already begun to leverage AR in a variety of ways, and many more creative uses are sure to follow.

The world of marketing is constantly changing. Marketing professionals barely have time to become comfortable with one technology before another disruptive innovation arrives. As the world has moved into the digital age, marketers have had to learn a variety of new methods, new skills and new concepts. They have been forced to bend like a willow tree if they are to meet the demands of customers who are "always on," who expect relevant, personalized content and who are active — and very vocal — on social media sites. Marketers have had to embrace cross-channel campaigns, responsive web design, storytelling, mobilization, content marketing and social media. Now they have another challenge to overcome as the Internet of Things will change how companies engage their customers.

It seems that every week, some manufacturer announces the release or upgrade of a connected product. Your customers will soon be connected to the Internet via far more than their smartphones and computers. Already there are Internet-connected televisions, cars, refrigerators and a bevy of wearable tech gadgets. Your customers are moving to a more automated, connected environment at a brisk pace. They expect you to follow suit and leverage new technologies to engage them in meaningful ways and at the right time on the right platform.

The CMO Council for IBM recently conducted a survey of senior marketing executives, and the results were enlightening. Marketers were divided into laggards and leaders, based on each marketer's ability to create digital experiences and interactions that would attract attention, promote customer engagement, encourage conversions and acquire and nurture relationships. The contrasting viewpoints are revealing.

Once upon a time, customer service agents could blame a billing error, errant shipment or lost reservation on a "computer glitch." It did not take many years, however, before customers began to realize that computers did not make mistakes — humans were behind the problem, whether the mistake was caused by a data entry error or faulty programming. As a result, customers began to shift the blame to the person — regardless of job title or duties — who had the misfortune to answer the phone. Today, even though technology may truly be the culprit, such as when a server goes down or the agent cannot access data during an upgrade, many customers will still unleash a tirade on the hapless employee who is trying to assist them. 

In fact, your customers are likely to blame your customer service representative for a bad experience and credit the representative for a positive experience. However, if you examine the points raised by customers in a recent study, you will notice that some of their complaints are related to technology.

Your customers are more demanding than ever. They expect you to provide a seamless experience that spans all channels. They expect you to be proactive about issues and reach out to them when you discover an issue rather than waiting for them to contact you. They expect you to provide them with online content, be active on the social sites and provide them with a personalized, engaging experience. However, the more touchpoints you have with your customers, the greater the risk is that something could go wrong — and negative customer experiences can have a profound impact on their loyalty.

If you want to meet your customers' expectations, you must address their overall experience. In some organizations, this can be hindered by internal processes or company culture.

If you have ever seen a movie from the 1940s depicting the daily operations of a major department store, you might have noticed how customer complaints were handled. There was normally a single window with a clerk who was at best uncaring and at worst extremely rude. Customers lined up for a long wait to return a defective item, voice a complaint about a rude sales clerk, or protest an erroneous bill. Surprisingly, the store retained most of these customers as their options were limited. If they wanted a particular type of merchandise or the best prices, they had no choice but to return. Customers back then were more willing to accept that no one was perfect and that mistakes happened. 

You are not doing business in that era, however. Today you are dealing with customers who are always on, who expect you to be available on multiple channels and who want all of your online efforts to be seamlessly integrated. What might have been an inconsequential "ding" in a customer's experience 50 years ago can today result in losing a customer — forever.

You can call them tracking pixels, clear gifs, 1x1 pixels or web bugs. They have been in use for almost as long as cookies have been used to collect and store data about visitors to your website. In this, the era of big data and cross-channel analytics, tracking pixels seem like a terrific way to obtain the in-depth information that you need to assign attribution or offer visitors a personalized experience or provide that Holy Grail report you’ve been pitched from the latest company to contact you about the latest & greatest tracking technology. Used properly — meaning used in moderation — tracking pixels can fulfill their function well. The problem is that marketers tend to overuse tracking pixels to the extent that the site's performance is negatively impacted and tracking data is siloed across many different tracking pixel providers.

Marketing to customers in the digital age requires reaching them on their "channel of choice" in the proper context at the proper time. To do this effectively, you need a holistic, accurate view of your customer. However, a study, conducted in 2015, found that a mere 6 percent of the marketers surveyed have achieved a panoramic, single customer view. Without an integrated, cross-channel view of your customers, you cannot plan campaigns that offer the degree of contextual, consistent and relevant personalization that customers are increasingly demanding. 

You cannot compile a single customer view by taking fragmented tidbits of data from separate touch points and attempting to compile them into a complete picture. One purchase, one tweet and one email from the customer do not tell you what you need to know. What about all of the other touch points? Has the customer visited your Facebook page, shopped in your physical store or interacted with your in-store kiosk? Does your customer access your website from his desktop computer or his smartphone? Did he visit your website to read your blog or search for product specifications? How long did the customer remain on each website page, and how many times did he return? How many orders has he placed, how much did he spend on each order and how often did he place an order? These are the types of questions you need answered if you want to create a single customer view.

You will face challenges when you move toward a single customer view. Marketers have identified the three primary challenges as insufficient data quality, siloed teams, and problems linking all technologies used. Fortunately, each of these issues can be addressed; although, it is normally best to break them into small, manageable pieces that can be resolved independently instead of attempting to handle the entire challenge in one massive push.

Not that many years ago, many marketers expressed resistance to the concept of leveraging big data for marketing efforts. There were the basic questions, such as what big data is and how it works. There were also questions about whether it had the potential to provide benefits that outweighed any possible risks. In the years since the term became prominent in marketing circles, a number of pioneers have blazed trails for others to follow. As a result, the marketing sector has emerged as one of the most ardent supporters of big data, embracing it completely.

Although big data is poised to be a dominant force in the marketing sector, questions remain. Marketers wonder whether big data has limitless possibilities or a defined ceiling. They question whether big data will continue to drive profits significantly. They are also curious about which advances in technology and methodology will affect leveraging big data in 2015 and beyond.