By Donna Pahel, EPiServer
Today’s connected customers are always on, especially social media, and are not afraid to let their opinions be heard. Consumers are faced with virtually an infinite number of choices of not only what to buy, but how, when, where, and from whom. To thrive, it’s critical that brands effectively connect with and provide a personalized view of their offerings to each customer along the entire path to purchase. Additionally, it’s essential that brands deliver these compelling and tailored experiences in the most effective manner as customers navigate from mobile, to tablet, to desktop and back again.
Brands who effectively help buyers cut through the noise and provide compelling context around products and services that speak to customers on a personalized, one-on-one basis will win in this world in which consumers become more connected and empowered by the day. The holiday season is upon us and retailers everywhere are prepping and grooming their digital channels both in and out-of-store to provide consumers with a truly tailored experience. Retailers who are leaning into this opportunity will secure the best chances to stay within their customers’ consideration set, de-commoditize their offerings, nurture a relationship between customer and brand, and ultimately win against their competitors. How well is your brand positioned for the holiday season, and beyond, to win over your new CMO — the connected customer, your new Chief Marketing Operative?
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Yes, you read that correctly — the connected customer is your new CMO, or new Chief Marketing Operative, as I like to call them. With a few taps of their thumbs, or a click of a mouse, they are broadcasting powerful messages about their experiences with brands, products and services to their ever-expanding social networks. Their voice is infinitely more powerful than any message a brand communicates directly and they can quickly become your biggest advocate, or, your biggest adversary.
But before you can win with your new CMO, you need to understand their wants, needs and expectations — what makes them tick? Let’s take a look at a few items driving your new CMO and the key takeaways for retailers:
Customers Take The Reigns
The connected consumer is empowered, savvy and resourceful in a whole new way never yet seen before thanks to technology that is continually enabling evolving behaviors and access to information. I often talk about how the connected customer transcends traditional segmentation given broader technology adoption and usage across gender, age, economic factors, etc. While these traditional factors still come into play, this customer challenges how we may have traditionally looked at them from a CRM perspective. It’s one of many aspects that we must strive to continually keep abreast of and embrace whole-heartedly.
Your Customers’ Point Of View Is The Only One That Really Matters
When I talk to brands about a buyer’s journey and their “path to purchase” I suggest that they traverse this path from the customer point-of-view (POV) and derive their go-to-market strategy from that perspective. By doing this, they’ll identify many opportunities to better understand and identify ways to be present to answer customer wants and needs. As brands identify all of the opportunities to meet and engage with them along their journey, they must keep in mind which of these instances provides a meaningful experience and the brand’s propensity to provide such an experience. It’s not about throwing everything at them at once. It’s about knowing what they want, when they want it and it what format to present it. In other words, it’s about stepping in their shoes and seeing their journey from their perspective.
It’s All About The Customer – Make Every Touch Point Count
Make the most of each opportunity to engage and provide information to connected customers. Each experience must be power packed with relevant information that is personalized — it only takes one poor, irrelevant experience before they’re off dealing with your competitor. This is your opportunity to de-commoditize your offering and provide a compelling story as to why they should choose your product and service over all of their other choices. What can you do to really provide the most meaningful experiences from a digital perspective for your customer? Think fewer high-quality touches versus many lesser and dilutive touches. Also, don’t forget about the in-store and post purchase experiences — create a continuous brand experience across channels online and offline — otherwise known as omnichannel. But know that brand experience is not the only thing that should be continuous when engaging with consumers.
The Continuous Path To Purchase – Customers Are Always-on And Ready To Buy
The linear path to purchase simply no longer exists. Some like to think of it as a pile of spaghetti (yes, spaghetti), in that there are so many twists and turns involved in the process of getting from plate to mouth — it’s the same with your consumer behavior. But its difficult to effectively unravel this spaghetti — it would be a similar experience in untangling Christmas lights — frustrating at best. We need to simplify it so the customer can make his or her way to your brand and not get tangled up in all the other options. I personally like to think of it as a circular, continuous loop in which the stages — pre-shop, transaction, post transaction — are the same, but the “what, where, when and how” the customer goes about this process is distinctively different than it has been prior to them being so connected. Remember, your connected customer is always-on and always readied to buy — make it easy for them! And don’t forget to make it easy for them to find you, too.
Be Agile In Your Approach – Test, Learn, Act And Repeat
Like I mentioned earlier, the connected consumer has endless options and every product or service can be likened to a commodity. To be effective, you need to ask yourself a couple key questions. First, how are you staying in the connected customer’s constant stream of choices? Second, how do you effectively help them cut through the noise around all their other options to show them the clear path to your brand? Speaking to them on a one-to-one level and having something resonate with them on an emotional level, for instance, will help you do that.
Connected consumers are present across channels. They move fast and think even faster, so you need to provide them with the tools to not only empower them but to keep up with them. The holiday season is great chance to get one step ahead of your competitors and drive consumers to your brand and create a great holiday shopping season for all. There’s a good chance that if you get in your customers’ shoes and walk the walk, knowing exactly what they need for a great experience, they will reward you with the intangible brand loyalty — and maybe even some advocacy — that’s imperative to realize success with your new CMO!
Donna Pahel is Director of Digital Marketing and e-Commerce Strategy at EPiServer. Donna joined EPiServer in September 2013 from customer and grocery leader, Giant Eagle, where she served as Director of Digital CRM for the for $10B+ multi-format retailer. Pahel brings 18 years of B2C and B2B marketing experience across multiple industries including retail and manufacturing with both client-side and agency-side perspective.
