When talking about DMAs, in-house marketing agencies are also included. The position of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is gaining more and more importance, after all. With today’s technological advances, completely new and different approaches to customer finding and binding become possible.
Just a few years ago, the situation was totally different. Many companies operated under the motto “Half of all marketing is successful – we just don’t know which half it is”.
Technology made a new and improved approach possible. Incorporating technology into the marketing processes makes gaining insights into marketing measures and efficiency easy. This way, companies are now able to control which of the best-performing measures to keep – and which of the worst-performing ones to get rid of. This includes not only pictures, image galleries, slogans, other products or product placements, but also the numerous scenarios of the customer journey, ranging from the first contact with customers to the purchase (and even after-sales service).
This development is supported by the early detection of customers made possible by cookies on most commercial websites. AI algorithms optimize and individualize the customer journey through banners and other advertisements.
This phase is often the first contact a (potential) customer has with a provider. As the first part of the customer experience (CEX), it is the most crucial one, as it decides marketing success or failure. Without a purchase, the next phases and stages of the customer experience are not important anymore. This means social media, augmented reality, and, of course, the contact with the sales team is not going to happen if the first part of CEX is not successful.
Gold mine of data
More and more companies use the data that potential customers are providing them with by clicking on links, products, and websites. Who shows interest in what, in what combination, under what circumstances? Which users with what customer behavior click which links, and where and why do they stop? If used correctly, this data is a gold mine for tactical, operational, and strategic planning.
In related news, I’m curious what SAP is planning with the Qualtrics acquisition in this regard. As they explained it, SAP will provide the operational data (“O data”), and Qualtrics will provide the experience data (“X data”). In combination, they should support customer-employee interactions (“customer, product, employer, brand”).
This works best if the website and the algorithms behind it already recognize the customers through the “opt-in”. Everything that comes before cannot be accessed under GDPR. We’ll see what SAP and Qualtrics are going to achieve together.
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