In April, I attended the ever-practical CMO Insight Summit, an event that brings together senior marketers and business leaders from companies worldwide to discuss current challenges and emerging opportunities.
The packed agenda featured discussions on defining your tribe, the power of personalisation and integrating trend forecasts into strategy. Having spoken with delegates from a range of sectors, 3 points kept coming up – and they’re worth keeping in mind for your own context.
1. Location-based engagement is key to delivering the ultimate customer experience
The stats back this up. According to LBMA’s Global Location Trends Report, around 250 global brands are leveraging location-based technologies to connect with their customers. The report also highlights that 75% of marketers believe that location-based marketing is an important business issue.
At the summit, everyone was interested in exploring this, working with mobile network operators to give a highly personalised (and therefore highly effective) customer experience. But they don’t know where to start.
There was a clear need for tools that enable an ‘always-on’ approach that allows companies to react and engage when the customer chooses. The consensus: start with a proof of concept (POC) to see the technology in action and see how customers engage with it.
For example, we recently won an award for the work we did with Weve and Gordan’s Gin. This utilised train delay and location data to push commuters an offer for a can of premixed Gordon’s Gin & Tonic.
2. Mobile will only become more important
Location-based engagement and mobile are inextricably linked. According to BIA/Kelsey’s mobile ad spending report, location-targeted mobile ad sales are set to rise from $9.8 billion in 2015 to $29.5 billion by the end of 2019.
This is understandable given that customers now expect instant feedback, which means mobile is essential for companies to demonstrate they’re listening and supportive. It’s part of a wider shift driven by using the likes of Uber and Amazon, which have set a new benchmark for responsiveness.
No matter how big your company, the expectations are the same. And that means looking at everything from apps and advertising through to social media marketing and customer service.
3. Legacy systems and siloed data still cause headaches
Siloed data sources and department-driven campaigns are still a problem – they prevent organisations from achieving a consolidated view of customer engagement. This has a negative impact on marketing effectiveness and ROI.
Often, this situation is due to legacy technology as well as business culture. A common theme at the CMO Insight Summit was that these legacy systems make it virtually impossible to:
- Deliver a consistent theme/brand during the customer journey
- Understand customer patterns and preferences, e.g. how they want to be contacted
There was clear appetite for technology solutions that sit on top of those legacy systems, unifying data and communications from across the customer journey. This approach delivers benefits around improved response rates, reduced campaign costs and higher engagement levels – without requiring large IT investment or time-consuming deployments.
With so many marketing events throughout the year, it can be hard to choose which are worth the time and investment. My recommendation: make sure the CMO Insight Summit is on your list.
Not only was it truly informative, but you get to enjoy the beautiful setting. (Next year, I’ll remember to pack my running trainers so I could join other attendees on the jog to the castle). And my final tip: the evening gin tasting is well worth it!
For more insight on optimising the customer experience, get in touch today.
