Customer-Centric, Content First Design at NYC Content Design Meetup

1. CUSTOMER-CENTRIC CONTENT FIRST From Disruption to Transformation Content Design Meet Up NYC May 2019 Kevin P Nichols Executive Director, Experience
2. 2 Kevin P Nichols, Executive Director, Experience Content Champion. Author. Syfy Network and Bergman Movie Buff. • Expert in enterprise content strategy, omnichannel strategy & personalization for global companies • Developed one of the largest and most successful global content strategy teams for SapientNitro • Author, Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide and UX for Dummies About myself… Helping you shape your content experience 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
3. 3 • A consultancy providing enterprise content strategy and digital experience solutions • Specializing in personalization, omnichannel and performance-driven content solutions • Co-founder of the Big Content Alliance Who are we? AvenueCX 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
4. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved. 4 • Inspiration — Understanding your customers/users • Content — Creating content that speaks to your audience • Systems — Leveraging systems that facilitate content production, content delivery, and metrics capture • Organization — Developing operational models to support ongoing content development and measurement Our content strategy framework at AvenueCX. Four key areas
5. Disruption Or Reality as it is…
6. 6 Organizational silos We really want to like each other. We really do. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
7. 7 Disconnected channels We don’t talk to them; our channel is the only one we care about. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
8. 8 Mismeasurement / incomplete / disconnected analytics We don’t like what the data says about us, so we just decided to throw it out. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
9. 9 Dysfunctional ecosystems Our organizational mishmash is our customer’s delight! 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
10. 10 Faith in silver bullets When people can’t fix it, machines can. And content marketing will save the day. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
11. 11 Ineffective content That ‘right content, right user at the right time’ is a lot of hot air. ! 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
12. 12 Failed content “strategies” Paying us thousands of dollars to state the obvious is very economical. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
13. 13 Broken customer experiences Failing to give the customer what she needs always works in our favor. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
14. Transforming disruption into success
15. 15 Customer-centric operational models When our organization models itself after the customer experience, we all win. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
16. 16 Channel integration When channels work towards unity, the customer can be delighted within each. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
17. 17 Actionable and meaning analytics We don’t just show results. We know exactly what the customer needs. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
18. 18 Functioning ecosystems We’ll never be perfect, but we can at least fix what causes our customer’s pain. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
19. 19 Realistic technology expectations We realize that technology enables an effective strategy; it does not create it. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
20. 20 Relevant content at every customer touchpoint We anticipate our customer’s needs and we meet them with effective content. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
21. 21 Results driven, customer-centric content strategy Our content strategy improves CX and ROI and we can prove it. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
22. 22 Optimized customer experience We blow our competitors away by delighting & rewarding our customers. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
23. Why Content-First: A truly customer experience centric approach
24. • A content-first approach means we look to the customer's needs, and connect the dots between those needs and our business objectives • We provide the most relevant content, when the customer needs • Our tech stack and operations are built around the customer and her requirements • Our content delivery mechanisms reflect that reality • We use analytics and customer research to inform all of our content decisions Content-First because it creates a fully-realized customer experience And for too long, content-last or confused content priorities create chaos. 41% of US consumers said they ditched a company because of “poor personalization” and lack of trust. — Accenture Strategy, Pulse Check, 2018
25. 25 • We understand our audience, and defined a strategy to support it • We only create content that matters • Our operations supports the required content, and makes sure we can deliver it • We’ve a created a performance- based model to support evolution • Our metrics prove that our approach works for our business and our customers A content-first approach can prove its worth. Content works to improve the customer experience and business performance. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
26. 26 Transforming disruption Where challenges meets opportunities Kevin Approved Budgets Meaningful and actionable data Opps readiness to support CX Great and relevant content Great CX with every interaction 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
27. We need to do it, but now what?
28. 28 1. Unified teams 2. A well-informed content strategy 3. Customer insights and research 4. Analytics data and analysis 5. Performance-based content planning and execution 6. The right content to support it Components for the content strategy and design 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
29. 1. Unified teams We stand up our customer experience, business, and content for success. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
30. 30 • Quantifiable objectives that delight customer experience with what they need, and ties it back to biz objectives • Each customer interaction (journey) with brand exposed and addressed • Customer-centric, content-first approach – demonstrate how content fulfills customer promise • Operation modeling and technology decisions only after the above in place • Governance model to ensure fulfillment and scalability 2. Well informed content strategy Proves and drives an improved customer experience 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved. Up to $1.6 Trillion lost every year in the US due to poor customer service — Accenture: Digital Disconnect in Customer Engagement $98 Billion left on the table every year by companies who fail to provide even simple experiences — Siegel+Gale – The World’s Simplest Brands 2018-2019
31. 31 3a. Customer insights and research – external perspective Understand our customer needs—explicitly and implicitly. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
32. 32 3b. Customer insights and research – internal perspective We know our customer needs—explicitly and implicitly. Our content shows it. Task 1. Conduct an online search for: IOTcomponentsin solar technology that support smart buildings 2. Click on the link from online banner (paid search); Lindalandson product category page from the banner 3. Survey capabilitiesand design solutionsfor IOTand smart buildings. 4. Bookmark pagesofinterest, then go offthe company website to survey competitors' websites 5. Return to the company homepage 6.Click on whitepaper within the herospace; Fill out a registration form to download the whitepaper and continue browsing the website for additional information 7 Receive whitepaper within email and print it 8. After reading paper, return to the website homepage for more information Lifecycle Stage Discovery Discovery Discovery Discovery Aw areness Aw areness Research Research User State Anonymous Anonymous – pre-qualified for solution Anonymous – qualified for solution Anonymous - qualified Recognized Recognized Know n Know n Channel 1. Desktop / Mobile organic search 2. Paid search - branded keyw ords Desktop / Mobile Company w ebsite Desktop / Mobile Company w ebsite Desktop / Mobile Company w ebsite Desktop / Mobile Company w ebsite Desktop / Mobile Company w ebsite Mobile - Email Print (PDF and print) Desktop / Mobile Company w ebsite Content 1. Ensure content for w ebsite is optimized for SEO, page meta description should be w ritten in a w ay to high-light capabilities in this space 2. Paid-media keyw ord plus the copy around latest IOT smart building capabilities 1. Herospace promotion: Featured story on creating a smart IOT solar solution for a new ly designed hospital 2. 1st Spotlight promotion: Tips on leveraging solar for smart buildings 3. 2nd Spotlight: Featured capabilities and design solutions list 4. 3rd Spotlight: Featured solar and smart building products in featured products list 5. 4th Spotlight: Point of view on IOT and smart buildings - embedded video The rest of the content is default page content 1. Solutions overview that list solutions w ith priority stories for solar technology w ithin the smart building industry 2. 1st Spotlight promotion: Featured solar and smart building products 3. 2nd Spotlight: Customer testimonials 4. 3rd Spotlight: Analyst report on best solutions in industry; and, Whitepaper on designing for smart buildings The rest of the content is default page content N/A 1. Herospace promotion: Whitepaper entitled: Solar Solutions for Smart buildings: An Intelligent Approach 2. 1st Spotlight promotion: Point of view on IOT and smart buildings video in spotlight 3. 2nd Spotlight: Featured capabilities and design solutions list 4. 3rd Spotlight: Featured solar and smart building products in featured products list 5. 4th Spotlight: Point of view on IOT and smart buildings - embedded video. The rest of the content is default page content 1. Form for new customer in IOT and smartbuilding market 2. Privacy terms and statement 3. Sign-up for new sletters on IOT and Smart buildings 4. Confirmation page that links back to section product category section of the w ebsite 1. Email w ith PDF that w elcomes Linda w ith link to PDF. 2. PDF w hitepaper, w ith an introductory letter embedded in PDF, that is addressed to Linda, by first name. 1. Herospace promotion: Video on a story about an aw ard-w inning smart building design leveraging solar technology 2. Featured capabilities and design solutions in spotlight 3. Featured solar and smart building products in featured products list 4. Solution specification for Solar components in smart building (image and link) The rest of the content is default page content 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
33. 33 4. Analytics data and analysis Enable the customer experience through hard data and real knowledge of her. Even when you are marketing to your entire audience or customer base, you are still simply speaking to a single human at any given time. — Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved. Hard data Gender Age Location (Country, State, City, Exact) Channel (Mobile, Desktop, Store) Company ID (for B2B) Path (Journey / Clickstream) Events / Season / Weather Anniversary Preferences Previous purchases Customer-centric considerations Relevant Useful Authentic Engaging Empathetic Understanding Helpful Inspirational Exciting
34. 34 5. Performance-based content planning and execution Our approach to the content lifecycle and planning is strategic and informed. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
35. 6. The right content Our content understands and executes against complete customer journey.
36. Confronting challenges to ensure success
37. Everyone feels the pain right now But smart business know they have to improve to differentiate and succeed. 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience – Temkin Group 37% or organization have started to execute a digital first approach, and 7% say they’re already an enterprise-wide digital business – IDG 37% of organizations have implemented some form of AI technology – Gartner Marketers feel they still have more work to do, when asked to grade their current personalization efforts, nearly half of respondents 46% gave themselves a “C” while 19% lower than a “C”. — Evergage, 2018 Trends in Personalization Report, 2018 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
38. 38 1. Start small and take a POC approach 2. Ensure improvements to customer experience are addressed through content 3. Use an initial project to establish cross-functional team and work out the kinks 4. It’s a process, treat it like a triathlon and not a sprint Ingredients for success True geniuses prepare; performance anxiety or excuses do not get in the way. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
39. 39 The loser is always a part of the problem; the winner is always a part of the answer. The loser always has an excuse; the winner always has a program. The loser says it may be possible, but it's difficult; the winner says it may be difficult, but it's possible. – Althea Gibson, first African-American woman to win Wimbledon (1957) It’s not easy, but that is never an excuse for a brand that rises to the top. 05/22/2019 | @KPNichols | © 2019 AvenueCX, LLC. All rights reserved.
40. THANK YOU! Kevin P Nichols Email LinkedIn Twitter YouTube knichols@avenuecx.com linkedin.com/in/kevinpnichols @KPNichols https://www.youtube.com/user/kevinpnichols

Editor's Notes

You will find much of my thinking on my personal website at kevinpnichols.com and you will find very detailed information on how to create an enterprise content strategy in my book, Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide.

You can find us at AvenueCX.com. For more information on our work with ComBlu, see the Big Content Alliance, at: https://bigcontentalliance.com/

AvenueCX developed this content strategy framework to illustrate the various inputs for, and aspects of, a robust content strategy. Why? Because successful personalization requires a strong content strategy framework to define it, maintain and evolve it.

The number one thing that gets in the way of successful content is not the content itself. It is the operational readiness and willingness to do what needs to be done for content to be successful.

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/9443764481

This goes along with organizational silos; as generally silo’d perspectives create the dynamic of singular channel focus within a multichannel ecosystem. Often businesses are set up to incentivize a singular channel lens—budgets are granted by how much someone sells online versus instore—and not by the holistic picture of customer experience. Cross channel challenges are further impeded by the inability to track the customer experience across channels or the willingness to do so. No customer experience when channels are isolated, is going to benefit your brand.
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/24oranges/8345190921

This ties into other two issues. But biggest challenges here are: 1. Analytics are either incomplete due to silos 2. Lack of investment 3. Analytics teams not bought into necessary conversations and content and content planning 4. If you are a content strategist or content design or even work in content, and analytics folks are not your best friends, your content is going to have problems 5. Finally, where is also an issue is that teams are afraid of what analytics will tell them, so objectives aren’t tied any real valuable measurement of performance.

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicocaramella/14837343727

Content lives within an ecosystem, customers engage with your brand throughout that ecosystem. When it is messy internally, it most certainly is worse when experienced externally.
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allyaubryphotography/3184992611

Vendors emphasize their solutions can fix broken customer experiences. Take Customer Data Platforms or experience marketing platforms for example. These can help with cross channel content. But without a strong cross-channel strategy already in place and the mechanisms to create the content to support it, these will only get you so far. And layering another system over already poor systems with unstructured content or disconnected channels, will offer you little solace. Content Marketing also promised to address content challenges. Organizations invested heavily into it, but the problem here is that content marketing is often mostly focused on brand amplification and building brand awareness. This is great for the first stages of the customer journey. But what happens when the customer moves into later stages?
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/9991965226

Ironically, I came up the definition of content strategy being: getting the right content to the right use at the right time. I was the first to define content strategy this way. Now everyone and their mother has adopted, adapted and repurposed this concept. And although in and of itself, it’s a fine concept—still relevant—many businesses still face the same challenges they did with content when I came up with it, in 2007. It comes down to content is either viewed as too complicated to sort out, an afterthought, a lack of real understanding of the customer, or my favorite- content is everything, and everyone owns (hence, no one really does.)
Image Source: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/980318

Which get us to this. Have any of you seen the UPS commercial on supply chain management, where consultants come in, deliver a presentation that identifies the problems, and tell the biz what to do? The presentees say: “That’s great, no do it.” The presenters answer: “We don’t actually do it…” If I had a dollar for every time I hear a business say they have spent a lot of money on content strategy consultants and saw nothing of value in return, I’d be quite wealthy. That is not to say that there are good strategy consultants out there, there are. But there is also a lot of navel gazing and stating the obvious…More on that in a bit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphaloskepsis#/media/File:Satyres_en_Atlante_Rome_Louvre_2.jpg

No one knows your business better than you, but that does not mean that you know your customers better than anyone else or any other business. If there is one takeaway from this prez, it is that understanding your customers and their behavior is the only way to ensure effective and good content.
Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/retrogui_photos/6816367679

This means we look at our customer experience, their journeys, etc., and we wrap our internal operations and technology stack around the needs of the customer to support those needs. This means looking externally to structure how we do business. It requires a melding of business objectives with customer needs.

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/6521097201/

Cross channel collaboration is the foundation for strong customer experience. It requires the right analytics to measure the experiences across channels, content to support each channel and equally as important, the points at which a customer moves from one channel to the next, and an operational commitment to support the customer regardless of what they are doing within which customer touchpoint.
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Radio_News_Nov_1928_Cover.jpg
Radio News staff, unknown illustrator. [Public domain]

You cannot have an understanding of your user without analytics. You need hard data – which tells you what they are doing, and soft data such as user research, insights, surveys, etc. this needs a cross channel focus. And a mechanism to report the data in meaningful ways.

Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/1952_-_Town_Auto_-_Dankel_Chevrolet_-_18_Dec_MC_-_Allentown_PA.jpg

Having the above items in place starts to get you there. It won’t be perfect, but foundation is

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/harryh1882/27728498549/in/photostream/

All technology solutions should start with strong requirements and a strategy that understands your customers, your business, and your content. It is then, and only then, that you should make a technology solution decision. “Personalization has been the most demo’d but least implemented function of DX (Digital Experience) platforms for over a decade.”
— Tom Wentworth, chief marketing officer for RapidMiner and former CMO of Acquia

Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97453745@N02/9041751579

As noted on Tullio Saba’s Flickr account: (https://www.flickr.com/photos/97453745@N02/):
“Original Caption: APRIL 17, 1959. MECHANICAL MAN. NEW YORK. DECKED OUT IN SOME STRANGE-LOOKING HEADGEAR, THIS LAD IS DEMONSTRATING THE TALENTS OF "ROBERT THE ROBOT," A NEW MECHANICAL TOY. THE ROBOT'S EYES LIGHT UP, HE WALKS, HE TALKS AND MOVES HIS HANDS--ALL VIA REMOTE CONTROL.THE MECHANICAL TOY, MADE BY THE IDEAL TOY CORP., WILL BE DISPLAYED AT THE AMERICAN FAIR IN MOSCOW THIS SUMMER. IT SELLS FOR ABOUT SIX DOLLARS.”

This gets back to the right content, right user, right time. No brainer, right? But without all of the above in place, this gets very difficult to establish and deliver upon.

Photo: Record store. 1950s. Image Source: http://omnichannelcontentstrategy.com/resources/

The bottom line is, you can use content quantify the success of your customer experience. You can also demonstrate costs saved by operational improvements. This all impacts the overall revenue of your business. Demonstrating this through the realization of your strategy means approved budgets.

Image Source: https://www.maxpixel.net/Cash-Register-Play-Register-Toy-Cash-Vintage-1749117

American Customer Satisfaction Index: 1. Chick-Filet 2. Treader Joes 3. Aldi, 4. Amazon, 5. Lexus.Sailthru personalization index 1. Sephora 2. Body Shop 3. Urban Outfitters 4. Walmart 5. Ebay
“Sephora’s obsession with its customer journey continues to differentiate the global beauty brand as once again, it reigns supreme in the Index, now with perfect scores across email, web, and mobile”

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:People_serving_themselves_at_the_Bergs_Supermarket_meat_section,_circa_1950_(6327551210).jpg

Content first is a business principle. It means we understand that if we focus on the customer—next to product and service—content considerations need to be the primary considerations. And we formulate content requirements vis-à-vis our customer experience before we make technology or marketing decisions. From deciding on the content itself, to the design that houses it, content requirements need to be well understood. It also means we work backwards from the customer and her experience to define which content is required at every single touchpoint and how exactly we message that content.

Image Source:
Dancers from American Ballet Theatre Perform at White House. https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-ST-225-27-62.aspx

Deliver consistent and exceptional customer experiences across touchpoints
Operational readiness to align processes, tools, people
Improved Content Experiences
Data that yields results
Budget because – ROI is effectively to CX across channel
Image Sources:
Customer Experience: https://www.pexels.com//best-choice-customer-experience-four-279934/
Grain Silos - https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=235234&picture=sepia-grain-silo
Typewriter and Scales, property of AvenueCX

I put this at number one, because if you don’t have a cross-functional team that looks to all these things, you are not going to be able to be as successful as you could be. You should put this in place immediately.

You need to build a well-informed strategy that not only looks at business objectives and goals, but equally important, those of the customer, based on the customer needs. And meld those together to frame objectives around your content that will show how content will meet the customer needs and improve customer experience.

You should leverage personas, segmentation models, user research, and then tools such as customer journey maps, which is what we see here. Do the persona questions—how many of you…A customer journey map, which provides the external lens, then can be broken down into specific customer journeys which you can map content to. Remember, empathy is a very important aspect. So tools such as empathy maps, built into you customer journey mapping process can really help you determine how your customer feels and what drives them to different solutions. You can also use findings from machine learning and marketing science efforts.

There are data inputs, as in hard data inputs. They tell who a customer is and what they are doing. But to understand the “why, to really engage the customer, with compelling content, you have to go further. You need to provide messaging to them that really speaks to their drivers and motivations. Today, in content, relevance is everything. This requires an extensible messaging framework that speaks to your different customers considering their unique needs and motivations.

Source:
Ann Handley quote: https://www.sproutcontent.com/blog/12-Inspiring-Content-Marketing-Quotes-From-the-Experts-and-a-Rockstar

This is a closed loop lifecycle to content planning and creation.

If you go through the above, you can make decisions around which content is right per which channel and customer journey stage. This is an omnichannel example, where the singular view of the customer is understood. Even if you cannot delivery on something like this, because of tech / budget constraints, you should go through the process of identifying which content is necessary, as it helps to inform decisions and puts your existing content is a more customer-positive framework.

American Customer Satisfaction Index: 1. Chick-Filet 2. Treader Joes 3. Aldi, 4. Amazon, 5. Lexus.Sailthru personalization index 1. Sephora 2. Body Shop 3. Urban Outfitters 4. Walmart 5. Ebay
“Sephora’s obsession with its customer journey continues to differentiate the global beauty brand as once again, it reigns supreme in the Index, now with perfect scores across email, web, and mobile”

Organizations say their biggest obstacles in achieving success with digital business initiatives include lack of sufficient budget (39%), lack of staff and/or correct skill sets (36%), the need to replace legacy systems (34%), and cultural issues (33%). - Source IDG: https://resources.idg.com/download/white-paper/2018-digital-business

73% of buyers point to customer experience as an important factor in purchasing decisions - https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/

https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-01-21-gartner-survey-shows-37-percent-of-organizations-have

Alex Genov of Zappos offers: “If you see people as just a user or just a buyer then you don’t see the whole person and, as a result, you don’t see the whole opportunity.”

Now all of this requires a plan in place to measure ongoing performance of your solution.

Do you think Louis Armstrong went into a performance unprepared? Perhaps he did have some anxiety before performing but this clearly never stopped him from excelling and offering his audiences riveting performances.

Source:
“Are you doing personalization wrong.” Adrian Swinscoe, Forbes (28 July 2018).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianswinscoe/2018/07/28/are-you-doing-personalization-wrong/#53efd3f436b7

Image source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940s_in_jazz#/media/File:Louis_Armstrong2.jpg

Image source:
https://en/wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Althea_Gibson_NYWTS.jpg

Customer-Centric, Content First Design at NYC Content Design Meetup

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