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Humanizing the Digital Customer Experience
- 1. Humanizing the DigitalCustomer Experience 5 Keys to Turn Your Data into Powerful, Individual Connections WEBINAR Cindy Vandecasteele VP, Product Strategy NGDATA
- 2. 2 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. The Age of the Customer: The customer continues to gain influence and power in the customer-company relationship.
- 3. 3 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Digital innovators are constantly raising the bar for customer experiences, and customers have come to expect a similar great customer experience from all the organizations they interact with.
- 4. 4 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. “In the new Age, the millennia-old marketplace dance is still beautifully simple. But the Age of the Customer has created a shift in who leads when the two dancers come together. Here’s the new paradigm: • Products and services are still controlled by the Seller • The buying decision is still controlled by the Customer • Access to information, including customer experience, is now controlled by the Customer” - Jim Blasingame, “The Age of the Customer”
- 5. 5 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Even your brand’s products are co-owned with your customers, as opposed to controlled solely by your company. As consumers, we are increasingly driving technology changes and, thereby, influencing the actual products.
- 6. 6 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. “The coming Augmented Age promises a level of disruption, behavioral shifts and changes that are unparalleled. What will the Augmented Age bring? Will robots take our jobs, and AI's subsume us as inferior intelligences, or will this usher in a new age of abundance?” - Brett King, “Augmented”
- 7. 7 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Technology is humanizing; it's being tailored to individual people. Technology is adapting to us.
- 8. 8 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Humanizing the Digital CX: “What’s the experience I want from this company, for me to trust them with my personal data?”
- 9. 9 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Customers want to feel respected AND valued.
- 10. 10 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. “Authenticity is key for this generation. This is about walking the talk. Anything else will not be credible.” - Noreena Hertz, “Get Under the Skin of Generation K”
- 11. 11 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. What makes a “human company”? • Authenticity – being real and being relevant • Focusing on long-term customer relationships • Customer-centric over product-centric • Servicing being of utmost importance Sources: Accenture, Technology Vision 2017 “Technology for People” Michael Haupt, The future of Marketing and Advertising
- 12. 12 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. 5 Keys to Turn Your Data into Powerful, Individual Connections: People-Based | Full Data Density | AI-Driven | Real-Time | Connected Experiences
- 13. 13 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. People-Based Key #1
- 14. 14 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Being people-based means knowing your customers individually.
- 15. 15 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. A company that is people-based will aim only relevant and tailored messages to their individual customers.
- 16. 16 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Contextual & Behavior Based Understanding of the Individual Lily Customer DNA in Real-Time Know Your Customer Faster with Advanced Identity Resolution Go Beyond Segments and Audiences to Target Real Individuals PEOPLE- BASED
- 17. 17 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Full Data Density Key #2
- 18. 18 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. The fuller the data density, the richer the relationship will be with each customer.
- 19. 19 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Your customers will be delighted that your company understands them, and that creates a real opportunity to deepen the customer relationship.
- 20. 20 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Deliver Precise & Accurate Targeting and Engagement More Than 1000 Metrics Used to Paint an Always Up-to-Date Picture of the Individual Customer Easily Manage Ever Growing Amounts of Data Types and Sources Centralize ALL Customer Data From ALL Sources into a Single View of the Individual FULL DATA DENSITY
- 21. 21 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Everything Known About a Customer Transformed from 0’s & 1’s back into a contextual and actionable understanding of the individual
- 22. 22 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. AI-Driven Key #3
- 23. 23 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. You can respond from within your digital channels with the illusion of a personalized relationship. • The intelligence should be applied directly to your customer data • Feedback from every experience should be fed back into the customer profile
- 24. 24 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Becoming Smarter Over Time With Each Interaction Smarts NOT Rules Automate Marketing Initiatives Without the Need for Human Intervention The Power of Machine Learning to Analyze Billions of Customer Interactions in Real-Time AI- DRIVEN
- 25. 25 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Real-Time Key #4
- 26. 26 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. You’re instantly ready to respond to and anticipate your customer’s next step. It guarantees you’re ready to continue the dialogue with context and relevancy.
- 27. 27 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Anticipate Your Customers Next Step with Real-Time Predictive Insights Lily Customer DNA Continuously Updated in Real-Time Respond to Customer Needs at Precisely the Right Time Analyze ALL Data in Real-Time REAL TIME
- 28. 28 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Connected Experiences Key #5
- 29. 29 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. The empowered customer expects value in exchange for their customer data. So, it’s up to you to deliver a truly connected experience – one brand - to the customer.
- 30. 30 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. A connected, seamless, one-brand experience
- 31. 31 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Lily USP Maintain a Cohesive Brand Experience Across Channels Deliver Your Message With Personalized Video Target the Individual on Their Preferred Devices Deliver a Connected Experience Across ALL Channels, Both Online & Offline CONNECTED EXPERIENCES
- 32. 32 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Lily Enterprise: Humanizing the Digital CX People-Based Lily Enterprise drives personalized customer experiences by building a complete view of each customer – called Customer DNA. AI-Driven Lily Enterprise becomes smarter over time with every new customer interaction. With machine learning, Lily understands the context behind customer behavior to anticipate their next move. Connected Experiences Persistence to connect with your customers across any channel, on the optimal channel, both in the digital and physical world, delivering a seamless and continuous customer experience. Full Density With roughly 1000 metrics, Lily Enterprise gives meaning to behavioral and factual data from all data sources, across users online and offline journey, in real-time and throughout time. Real-Time Every customer interaction is tracked in real-time, creating an always current Customer DNA profile with immediate insights and actions towards predicting customer behavior.
- 33. 33 Copyright 2017NGDATA ®, Inc. Thank you. Any questions? NGDATA helps data-rich companies drive connected experiences. Our Next Generation Customer Data Platform, Lily Enterprise™, puts people at the heart of your business. Lily’s Customer DNA continuously learns from behavior to deliver compelling experiences. cindyv@NGDATA.com | www.NGDATA.com
Editor's Notes
- #2 Hi everyone, and thank you for joining me today during this webinar on Humanizing the Digital Customer Experience. This is the first of 4 in a series of webinars about the Age of the Customer: Making the Shift From “Business 2 Consumer” (B2C) to “Consumer 2 Business” (C2B).
- #3 So let’s start with the title of the Webinar Series : “The Age of the Customer”? When we say we’re in the Age of the Customer, it means today the Customer is in the driver’s seat. The power in the relationship has shifted away from the organization to the customer. Nowadays, thanks to the internet and social media customers are networked and connected, and their influence is continuously increasing. For example: Customers leave “reviews” and “rate” their customer experience via the internet. Reading up on reviews and ratings has become a critical part of a consumer buying process. Social media allows customers to “like” brands, “share” or “tweet” about their experience. A “bad customer experience” can quickly go viral on social media and can cause an organization a lot of damage. Look at United Airlines. Customers’ expectations have never been higher. They want exceptional customer experiences: Relevant offers and consistent messaging High quality customer service – first time right and ASAP The ability to jump channels and devices to complete their customer journey Their needs anticipated and their expectations exceeded
- #4 What has enabled the Age of the Customer? The Age of the Customer has been enabled by 1) Technology Evolutions: The Internet, Social Media, Mobile phones, and so on. 2) and, the rise of Technology Giants, companies that have built their value proposition around the customer, companies like Apple, NetFlix, Facebook, Google, and Amazon. These companies have each in their own way delivered a customer experience that went beyond what we customers previously thought possible. But by doing that, they have drastically raised customers’ expectations. And customers have come to expect a similar great customer experience from all the organizations they interact with. It’s a fascinating topic. And I could keep going. But we’ve recently published some material on the topic of “Customer-Centricity” (eBook, Webinar, etc.) and I’d rather refer you to it.
- #5 A book has been written on “The Age of the Customer” (It’s by Jim Blasingame, the American small business expert). I thought it relevant to share my thoughts on what he says on the topic. In the book, he argues that you can’t attract customers in 2017 the way you did in the 90’ies, because something fundamental has shifted: A business is no longer in control of all the information. Thanks to the omni-presence of modern technology, that power has shifted to the customer. He breaks down the relationship in 3 main components: 1. The product (owned and controlled by the company) 2. The product information (traditionally product brochures, current day customer product reviews) 3. The buying decision (owned and controlled by the customer) According to Blasingame, it’s the ownership of the second one, the product information, that has transferred in the Age of the Customer – because of modern technology. As a company, the best you can hope for today is to co-own that information with your customer, because an increasingly large share of product information is now in effect “User Generated Content”. The implication for an organization, is the need to provide their product information in an as contextually relevant, engaging and tailored manner. So that they maximize their chances of being heard in the buying process. And of course to provide a customer experience their customers rave about!
- #6 I’d like to go one step further than Blasingame. Today, we’re on a path towards even that first component, your “product” being co-owned (or even co-created) with your customers, as opposed to controlled solely by your company. The skills of “customer listening, assessment, and response” are being built into the way companies are organizing themselves to continuously innovate. The availability of real-time data, and movements like the global Lean UX movement and continuous development methodologies make this possible. In an environment of uncertainty and constant changes, continuous product innovation with your customers is the way to go. You and I, the customers, we humans, are not only gaining more power influencing the consumer buying process, the driving force for businesses to become customer-centric or risk being disrupted. We, you and I, us consumers, are increasingly driving Technology changes and hereby influencing the products itself. Let’s delve into that a bit further.
- #7 According to Brett King, a renowned futurist, major disruptions have taken place in the last 250 years as a result of technology: first was the “machine age”, then “atomic and space age”, recently we witnessed the disruptions of the the “digital age”, with the rise of the computer, electronics and later the internet, And today, we’re at the dawn of the “augmented age”: this technology disruption will be all about you and I, and how we live our lives! In the Augmented Age, successful businesses will be the ones who figure out how technology can augment and enhance our skills to achieve our life goals. For businesses, this will mean they will need to listen more closely to customers, to connect with them on their own terms and partner with them. So, we’re starting to see a similar evolution in Technology as we’ve discussed previously in Customer Experience: It’s no longer people who are adapting to Technology – rather, it is Technology adapting to us: making it intuitive and user-friendly. We’re seeing the technology experience being personalized, and technology anticipating our needs.
- #8 How is that happening? Well, if there is one Technology trend playing out at the moment, it is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Every object around us is being “cognify-ed,” becoming smart. Just like in the last 100 years every object became “powered” with electricity (the light bulb, the lawn mower, the washing machine), nowadays everything is becoming powered with AI and connected to the internet (smart watches, smart glasses, smart fridges, smart washing machines, and so fort). Technology is humanizing, it is being tailored to individual people. Technology is adapting to humans.
- #9 And that’s what’s required of the Digital CX too: Humanizing. Why? A digital customer experience is in essence an exchange of data for goods and services. Customers are in general comfortable to share their personal data, that is, if they consider the exchange “fair value”. Regulation (like GDPR and PDS-2 in Europe) is evolving towards more individual control of personal data and required customer consent. As a result, customers will ask themselves more and more the following question: “What’s the experience I want from this company, for me to trust them with my personal data?” So, why would we trust one brand more than another? Because with them, we feel respected and we feel valued. Forrester, in their research around the Customer Experience Index, have proven that making customers feel Valued and Respected (So no, not just “satisfied”) is the number one emotion that counts towards trust, loyalty and advocacy.
- #10 As a customer, what does it mean to feel respected in a Digital Customer Experience? Let me give a few examples: It is respecting my stated and unstated preferences It is respecting when is, and when is not a good moment to contact me It is respecting when not to recommend things (for example because I just bought them) It is respecting my privacy by respecting my data And as a customer, when do we feel valued in a Digital Customer Experience? It is… When we are being remembered (our name, our preferences, our history,..) When our time is not being wasted (there is no double-data-entry, I am not asked for irrelevant information or information I have already given you before), When the experience is convenient When we can complete a transaction via our channel of choice – all the way till the end! When we are recommended something else we might need or like, before we even thought of it. As you can see, that’s very similar to what would make you feel respected and valued in a Customer Experience in the real world. But of course, in a store or a branch there you have a Sales person, or a Customer Service Representative who – if they are good at what they do – will go that extra mile to make sure your experience is tailored exactly to you and your needs.
- #11 We’ve all discussed the Millennial generation at length. I thought it was time to look beyond the Millennial horizon towards the generation that comes after them. Dr Noreena Hertz, she is an English academic and economist, and an expert on the subject. She has named them “Generation K”. Why K? You guessed it, K for Katniss Everdeen from “The Hunger Games”. Who are Generation K? They were born between 1995 and 2002. Three distinct forces have shaped Generation K: 1. Technology: Gen K is “permanently on, super-connected, super-digitally-social”. They are the first smartphone generation. 2. The global economic downturn: They grew up during the global financial crisis, in an environment of job insecurity and rising inequality 3. Terrorism: In a world with a growing sense of existential threat (which if they haven’t experienced terrorism in person, they have 24/7 on their smartphones). Surprisingly, despite their constant texting, Instagramming, Tumblering, Snapchatting, video gaming, and almost surgical attachment to their smartphones (and I have a daughter of roughly that age, believe me, it all rings true!). So despite - or perhaps because of it - this generation is profoundly lonely and craves connection. Why is this relevant to us in this webinar? What Gen K (or tomorrow’s consumers) want is for brands to provide a human connection, to be authentic. Even in the online world, Generation K wants to deal with ‘human’ companies; And whilst I’ve used Gen K as the example, this trend applies to society as a whole, the world is going there rapidly.
- #12 What is a “human company” ? The major characteristic of a Human Company is “Authenticity”. Human Companies make a “true people-focus” core to who they are and what makes them successful. Companies have long looked for customer relationships where every interaction with a customer resulted in an immediate sale. That was their ideal. To get to the next sales as soon as possible. But these relationships are only as strong as the customer’s need for products and services. Human Companies on the other hand will focus on long term relationships, on partnerships with their customers. That is more powerful and more enduring. To become a true partner, companies will need to shift their thinking, and replace the immediate sales goals of the past with the goals that customers have for themselves. Human Companies will take a “servicing” perspective: servicing will precede selling; and making an offer will move the prospect closer to their goal, their desired outcome, whether they buy during that interaction or not. That is game-changing: the more goals a company helps people achieve, the stronger the partnership. So, when the customer wants to reach a new goal, they will come to the company first to help them reach that goal. And when customers succeed, so does the company. That’s why authenticity is key for a human company, faking customer-centricity for the sake of profit will not be enough.
- #13 I hope by now it is clear to you why I am so passionate about humanizing the digital customer experience, and how it will set your company up to be successful in the future. Let’s now turn our focus to how you will get there, what the necessary ingredients are to start your journey. Today, I would like to talk to you about the 5 keys required to humanizing your Digital Customer Experience by turning your customer data into powerful, individual connections. They are: People-Based Full Data Density AI-Driven Real-Time, and Connected Experiences For the next 10 to 15 minutes, we’ll delve into each key, focus on building a shared understanding of the concept, Outline the benefits to a brand that holds the key, as well as what happens if you don’t and of course, most importantly, how your customers will feel its effect. Let’s get started!
- #14 (KEY 1 – People-Based) The first key is being “people-based”.
- #15 What does that mean? People-based is often used in the phrase “people-based marketing”. In that context, it means 1:1, personalized marketing. So being people-based means ‘knowing your customers’ individually. Slightly more technically, it means having a central profile for each customer’s data, and having the ability to recognize your customer or anonymous visitor across channels and devices. What’s the benefit of being people-based to you? When you are people-based, you’re able to reach real people, dialogue with them 1:1. Perhaps again slightly more technically, but think of it as being able to market and advertise with the precision of your CRM-system. What happens if you are not people-based? If you don’t hold the key to be people-based, you’ll reach segments, or “inferred audiences”. In a time where attention is the most scarce resource, you don’t want to “spam” potential customers with generic messages based on inferred audiences or segments. That would not be seen as respecting your customer.
- #16 What’s in it for your customers? A company that is people-based, will only aim relevant and tailored messages to me. As a customer, I’ll feel respected (my time is not wasted), and I will feel valued for receiving proactive communication that is tailored and relevant to me. Let’s illustrate with a few examples. We’ve all been through these scenarios: Being people-based is - First a Hospitality Example: Receiving a special offer for a B&B in Tuscany when I am exploring the region online, instead of being offered summer holidays to Mexico, because that’s trendy for my socio-demographic segment. - And in Financial Services: Receiving a targeted offer to consolidate my debt based on my spending behavior, instead of receiving a random credit cards offers (because that’s the campaign the bank is currently running) - In Media: A media company that is not people-based will make me watch commercials for “diapers” during the break of my favorite show, because that’s their best fit given my age and gender. What a waste of media spend considering I don’t have kids in diapers!
- #17 Just briefly, how do we make it work at NGDATA? NGDATA’s flagship product Lily Enterprise is fully people-based. All customer data about an individual will be stored on a single customer profile, which we call “the Customer DNA”. This unique customer DNA will be updated in real-time with all the contextual and behavior-based information available about the customer, to enable our clients to reach real people.
- #18 (KEY 2 – Full Data Density) The second key to humanizing the digital customer experience is “Full Data Density,” and what does that mean? It means that as much data as possible about the individual customer should be centralized from across all data sources (shall I say data silos), resulting in a complete and atomic profile of the individual person.
- #19 Why does it matter? Being people-based means you can target customers individually, but the volume of data (=the data density) is what will ultimately increase the accuracy and the relevance in targeting and engagement. The fuller the data-density, the richer/the fuller the relationship with your customer, the more you’ll know them as a whole person. What happens if there is not sufficient data density? It will mean that you won’t be able to refer to/take into account certain ‘aspects of your customer’s life/personality’ during your engagement with them. That might make your engagements less relevant, less effective, more … awkward, more shallow, ... less personal, or shall I say - less human?
- #20 An example: Let’s use a merchant-funded offer example. In this scenario, I’ve enrolled in the NY marathon this morning, I’ve just been actively tweeting about it. And I’m having lunch with some girlfriends in a shopping mall. In the first example, our bank’s “data density” is limited to : Transaction data, CRM Data, and Web Interaction data about their customers. Chances are, that I will receive fairly generic merchant-based offers. Imagine if this same brand expands its data density, and also starts using location-based data and social media feeds (like Twitter). What if I received merchant-funded offers from my bank with a discount to athletic gear stores in the mall, right here, right now? Chances are I will be delighted! It’s a real opportunity to deepen the customer relationship and drive advocacy. Help me accomplish my goals, and help the bank and the merchants as well.
- #21 Again briefly, how do we make it work at NGDATA? Lily Enterprise’s Customer DNA contains more than 1000 dynamic attributes or metrics used to paint an always up-to-date picture of the individual customer. We centralize all customer data from all sources into a Single Complete view of the individual.
- #22 Now you might think of potential challenges you face at your organization: The first one being: you don’t have that many data sources. In that case I recommend you to start nimble. Use the data sources you have to get started to personalize your messaging and start demonstrating value. But make sure you look for a solution that allows you to expand data sources easily in the future. We hear this concern a lot from clients, but in general they are surprised at what they can achieve when they bring data from different silos together. The second potential challenge you may think of: the volume of data you have is quite overwhelming, where best to start? In that case I recommend building a roadmap, and in parallel also starting nimble. Make sure you are working with a solution partner who can help you guide in building the roadmap to maximize your ROI on investment. So to re-cap, The first 2 keys are the foundation: You need a central customer profile to store all data about every individual customer You need to “feed” that customer profile with sufficient data It’s the foundation. Without those two keys, you won’t be able to humanize your digital CX. But, that’s just data.
- #23 (KEY 3 – AI-Driven) The third key is “AI-Driven”. What does it mean? It means applying the smarts onto your customer data to sense and make sense of the data, to turn the customer data into customer insight. To ensure you understand what your customer wants and needs in that specific context.
- #24 Why is that important to you? Humanizing your digital customer experience is really “creating the illusion of a personalized relationship, without the need for human intervention or decision-making”. And AI is what helps you get there. So you will need the immediate understanding of your customer’s context, based on their behavior, to be able to respond to them from within your digital channels, any channels. Two things are important: Firstly, the intelligence should be applied directly to your customer data, as opposed to stored in a separate decision engine. Why is that important? We are only at the dawn of the “smart era”. The closer the smarts are to the customer data, the easier to operationalize as your data sources and smarts continue to grow. That’s sustainable AI versus rules-based complexity. Secondly, Feedback from every customer interaction should be fed back into the customer profile. You need a Closed-feedback loop to continuously learn from every interaction, to become constantly smarter about your customers, their needs and their behavior. Let’s do an example. Back to my New York marathon enrollment. A retailer I’ve bought casual clothes from in the past might have picked up on my twitter tweets as well. Although I’ve never bought any sports clothes from this brand, an AI-driven brand will have some very specific, targeted recommendations for the best tank top, cap and leggings. The model, size and color scheme will be optimized based on my own transaction history but also take into account what other customers like me have bought. My response to the company’s offer will be fed back to optimize the future customer experience.
- #25 Now let’s look at it from NGDATA’s perspective: The more than 1000 metrics that make up NGDATA’s Customer DNA are the output of individual formulas, scoring and machine learning models. Those models and scores analyze billions of customer interactions. They are calculated for each individual customer, and stored and enhanced over time. This is how NGDATA’s clients’ digital customer experience is becoming smarter with every customer interaction. That is how NGDATA powers automated customer experiences without the need for human intervention.
- #26 (KEY 4 – Real-Time) Real-Time is the fourth key. And again, a very critical element in humanizing the customer experience. Real-Time means that with every interaction, all smart metrics in the Customer Profile are updated, re-calculated and re-scored.
- #27 Why does it matter? It’s important because it means you are instantly ready to respond to and anticipate your customer’s next step. It guarantees you’re ready to continue the dialogue with your customer with context and relevancy. What happens without? Well, there would be a pause prior to your response to your customer. < …> That’s awkward. That’s not human at all. Alternatively, there is no pauze. But your response in the dialogue with your customer would ignore the last exchange. That is not how humans dialogue either. Let’s turn to an example, it happened to me just the other day: I’ve just bought myself a nice handbag online. I’m excited, but I’ve also just spent a considerable amount of money on that handbag. As I continue to browse the internet, I’m being shown advertising for the exact same handbag on various other sites. What are the chances I’m going to buy exactly the same handbag? 0.0%. Clearly my last purchase has not been taken into account yet. That makes my brand dialogue awkward, and not exactly human.
- #28 One of the unique features of NGDATA’s Lily Enterprise, is its ability to build Customer DNA in an automated and real time manner. The Customer DNA contains scores and models that are derived from the collected data and that are calculated at the time of data collection (so not in batch mode).
- #29 (KEY 5 – Connected Experiences) The last of our 5 keys today is “connected experiences”. I explained before how people-based and full data density are the foundation keys. Real-time and AI-driven then build on them. And connected experiences is what ties everything together to humanize the digital customer experience: it’s where the rubber hits the road, where the customer gets to experience the benefit of the 5 keys. What do we mean with connected experiences? It’s the ability to connect with your customer on their multi-device, multi-channel journey, in the digital and physical world and provide a seamless and continuous experience. That requires connecting the smart customer profile to all your channels – digital and physical.
- #30 Why does it matter to you? As I’ve mentioned earlier, The empowered customer expects value in exchange for their customer data. That value is experiencing your brand as a “Truly connected experiences”. Delivering on that promise is up to you! I’d like to share my favorite quote from Forrester here: “Empowered customers are shaping business strategy. Simply put, customers expect consistent and high-value in-person and digital experiences. They don’t care if building these experiences is hard or requires a complex, multifunction approach from across your business. They want immediate value and will go elsewhere if you can’t provide it.” I guess that makes it clear what will happen if you don’t live up to that promise too. This will still require you to think through your customer personas and their potential customer journeys. However, the first 4 keys are pre-requisites to achieving truly connected experiences.
- #31 It’s about when… You’re able to seamlessly confirm and personalize an offer for a credit card you’ve seen online with a call center agent, and complete your application online in one go. Receiving the text message confirming the new card is on its way to your home address. It’s about when… As a platinum customer with a hotel brand, your check-in at one of their hotels in a new location is not limited to “Thank you for being a platinum customer, which newspaper would you like?”, but rather “your gym towel is in your room, the wifi code has been enabled for your devices, your favorite Pinot Noir will be brought up to the room, and we have an opening for a massage between 8pm and 9.30pm, shall I book you in? That accuracy and relevance, the fact that this brand knows what I like would take my customer experience to a whole other level, and might turn me into an active advocate.
- #32 Let’s briefly apply this to NGDATA: NGDATA’s Lily Enterprise will assist you in delivering a connected experience across all channels, both online and offline. It’s not just about understanding your customer, but also delivering your message in a really effective way. The Lily Enterprise product has a smart video capability, Lily SmartVideo. Video is a natural, human, rich and non-threatening medium to consume content. It’s also the most powerful and fastest-growing medium to deliver your message. Automatically generated from Lily’s Customer DNA, each SmartVideo is entirely unique and highly targeted to the individual customer. It offers dynamic storylines and incorporates personalized data like name, preferences, products, and location. We believe it’s a great way for companies to connect even more intimately with their customers and humanize their digital customer experience. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, you should definitely look out for our next webinar in this series, which will be entirely on the topic of Smart Video.
- #33 Now, let’s bring it all together. “people-based” and “high data density” are the fundamental keys to build a complete view of each individual customer. “real-time” and “AI-driven” are what’s required to interpret the context behind customer behavior to be ready and anticipate their every next move. “connected experiences” is how you connect with your customers across any channel to deliver a seamless and continuous customer experience. These 5 keys to humanizing the digital customer experience are the fundamentals of Lily Enterprise.
- #34 Thank you very much for attending. Are there any questions? How does the “Humanizing the CX” relate to both an inbound and outbound marketing perspective? Marketing is currently undergoing an evolution: from planned, static, mass-marketing campaigns to agile, real-time people-based marketing. From an outbound perspective, “trigger-based” campaigns are great at humanizing the CX, as they will target an individual customer at the exact right time: exactly when the required conditions for this campaign are met by this customer. That instantly creates an illusion of personalized services. An example would be sending your customer a personalized video via text message when they’ve dropped out an online sales process for a complex financial services product. Or to re-engage with your customer when their activity level has started dropping. From an inbound perspective, “real-time request response campaigns” are what is needed. When a customer comes to your brand, that’s a golden opportunity. At that very moment, the more personalized, relevant, context-specific your response is to your customer, in other words, the more targeted your message, the higher the ROI you’ll measure. A simple example would be tailored web-bannering. Can you expand upon the realization that AI is a crucial piece to marketing now? Sure. The days that marketing was more art than science are over. Marketers have understood there is a lot to be gained from using customer-data to achieve their objectives. With the number of connected devices and the volume of data exploding, using artificial intelligence in marketing makes really good sense. AI allows marketers to use the data they have to measure in real time, learn more about the customer and anticipate what happens next, and to keep on improving at it. A simple example is using predictive analytics models and machine learning to provide tailored recommendations (like netflix). But that’s just the beginning! It’s going to be an exciting time for marketers who embrace it! Are you seeing any trends towards a new movement beyond the “Age of the Customer” coming up in the near future? Oh, that’s a good question. No, not really, or rather, not yet. What I do see coming up is that change in the relationship between customers and companies I’ve talked about. The shift from “transaction-based customer-centricity” to true human companies that make their customers’ goals their own. I think we still have a long way to go before we’re there. So perhaps we should call that “The age of the customer partnership” or so? How long would it take an organization to make the complete shift in becoming customer-focused/customer-centric? That’s a difficult one. The answer is “it depends”. It will depend on the company’s current ways: how big is the shift to make? It will depend on the company’s agility: how fast can change be adopted throughout the company? Or is the culture one of resilience to change? How good is the leadership at leading change? But most of all it will depend on the people: are all employees, from the CEO down able and willing to galvanize behind a passion for customers. Once a company is clear on data-driven customer-centricity, at NGDATA, we will work with them on Roadmap Planning: how to best get there, via our Business Transformation Services.