Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Why digital marketers can't simulate human interactions

Human, personalised digital interactions are really hard

The Scaling Human Interaction in Customer Experiences study from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (sponsored by ON24) uncovered several new insights into the trade-offs between automated marketing tactics and human-driven marketing engagement.

The results were clear: the majority of marketers agree that taking a more personalized approach gives their business a competitive edge, but most digital technologies today only allow for generic, superficial interactions.

"As digital marketing gets more automated, impersonal and potentially artificial, marketers need to ensure that their current and future customers are being treated as more than just names in a database," says Joe Hyland, CMO, ON24. "This report gives every marketer a business imperative for 2019: find the balance between human engagement and your ability to scale. Then, invest in those digital experiences that offer a unique balance, giving just as much focus on high-quality interactions as high-quantity results."

The study, which featured nearly 300 respondents representing a range of industries, found that:

• Personalization matters
  80% of marketers agreed that the human element in a customer experience gives their organization a distinct competitive edge.
• But it's hard to scale
  Nearly 60% of marketers say it's difficult to replicate face-to-face experiences with customers by using digital technologies.
• Email and social media are popular, but where's the ROI?
  In the past two years, 72% say they have used email marketing, and 86% have used social media outreach - but 70% of respondents say their organizations are not using these tools effectively.
• Engagement pays off
  Nearly 50% of the organizations with the highest levels of customer loyalty say they are trying to maintain the same high level of customer experience across live and automated channels.

The survey examined the different channels marketers are investing in and which deliver the highest ROI on their bottom line. "It's actually quite ironic," noted Laura Ramos, Vice President and Senior Analyst, Forrester Research. "Our marketing technologies target people. But people often play a small role in designing what the systems deliver. Many executives believe they can just plug in the technology and it will magically improve business performance and customer engagement."

One opportunity for marketers to scale the impact of human-to-human interactions is through webinars. According to the marketing technology analyst firm SiriusDecisions, webinars are the highest-rated human touchpoint for buyers. This has led to a rise in webinar marketing with nearly 60% of marketers planning to increase investments in webinars.

"Marketers need to totally rethink engagement and make the audience experience their number one priority," says Hyland. "Interrupting prospective customers with unwanted spam and measuring results simply by clicks and views just creates more noise. Through interactive data-rich webinars and content, we believe marketers don't have to choose between what their audience wants and what their business needs. Creating online experiences that do both is how marketers will win."

The full study has been made available for free download (free registration required) from On24's web site: https://www.on24.com

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)