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How the adoption of new data-driven, omnichannel marketing models can improve CX.  By Duncan Steels & Romain Fontaine from Spiceworks.com • Reposted: March 15, 2023

After more than two years of pandemic-induced rapid change and uncertainty, the dust seems to be settling and marketers are left with a “new normal” that looks like more uncertainty and change. Duncan Steels, vice president of customer transformation at Capgemini Invent, and Romain Fontaine, manager of customer transformation at frog,  share why marketers need to build a more data-driven and omnichannel strategy to meet CX needs of customers today. 

Consumers who raised their standards for customer experience during the pandemic seem to be raising them even higher now, and many companies are playing catch-up. In 2022, rankings fell for 19% of the brands in Forrester’s CX IndexOpens a new window , and Forrester noted that overall CX quality is “reversing gains made in 2021.” 

The message should be clear: Consumers are moving forward faster than ever. Organizations, therefore, must let go of the marketing operating models that worked before the digital transformation to meet their needs now and in the sure-to-be-different future. Instead, companies need to adopt capabilities for a new data-driven, omnichannel, collaborative, and agile model. What does an organization need to do this?

See More: It’s Time to Re-Imagine Marketing Operations

A Plan For Organizational Transformation

Data-driven and real-time marketing strategies require fresh ways of thinking about customer relationships, new technologies for collecting and analyzing data, updated skills for leveraging those analyses. In addition to that, willingness to break down departmental silos to create a more agile, customer-centric organization. As CMOs are still responsible for brand building, they’re also increasingly accountable for technology to analyze and leverage data and insights and for business strategy aligned with brand purpose. Let’s examine the key elements required to enable this transformation and support CMOs in their expanding role. 

Data And Insights 

In a recent survey of marketing leaders, only 38% said they had customer segment and persona dataOpens a new window  to work with. Because creative decisions, from product development to messaging, now hinge on data insights, data forms the foundation of the new marketing operating strategy. When collaborative, cross-disciplinary teams have the same 360-degree view of their customer, it’s easier for the group to develop a comprehensive, consistent customer experience across all touchpoints. 

Organizations need to collect, standardize, and unify their data for analysis and insights to have the resources they need for effective decision-making. This requires a consistent data collection framework that eliminates silos and makes data available to all stakeholders across the organization. 

Online-offline integration

With data-driven insights, organizations can develop content for online and offline touchpoints to speak to customer needs in those moments and spaces. This creates a more consistent experience across all channels, whether the customer engages with the brand on social media, in a physical store, or on a website. 

An effective data collection framework ensures that data from and about customer engagements at all online and offline touchpoints flows into the organization’s customer data platform. That platform then performs analysis that keeps personas and individual customer profiles current. With a continuous stream of new omnichannel data complementing historical data, the platform’s AI can eventually learn which next steps to suggest at each stage of the customer journey, ensuring the right content appears at the right time for every customer. 

New Communications And Media Strategy

As the number of channels and touchpoints proliferates and the marketing function becomes more customer-centric, marketers need an updated strategy for engagement that leverages data insights and omnichannel capabilities. For example, continuously updated customer profiles allow for quick changes to messaging as customer behavior and sentiment evolve. 

Communication now also requires continuous two-way engagement with customers, up to and including the co-creation of products. Loyal customers and influencers may create brand-related content that businesses are learning to leverage as part of their overall communication strategy. By building communities around the brand, specific products, or consumer tribes (or targeted personas), organizations can amplify or invest in the reach of this user-generated content which further blurs the line between Earned and Paid media. For example, when a customer mentions a company on social media, the marketing team should be ready to engage and build on it. Wendy’s added more than 1 million new Twitter followers after their response to a customer’s question about free food. Ocean Spray seized the opportunity to connect with younger consumers after being included in a viral TikTok that became a popular trend. 

Omnichannel Experience 

Organizations must unify all customer touchpoints under their single, cross-disciplinary marketing team to support customer experience enhancement. For example, a team member responsible for the direct-to-consumer (D2C) channel might bring in D2C customer feedback that can improve CX in the organization’s social commerce and retail channels. At the same time, feedback from in-store shoppers about, say, the fit of a brand’s popular sweater or pair of jeans can help refine the buying experience for social, e-commerce, and D2C shoppers. 

See More: 4 Components You Need In Order to Master Digital Marketing Operations

Change Management And Agile Team Development

To keep up with the accelerated pace of digital transformation, customer expectations, and the skills that employees need, organizations must have an agile culture—including cross-disciplinary agile pods with the collective skills to pivot to high-ROI, CX-enhancing activities as they emerge and evolve. Organizations also need well-designed change management processes and practices to serve them now and over the long term. Ideally, these agility mindset and change management resources will help the organization adapt to changing expectations and technologies as they emerge instead of reacting. 

CMOs also need to ensure their teams have the necessary blend of data, communication, product, and service skills to implement the new marketing operating model—and to work in new ways. The new marketing team must be made up of agile pods of cross-functional talents who can identify high-ROI initiatives and shift priorities quickly, adapt to the ever-changing consumer and competitor landscape, and test and learn to increase speed to market and support continuous improvement of products and activations. A 2021 CMO surveyOpens a new window  found that just 44% of marketing leaders said their organization had the data science or AI skills they needed. Closing that gap and committing to this new way of working might require more proactive recruiting, more internal skills development, or both. 

Like the other capabilities we’ve covered, effective change management for today’s marketing landscape requires collaboration to draw in information from all team members about what’s happening in their channel or area of expertise. And while some team members may be enthusiastic about contributing across channels and departments, it can be harder for others to adapt to a less linear, hierarchical way of working. Change management must include a strong, visible commitment from leadership, speak to the entire organization, and welcome feedback on changes to be effective. 

Putting It All Together: New Functions For The CMO

The CMO is responsible for implementing these capabilities, making a data-driven mindset, agile philosophy, and customer-centric attitude key skills for CMOs to cultivate. So is the ability to listen effectively to questions and feedback from leadership, team members, and customers. 

Adding or enhancing the marketing operating capabilities we’ve covered here may seem daunting. However, there’s real value in making those improvements from a marketing KPI standpoint and an agile mindset/change management perspective. By taking these steps now, marketing leaders can build the capacity to keep up with the pace of change and meet customers’ needs as they keep evolving. 

Do you think adoption of new marketing models can improve CX? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedIn Opens a new window . We’d love to hear from you! 

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