Marketers Plan Customer Experience Makeover

Consumers won’t accept anything besides a good customer experience from start to finish, and marketers continue to cater to such demands. In a January 2015 study by Econsultancy in association with Adobe, client-side marketers worldwide ranked the customer experience as the single most exciting opportunity in 2015, at 22%.

Personalization is the name of the game this year, and respondents were most likely to improve the customer experience by making it as personalized and relevant as possible, cited by 33%. Beyond tailored efforts, marketers wanted to add value. Nearly three in 10 planned to focus primarily on making the customer experience as valuable as possible. Despite emphasis on data collection and cross-channel marketing, just 12% of respondents were focused on making the customer experience as consistent as possible across channels. Safety, fun, speed and mobile efforts were even less important.

In order to execute these efforts, companies need to beef up customer experience teams. In a November 2014 study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by Marketo, 27% of marketing execs worldwide said customer experience and engagement was a leading area where their companies needed to develop skills.

Businesses may beef up skills in different departments than are currently responsible, too. Respondents expected shifts over the next few years in which groups were responsible for the customer experience. While marketing and sales were neck and neck at the time of polling, at 37% and 32%, respectively, the percentage of execs who expected marketing to take on responsibility for the customer experience in three to five years rose to 51%, while sales dropped to 18%. Client-facing customer support was expected to see a slight drop in responsibility, while a few thought product management would take on more of the effort.

As marketers focus on responding to consumers’ demands for a better customer experience, they’ll have to look at the entire picture—from improving value and personalization to ramping up skill sets in the appropriate departments.

Courtesy of eMarketer