Looking to give customers what they want? Double down on data

The marketing world is in the midst of a renaissance. Customer’s expectations have shifted to the point where they want more than just your typical products and services. Even the brands people know and love aren’t hitting the mark. What customers really want, especially now as we emerge from the pandemic, are experiences.

But which experiences, and when? The truth is that providing an exceptional customer experience (CX) has become table stakes for today’s companies. Gone are the days where an attentive salesclerk, a beautiful brick and mortar location, or a convenient app and website is enough to stand out against the competition.

If you really want to position your company front and center, you have to provide experiences that are hyper-relevant, personalized and continually evolving around the customer. To do that, companies need to shift their mindset so that they can become a business of experience. Only then can they provide experiences that not only cater to people’s individual needs but also transform the customer and employee experience more generally.

Sounds easy, right? Not necessarily. To truly capture opportunities and attract customers, start by improving digital maturity through new data activation, measurement and reporting strategies. With the right data, you can deliver relevant experiences that captivate consumers and also lead to conversions.

The challenge? Data is hard to tame. Often, it’s sourced across multiple streams or hosted on multiple platforms. If I can only impart one piece of wisdom, it would be that achieving the necessary level of data sophistication can’t be done across disparate platforms. To get the most out of your data, host it in a single space. That’s where Salesforce comes in.

Experiences run on Salesforce

Salesforce can help your company embrace a data-driven marketing approach that will help it stand out. That’s because the platform unlocks new insights that strengthen a brand’s creative communications.

With Salesforce, companies are finding ways to turn the customer experience into a growth engine for the organization. In doing so, these companies are championing cultural change that make them more “human-centric.” How? By delivering the right message to the right consumer at the right time.

To my mind, Salesforce acts as a catalyst to exceptional customer experiences. The platform enables your company to optimize and even reinvent its operating models. What’s more, it allows you to personalize and contextualize your channels to create seamless experiences that are scalable.

Why does this matter? Well, let’s level-set for a second. It’s no surprise that customers are more likely to respond to an experience that’s both personalized and hyper-relevant, right? However, to create these seamless experiences, you need the right kind of high-quality data. This is becoming increasingly difficult to source.

For instance, Google Chrome will be disabling cookies in 2022. Following suit, iOS is limiting “social” targeting and Apple’s identifier for advertisers is becoming an “opt-in” feature. The proverbial pool of data is shrinking.

By leveraging our resources at Accenture, we’re able to use Salesforce as a digital core to build experiences from the ground up. In doing so, we can help your company unlock and prove the value of data using analytics and insight-led reporting. This will help put you on the path to becoming a truly data-driven marketing organization.

It’s more than a tool; it’s a mindset

While Salesforce is certainly a cutting-edge innovation, it’s no silver bullet. As we know, implementing technology for the sake of technology itself is, well, not a successful strategy. That’s why companies need to know how to integrate the platform into their organization’s DNA so that they fully realize its potential.

So, what does that look like in action? Here are five key insights you should know ahead of time if you’re looking to become a data-driven organization:

1. Every experience starts with the customer. Data-driven organizations understand that their ultimate purpose is to fulfill fundamental human needs. In fact, less than 35% of consumer goods CMOs say they have a single integrated view of the customer.

2. Stronger data builds a stronger experience: Data is the core of next-generation customer engagement. Tools such as AI, machine learning, alongside access to robust first- and third-party data is a key differentiator. More than half (55%) of companies say that improving their data analysis is very important for consumer experience.

3. Better insights power better experiences: It’s not hyperbole to say analytics enable nearly everything. From clustering to segmentation to optimization to propensity, strong analytics allow organizations to improve engagement with customers across the board. And yet, the top three skills gaps that marketers often cite are data science, analytics and user experience.

4. Seamless delivery creates seamless experiences: No matter where a company’s customers are — no matter how they want to interact — connected channels enable personalized, real-time and seamless experiences. More than three in four (77%) of CEOs agree that their company plans on fundamentally changing the way it engages and interacts with customers.

5. Every customer experience becomes a human experience: As we’ve mentioned, personal, journey-based engagement across channels is key to drive a differentiated customer experience. So how many companies feel like they’re providing a seamless customer experience? 80% of brands think they deliver a superior customer experience but only 8% of their customers agree. That’s a huge gap of companies hanging in the balance when it comes to providing customers with what they want.

Make data your north star

For today’s renaissance marketer, the remit is clear: If you want to attract and retain customers, you’ll need to create experiences that exceed expectations. Being data driven is paving the way for companies to source the data needed to make every experience personalized, hyper-relevant and, ultimately, a reality.

The time is now to go beyond the traditional thinking that the “customer is always right.” Instead, consider the idea that the customer is always ready — for new products, services and experiences. The question is, are you ready to provide them?

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