By Louise Burgers, Retailing Africa Editor. Artificial intelligence tools will make a profound impression on personalisation, moving marketers ever closer to their customers. The impact plus influence of individualised content delivery is what personalised marketing is all about.
While AI is going mainstream and everything AI is suddenly all anyone is talking about, it is important to not lose sight of the marketing values that matter in reaching customers and generating leads. AI is another tool to be integrated into marketing strategy – where it is relevant to increase personalisation, streamline process and save on the bottom line.
For over a decade, CMO Council has been probing personalisation. In these reports, free to download from CMO Council, marketing personalisation is researched in detail:
Data-Driven Decisioning Powers CX Forward – Marketers aiming for ideal customer experience face data silos and AI skills hurdles as they work to develop an ideal CX that meets customer expectations for resonant and relevant experiences with their favourite brands. Ideal CX is about tailoring a message to a customer in a way that moves the customer down the funnel and toward a transaction. Data analytics and AI are essential for creating richer CX. Yet nearly seven out of 10 marketing leaders are still developing or defining their CX strategy, while a sobering 40% believe it will take well over a year to deliver ideal CX. This study by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, in collaboration with Deloitte Digital, takes a close look at what’s involved in achieving ideal CX and AI to better understand where the challenges lie in both technology and talent; and what steps organizations should take to overcome them. Our findings are based on two surveys of over 300 marketing leaders across a wide range of industries. DOWNLOAD the report.
Humanize + Optimize The Way You Recognize Every Customer + Contact – Using frictionless biometrics across all channels of engagement, improving digital customer experience (DCX) is now a crucial business issue for brands. Consumers flocked to digital channels at the start of the pandemic. Too often, they encounter experiences that don’t satisfy, causing many to abandon transactions and take their business elsewhere. More than 80% of consumers prefer doing business with companies that make authentication both simple and safe. This study explores the critical need to simplify and unify identity verification in today’s digital economy. Learn why executives believe identity has become a top digital experience issue within their companies and what they are doing to address the challenge. DOWNLOAD the report.
The High-Velocity Data Marketer – Meeting disruption with insights at speed is how CMOs have entered a new era of high-velocity data marketing to spot sudden disruptions in market and customer behaviour. We’re talking about the speed of acquiring real-time, relevant data signals. Speed of generating data insights. Speed of closing the gap between data and insights, insights and action. Yet two-thirds of marketing leaders are only moderately confident (or worse) in their data, analytics and insights systems. This means a big opportunity lies ahead for CMOs who have the wherewithal to climb the high-velocity data marketing maturity curve. This study by CMO Council, in partnership with GfK, takes a close look at high-velocity data marketing capabilities and how to achieve them. DOWNLOAD the report
Cracking Tomorrow’s CX Code – Real-time customer intelligence for exceptional experience is what CX strategy is all about. It’s no secret that the last few years have upended the way customers want to interact with companies. Digital engagement has led to higher customer expectations, bigger demands and about a million more choices if one brand doesn’t deliver. Privacy laws and changes by tech companies have marketers scrambling to get the data they need to meet customer expectations. The CMO Council study found that more than 60% of marketing leaders say the digital customer journey has dramatically changed their CX strategy. Worse, nearly two-thirds aren’t very confident in their CX strategy’s ability to win and retain customers in this new environment. The challenge is to orchestrate a great customer experience that hits all the right notes, from digital self-service to meaningful personality to privacy and trust to seamless omnichannel, including a “hybrid” blend of physical and digital experiences. The CMO Council and SAS embarked on an extensive study to understand where CX gaps and opportunities lie. We looked at CX from various perspectives and compared mature CX capabilities between top and bottom performers. DOWNLOAD the report.
The Power of Personalization – The impact plus influence of individualised content delivery is what personalized marketing is all about. While the need for quantifiable tools for gauging effectiveness and ROI Exist, marketers are lagging in their adoption due to the lack of accurate and reliable customer data sources. These are two of the top findings from the ‘Power of Personalization’ research. This paper delivers guidance on the application of customer analytics, database profiling, personalised web content and collateral, and individualised communications, with actionable insights that will help marketers improve their efforts in the area of personalisation communications. Become a CMO Council member to DOWNLOAD this report
This article was first published by CMO Council, to which Retailing Africa is a media partner.
Louise Burgers is the Publisher, Editor and Co-Founder of RetailingAfrica.com. She has spent over 20 years writing about the FMCG retailing, marketing, media and advertising industry in South Africa and on the African continent. She also lectures post-grad students in Marketing and Advertising Communications at the Red & Yellow Creative School of Business; and works with the global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council in the Africa region on editorial strategy. Specialising in local and Africa consumer trends, Louise is a passionate Afro-optimist who believes it is Africa’s time to rise again and that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will be a global gamechanger this decade.
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