So Omobono along with Marketing Week have done a survey of 1,100 marketers worldwide and found that 75% of respondents state that customer experience is of increasing importance in their organisation. In fact 49% state deepening customer relationships is their biggest priority making it second only to increasing brand awareness (58% in organisations of £500m+, making it the biggest priority in larger companies).
But with Sales, Customer Services, Operations, IT… all having a role in customer touchpoints it is rare that marketers feel that they have sufficient control of the Customer Experience.
While it may be true that in most organisations Marketing cannot own the whole customer end to end experience this should be seen as the great opportunity for Marketers rather than a threat.
Marketing should be the people in the organisation who really understand their consumers. I am not talking about the sort of ‘understanding’ that we get from the reams of quantitative data that is available to us. This is equally available to everyone else and we can trade interpretations of these numbers and theories of how to influence them with our colleagues until we are blue in the face.
I am talking about demonstrating a real understanding of thewhy behind the numbers. An in-depth understanding of the consumers’ emotional journey through your communications, sales processes, product experience. Instead of trading stats and numbers with your colleagues demonstrate a true understanding of how that makes the consumer feel and why they behave in the way that they do.
Whoever really understands the consumer can provide the leadership throughout the organisation to provide the best end to end customer journeys. Remember the best journeys do not just get you from A to B, they are the ones in which you enjoy the travelling.
Data tells you many of the way points along the route. Whereas good quality emotionally based qualitative research helps you to understand how to make the journey more enjoyable and ensure that it is one that your consumers wish to keep repeating.
