Ever think about what happens in a digital minute? The numbers are mind-boggling—51,000 Apple store downloads, more than 4 million Facebook likes, and about 4,300 unique visitors to Amazon, just to name a few (source).
It makes sense then, that 90% of all the data in the history of the world was generated over the last two years alone.
Information has always been power, but never has there been so much information at our customers’ fingertips. By the same token—never has there been more information about our customers available to us as marketers and businesses. But with so many digital footprints being generated around us, how do we decipher the paths being created by our customers and use them to our advantage to lead a successful business?
The key lies in another trend that has surfaced as part of this digital transformation – the “Age of the Customer”. With this comes the need for a personalized customer experience. In fact, studies show that a better customer experience correlates with higher growth revenue in most industries (source).
Therefore, when it comes to navigating the myriad of digital footprints out there, it’s not only about observing what paths our customers take, but also about laying out customized paths, or "buyer journeys" for them to follow in their digital experience.
So, how can you redefine the customer experience in the digital world? Here are 8 tips for building a personalized digital path for your customers:
1. Start by understanding your buyer personas—what are their interests, needs, and “pain points”?
2. Be sure to observe and analyze your customers’ current digital footprints. What types of content are drawing them in? What web pages are they lingering on? Where are they exiting your site? What other digital platforms are they using to find and exchange information about your industry, solution or products?
3. Have a very clear picture of what your funnel looks like—clearly define the buyer stages, and digital paths you want specific targets to follow.
4. Explore options such as web-personalization and remarketing to build on-and off-property delivery of your “personalized” content/message.
5. Start small, think big. Use a phased approach so you can scale.
6. Define success – what does it look like qualitatively and quantitatively?
7. Test, measure and re-segment as necessary based on key metrics.
8. Accept that the customer journey is not linear – the only constant in the digital world will be change.
To sum it all up…customers hold the key. They will help you build blueprints to plan when and where to engage with them to drive your buyers through their unique digital journeys.
At EMC, our customers are at the heart of what we do, and in this “Age of the Customer” we know the best way to ensure business success is to be adaptive and evolve as our customers evolve. Help us redefine your experience in the digital world by sharing your story and joining our company-wide customer celebration.
Co-authored by:
Gina Kieslich, Consultant Marketing Program Manager, Solutions-Big Data @GKMarketer
Linna_Gao Associate Marketing Program Manager, Americas Field Marketing @_LinnaGao