Marketing and the Customer Experience

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Top Takeaways:

• Studies have shown that high-performing companies that enjoy consistent growth are those that focus on crafting experiences.
• Studies have also shown that there is a significant gap between the experience businesses believe they’re delivering and the one that their customers are actually receiving.
• Marketing is largely responsible for the creation and sustainment of experiences. Therefore, customer experience is the new marketing.
• Companies need to have a complete understanding of their customer journey so they can better contextualize their marketing and therefore their customer experience.
• There are five factors that go into creating context within the customer experience. All amazing experiences can be broken down into these five categories. They are as follows:
  • Available – An experience must be available to a customer on their own personal time.
  • Permissioned – Customers must ask for this experience of their own volition; companies should not force it on them through ads or unwanted emails.
  • Personal – An experience should not only be personalized, but personal in its delivery. Human-to-human delivery is best.
  • Authentic – Experiences must invoke empathy on the part of customers and employees, creating an emotional connection.
  • Purposeful – Ideally, experiences should go beyond a product and help customers achieve their greater goals.
• Context goes beyond basic personalization. Companies must ensure they are delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. In order to do that, they need to understand all decisions across the customer journey.
• Brands need to focus on delivering more human-to-human experiences interactions. This will create a better and more personal experience for the customer.
• As we move into the future, marketing will continue to become a part of everyone’s role, much in the same way that the customer experience is every employee’s responsibility.

Quotes:

“People must understand that the experience is a product.”

“The creative lens of marketing has to shift toward focusing on the concept of customer experience. Experience wins over everything else.”

“High-performing companies buy into the idea of experience and believe that marketing is the owner and sustainer of all experiences, not simply the creator of messages.”

About:

Mathew Sweezey is Director of Market Strategy for Salesforce. He is the author of Marketing Automation for Dummies and The Context Marketing Revolution: How to Motivate Buyers in the Age of Infinite Media.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

1. How can I create context within my marketing and experience?
2. How can I create happier and more loyal customers?
3. Does marketing affect my customer experience?
4. How can I set my company apart from my competition?
5. How can I create a better customer experience?