Re-imagining consumer engagement with Next Generation Technology

The consumer has changed. Today’s buyer is more informed, researches well and knows more than ever before. With a world of information available at the fingertips, 81 percent of retail shoppers today research products before buying them— even when buying from a local store.[1]

Buyers trust word of mouth and independent recommendations, making online reviews a strong influencer of buying decisions. A survey by the Spiegel Research Center of Northwestern University found that reviews can increase conversion by 270 percent.[2] Undeniably, the entire buying process has changed.

Technology is driving most of that change, putting consumers in control of buying decisions. The digital revolution has endowed the consumer with more information and more choice, as well as tools to navigate the multitude of options and make informed choices. The customer is demanding better engagement and personalized experiences, making it imperative for organizations to adopt a customer-centric approach to marketing. Technology providers thus have an obligation to help organizations achieve their technology vision for marketing and gain intelligent insights into today’s customer expectations, using next generation know-how and innovation.

A Deloitte Consumer Review study noted an increasing expectations gap as businesses struggle to keep pace with the new consumer.[3] At the same time, for the buyer too, decision making is more complex and protracted. Businesses thus have a fortuitous opportunity to engage with the customer across the numerous touchpoints along the buyer’s journey, building trust and brand loyalty. To adapt to the new buying cycle, organizations must undertake a complete transformation of the entire marketing discipline, leveraging new technology to enhance buyer experience. They will have to harness digital tools and media to forge strong connections and nurture long-term relationships.

Data is a key enabler in customer appraisal and engagement. Now, more than ever before, businesses can leverage data to better understand consumer behavior, and drive customized marketing initiatives. An abundance of data collected from diverse sources such as GPS, iBeacon, wearables, real-time online context, from interactions and social media insights is available to organizations today, but the volume also makes it challenging to mould and incorporate that into marketing activity. Organizations, therefore, need a well-designed data management strategy along with the right tools to mobilize available information. Dell offers a wide choice in robust, tested, end-to-end data solutions that can help organizations capture, organize, and analyze data from every source and activate it across every channel, in-turn igniting customer connections, and satisfying their needs, wants, and affinities.

The present-day marketing technology landscape is replete with platforms that can satisfy the data application needs of businesses. Business intelligence and business analytics help organizations to analyses data, measure customer value, and constantly improve Returns on Engagement (ROE). Companies can deploy data management platforms and customer data platforms to structure the voluminous data and glean customer insights. A study estimated that nearly half of Fortune 500 companies are already using a data management platform to manage their customer data.[4]

Personalized marketing at scale that caters to each individual buyer’s needs would have been impossible a few years ago. Today, businesses are using multichannel marketing to drive customized and targeted marketing campaigns at scale, using a combination of several distribution and promotional channels to engage the customer. This includes websites, mobile engagement, direct mails, push notifications, text messaging, chatbots, real-time interactions, content marketing and inbound. Omni-channel communication empowers retailers to give the customer a seamless, integrated shopping experience across devices.

From multimodal campaigns to real-time interactions, data and communication technologies drive nearly all marketing functions today. High performance data-driven solutions require scalable, efficient architectures at cost-effective price-points. There is range of choices on offer, from on-premise data storage to data warehouses and data pools, from in-house servers to edge, core and cloud computing. Technology companies like Dell are providing flexibility and end-to-end security in data storage solutions, GPU accelerated deep learning solutions, and related technologies such as IoT, high performance computing, and hybrid cloud.

The next generation of transformation in customer engagement is being heralded by the convergence of data and artificial intelligence. The retail industry has been using AI effectively in recommendation engines that boost sales and reduce churn, and for segmenting buyers on the basis of Recency, Frequency and Monetary values (RFM Analysis). AI can scrutinize more attributes from voluminous data than ever possible before, providing deeper consumer insights which can lead to engagement with a high degree of personalization. In the report titled, “Predicts 2019: Marketing Seeks a New Equilibrium,” Gartner analysts predict that machine intelligence stands to become a core functional element of nearly every category of marketing technology.[5]

With a host of tools and technologies at their disposal, businesses are advantageously positioned to capitalize on digital disruption and participate in 360° consumer engagement. Businesses will have to align their marketing with business goals, and shift emphasis from product to service. Organizations must embrace a data-driven approach to winning customers and building long-term relationships. Dell is ready and keen to partner with businesses to help them bring customers closer to the brand, inspire them to engage, and promote Customer Lifetime Value and business growth through customer loyalty.

[1]https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130712005396/en/GE-Capital-Retail-Bank%E2%80%99s-Annual-Shopper-Study

[2]https://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/_pdf/Spiegel_Online%20Review_eBook_Jun2017_FINAL.pdf

[3]https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consumer-business/deloitte-uk-consumer-review-digital-predictions-2014.pdf

[4]https://adexchanger.com/data-exchanges/dmp-adoption-rise-challenges-remain

[5]https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3893591/predicts-2019-marketing-seeks-a-new-equilibrium

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ET Edge Insights, its management, or its members

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