I can see the future, and it’s right in front of me. I attended the IBM Insights conference in Las Vegas and listened to speakers talk about the Internet of Things, predictive analytics, cognitive marketing, and much more. I saw a robot, powered by Watson, come out and have a somewhat natural conversation with an IBM executive. All this translates to a better customer experience.
In the past I’ve written about how customer service is the new marketing. It really is. Create a better experience, at all touch points, and you give the customer a better experience. Customers come back, spend more, and tell their colleagues and friends. And, the customer experience includes the buying process as well. As a matter of fact, if done well, the customer won’t even realize they are being serviced at this level.
The content that was shared at the IBM conference is all about the customer. Using data and analytics, we will not only give the customer a better experience, but we will also learn more about the customer, ultimately giving us an opportunity to form a better relationship that could potentially lead to loyalty. When you can sell your customers what they want, when they want it, and for all of the right reasons, they will appreciate you more and reward you with more business.
Handel's Ice Cream – Image © Shep Hyken
For an overly simplified example, let’s say that I like ice cream. I like it enough to occasionally share a picture on Instagram and Facebook. I’ve even tweeted about ice cream. By the way, the picture of the ice cream above is from a little birthday party my family threw for me on my last birthday. Eight flavors of delicious Handel’s ice cream!
Based on my social habit of posting my affinity for ice cream as well as the post on my birthday, some savvy ice cream marketer should be able to pick up that I’m a fan of ice cream, the date of my birthday, and possibly even my favorite flavor. That means that I might receive a special offer for some ice cream, just before my birthday, customized just for me. This isn’t random. It’s extremely intentional.
Let’s take this to the next level. Let’s not make it about me, the individual, but about the general public. This same savvy marketer, who works for the ice cream company has a way to track when people socialize their ice cream habits. Let’s say that the trend shows that the most posts about ice cream happen toward the end of the week. The marketer also notices there is a correlation to the outside temperature and the amount of tweets. The hotter the weather, the more tweets about ice cream.
Where am I going with all of this? If customers aren’t thinking about ice cream on Mondays and Tuesdays or when it’s cold outside, why would we bother them with promotions early in the week or in the middle of winter – unless it’s my birthday? The promotion at the wrong time becomes an invasion, versus a “just in time” promotion to get customers excited when ice cream is more likely to be on their mind. In other words, customize the marketing and promotional experience. It’s an important part of the customer experience.
By the way, the ice cream example was shared from the main stage at the IBM Insight conference. Executives from The Weather Company and Twitter shared similar examples that I’ve just taken poetic license with. Please note, The Weather Company looked at more than just the temperature. They incorporated humidity and other weather patterns, combined with social media posts, to help determine the best time to market and promote ice cream.
Marketers are starting to create more customized promotions based on data. It starts with Big Data, understanding the bigger trends. That lets the marketer know general customer preferences. Then the data shifts to the individual, allowing the marketer to know specifics about an individual customer’s preferences. I call this Little Data. I’ve covered this recently in an article about the SAP hybris CRM technology, which tracks the customer’s very specific buying behaviors.
Data comes from everywhere; customers’ behaviors, economic trends, weather forecasts, and much more. There is a lot of it, and much of it might not be useful. However, the smart companies know which data is important and useful enough to positively impact the customer, which ultimately positively impacts the bottom line.
Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and New York Times bestselling author. Find more information at www.Hyken.com.
