Customer experience is a 5-year challenge

Marketers see customer experience as a primary focus according to a digital trends report. Although it’s been a talking point for some time, marketers predict the integration of mobile, data and content for heightened experience will be an aim for the next 5 years.

According to a joint report by Econsultancy and Adobe 22% of marketers agree that customer experience will be “the most exciting opportunity in 5 years time”, coming first among content marketing, mobile and personalisation.

Customer experience has been a focus for some time for marketers, 20% believed it to be an exciting opportunity in 2014 as well. Brands such as British Airway’s and Tesco are already starting to roll out plans to restructure for a customer centric strategy.

The report highlights that despite marketers’ optimism about a customer focused approach, not many were able to make this a reality in 2014.

Creating customer centricity is a complex process, which brings together various elements from mobile, content and data to create an enhanced experience for consumers, according to the report.

Strategy, culture and skills are selected by marketers as the 3 main building blocks needed to make customer centricity viable. This means creating a cohesive plan across the business, working across teams and combining digital marketing skills with analytics and technology, the report adds.

Despite these difficulties, 78% of marketers believe that customer experience is important for their brands to be distinct from others.

Personalisation and big data are a close second and third choice for marketers with 15% and 14% of them agreeing that they are likely to be an exciting opportunity in the future.

Digital integration still not a reality

The report also found that businesses are marrying together datasets, technological infrastructures and operations in order to provide the perfect experience for consumers. Forty-three per cent of marketers questioned in the survey believe that digital permeates most marketing programmes.

Digital integration is still not complete with only 14% of businesses stating that they are a digital-first organisation, and 14% agreeing that digital permeates all marketing programmes.

The report questioned 6,000 marketing professionals across Europe, North America and Asia.

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