As we hunker down practicing safe social distancing, doing our part to flatten the curve and hopefully slow the spread of coronavirus, there is speculation that the pandemic will eventually give rise to a new economy once schools and businesses re-open and we return to a semblance of normalcy.
To be sure, everyone’s health and safety takes priority, and the main concern is for those directly impacted or with a family member or loved one who has contracted or is recovering from the virus. Beyond the massive impact on health and healthcare, societal ramifications are already being felt far and wide. Retail, restaurants, sports, and the travel and entertainment industries are among the most visibly affected, but this unprecedented challenge weighs heavily across industry for any business or enterprise that interacts with consumers.
Prepare for a Shifting Landscape
These organizations will face a new reality when we emerge into a new economy where consumers are likely to carry over new habits while accelerating digital and omnichannel engagement. Companies will have to adjust to this new reality by finding new ways to connect and engage with customers.
Retailers for one will likely see a significant change in physical store configuration. There is already evidence of an uptick in curbside pick-up, with some prominent retailers limiting transactions to only buy online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS). In the healthcare industry, telemedicine will more rapidly emerge driving digital engagement to new heights as the influence of in-person education and marketing events wane.
One result of consumers changing how they interact with businesses will be the need to completely and concisely understand and measure the value of every customer interaction. It will be incumbent on brands to intermediate each interaction and seize the opportunity to take control of engagements and strengthen their relationships with customers in real-time ubiquitously across the enterprise and at an individual and granular level.
Top Down Transformation and a Customer-Centric Approach
Chief marketing officers and digital transformation leaders have faced pressure for some time now to use an influx of customer data to generate growth, with marketing increasingly viewed as a mission-critical organization responsible for driving new revenue. The current crisis will likely hasten the progress of this trend; as consumers alter behaviors, marketing will have to take the lead in devising innovative customer engagement strategies that reflect the new way consumers will live, shop, work, and interact.
A customer-centric approach is defined by individual engagements with highly personalized moments of interaction, as well as real-time and event-driven engagements that are unbound by channel. Industry research show that best practices in customer centricity can yield greater than 20 percent increases in response rates. Using the Redpoint platform, our clients have achieved triple-digit increases in revenue and at the same time more than 40 percent reductions in customer touches thereby reducing interaction costs and customer fatigue.
In the new reality, there will be an increased urgency to deploy capabilities that enable brands to connect with customers across all digital channels delivering meaningful, relevant engagements in context and in real-time for each unique customer journey. Real-time decisioning breathes life into highly personalized moments of interaction, ensuring that a brand is consistently in step with a customer throughout the complete customer lifecycle – spanning multiple channels and multiple events over time.
Brands that achieve being relevant to each individual do so by demonstrating a deep understanding of the person at each interaction. This capability is the foundation of perfecting superior customer experience delivery.
Relevant Personalization Starts with Data
A superior, personalized, and highly relevant customer experience is only made possible with data that provides the right setting – specifically, having a single customer view that tells a company everything there is to know about a customer. The Redpoint Golden Record is exactly that because it includes data from every source every type and every contact. This holistic view combines behavioral and transactional data with everything known about the customer across an anonymous to known environment; it infuses every customer interaction with context, the key for data-driven marketers to deliver relevance in real time – as the customer is engaging with the brand, and coordinate consistent messaging across a customer’s entire digital and physical journeys.
Everyone is understandably looking forward to putting this uncertain time behind us and returning to work or school. Even a simple in-store visit would feel great right about now. These may be simple hopes, but similar to the adage about staying healthy, we don’t recognize how important they are until they’re taken away.
In the coming weeks and months, we will begin to return to what passes for the new normal. As always, companies will strive to connect with customers. But if, as expected, customers alter how they engage and interact with a brand, it makes sense to prepare for that world now. Redpoint can help.
