Customer Experiences

Remember those little black books store associates used to keep—and how closely they guarded them? They knew first-hand the value of greeting customers by name, understanding their preferences, having insight into past purchases, etc. Essentially, providing personalized journeys, in person. Of course, it would be impossible to scale the little black book model across thousands…

2019 has been a year of tremendous challenges as well as opportunities for the retail industry. On one hand, there are still questions about the future of physical stores. Barneys and Lord & Taylor—both venerable New York institutions—closed some of their highest profile locations, including flagship stores. On the other hand, we are in the…

“That’s stupid,” my VP of marketing said when, back in 2009, I mentioned the term “customer decision journey,” which I’d just read in a McKinsey article. The VP was known for having strong opinions and he didn’t hold back on this one. He agreed with the spirit of the term but didn’t think it would…

Customer-centricity Is The New “It” Term, But… Customer experience optimization is a frequently stated goal of modern customer-centric organizations. You hear about it across industries: leaders of marketing, technology, product, and operations functions (to name just a few) often consider it as one of their main KPIs. However, is there an agreement about the definition…

Consumer expectations have dramatically shifted in the past few years. Consumers now expect every experience they have with a brand to be tailored and personalized.

When I began working in CRM and analytics, brands segmented audiences in a highly rigid, top-down way. For example, to attract high-value customers (HVCs), they targeted consumers based on a single demographic attribute—for example, a high-income zip codes. Two decades into my career, I still see many brands approach customer data segmentation this way.  …

Consumers are drowning in totally irrelevant marketing messages. Ironically, this makes them even more eager to hear messages from brands that can cut through the noise and guide them to the products and offers that are truly relevant. “Customers are constantly telling brands what motivates them and what turns them off– from the purchases they…

Marketers are often focused on acquiring new customers, and rightly so. That is critical to growing a brand. However, they only begin to deliver long-term value when they are able to ensure repeat business with that customer. And in the digital age, securing that all-important second purchase is no mean feat. “When consumers have so…

In today’s data-driven marketing department it is easy to get sucked into a complete focus on the customer’s next move. Marketers can find themselves chasing a sale, a e-book download, a click — trying to elicit that next action that signals marketing success. But what happens when marketers lose focus on the larger vision while they…

Consumers’ expectations have changed. Blame it on Amazon or the ever-present smartphone, but customers expect immediate results, personalized marketing, instant delivery and authentic connections with brands all at once, delivered to the palm of their hands. This is the new digital divide, the expectations of customers whether they are on mobile, email or in-store contrasted…