Help Your Organization Create More Human Connections in a Digital-First World
By Steve Tzikakis
A revolution in the future of customer experience and marketers is underway.
A survey of thousands of global consumers and marketers, released recently by Sitecore, revealed that 79% of U.S. marketers fundamentally changed their customer experience strategy in response to the pandemic.
Most report positive results; 81% of marketers said they feel “more connected with their customers,” and 77% said they made more progress on their technology stack in the past year than the prior three years. Unfortunately, such gains come at a cost; 72% said they relied on short-term fixes rather than permanent innovation, and over 75% said the first year of the pandemic was the most stressful year of their career.
Several important trends underlie these contrasting statistics. The first is the most obvious—Covid-19 accelerated the pace of digital transformation, as companies raced to assess and build around customer-relationship management (CRM) and employee resource planning (ERP) systems.
While the majority of teams adopting new marketing technology during the crisis could use these core platforms, CRM and ERP stacks only go so far in piecing together a basic understanding of the customer—let alone recommending next steps to the marketer on how to deliver content to offer a personalized experience.
As a result, what enterprises often need in a crisis, such as ways to protect topline revenue by expanding sales of existing products to current customers, becomes difficult as organizations struggle to create experiences compelling enough to punch through the noise and inspire action.
Data, Content, Commerce
Great experiences always start with content. Many of us intrinsically know this but do not always call it “content” as such—it’s just something we read or see that is inspiring, emotional, or a rallying cry.
The best digital content sparks a physical reaction—tickling the five senses to evoke a smell or a taste or goosebumps—to create an emotional response that defines subsequent experience. Organizations and brand marketers have long used experience to great effect, but often it gets lost when translated into digital strategy and formats.
It is worth getting right, however, because it’s what consumers actually want—especially after extended lockdowns and upheaval. Over 70% of Americans now view shopping as an experience. Most are planning to treat themselves to special purchases after the pandemic, and they expect brands to know their shopping history and to provide a consistent experience online and offline, catering to them as unique individuals. Eighty-three percent want brands to reward them for their loyalty, likely speaking to a desire not just for points but also for recognition.
Delivering on that vision in a digital-first world starts by knowing the customer (data), having the right story to tell (content), and generating a feeling to motivate action (commerce).
Marketers hoping to build their technology stack with this in mind face a challenging task. Despite waves of consolidation in the space, many chief marketing officers and chief information officers are often forced to piece it together across dozens of siloed solutions.
At its worst, what really matters—content, and the stories brands want to tell individual customers—gets obscured as executives try to get a handle on the basics.
A Content-to-Commerce Platform
Today, brands can replace a patchwork of vendors with one tool that integrates ERP and CRM systems into an artificial intelligence-driven, comprehensive content-to-commerce platform to help them create personalized digital experiences for their customers. And in a crisis, these digital experiences can mean everything.
At the onset of Covid-19, Sitecore customers including L’Oréal and Porsche went from primarily being brands consumers experienced in person or through intermediaries to being digital-first by necessity. Others, like Deloitte Digital and Johns Hopkins, were thrust into new public-health roles, ramping up content-led initiatives.
In each case, Sitecore helped these organizations power deeper personalization from content to commerce—and experience-led growth.
As enterprises plan investments with an eye toward modernizing operations and empowering teams after the crisis, having an integrated technology partner built for the future to deliver great experiences across every channel is critical. During the next crisis, it might just be the difference that ensures you deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time.
Learn more about how Sitecore can help your organization create more human connections in a digital-first world.
Steve Tzikakis (@Tzikakis) is the CEO of Sitecore and an experienced digital transformation technology leader.
Help Your Organization Create More Human Connections in a Digital-First World
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