Just when we’ve got past the coronavirus pandemic, we’re now faced with further global disrupters in the form of the cost of living crisis, fuel shortages, political unrest, and war.
Are we staring down the barrel of a lengthy recession? How should brands respond to this economic downturn? Should they be battening down the hatches, or continuing with their growth strategy?
The pandemic accelerated many organisations into digital transformation, a movement that helped bring brands closer to their customers. As a result, consumers are now used to – and almost expect – a truly personalised experience.
In fact, research shows that 80% of consumers will keep shopping with a brand that offers a quality customer experience, whilst another 80% will also spend more money with a brand that delivers a standout experience. In addition, 87% of consumers will recommend a brand when they feel appreciated and understood.
So, how is it possible for marketers to deliver such hyper-personalised engagement? By using customer data to inform decisions and create a data strategy framework.
How to deliver hyper-personalised engagement
The three most important things brands need to have in place to deliver hyper-personalised engagement are:
- A unified view of their customer data
- A robust marketing data strategy
- The ability to unlock real time insights around customer behaviour
Recent research by McKinsey has revealed that organisations that harness customer insights outperform their competitors by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin.
The importance of customer data platforms
Let’s touch upon point one – a unified view of your customer data. Without this, it would be impossible to achieve the other two elements and further actionable insights. In fact, this first step forms a vital building block to gain a single source of truth.
So, where should you start? Many CMOs are now investing in cutting edge technologies such as customer data platforms (CDPs). These platforms ingest and manage vast amounts of data from an array of systems and sources including data from CRMs and DMPs.
They provide a holistic view of customer behavioural patterns and trends, which enables marketers to take immediate action and make informed decisions. Quick iterations to an online presence and cross-channel marketing can drive more upsell and, therefore, growth opportunities.
They can also:
- Drive retention due predicting customer needs better
- Predict and mitigate churn by offering incentives/discounts before it occurs
- Help forecast and plan accurately by defining customer lifetime value
- Reflect the latest privacy and data protection preferences (GDPR)
Investing in growth during an economic downturn
You might think that products or services launched during a recession would be most likely to fail. In fact, many brands might think the safest course of action would be to delay or entirely drop a launch altogether – but evidence proves the contrary is true.
Besides the fact that brands will often have fewer new goods to compete with, products launched during a recession have both higher long-term survival chances and higher sales revenues.
In summary, it is key to still invest into your marketing strategy especially during an economic downturn because these periods often present opportunities and can separate the wheat from the chaff.
It is not a time to slow down, or temporarily halt on your campaigns because your competitors won’t. Don’t get left behind: if you don’t engage and nurture your valued customer relationships, someone else might!
Considering investing in a CDP?
Investing in a platform like a CDP means that you can form not only a better understanding of your customer – and therefore tailor engagement based on their behaviour – but you can be assured that your marketing spend is based on informed decisions. As such, you can ensure that future growth is still achieved.
Here at Edit, we are a data and technology consulting agency that help our clients to optimise their customer connections by supercharging first-party data in an ethical and privacy first way.
If you’d like to hear more about this subject, are keen to find out more about how we can help you to make the most out of your data, or would like to arrange a completely free consultation, please get in touch today.
