Customer First Thinking

Frans Riemersma, founder of the Martech Tribe and co-producer of the State of Martech Report, dives into the radical transformation of the marketing technology landscape. He reveals how AI is reshaping marketing operations and making automation tools more user-friendly. Riemersma emphasizes the importance of integrating technology with customer needs and the rise of adaptable systems. The conversation also covers the critical collaboration between marketing and IT, while looking ahead to the future of experience-led marketing driven by AI.

Chris O’Hara, Global Product Marketing Lead at SAP Data and Analytics and author of 'Data Driven', shares his expertise on customer data management. He discusses the critical need for businesses to unify customer data in a world driven by AI and personalization. O'Hara highlights the evolution from traditional systems to modern data strategies, emphasizing the importance of first-party data. He also delves into the challenges of the ad tech ecosystem and the future potential of AI in enhancing customer interactions and decision-making processes.

Personalization at scale has long been a dream of marketers. But until recently it has been more superficial than helpful, constrained by legacy technology and processes. Today, however, AI makes it easier to do than ever before. Now the only thing holding marketers back, according to personalization expert Mark Abraham, is their campaign mindset. 

Select excerpts from interviews with some of marketing’s most prominent thought leaders on the state of marketing and the need for transformational change.

B2B companies tend to be laggards when it comes to delivering a superior customer experience, focused more on selling than servicing. But as a result of digital disruption, they have finally begun to embrace the need for a better post-sale journey, according to Jim Tincher, a leading expert in B2B experience design.

The market research industry is facing an existential crisis. Brand marketers have lost faith in old school methods of research – too slow, cumbersome and costly, in their view. To regain the trust of marketers, the consumer insights industry has to modernize their practices and start delivering insights that make more of a strategic impact, says Brett Townsend, a leading market research authority.

Buyer Personas have become a standard part of the marketing toolkit for creating customer empathy. But where they can go wrong is failing to reveal why customers make the decisions they do, according to persona design authority Jim Kraus.  

These days it can be risky for brands to take a stand on social issues or promote inclusiveness. But if marketers are able to honestly depict the diversity of society in their brand communications, their message has a far greater chance of being heard, according to cultural theorist Anastasia Karklina Gabriel.

Companies still tend to over-invest  in the acquisition of new customers while paying scant attention to relationships with existing customers. The solution to correcting that imbalance, argues value creation expert Allison Hartsoe, is knowing the collective lifetime value of all customers, known as customer equity. 

CX quality has declined in recent years as companies struggle to keep up with the expectations of customers. But the main reason, according to renowned CX expert Jon Picoult, is that they settle for mediocrity when they should be aspiring to make the experience more distinctive and memorable.