Why CX Is Important For Marketing

Developments in digital technology, the connectivity of society, and evolving consumer trends have all impacted the marketing industry. As a result, customers are seeking personalised experiences.

Perfecting the ability to understand the customer through personalisation has long been a focus of marketers. Gone are the days of ‘one size fits all’ when it was enough to rely on price differentiation or product features alone. Now, customers want a positive and rewarding experience during their purchase.

In the Master of Marketing program, students are quick to learn importance of reviewing the customer journey and identify touchpoints to increase the value offered.

What Is CX?

Customer experience, referred to as ‘CX’, describes the many interactions a customer has with your organisation, the goal of which is to ensure that the experience offered to your audience is positive, memorable and aligned with the brand’s image.

It’s also a key differentiator for companies to set themselves apart from their competitors. Yes, product quality, features and price are still important, but more so now is customer service.

According to the findings from ‘The Path To 2020: Marketers Seize The Customer Experience’, a report by Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Marketo, by 2020, it is expected CMOs will match this understanding with direct action that drives engagement.

Is CX the key to innovative success?
Due to the fact that audiences are becoming resistant to mass media promotions, we need to formulate innovative marketing strategies that focus more on brand loyalty, preference and advocacy. This starts with a positive journey within an organisation, which it turn equates to more engagement and increased word-of-mouth .

There are two main reasons why CX is such a powerful driver for business success:

• Promotional ‘above-the-line’ advertising is becoming less effective in reaching an audience, and
• People are connected to some form of device almost every hour of the day, which means that they make decisions based on opinions of those in their social network

Opinions matter.
Every consumer has a voice and thanks to technology and increased expectations, it’s commonplace for them to leave testimonials ad ratings about their experiences online. Their opinions do matter, and the impact they have on the rest of your audience is significant.

• 68% of consumers use social networking sites to read product reviews (Vocus)
• 72% of consumers trust online reviews equally as much as personal recommendations (Search Engine Land)
• 90% of consumers’ buying decisions are influenced by positive online reviews (Dimensional Research).

Personalised experiences create value for customers.

With automation, content, AI and CRM software at our fingertips, it’s easier than ever to engage with our audiences and drive results. Effective CX strategies leverage these technologies alongside external channels; such as social media and mobile web and apps, to create highly targeted and personalised customer experiences.

The sum of these tactics can help acquire and retain customers, increase brand loyalty, convert customers to advocates and extend their overall customer lifetime value to increase revenue.

Mapping the customer journey.

But giving customers what they want isn’t just about delivering tailored content, products and services. To better understand your audience, first it’s important to understand their pains and gains by completing frameworks to gain a deeper understanding of their journey. This unique perspective is attained only after completing a consumer profile or customer journey map.

To track their overall experience, it’s important to break down each phase of the journey, whether that’s consideration, evaluation, purchase, consumption or review,

Then and only then can we identify touchpoints to increase added value.

Knowing your audience has never been more important. Understanding the customer is one step towards creating a strategy that goes beyond the scope of customer channels and instead considers a more comprehensive approach of each interaction.

Alyce Brierley
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School