Customer experience management (CXM) is currently the holy grail of marketing.
The comprehensive vision of CXM is the dawn of a new marketing era, turning customers into brand ambassadors. An often heard saying in this context is: „Nobody wants to be marketed to, but everyone wants to be engaged.“
Customer Experience Management wants to enable brands to create a positive customer experience at each and every touchpoint.
Consequently thought to the end, full Customer Experience Management would even mean to dissolve marketing departments as we know them today.
Ahead of the DMEXCO 2019, I had the chance to participate in a privileged networking event hosted by Adobe. The company is an industry leader. With their Experience Cloud, Adobe is one of the CXM key players, turning big companies like Unilever into experience companies.
In this article, I‘d like to share my insights from this evening. Especially the highlights of the Adobe study „Across the Ages“ and what the findings mean for CXM.
Key findings of the study „Across the Ages“
Trust is becoming increasingly important for marketing. In times of fake news and a loss of confidence in media and politics, brand success depends more and more on customer trust.
Against this background, the study interviewed over 1,200 german consumers of the age groups Gen Z, Millenials, Gen X, and Baby Boomer.
The results confirm what many already had as a gut feeling. The younger the group, the higher is the willingness to give access to their data.
62% of the age group Gen Z would trade their data for better customer experience. This figure is decreasing along with the aging groups, to the lowest among baby boomers with only 42%.
The openness to interaction with companies via social media is also more pronounced the younger the group.
However, the most common feature within the groups is that 90% of respondents have concerns that their data is not being handled correctly. And that, although Europe with the GDPR has perhaps one of the strictest regulations worldwide.
Apropos GDPR: Only 1 in 5 think politicians will act to protect their personal data.
The bottom line is that German consumers have little trust in brands ([…], media and politics).
Trust is the basis for CXM success
The lack of trust is a severe conflict for marketers aiming to turn customers into brand ambassadors.
I wrote about the meaning of data and AI for personalized marketing and CXM. However, taking into account the results of the study, companies must first take a step back in their CXM roadmap.
Without a wealth of data, no Customer Experience Management. But without trust, no data.
Brands and marketing companies are aware of the importance of trust and this even reflects reflects in DMEXCO‘s motto this year (Trust in you).
But how can trust be gained?
Today modern marketers aim to create great customer experiences. Data is essential for that. However, getting consumer data without being trusted as a brand might be tough. And it will get worse in the future.
If there is one thing the study shows crystal clear, then it is that there is a lack of trust.
Basically, there is only one way to gain trust. And that is transparency.
In terms of data usage, this means to explain directly and completely how data is used. And in terms of a brand itself, it is up to the leaders, to relate to the world around. Social Media is a good place. More and more CEOs reach out directly, sometimes with very personal insights.
However, there is a fine line between gaining trust and losing it. One data breach or even one bad tweet can completely wipe out the work of years.
Looking at big brands today, it is very obvious that there is yet a lot of potentials. From the many Facebook data breaches to Dieselgate we nearly daily see examples for loss of trust.
My personal takeaway is the following: Trust is very important and should not be forgotten on CXM roadmaps. However, for me it is also clear, that trust is not the only criteria for brand success.
Otherwise, Facebook and Volkswagen, as an example, would be in a very bad shape today. They are not, Volkswagen US sales even strongly increased this year. If you still have great products (the best cars, biggest platform), customers seem to be very forgiving.
I see that in myself.
Header Image Source: Pixabay, Pixabay License
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