TGI Fridays

Sherif Mityas

Customer Experience has become a hot topic covering  every touch point and journey map to capture,  engage, and retain a Brand’s most important asset –  its customers! The issue is that every experience is  unique, personal, and specific to an individual. How  can Brands in today’s “always on and connected” world truly  direct the right customer experience that is not only relevant but  also personalized? 

The key is to integrate traditional Marketing “art” with the  “science” that Technology provides through enhanced machine  learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We can no longer  capture attention through traditional media alone. The transition  to mobile and extended media platforms has accelerated the  need for all Brands to extend their messaging and adapt to  today’s consumer. It is more critical than ever to create close  connections between an organization’s Marketing, Consumer  and Technology teams to support the ever-growing need for  personalization. 

How do Brands begin? What technologies will deliver  the right solution and, more importantly, the ROI to support  the added complexity and investment in the Marketing  stack? 

As a consumer-facing Brand, it is imperative  to answer three questions as it relates to any new  technology or innovation. First and Foremost: Is  it right for your Customers? Will it improve the  experience, create more/ better engagement and/  or drive enhanced loyalty for the Brand? Any  innovation must pass through this critical first set  Sherifof challenges. Secondly: Can you execute it? Do not just ask  if the technology is right, but how do we intend to use it, and  are we organizationally ready to fully leverage its capabilities.  Finally, ask yourself if you will be able to measure and project  a meaningful ROI. Everything must have a return, and you  must focus on the specific guest and financial metrics to  ensure you are implementing innovation that demonstrates  real value. The biggest learnings have always come back to  “listen to the consumer.” Always look at the technology and  innovation from their viewpoint. Additionally, ensuring  you have a robust testing process gives you the flexibility  to trial many platforms and partners. Quickly identify and  focus on only the few that are able to pass the three key  questions above. 

Once an organization begins embracing Customer  Experience as the foundation for marketing and operational  processes, it becomes important to stop thinking about  “channels.” Organizations need to think about their customer’s  “journey” before, during and after engaging with their  Brand. Customers don’t think about how or why something  should be different when they’re on Facebook, talking to  Alexa, or inside your store – they only care about how easy  and seamless the experience is at that point in their journey.  Taking an approach as the consumer vs. the marketer opens up  an entirely new way of thinking about actions that then need  to be created to ensure a more omnichannel experience. The  moment you think about segments based upon demographics,  age groups, geography, etc. is the moment you’ve lost the  individual consumer. Those that create unique experiences will  win; those that do not will see the gap between winners and  losers widen. 

The law of averages does not work in today’s marketing and  technology environment. Targeting “boomers” or “millennials”  is a recipe for disaster. Brands need to target Mary vs. Paul vs.  Susan to engage and drive customer loyalty. The only way to  accomplish this is to understand Mary, Paul, and Susan as unique  people. Capabilities that allow for stitching consumer data across  touch points and create individual customer view sexist today.  This is a critical first step to personalization – any budget spent on  marketing without understanding your customers will result in an  inefficient ROI. 

As technology-enabled and customer interactions grow,  questions inevitably arise regarding the quality and standards  of those interactions. Will consumers relate to and enjoy  talking to intelligent machines? The answer actually has  nothing to do with the technology itself – it’s ensuring that  all interactions, regardless of origin, are authentic to your  Brand voice. 

The AI engines you can now employ are actually more  “personal” than any past interactions. AI technology now allows  you to interact with Susan differently than Mary even though  they happen to “fit” in the same segment you’ve used in the past.  Additionally, the progression of “emotional AI” is now being  utilized in customer contact centers. This will only accelerate  and permeate Marketing as the technology continues to advance. 

At the end of the day, consumers want to be heard, they  want to be understood, and they want frictionless engagement.  Make it easy, make it personal and relevant, and they will  reward that with their dollars. Whether those needs are fulfilled  by a human and/or machine will become less relevant. The  value for Brands is in the ability to deliver personalization  and authenticity in an effective and efficient fashion  at scale.