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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

2. Customer Journey combination of push and pull channels in play. Time-
based internal or external triggers can provoke a
It has long been known to marketers that the old AIDA campaign at any time, with communication increasingly
principle is no longer contemporary, or rather that the taking place in real-time.
communication process does not end with "action". On
the contrary, "action" is the beginning of a new process, For example, a shopping cart abandonment on the
namely the building of long-term brand loyalty, ideally website could trigger a multi-level campaign that
even of brand ambassadors. And this is exactly where reminds customers to complete their purchases. The
the customer journey plays a central role. complexity the event-based and cross-channel
customer interaction management brings along can
There are two aspects of the customer journey that only be overcome with the help of analysis and
require special attention on the part of the marketers: On automation tools. One of the many benefits of this is
the one hand, to understand customer interactions that the marketer does not have to spend time
across multiple touchpoints and channels, such as for maneuvering on non-integrated marketing processes,
instance the numerous visits to the website, before focusing entirely on marketing optimization.
finally a test drive is agreed. On the other hand, to
understand how customers go through the various The fact is that an excellent product alone is no longer
marketing segments over time, e.g. from a prospect to a enough today. Against the background of progressive
first-time buyer, and then on to a regular customer and digitization, companies are facing ever new challenges
ultimately a VIP customer. in shaping their customer relationships: business is
made between people - even in the digital age. But
Both require structured customer data that is made digitization is changing everything. As a result,
available for analysis purposes in an efficient and everything that drives companies away from their
privacy-compliant manner. Only through successful customers today, anything that slows them down,
customer journey management will there be progress catapults them out of the market, and that faster than
towards a complete understanding of complex channel you can imagine.
attribution models and a holistic view of customer
lifecycle marketing be given. Relevant for a customer’s decision are criteria such as
e.g. 'simple, transparent or accessible', which they
3. Automation apply not only to the selection of the product but also to
the entire dialogue with the company (on- and offline
processes). Hence, customer focus and centricity mean
If Marketing Automation used to be a nice tool in the thinking, guiding and implementing the customer. ◊
past, it has become a must-have for every successful
brand by today. The times when campaigns could be
planned six months in advance are for sure over. Today, By Daniela La Marca
customer journeys are driven by events, with mostly a

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