RealtimeExperiencesLoyaltyThe competitive pressure has never been higher and at the same time customers are becoming increasingly demanding, which is why marketers should score with real-time customer experiences.

Inflation and labor shortages face increasingly demanding customers who have learned what’s possible in terms of customer experience during the pandemic. While the end of third-party cookies has been postponed, marketers need to act now and strategize for the post-cookie era because personalized, seamless omnichannel experiences are essential.

This no longer only applies to the B2C sector, but also to B2B companies: Consistent, personalized customer experiences across all channels – in real time – are the new benchmark. CMOs in particular are required to steer corporate communication from product to customer orientation, and this implicates a decisive change in their role. Marketing is increasingly changing from a cost factor to a sales driver, so in the future marketers will be at the table when the big decisions are made.

In the following, I would like to show how customer data platforms (CDP) take the customer experience to the next level and turn consumers into loyal customers.

Seamless customer experiences require centralized data management

The classic linear customer journey no longer exists, instead consumers switch back and forth between websites, online shops and social media channels. In addition to telephone calls and emails, direct contact with a brand increasingly also includes direct messages on Facebook, Instagram and alike, which means that data is distributed in silos throughout the company.

Customer data platforms (CDP) condense the information collected at all touchpoints into consistent customer profiles. This includes both private and business, internal and external as well as known and pseudonymized data. In addition, there is no strict separation between B2C and B2B. CDPs can also generate hybrid profiles with personal and business attributes and behaviors that enable marketers to identify new revenue opportunities for their business.

The timing is crucial

The highlight, however, is the real-time factor. Not only is the right message on the right channel crucial, but the timing also has to be right too. Anyone who is currently comparing hotels for their next holiday will be happy about cheap flight offers. On the other hand, when people are freshly back from vacation, advertising is perceived as exhausting.

Modern customer data platforms, such as Adobe Real Time CDP, make it possible to activate customer profile information in real time. For example, marketers can address customers with highly relevant content and services as well as precisely targeted advertising in a personalized way at the right time and on the right channel. In this way, customers enjoy a comparable experience in the digital space as in a direct exchange with an employee, and customers remember these interactions with a brand and are happy to come back.

Trust is essential for CX

Laws regulate our coexistence in society, and this also applies in the digital space; however, numerous scandals have shaken consumer confidence in recent years. This is fatal for companies, because, after all, trust in a brand is a decisive factor for long-term customer loyalty. Modern real-time CDPs therefore work according to the "privacy by design" principle.

Data protection guidelines, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), are integrated into the platform and ensure that information is collected, stored and processed in accordance with data protection regulations.

Data can also be tagged, and usage policies can be set for each of these tags. The marking prevents unauthorized further processing of the information. If an oversight leads to the selection of unauthorized data, the system flags the error and prohibits the use of unauthorized information.

The pandemic has shown that companies that are well positioned in terms of digital customer interactions have fared much better. Not to mention that they've set the standards for digital brand interactions. Seamless, real-time omnichannel experiences are the key differentiators for business growth today.

Customers and companies alike benefit from the possibilities of a real-time customer data platform. Thanks to tailor-made offers, consumers get exactly the service they want, companies can further expand their growth and face the challenges of the market with confidence.

By Daniela La Marca