COMPLACENT MARKETING
The Digital-First Customer Experience
By Diana Obath
There has emerged with the new year , the digital first customer . The evolution that has taken place in the last years has completely disrupted the markets . As the markets evolve , disruption is inevitable . Servicing the digital first customer means that businesses should no longer be concerned about the customer experience ( CX ) journey but the customer ’ s experience .
Technology has allowed businesses to improve the CX journey with apps and web applications that give customers access to products and services in an instant , but the customer has also moved past apps into creating their own journeys where they want to define how they engage both online and in-store . The shift is perspective , and marcomms professionals need to begin to look at marketing from this lens .
Technology has allowed us to redesign and develop B2C communication in the formats that we would like as a business , therefore tech is no longer the issue . There exist numerous technological solutions for any problem in the world . Things have gotten easier and better and now we seem to be faced with a new challenge . The question has shifted to focus on whether brands are deploying technology in the way the consumers want to receive it . Digital freedom has now created an ageless consumer .
Brian Solis , renowned author and writer describes this consumer as a digital-first and cross-generational consumer not influenced by age , baggage of the past or stereotypes . They simply know what they want , and they use their app or webbased service to get it . Age is not a factor and whether they are 20 or
“ Business models have completely been disrupted and there is no linear way of doing things . Marketing professionals now have an opportunity to unlock new strategies at every phase of the customer cycle to deliver information about their products or services .”
60 , they will have similar interest , behaviors , or aspirations . They will define future business models by influencing how corporates should communicate , offer service and do their marketing . Everything will need to be reimagined for this cluster of customers in a new world of marketing .
Solis could be right in that we are already dealing with teenagers who will not play video games that cannot be controlled via VR or AR . The 3D and HD appeal is no longer exciting for them . This reality exists even for 50 old gamers who prefer to spend Sunday afternoons in the VR glasses gaming with 13-year-olds in another part of the world . This is the era of acceleration .
Marcomms professionals have noticed without a doubt that trends have intensified and businesses that have made little to no effort to catch on have been left behind . Post pandemic however , marketers are expected to continue to drive business profitability as the business heads grapple with designing progressive and new strategies that will merge pre and post-pandemic customer expectations . Business models have completely been disrupted and there is no linear way of doing things .
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