“Tell Me a Story” | Spoiled Customers Finally Get the Approach They Need
Digital technologies are forcing companies to reevaluate and transform the way they work. Professionals in various sectors have presently realized that when used correctly the powerful new data collection and analytics tools available by continuously evolving new software can reap enormous results. To quote Brian Solis from the Altimeter Group digital transformation is “The realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital consumers at every touchpoint of the customer experience lifecycle.”
One of the key tools of digital transformation is customer journey mapping. Until recently many companies failed to pay enough attention to the customer’s entire purchasing experience. According to Siddharth Gaikwad, practice head of digital experience, at NTT DATA “it is the definitive first step in the process of converting a current ‘as-is’ state to a future state that promises an enhanced customer experience”. Indeed, companies such as Uber, Spotify and Airbnb realized this early enough and have been leveraging new technologies to disrupt their industries while making life easier for their customers.
When used correctly, the new digital tools offer companies the opportunity to turn the flow of available data into actionable knowledge. Once they understand the needs of their customers, employees, partners and stakeholders and the digital possibilities in their industry they can tailor a successful digital strategy and roadmap. This map will identify the various pain points during the customer journey and if the right questions are raised and answered, there will be a shift from the traditional siloed marketing approach to a cross-functional one where the result will be a journey orientation.
In the new account centric world it is all about combining storytelling with Account Based eXperience in order to convert the findings into insights. In this context, storytelling is the art of overlaying context perspective and imagery around a user’s journey. Meanwhile, ABX uses the available data to offer a personalized marketing approach that uses storytelling to send targeted and customized messages to a specific account.
ABX is a fundamentally account centric approach that is rooted in an intense focus of the accounts at every stage of their journey, using intelligent insights to know when and how to engage and what to say to each account. Where traditional marketing and sales used to focus on marketing and selling to a lead, presently they’re focusing on marketing and selling to an account. And, while ABM focused on identifying valuable accounts and attempting to engage them regardless of whether the time was right or whether they were interested, ABX is all about engaging with business buyers with relevant messages, delivered in a trusted way and on their own terms.
The Account Based eXperience requires design, domain and facilitation skills. It necessitates that accounts are clearly defined; a precise persona based on the account’s demographic and psychographic profile has to be created. Following this, the persona’s journey has to be mapped across a specific task so as to provide valuable insights that will be converted into touchpoints. The journey has to be created from the perspective of the account’s needs; it is necessary to shift our thinking from inside-out, to outside-in. Meanwhile, the series of connected maps covering each phase of the account lifecycle will give the company complete control over its capability to offer the account a product or service corresponding to his needs; it will be able to understand and evaluate how the interaction with the brand makes the account feel.
In a nutshell, an account based experience uses the lead’s expectations, experiences and reactions as they unfold over time across numerous scopes, angles and episodes to pass through the required message. Only, the crucial element here is that it takes into consideration the “when” and “where” from the scope of the lead/account instead of the one considered best by the marketeer. It is all about storytelling and building the plot so as to reach the desired closing. And at the end of the day we all have a story to tell …At Publisto we have a long tradition in storytelling and we use the latest digital tools in the market to help you learn about your leads and target them accordingly.
One of the key tools of digital transformation is customer journey mapping. Until recently many companies failed to pay enough attention to the customer’s entire purchasing experience. According to Siddharth Gaikwad, practice head of digital experience, at NTT DATA “it is the definitive first step in the process of converting a current ‘as-is’ state to a future state that promises an enhanced customer experience”. Indeed, companies such as Uber, Spotify and Airbnb realized this early enough and have been leveraging new technologies to disrupt their industries while making life easier for their customers.
When used correctly, the new digital tools offer companies the opportunity to turn the flow of available data into actionable knowledge. Once they understand the needs of their customers, employees, partners and stakeholders and the digital possibilities in their industry they can tailor a successful digital strategy and roadmap. This map will identify the various pain points during the customer journey and if the right questions are raised and answered, there will be a shift from the traditional siloed marketing approach to a cross-functional one where the result will be a journey orientation.
In the new account centric world it is all about combining storytelling with Account Based eXperience in order to convert the findings into insights. In this context, storytelling is the art of overlaying context perspective and imagery around a user’s journey. Meanwhile, ABX uses the available data to offer a personalized marketing approach that uses storytelling to send targeted and customized messages to a specific account.
ABX is a fundamentally account centric approach that is rooted in an intense focus of the accounts at every stage of their journey, using intelligent insights to know when and how to engage and what to say to each account. Where traditional marketing and sales used to focus on marketing and selling to a lead, presently they’re focusing on marketing and selling to an account. And, while ABM focused on identifying valuable accounts and attempting to engage them regardless of whether the time was right or whether they were interested, ABX is all about engaging with business buyers with relevant messages, delivered in a trusted way and on their own terms.
The Account Based eXperience requires design, domain and facilitation skills. It necessitates that accounts are clearly defined; a precise persona based on the account’s demographic and psychographic profile has to be created. Following this, the persona’s journey has to be mapped across a specific task so as to provide valuable insights that will be converted into touchpoints. The journey has to be created from the perspective of the account’s needs; it is necessary to shift our thinking from inside-out, to outside-in. Meanwhile, the series of connected maps covering each phase of the account lifecycle will give the company complete control over its capability to offer the account a product or service corresponding to his needs; it will be able to understand and evaluate how the interaction with the brand makes the account feel.
In a nutshell, an account based experience uses the lead’s expectations, experiences and reactions as they unfold over time across numerous scopes, angles and episodes to pass through the required message. Only, the crucial element here is that it takes into consideration the “when” and “where” from the scope of the lead/account instead of the one considered best by the marketeer. It is all about storytelling and building the plot so as to reach the desired closing. And at the end of the day we all have a story to tell …At Publisto we have a long tradition in storytelling and we use the latest digital tools in the market to help you learn about your leads and target them accordingly.