Want Better Experiences For Consumers? Context Is The Key

Companies have to create the right content based around where customers are and what they are doing, and then deliver it across the right channel.

Brands know they have to create new, more engaging customer experiences to win new customers and engender loyalty. But what does a good experience look like? How can brands move from strategy to delivery?

According to Timo Kohlberg, product marketing manager at Adobe (CMO.com’s parent company), the key is to combine data and content with context. He told delegates at Dmexco 2016 in Cologne, Germany that it is essential to not forget the customer is all-important. Success is found in offering a service that offers convenience and is smart enough to tap into context.

“Companies have to unify their data with partner and third-party data to develop the right content and then deliver it to the right person, at the right time, on the right channel,” he said.

“There’s a triangle of data, content, and delivery, with software sitting in the middle making smart decisions for marketers. It’s not about one channel, but omnichannel. You have to be able to help customers across any channel, whether it’s email, the web, a ticket kiosk, or a mobile notification.”

Heathrow Airport is a good example of this process in action, Kohlberg believes. The transport hub not only does the obvious things, such as emailed offers, but it personalises communications around device and context.

“Their email communications are very clever, all the offers are personalised to the data they have on each customer,” he said.

“Then, when you enter the airport, their beacons send you personalised mobile notifications. It might be a deal on a massage or an offer in one of the airport’s hotels, depending on what they know about the customer.”

This addition of context is where Kohlberg believes brands can offer better customer experiences by focusing on what is important to the customer based around where they are and what they are doing. If the first wave of software adoption was all about the back office and the second, the front office, this third wave of development is all about customer experience.

For more of CMO.com’s coverage from Dmexco, click here.