What An Experience Business Will Look Like: Think Tank Luminaries Share The Vision

During this year’s Adobe Summit in Las Vegas, I participated in an Adobe think tank discussion, “The Future of Experience Business.” You’ve probably heard that experiences are the new brand and that we no longer sell products but, rather, compelling and personalized experiences. Marketers are beginning to ask whether this a fad or the future. I believe it’s the future — and it’s starting now.

Data, Design, Delivery and Their Impact on the Experience Business
During this think tank discussion, I sat down with eight other industry leaders to discuss data, design, delivery, and whether they will impact the future of the experience business. Following are my top six takeaways.

1. Data Must Inform Design Content.

• Data drives all content and experience — especially with regard to how content is automated and delivered to audiences.
• Every company on the planet is now a data company — even if they never planned to be.
• Our intent should always be centered on using data to create better, more personalized experiences for our consumers.
• Here’s an example of data’s true power — by 2030, data may drive at least a five-year increase in life expectancy, because we will be able to use it to improve the delivery of healthcare.

2. “Data Artists” Are the Future of Analytics.

• Today, marketers pay data scientists substantial sums of money to interpret massive amounts of data because it enables them to make data-driven marketing decisions.
• In our experience-driven economy, marketers and data scientists are evolving to become data artists.
• Data artists won’t collect data just to take measurements. Instead, they will collect data to inform the creations of new experiences — and do so across all organizations and business units.

3. Big Data Won’t Spark World War III — Though, Some Disagree.

• While we’re already experiencing ways in which data can be used to fuel negative incidents — through cyberattacks and ransomware, for instance — it’s probably not the new ‘oil’ that will result in wars (watch this interesting discussion as it unfolds).
• However, brands should think clearly about the potential impacts that may result from the data being collected.
• As data becomes more centralized and, as a result, at greater risk for compromise, this becomes increasingly more important.

4. The Term ‘Marketing’ Is Outdated.

• Marketing is an antiquated word that forces us to think in terms of creating experiences around products instead of making products themselves into experiences.
• We can no longer consider nor implement marketing as if it were simply a communication layer atop the product itself. Instead, marketing and product should work in unison to create incredibly personalized and valuable experiences for consumers.
• Nowadays, experience businesses must not only develop products that create and deliver the right experiences to the right consumers at the right times — but also be able to define what exactly “the right content” means for each consumer.

5. ‘Experience Chains’ Will One Day Provide End-to-End Experiences From Each Customer’s Perspective.

• A travel experience includes luggage, airlines, hotels, rental cars, tourist attractions, clothing, dining, and more. Eventually, businesses will have to connect with one another to deliver truly rich, engaging, and relevant end-to-end experiences.
• The question remains, “How can brands allow partners access to their data — but without sharing all of it?
• Securely sharing scoped data will enable companies to work together to deliver seamless experiences to shared customers.
• Those among the first to realize this will win in this experience-driven economy.

6. Every Company Must Evolve Into an Experience Business — and C-Suites Must Buy in.

• Most companies are not yet delivering on key potentials experience businesses offer.
• For companies that want to become genuine experience businesses, trust is more critical than ever before.
• Companies that not only value, but also work diligently to build and secure, their customers’ trusts will achieve the most success.

In Conclusion
Don’t take my word for it, however. Watch this Adobe Think Tank livestream we recorded at Adobe Summit 2017 — and get ready to ignite your company’s journey toward discovering, defining, and developing its very own perspective on becoming an experience business.

Stay tuned to learn more from my fellow #AdobeTT participants about creating your own experience business today.