Whilst we are unable to predict the future, we don’t need a crystal ball to recognise that digital technology will be a core part of it. The technological developments of recent years have completely transformed the way we do things as consumers, and in turn how businesses and brands can now interact with us.
The growth of touchpoints has brought with it reams of customer data, growing at such a rate that it’s creating a challenge for the majority of marketers, who are struggling to make smart use of the insights and are losing valuable financial opportunities as a result.
The next 12 months is expecting to see the ‘Internet of Things’ continue to grow, bringing an increase in digital customer touchpoints, which will provide greater revenue opportunities for your business, but only if you have the correct processes in place to collect and manage the data being generated effectively. So how will this affect the way marketers run their email and wider campaigns?
Businesses have been slow to react to the developments so far. Of course adapting to change and adoption of new processes never follows the same path, but there is no longer time to sit back and just observe. Digital now touches every aspect of life, and this should be reflected across your marketing activity, if you’re going to achieve successful data-driven insights and deeper relationships with your customers. With this continued increase in opportunity also comes the threat from competition, with more organisations eager to reap financial rewards which technology is enabling.
Digital ID’s are going to become a commodity that brands and businesses need to ensure they have in their inventory – planning ahead to ensure you have the capabilities to collect this, ahead of your competitors, are one way for businesses to prepare for the future.
So with that in mind, what should businesses be doing now to deliver commercial success and ensure they aren’t missing out on reaching those more eager to show a deeper understanding in their customer needs and wants?
Email remains the most trusted tool for customer communication, according to recent research by the DMA, but it’s not the only channel, so laying out the role and purpose of data for your individual business is crucial from the start. Remember there’s no one size fits all when it comes to customer engagement or digital marketing.
Recent years have shown people are great at talking about data, but far less can describe what it does. Without an end goal in place, planning will also be redundant, so a much greater emphasis needs to be placed on developing understanding within organisations around what’s being collected, how data-driven insights can be used and the benefits of this. Identifying where the areas of commercial data opportunities lie and developing a plan to deliver on this will give your business the competitive edge to stay ahead.
Crucial to this planning surrounds reviewing the structure within your business. Marketing and digital should no longer be siloed from the rest of the organisation. The smarter businesses have shown this should run throughout the whole organisation if the opportunities data is now creating are to be used. Being aware of internal politics within this review and restructuring process and understanding how to manage this is vital.
Failure to break the traditional silos will significantly reduce the volume of customer interactions you’re able to achieve. Having an overarching view of the entire business will aid planning, indicate where systems to help capitalise on customer engagement need to be implemented and drive the business forward effectively.
Of course, with evolution such as this, investment needs should be considered. Ignoring developments because of financial reasons will only create great disadvantages further down the line. In doing financial planning now – both long and short-term – businesses are less likely to feel under pressure or even find themselves unable to meet the system updates required to continue to deliver a high quality service to customers.
The opportunities that digital and the resulting data insights will offer businesses over the next twelve months and beyond is an exciting prospect. One that organisations should be eager to be part of. Core to digital marketing and innovation is risk taking. It’s the only way to uncover new ways to do things, and more importantly, the only way you as a business will have the chance to be part of this evolving market. The ‘Internet of Things’ brings new commercial opportunities for the email channel and beyond, but also an ever changing array of customer needs and expectations.
Sitting back and failing to act, whether it’s due to fear of the unknown or ignorance that evolution is not required to keep up with the digital advances, won’t deliver the customer understanding or financial returns.
It’s time to take the plunge in to the future.
