Experian's Marketing Sophistication CurveSM - The journey from channel execution to customer optimization
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve SM
The journey from channel execution to customer optimization
Customer
optimization
Channel
execution
An Experian Marketing Services white paperExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM:
a guide for customer-centric marketers.............................................................................1
Time for the marketer’s journey...........................................................................................2
Progressing up the curve......................................................................................................3
Understanding the curve......................................................................................................4
Phase I: Single-channel optimization................................................................................................5
Phase II: Multichannel marketing......................................................................................................5
Phase III: Cross-channel marketing..................................................................................................5
Phase IV: Cross-channel optimization..............................................................................................5
Five principal steps within Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve......................6
Step 1: Data management...................................................................................................................6
Step 2: Insights and targeting.............................................................................................................6
Step 3: Strategy and planning.............................................................................................................6
Step 4: Execution....................................................................................................................................6
Step 5: Measurement............................................................................................................................6
Stage 1: Single-channel optimization...............................................................................13
Moving up to multichannel marketing.............................................................................14
Stage 2: Multichannel marketing.......................................................................................15
Moving up to cross-channel marketing............................................................................16
Stage 3: Cross-channel marketing....................................................................................18
Moving up to cross-channel optimization........................................................................20
Stage 4: Cross-channel optimization................................................................................21
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................23Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Today’s consumers are exploring and adopting new media channels at an
unprecedented rate. New platforms and devices have emerged quickly, becoming
an integral part of consumers’ daily lives. With the opportunity of connecting
directly with readily available consumers, creating strong customer experiences is
beyond a marketing priority, it’s a business imperative.
Marketing organizations must work toward building a consistent, coordinated
and optimized cross-channel experience for their customers in order to achieve
a profitable return. They must be prepared to both generate demand through
planned outbound messages and capture in-market demand via real-time offer
management and trigger-based campaigns — all with a consistent and engaging
message across any channel.
This guide is intended for marketers who recognize that amid the challenges of
engaging today’s always-on, hyperconnected, empowered and vocal consumer
lies the opportunity to increase efficiencies; improve performance; and intelligently
interact with customers in extremely meaningful, timely and relevant ways.
However, recognizing the need to change and knowing how to make it happen are
two entirely different things. Marketers need more than just the will, they need the
way — specifically, a framework and road map through which they can accurately
assess the state of their existing marketing operations while also looking ahead
to the steps necessary for creating a fully optimized, cross-channel marketing
experience that is aligned around the customer.
Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: a guide for customer-
centric marketers
Experian Marketing Services has created its Marketing Sophistication CurveSM,
a progressive and detailed guide that helps marketers carefully and purposefully
map their journey through today’s increasingly interconnected, real-time,
multichannel marketing landscape.
Leveraging decades of experience in data management, analytics and
multichannel delivery, Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve connects an
organization’s current marketing programs with a tangible and actionable road
map for cross-channel marketing success.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 1Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Time for the marketer’s journey
Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve serves as a prescription for a
progression from the one-to-many, channel-centric marketing of old to the one-
to-one, customer-centric, cross-channel optimized marketing that is the inevitable
conclusion to change inspired by technology and customers.
Your own marketer’s journey begins with self-assessment. This is where you will
discover precisely where your organization falls on the curve.
If you have not already taken the online assessment, you can do so at
www.experian.com/marketing-services/marketing-sophistication-curve
Understanding your organization’s starting point on the curve is the first
critical step in the process, as your road map to customer optimization will be
determined by your current state. Strategies and tactics for increasing marketing
sophistication also should be aligned with your starting point.
Customer
Optimization
Industry
Benchmark
Cross-channel
optimization
Cross-channel
marketing
Multichannel
Channel marketing
execution
Single-channel
optimization
Page 2 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
For good reasons, most of today’s marketing operations sit at or near the start
of this curve. First, customers enjoyed a rather significant head start in claiming
control of the brand-customer dynamic. Additionally, devices, channels and
customer expectations all proliferated at a pace no brand could have hoped to
anticipate let alone match. Lastly, many enterprises made the understandable
mistake, of believing they could simply add new channels to their marketing
operations using existing single-channel practices.
Fortunately, the very same channels and devices adopted by those customers
also are generating enormous volumes and varieties of data from which valuable
new forms of marketing intelligence can be gleaned. In turn, this intelligence can
be used to influence every step of the buying journey. It is precisely a company’s
ability to intelligently collect, integrate, analyze and optimize that data to arrive at
meaningful, actionable customer insights that is central to Experian’s Marketing
Sophistication Curve framework for cross-channel marketing success.
Progressing up the curve
Marketers should recognize that the curve is named for a specific reason: The
farther a brand progresses, the greater the required degree of sophistication.
Your technology, data analytics practices, organizational structure and overall
marketing mindset will change, in some cases dramatically.
Consequently, brands should not expect to leapfrog from one phase of the curve
to another. As we shall see, to “graduate” to the next phase requires brands
to demonstrate tangible proficiencies in a number of areas, including data
integration, targeting, planning, execution and measurement.
As with any continuum, it is unlikely that your organization fits neatly into one
specific section of the curve. Instead, your marketing program probably exists in
a state of flux, with some aspects of your marketing operations already venturing
into more sophisticated waters. So while our formula may place your brand
squarely at one distinct stage of the curve, it does so only because it most closely
reflects the overall status of your current marketing efforts.
Also, benchmarks can and do vary by industry, so this should not be construed
as a marketing scorecard or an indication that any marketing organization falls
short of its business objectives. While there are an immense number of benefits
associated with reaching cross-channel optimization, brands should recognize
that the assessment is necessary in order to utilize the framework for reaching
cross-channel goals. In other words, you are here precisely because you have
acknowledged that you are not yet there. The goal of this document is to help you
plan and execute that journey.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 3Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Understanding the curve
There are four stages of Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve, each
representing a distinct collection of strategies, tactics, technologies and goals
that must be firmly in place before a brand can be said to have mastered that
particular stage.
This section offers a brief snapshot of each phase of the curve and then a short
explanation of the five core areas marketers can use to move up from one stage
to the next.
Customer
Optimization
Cross-channel
optimization
Seeks a system
(inclusive of
tool, process,
Channel
Cross-channel and service) that
execution marketing enables execution
against vision
Seeks ways
to easily and Struggles
Multichannel consistently target with adopting
marketing campaign content an operational
at the individual approach to
Single-channel Seeks brand level devising message
and promotion strategies at the
optimization
consistency across Struggles with customer, versus
Seeks new sources channels through organizing data campaign level
of consumer data offer replication around a customer
and analytical in useful time
approaches to Struggles with frames
doing more with incorporating
existing programs new channels,
and tools like mobile,
into messaging
Struggles with strategy
obtaining higher
performance out
of insight driven
campaigns
Page 4 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Phase I: Single-channel optimization
Marketing organizations at this stage are the metaphorical equivalent of single-
channel black belts in a multichannel world. These brands are optimizing for
specific channel performance rather than for overall customer experience and
engagement. They constantly seek more customer and prospect data to squeeze
performance out of each of those preferred channels individually.
Phase II: Multichannel marketing
Marketing organizations at this stage recognize the need to engage customers
across multiple channels with consistent messaging. However, while these
companies have worked hard to venture into new areas such as social or mobile,
they are struggling to extend their core campaign capabilities and to integrate
customer data across those channels.
Phase III: Cross-channel marketing
Companies at this stage have made a quantum leap forward in their marketing
sophistication, most notably because the customer now takes center stage.
While these organizations “get it,” they still struggle with organizing data around
customers in useful time frames and seek ways to easily and consistently target
campaign content at the individual level.
Phase IV: Cross-channel optimization
This is the apex of modern marketing, where customer context, location and
timing merge with every imaginable form of customer data to create a single,
shared and immediate view of the customer across all channels. While brands at
this stage can initiate or respond with personalized messaging and offers in real-
time, they still may struggle with adopting an operational approach to message
strategies at the customer level instead of the campaign level.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 5Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Five principal steps within Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve
With a basic understanding of each stage of the curve, you must now be aware of
the five principal steps marketing organizations must take to run any marketing
program. Within Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve framework, these
five common, and necessary, steps also can be used as levers to increase overall
marketing sophistication.
Step 1: Data management
Data is the cornerstone of all advanced marketing programs. Here, brands can
measure the degree to which their marketing organization is capable of capturing,
collecting, linking, organizing, analyzing, modeling and optimizing data to create
an increasingly robust and current view of a customer across channel and time.
Step 2: Insights and targeting
Of course, data alone is not enough. A brand also must have the means to extract
actionable business intelligence from that data. Here a brand can assess its ability
to transform all of its data into actionable customer insights, build audience and
drive enhanced results.
Step 3: Strategy and planning
Technology and tools are largely worthless in the absence of a strategy for
properly deploying them. In this step, brands can measure the extent to which
their marketing organization can programmatically develop and plan out customer
engagement dialogues across channels.
Step 4: Execution
With data, analytics-driven insights and a strategic plan in place, brands next can
evaluate the degree to which they can identify customers across channels and, by
extension, deliver an optimized content experience, regardless of channel.
Step 5: Measurement
In carpentry, it’s known as “cut once, measure twice.” In modern marketing,
the adage boils down to this: measure, always. Brands can calculate the overall
effectiveness of a marketing organization’s willingness and capacity to constantly
measure results and use that information to improve systems and processes.
In essence, every marketing organization should utilize the five key components
above for any type of marketing program. However, the degree of sophistication
within those steps can vary dramatically from phase to phase of the curve.
Page 6 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
1 Data 2 Insights 3 Strategy 4
management and targeting and planning Execution
Capturing, Translating data Establishing Delivering tailored
organizing and into actionable engagement individual content
integrating all insights and strategy, media seamlessly across
possible sources addressable mix and budgets channels
of customer audiences
interaction data
5
Measurement
Measuring for continuous improvement across the
steps and monetizing to communicate marketing
performance in terms relevant to the business
Each step can be individually measured
By breaking each stage of the curve into these five key steps, we’re able to get a
more detailed view of each stage. We’ll take a deep dive into each stage, but at a
high level, the following matrix serves as an easy reference.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 7Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Single-channel optimization
• What are my value-based customer segments?
Common questions marketers • What kind of customer behaviors should I be creating triggers for?
in this stage of the curve will
ask themselves • What return can I get from this channel?
• What is my optimal blend of offer and content by segment?
• May use address validation to ensure individual channel data is clean and accurate
Data management • File-based list processing
• Incorporates in-store and online transaction data
• Profiling and segmentation designed to drive list performance and individual campaign response
• Uses traditional RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value) models and basic scoring
Insights and targeting • Descriptive modeling used to identify look-alikes within a channel
• Very limited recognition of the individual customer
• Seeks data-driven insight to improve channel performance
• Focused on revenue maximization from individual channels
• Predetermines campaigns, messaging, offers and segments
• Outbound messaging (one-off campaign) focused with reliance on subscription and rental lists
• Advertising targeted at broad demographics, geographies and/or keyword optimization
Strategy and planning
• Optimization of the channel with focus on transaction conversion
• Message volume based on tactical business goals without regard for customer context
• E
ngaged with some level of triggered life-cycle (e.g., welcome) or high-value engagement
(e.g., abandon cart) campaigns
• Messaging is not reactive or dynamic to customer behavior
Execution • A /B and multivariate testing for optimization of single-channel performance
• Batch and blast programs increase in frequency to meet financial objectives
• Single-channel, campaign-based measurement
• S
iloed channels fight for attribution; attribution may be biased/flawed, skewing toward whatever
channel has been favored historically
Measurement
• Campaign-based key performance indicators (KPIs)
• C
onnecting same channel campaign performance to single-channel sales (e.g., email to
ecommerce checkouts)
Page 8 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Multichannel marketing
• What channels can I utilize to meet my program objectives?
Common questions marketers • What efficiencies/economies can I gain across channels?
in this stage of the curve will
ask themselves • How can I create a consistent brand message across channels?
• Did my program (versus campaign) meet the objective?
• Simultaneously manages multiple platforms and databases with limited connectivity between them
• Struggles to link customers from one channel to the next (siloed data sets)
Data management
• Branches into mobile response and location data
• Starts to explore unstructured social sentiment
• M
ultiple profiles, multiple segmentation schemes and multiple customer models (no single
customer view)
• Seeks insight into how one channel affects other channels
• Some recognition of the individual customer
Insights and targeting
• Syndicated tools used to bridge siloed profiles and segmentation schemes
• Descriptive modeling to identify look-alikes across channels
• Liberal use of behavioral data to create segments for targeted communication
• Strategy set at program level and is outbound messaging focused
• Strategy may be set across channels, but organization is still siloed by channel
• Recognition of need for coordination of channels for efficiency and operational consistency
• Aim for consistent branding/messaging and offers
Strategy and planning
• Calendar- or trigger-based campaign planning
• Product and promotion driven
• Rule-based spend allocation across channels
• Cadence and messaging based on historical customer performance and may include customer preference
• Cadence, offer and messaging are manually replicated across channels
• Can publish scheduled social updates in sequence with other channel deployments
Execution
• A
bility to deliver individually addressed messages across channels (e.g., email, SMS, push and
dynamic print, etc.)
• Performance measurement is channel-based
Measurement
• O
verall program performance across channels often is measured with rule-based credit
(i.e., double and triple counting of revenue, first touch, last touch)
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 9Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Cross-channel marketing
Common questions marketers • How does this customer engage with my brand across all channels?
in this stage of the curve will
ask themselves • How can I most efficiently allocate marketing spend?
• Use of data linkage to achieve a single customer view (cross-channel identity resolution)
Data management • Universal access across the organization to customer data (shared view across channels)
• Some data ingested on a real-time record-at-a-time basis, but linkage is still done in batch
• Multidimensional profiles used for universal segmentation across all channels
• Recognition of the individual customer based on customer value with shared profiling across the organization
• Use of integrated first-party and third-party data to deliver actionable insights
Insights and targeting
• B
oth predictive and descriptive modeling used to optimize media mix and coordinate contact
strategy across channels
• Behavioral data utilized across all channels (i.e., device recognition, opens and location, etc.)
• Customer-centric strategy utilizing a single customer view
• Strategy is set across channels and organization is aligned with outcomes
• Customer life-cycle-driven dialogue (long-term relationship marketing)
Strategy and planning
• Complex business rules created up front
• Uncertain message volumes, as volumes are often based on customer behavior
• Channel-agnostic approach to deliver optimal business outcome
• Use of a common content repository that deploys shared content seamlessly across channels.
• Ability to push messages at scale individually, one at a time
Execution
• A
bility to deliver personalized, individually addressed messages across channels (e.g., email, SMS,
push and dynamic print, etc.)
• Can frequency cap on an individual basis
• Overarching attribution and performance metrics
• Identification of engagement and advocacy at the customer level
Measurement
• Sophisticated attribution models built around business outcomes and customer profitability
• Tying of response to omnichannel sales data
Page 10 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Cross-channel optimization
• How do I structure my marketing around a customer’s daily needs versus my campaign production calendar?
• What portion of my budget do I allocate to each scenario?
Common questions marketers
in this stage of the curve will • What signals are most predictive of transaction?
ask themselves
• What is the optimal message or offer I can deliver to the customer?
• How do I maximize return on investment from each customer?
• Continual and always-active listening: captures data via every point of interaction at the individual level
Data management
• All data, including individual linked views, can be ingested in real-time
• Heavy use of analytics and automation to optimize business results
• Predictive analytics for programs like next best product, conversion optimization and overall brand experience
Insights and targeting • R
ecognition of individual customer based on context and location combined with customer value,
demographic, psychographic and behavioral insights to understand customer life-cycle needs and
purchase journey stage
• Targeting models used to identify in-market triggers to initiate customer life-cycle engagement
• Focus on an immersive brand experience
• Heavy scenario building with budget driven by scenarios, rather than channels
Strategy and planning • Cadence and messaging based on context and convenience
• Use of customer experience design
• Content strategy moves beyond sales transaction focus to support customer life-cycle experience
• Ability to deliver audience-level characteristics to external ad platforms for acquisition programs
Execution • Situational — messaging factors in context and location
• Given a number of candidate messages, will select only the most appropriate for the recipient
• Data-driven engagement measurement at the microsegment level
• Impression attribution
Measurement • Engagement metrics are tracked and used for prediction of transaction
• Single-customer profit and loss
• Measurement of engagement, in addition to sales
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 11A deep dive into the four stages of
Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve
Page 12 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Stage 1
Single-channel optimization Customer
Optimization
Cross-channel
optimization
Cross-channel
marketing
Multichannel
Channel marketing
execution
Single-channel
optimization
Many companies at this stage have enjoyed success with — and remain faithful
to — a favorite marketing channel. Marketing practices, budgets, personnel
decisions, goals, internal reward systems and customer strategies, etc., have been
erected around this preferred channel.
A peek inside these brands shows optimization strategies and tactics geared
toward specific channels versus toward the customer. Channel-specific goals
are focused on customer acquisition, retention, cross-sell, up-sell and otherwise
ensuring the preferred channel is kept fed and humming at maximum capacity.
The ultimate goal is to use more advanced targeting, segmentation and response/
behavior analytics to identify high-value customers.
Marketers at this stage are starting to use data-driven insights for determining to
whom and when to send their messaging. Triggered campaigns may be utilized in
response to customer activities, such as online behavior or recent purchases, but
usually are limited to these few activities.
Customer analysis at this stage is focused on response reporting and customer
profiling within the channel. Advanced segmentation and modeling provide
solid customer insights and improved targeting, but again only through the
rubric of a single channel. They fall far short of today’s need for a 360-degree
online/offline view of the customer. Lifetime value/return on investment (ROI)
analyses and models may exist, but these are limited by their inability to
integrate all relevant information.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 13Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Channel-centric contact management strategies at this stage can be fairly
sophisticated and communication efforts typically are ROI-driven, but once
again the lack of integration and siloed operations can lead to interdepartmental
competition for resources and squabbles over response attribution. Success at
this stage is largely measured by channel revenue versus customer lifetime value.
In short, the organizations that operate at the high end of this stage’s spectrum
are experts at squeezing as much productivity as possible out of their favorite
channels, and often they have implemented some automation around triggered
messaging. Due to their inherent limitations, however, these brands are forced to
focus more on individual, calendar- or transaction history–based campaigns.
Moving up to multichannel marketing
Multichannel marketing equates to more opportunities for customer engagement,
but only if the brand is fully present and prepared to engage at every step of
that customer’s journey. Given that most research suggests that multichannel
customers are far more lucrative to a brand than their single-channel counterparts,
the need to adopt a multichannel marketing program is obvious.
Getting there, however, requires more than simply adding new channels to an
existing marketing mix. Multichannel marketing is all about capitalizing on the
inherent efficiencies of making multiple brand channels available to customers
and presenting unified brand messaging.
Brands preparing to move to the next stage of the curve (multichannel marketing)
should begin focusing on:
•C
hannel preferences — Determine where your best customers are (what
Websites they visit, mobile devices they own and competitors they shop, etc.)
and how best to engage them as you expand into other channels.
•M
odeling to identify look-alikes across channels — Once you know who your
best customers are, additional customer insights can help identify where (and
in what channels) you can find more of these customers, as well as how to best
engage them once you are there. This should serve as a foundation for your
strategy as you expand into additional channels.
•A
ligning strategy to business goals — While your organization may still
be focused on channel optimization, there must be an overarching business
strategy and organizational alignment to support multichannel marketing.
• I ntegrated coordinated messaging in all channels — Deliver consistent
messaging and offers across all marketing channels so in the event that
message timing is not coordinated, the customer experience still is improved.
Page 14 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Stage 2
Multichannel marketing
Customer
Optimization
Cross-channel
optimization
Cross-channel
marketing
Multichannel
Channel marketing
execution
Single-channel
optimization
Companies at this stage recognize that modern customers are knocking at
different doors and that it is incumbent on them to answer. These companies are
willing to engage in new channels because they know that the expanded reach,
responsiveness and data will lead to improved efficiencies and results in the long term.
Ventures into multichannel marketing usually get their start in the latter stages
of the single-channel optimization stage, perhaps through the combination of
email and direct mail, for example. However, these brands are now expanding
those efforts into other channels, like social and mobile, with the principal goal of
expanding reach and increasing customer engagement.
Although brands at this stage are still very focused on products and channels
rather than individual customers, by tracking stages of engagement, social
response and behavior, channel and communication preferences, etc., they may
begin to experience the benefits of expanding their reach, reducing waste and
improving efficiencies.
Planning usually continues to emphasize reach rather than customer value, but
attention is paid to the multichannel nature of customer contacts (e.g., thought is
given to microsites, landing pages and multiple response mechanisms).
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 15Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Most multichannel marketing operations, however, are built with a favorite-
channel culture still in place, meaning that their skill sets, processes, resource
allocations and reward systems, etc., still are modeled along single-channel
practices. So while there may be consistency in a company’s outbound branding,
messaging and offers, its siloed internal operations severely limit its ability to
recognize and respond to individual customers across channels. Thus, despite
the label, brands at this stage may leverage at least two channels for interacting
with customers, yet customer data is not shared across channels. This usually
occurs because multiple data management and execution systems are utilized. In
these instances, customer data integration efforts may be used to create a more
comprehensive view of the customer, but such profiles rarely extend from online to
offline or vice versa.
Many companies at this point are working to coordinate offers and define
business rules for response attribution. They will recognize the need to move to
a single database — at least for all customer contacts. Those organizations that
utilize a single contact database usually will integrate it with multiple campaign
management and execution platforms, enabling each channel to offer a clear voice
for the customer (while also perpetuating channel silos).
Reporting is often independent, but efforts and techniques to integrate
information and better understand the customer are often deployed. The
good news is that the focus at this stage starts to shift from channel-centric
performance to a broader, more customer-centric view. Lifetime value metrics also
may be increasingly embraced and utilized.
Moving up to cross-channel marketing
Risks, costs and inefficiencies associated with siloed, multichannel-marketing
operations ultimately require brands to make the critically important — and
enterprise-rattling — leap toward a true cross-channel marketing effort. While
multichannel brands have expanded their reach and become more accessible
and convenient to their customers, the measure of that convenience largely is still
limited to outbound (e.g., brand-centric versus customer-centric) activities.
To move up requires a brand to put data at center stage. Multiple channels will
remain the delivery vehicles, of course, but cross-channel tactics and strategies
must be employed to create a consistent view of customers irrespective of the
channel(s) they use.
Page 16 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
How to get there:
•N
ailing down cross-channel identity resolution — Continue to consolidate
channel-generated customer data using cross-channel identity resolution
systems to ensure that a customer can be identified accurately at every touch-
point. This will help create a richer view of your multichannel customers and
enable you to create more effective contact strategies.
•U
nderstand marketing performance — Consolidate reporting into a business
intelligence view. This iterative process entails gathering and reviewing
information on your cross-channel marketing programs and performance to
develop benchmarks that will aid in budget planning and contact strategies.
•U
nderstanding channel performance — Use response attribution analysis to
associate channel-specific responses to specific marketing activities in order to
understand the true value of each campaign and appropriately allocate budget,
as well as improve targeting for each channel. Response attribution can help
identify high-performing channels when customers engage with multiple
contact points and give insight into the ways different channels impact and
influence each other.
•R
efine audience creation — Conduct analysis to determine customer
engagement and channel preference to dynamically profile and segment
customers more effectively, creating targeted audiences for consistent
messaging across channels. Establish a customer intelligence platform — an
integrated, cross-channel database that can leverage all available data sources;
integrate the information; deliver actionable intelligence; and drive timely,
relevant customer interactions.
• I nfrastructure assessment/investment — Extend and expand your cross-
channel marketing capabilities by conducting assessments of people, processes
and technology and then prioritize initiatives to best enable seamless cross-
channel customer interactions.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 17Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Stage 3
Cross-channel marketing
Customer
Optimization
Cross-channel
optimization
Cross-channel
marketing
Multichannel
Channel marketing
execution
Single-channel
optimization
This is the stage at which an organization’s marketing IQ takes a giant leap
forward — where customer data and, more specifically, the relationship among
that data become the centerpiece of a brand’s marketing operations.
Where multichannel marketing expanded a brand’s reach by providing customers
with many more points of engagement, cross-channel marketing uses integrated
marketing practices, platforms and philosophies to stitch together all of that data
into a more fully formed picture of individual customers. Viewed another way,
where multichannel marketing provided brands with greater volumes and varieties
of data, cross-channel marketing enables brands to identify the value of each
customer within all that data. This creates an entirely new (and improved) way of
planning for and measuring success.
As its name suggests, cross-channel marketing is the point where channel-centric
silos (and the cultural commitment to them) are toppled and their once-segregated
teams (and resources) are aligned to create a shared view of customer data across
the organization. The customer has demanded channel-agnostic convenience, and
the brand is now capable of delivering it.
Channel preferences at this stage are either stated or learned, and retargeting
and triggered campaigns are constructed using far richer and more complex
integrated data sources (e.g., Web, point of sale, call center, clicks and repurchases).
Page 18 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
The cross-channel marketing team is now focused solely on business outcomes
rather than on campaigns, products and events, and modeling is based on the
value of individual customer relationships. Far more sophisticated attribution
models are built around business outcomes and customer profitability, effectively
eliminating the traditional “favorite channel” and “last-touch” claims on budget
and other resources.
The bar also has been raised with customers. There is now a more natural,
authentic quality to marketing communications/customer dialogues. Brand
marketing has been replaced by real-time listening and response. There is now a
presumption (by the brand) of a more intimate, meaningful customer relationship.
While there is little to no room for error in such a program, if executed properly
there is also a virtually unlimited upside.
The marketing automation characteristic of this stage is fueled by customer data,
and it is at this stage that marketers must learn to trust what the data tells them.
Intuition and experience are still important, but these are sophisticated new areas
that require equally sophisticated analytics.
At this stage, there is a fine balance between demand-generation campaigns
(typically outbound campaigns that generate awareness and interest) and
demand-capture efforts (those that intelligently react to customer behaviors at
the most optimal time). Offers often are highly correlated across channels and
are personalized based on the customer profile, as well as on the context of the
interaction.
Data integration provides clear knowledge of how to identify and interact with
customers in each channel. Customer feedback and preferences are captured and
utilized. Cross-channel optimizers understand that customers drive interactions
with the brand when and where they please and are better equipped to identify
customers and manage the data for the development of consistent messaging
with real-time campaigns.
Reporting is ROI-based and highly coordinated. Analysis of customer behavior
spans channels, and understanding the true path to purchase becomes critical.
Customer potential and lifetime value metrics dominate and drive decision making.
In the cross-channel marketing stage, coordination of messaging, imagery and
communication across channels is enabled and becomes key to supporting and
extending the brand. As such, planning activities transition from short-term,
campaign-focused initiatives to broader, more long-term program management.
Communication focus shifts from proactive segmentations and selections for
outbound campaigns that target specific customers to inbound interaction
management whenever and wherever customers dictate.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 19Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Moving up to cross-channel optimization
In much the same way even a high-performance engine requires fine-tuning before
its full potential can be reached, there also is room in a cross-channel marketing
program for further optimization around the customer. As the brand-customer
dynamic continues to evolve, brands should consider the following:
•E
xtending customer centricity across all facets of your organization —
Prioritize customers in all corporate decisions. It is no longer just marketing
that must adopt this approach; all functional and strategic aspects of your
business must revolve around customer needs and feedback. Integrate online
and offline activities and insights, including all point-of-sale, customer retention/
engagement and demand generation touch-points.
•P
repare for the unknown — While we do not yet know the next set of channels
that will change the face of our business, we do know they will arrive quickly.
Much as social and mobile have forever shifted the way brands interact with
customers, so too will next-generation advances. Know that changes are
coming and seek to capitalize on new opportunities. By putting the customer at
the center of your marketing efforts and employing technology and strategies
that support this, adding channels to your program can be as simple as just
modifying existing business rules.
Page 20 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Stage 4
Cross-channel optimization
Customer
Optimization
Cross-channel
optimization
Cross-channel
marketing
Multichannel
Channel marketing
execution
Single-channel
optimization
For brand marketers, this is the end game of marketing sophistication. This is
where a brand’s data-fueled marketing automation practice creates a consistent,
fully formed, hyperpersonalized understanding of every customer, regardless of
how, when or where their respective paths might cross. Indeed, this is the stage
where it might be said the journeys of both customer and marketer at last align.
Brands at this stage can be likened to multichannel sentinels, always present,
always listening, always learning. Data is captured at every point of individual
customer engagement. This data — linked with customer information, consumer
insights and further flavored by context and location — enables brands to develop
an intimate understanding of a customer’s unique needs, preferences and even
anticipated desires.
This in-depth customer knowledge allows for in-market targeting models that
deliver personalized communications to initiate engagement and, over time, to
lead toward a fully immersive, long-term brand experience.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 21Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Cadence and messaging at this stage are situational, triggered by customer
context, location and response. They always are focused on convenience.
Messages and offers are based on scenario-derived responses using predictive
analytics (i.e., Customer X is more likely to respond to Message B at T time).
Brands at this stage are using sophisticated algorithms to identify patterns and
expressions of interest.
Performance results at this stage also are gauged at the individual level, with what
could be considered a single customer’s profit and loss. Measurement criteria is
based on a customer’s perceived lifetime value to the brand — just as much as
revenue or sales. In other words, rather than optimizing for channel performance,
campaign performance or offer performance, the marketing organization will be
focused on maximizing return and optimizing programs per each unique customer.
Page 22 | Experian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM: The journey from channel execution to customer optimizationExperian’s Marketing Sophistication CurveSM
Conclusion
The path toward customer optimization can seem daunting. Understanding where
to begin, what to focus on and what steps to take to get to where you ultimately
want to go can seem equally challenging. Regardless of the state of your current
marketing program, a strategic road map can be built utilizing Experian’s
Marketing Sophistication Curve as the underlying framework.
Keys to success:
•S
elf-assessment — Take an approach of “self-discovery” to accurately identify
a base line of where your organization currently is on the curve. To do this
effectively, organizations must be honest with themselves and understand that
their starting point on the curve is not a negative reflection on their ability to
meet historical business objectives. Most brands will begin at the lower end of
the curve.
•F
ive principles of the curve — Take a deep dive into your current program
by dissecting it into five key areas: data management, insights and targeting,
strategy and planning, execution and measurement.
•O
rganizational commitment — In order to travel up the curve, brands must
recognize and fully commit not only to the end goal, but also to the process and
journey within the curve’s framework.
•W
alk, don’t jump — Walking the entire path to customer optimization is
necessary. This path has been specifically designed to achieve success and
obtain maximum results; skipping stages is not recommended.
•P
recise focus — Once you have identified the key areas to take you to the
next stage, begin crafting your road map with precise focus. It’s easy to get
distracted, but the curve will aid you in narrowing down the many possibilities to
more tangible areas of focus where you will get the most return for your efforts.
•K
now when to ask for help — You may not yet be a black belt in mastering
all elements of the curve, so don’t be afraid to call in the experts when needed.
Experian Marketing Services’ strategic consultants have decades of experience
in creating client-specific, actionable road maps and programs to drive the most
optimal outcome. They can give you the extra help you need to take you to the
next step of the curve and beyond.
To learn more about utilizing Experian’s Marketing Sophistication Curve to
propel your marketing program, please call 1 866 626 6479 or visit us online at
www.experian.com/marketingservices.
An Experian Marketing Services white paper | Page 23Experian Marketing Services
955 American Lane
Schaumburg, IL 60173
1 866 626 6479
www.experian.com/marketingservices
Intelligent interactions. Every time.
© 2014 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. • All rights reserved
Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered
trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc.
Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of
their respective owners.
Experian is a nonexclusive full-service provider licensee of the United States
Postal Service®. The following trademark is owned by the United States Postal
Service®: ZIP codes. The price for Experian’s services is not established,
controlled or approved by the United States Postal Service.
02/14You can also read
