Does your marketing team need a customer journey analytics tool?
measure success and being able to identify where you are looking for improvements, are all critical pieces in deciding on a customer journey analytics tool.
Given that customers’ journeys to purchase and beyond are growing increasingly complex due to the ever-increasing number of devices, channels and options at their fingertips, businesses are seeking solutions like customer journey analytics tools to help them get a handle on what customers are experiencing.
But deciding whether or not your company needs a customer journey analytics tool calls for the same evaluative steps involved in any software adoption, including a comprehensive self-assessment of your organization’s business needs, staff capabilities, management support and financial resources.
Use the following questions as a guideline to determine the answers.
- Have we identified our goals for customer journey analytics?
Implementing a customer journey analytics program can provide many benefits, but it’s critical that you reflect on what you want to achieve with this investment. Do you want to optimize your marketing spend? Are you seeking to improve customer lifetime value?
- Can all of the relevant departments work together and contribute data as quickly as necessary?
The success of a customer journey analytics program is partly dependent on whether all of the actual touchpoints are represented. Can channel partners also provide data on interactions?
- Do we have management buy-in?
Adopting customer journey analytics, as mentioned above, requires the cooperation of multiple departments within the organization. Therefore, having a C-suite advocate that can help establish the program as a priority across departments is very important for success.
- Who will own or manage customer journey analytics?
Marketing, sales, product and customer service must all contribute, and all can benefit, but you’ll need to decide who is leading the charge.
- Can we invest in organizational training?
Many of the benefits of customer journey analytics can only be realized through shifting the way businesses think about their customers — by adopting a customer-first focus. Changing perspectives throughout the business may require training and education, as well as long-term changes in processes.
- Have we established KPIs and put a system in place for tracking, measuring and reporting results?
Once you’ve established your goals and communicated them throughout the organization, you’ll need to decide on the metrics that are most important to your efforts and monitor your progress in achieving them. You may consider doing a proof-of-concept with low-hanging fruit to demonstrate the benefits of the approach to various stakeholders.
Understanding your current business processes, knowing how to measure success and being able to identify where you are looking for improvements, are all critical pieces in deciding on a customer journey analytics tool. Good luck!
Customer journey orchestration: A snapshot
What it is. Customer journey orchestration software lets marketers connect real-time data points from across channels, touchpoints and systems, allowing users to gain insights into the customer journey over time. This allows marketers to explore the customer journey using data.
Why it’s hot today. Businesses know they need to be customer-focused in each aspect of their marketing operations. As a first step, brands need to understand how consumers are finding them. Whether it be via search, advertisement, or word of mouth, the medium used will set the trajectory for the rest of their journey.
Meanwhile, the average person uses many devices to access the internet, and Cisco forecasts that the number of devices connected to IP networks will increase to more than three times the global population by 2023. With so many devices, people shift back and forth depending on the task at hand and their current environment. Consumers and business buyers turn to an average of nine channels to browse product inventory, look for advice, and make purchases.
Capturing their interactions post-discovery, such as communication with a call center or visit to a retail outlet, helps brands see which of their assets are helping them along their path. What’s more, brands need to know what those who convert do post-purchase–this information helps companies win repeat business and encourage customer advocacy. Customer journey orchestration tools do just that.
What the tools do. The majority of vendors offer one or more of the following capabilities to give marketers an understanding of the customer journey: data gathering from a wide variety of channels and touchpoints; analysis using artificial intelligence and machine learning, and customer journey visualization.
Many vendors also offer customer journey orchestration (CJO) capabilities, which allow users to act upon the insights and actually deliver the next step in the customer journey in real-time.
Why we care. Customers expect to have consistent experiences at each of these touchpoints. They want personalization, a trend that continues to grow. Tools like customer journey analytics software give brands the ability to gain insights from their audience and act on them.
Dig Deeper: What is customer journey orchestration and how are these tools helping marketers?
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