Today, personalisation is one of the most critical cornerstones of building customer loyalty. In fact, research indicates that 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations. And analysts have warned that customers are more interested in tailored, delightful interactions than cashing in points.
This might not be shocking to the average loyalty specialist. But, in a time when many marketers are having to do more with less, what does that actually look like? How can loyalty professionals achieve the personalised, real-time engagement that customers increasingly expect from brands?
New research reveals some answers. In Salesforce’s Eighth Edition of the State of Marketing report, 4,000 marketing leaders worldwide shared the most critical trends shaping marketing today. Here are the biggest takeaways for loyalty marketers.
Intelligent tools for better engagement
Many rely on digital technology to scale personalisation and reduce friction between touchpoints.
Salesforce’s State of Marketing research found that, globally, most marketers think customer expectations are higher than ever. As a result, 83% of marketers are using real-time customer insights to adapt their strategies and optimise the impact of each interaction. This is especially true for high-performers, who are 4.2x more likely than underperformers to leverage predictive intelligence or data science to create personalised emails.
Additionally, most respondents agree with the statement that they engage customers in real time across one or more channels — and high performers are even more likely to agree.
Unified data and a strategy anchored in customer experience
However, it’s not enough to automate a few messages or personalise a few interactions. Instead, marketers are better able to build loyalty and delight customers when they factor in the entire customer journey.
The research found that high-performing marketing teams are 8.8x more likely than underperformers to strongly agree that they have adopted a customer journey strategy as part of their overall business strategy. This requires a system that unites data from every time a customer interacts with your brand, and creates a comprehensive view of individual customers.
To see the rest of the insights and trends, be sure to download the full State of Marketing Report.
