Hi Adriana, tell us about yourself, your background?
I am a marketer and copywriter, with more than 10 years in the field, most of which were spent marketing tech companies. I am the owner of Idunn and, in October 2019, I also launched Copywritech, a digital marketing agency that provides copywriting, SEO content writing, and strategy services to companies in the tech industry.
The biggest part of my work is helping companies find the intersection between their clients’ needs and demands and their own business goals.
Online commerce was booming in 2020, and so did consumer reviews. – How can brands better utilize this data to improve their customers’ experience?
Consumer feedback can be a goldmine in so many ways: it can help you improve your products, your services, it can help you get better brand awareness and, of course, get more sales. People trust online reviews just as much as they trust recommendations from friends and family, so underusing their power is a crime against your own business.
While most companies love 5-star reviews (who doesn’t love being told how awesome they are?), constructive criticism can be far more helpful. Bad ratings may not look great on your profile, but they can certainly help you improve key areas of customer experience and your products altogether. Plus, if you know how to tackle them right and give excellent responses, even negative reviews can help your brand image.
What is one element that must always be considered when working on a CXM (customer experience management) strategy?
Retention is one of those elements that is often neglected. We know from a lot of research reports that it costs far less to keep an existing customer than to attract a new one.
So it’s a shame that retention and loyalty are overlooked in favor of attracting new customers. In our work with clients in eCommerce or SaaS, we always recommend creating visual experiences and content/copy funnels that go beyond the sale and into the “delight” phase of the buying journey.
I’m talking about premium content that’s only accessible to loyal customers, email campaigns that nurture existing customers, special promotions just for them, and so many others. The options exist, they just need to be leveraged better.
Do you think personalization and customer-centricity are going to become increasingly more relevant in the coming year? How so?
Absolutely! They have both been on steady growth tracks for the past few years and this trend will not stop any time soon. With AI- and ML-powered analytics and CRMs or marketing automation platforms, we can finally deliver the personalized experiences that consumers have been demanding for quite some time now.
In the near future, we’ll see personalization that goes well beyond adding the customer’s first name in emails. We’ll see hyper-targeted campaigns and recommendations that make customers swoon and stay loyal to brands. More importantly, we’ll see products that are designed with very niched, very specific needs in mind. Remember: “if your product is for everyone, then it’s for no one.”
A few years ago, we used to say that bread was the ultimate mass-marketing product: something that’s good for everyone and something that everyone needs. But things have changed: we have artisanal bread, gluten-free bread, salt-free bread, along with the various shapes and varieties from across the world that can be found in every supermarket or bakery. If bread can be spread among so many segments and so many target audiences, imagine what can happen to consumer electronics, for instance.
What are some of the ways companies can strive to eliminate the CX Gap?
CX gaps typically originate in a poor understanding of customer needs and wants. To eliminate this gap, marketers need to go back to the drawing board and analyze their buyer personas more in-depth. They need to know what customers respond to so they can create CX that they respond to.
Testing also plays an important part here. As marketers, we tend to fall in love with certain visual concepts or marketing tactics. But our opinion matters far less than that of our customers. This is where testing comes into play: testing various concepts helps us bridge the gap by choosing the option our target audience responds to.
What’s the most insightful book you read in 2020?
Influence by Robert B. Cialdini — it offers a lot of insights into how our mind works and how even those of us who work in the industry can be tricked by a sneaky campaign or advertising tactic. It’s a great read for everyone, irrespective of their field of activity, but it’s a must for marketers and advertisers.
Adriana’s predictions for the future of CX
What are your predictions for trends in customer experience in the coming year?
Improving personalized experiences in an ethical non-intrusive way. I know, it’s a tall order, so I’m not saying this industry will grow by leaps and bounds, but things are definitely looking up. The delivery of personalized experiences will be the focus of every marketer in every industry, from retail to SaaS.
Last but not least, what is your favorite CX metric?
You may have guessed it from my previous answers: retention. When a customer comes back to the same brand over and over again, you’re definitely doing something right.
