Hi Ankesh, tell us about yourself, your background?
I am an award winning, high energy global marketing leader experienced in establishing marketing teams & devising strategic integrated marketing plans to accelerate pipeline for fast-growing tech companies. I have a proven management background in B2B marketing for pre-IPO, unicorn, SaaS, and public companies seeking to grow at scale.
Online commerce was booming in 2020, and so did consumer reviews. – How can brands better utilize this data to improve their customers’ experience?
2020 taught us the importance of being agile. Many of the enterprises had to make major decisions about how to approach the future of their operations. For companies that had not fully embraced the possibilities of digital transformation, now may be the time to start thinking about how to invest in digital efforts. Now marketers need the right tools, and skills, to optimize a winning digital marketing strategy and cut through the noise to convert even more customers online.
In today’s redefined era most digital marketers face the same problem: there are too many tools that claim to be “multichannel” and provide a “hub.” Instead, it is the case that customer data sits in silos, sales channels remain under-developed or even unavailable, and the end product is a point-solution rather than a true hub. This has happened due to enterprises acquiring multiple point solutions but there is minimal integration between them. This creates disjointed and friction rich experiences for consumers and hinders marketing ROI. Enterprises expect that all data should be in one place with real time insights and ability to take action – optimally without human intervention using predictive engines & personalized content recommendations.
Customers should bridge the gaps between web, mobile web, app, messaging, email and advertising channels to deliver tailored customer experiences.
What is one element that must always be considered when working on a CXM (Customer Experience Management) strategy?
When we talk about customer experience to our customers (marketers), they paint a picture of clunky, slow-to-load platforms that require immense training and deliver a dull experience. So we’ve focused on bringing breakthrough MarTech products with a mobile first mindset to our customers, such as InStory (instagram like experiences), predictive audiences, and messaging apps to help you consistently deliver innovative experiences to your customers. Through our AI powered platform we help marketers to drive growth from Acquisition to Activation, Retention, and Revenue Leverage real-time customer intelligence while driving conversions and lifetime value. At Insider, we strongly believe in #thisisinsider #thisisdifferent as our motto.
Do you think personalization and customer-centricity are going to become increasingly more relevant in the coming year? How so?
Now, with the pandemic affected so many aspects of how shoppers interact with retailers—both in person and online—new personas and customer journeys are likely to emerge, meaning brands will need to ensure they have the tools in place to track these changing shopping patterns and respond to these new segments with timely offers and messaging, in real-time. In other words, if you haven’t already invested in a personalization strategy and technologies, now is the time. At Insider we are enabling enterprises to create marketing plans to optimize their crucial funnel metrics such as average order value (AOV), conversion rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS) across channels. Additionally, they will improve its overall onsite engagement and new customer acquisitions with personalized overlays and engagement features.
What are some of the ways companies can strive to eliminate the CX Gap?
Marketers are aligning their strategies with product roadmap and its velocity – how fast does the product evolve to the next stage, does it include RCS, WhatsApp, etc. As the new ON(FF)LINE era emerges, marketers are starting to realize the value of storytelling in effective customer engagement. Realizing the value of products or offerings means that customers must feel a personal connection to the brand—and this kind of individualized engagement must be supported by data.
What’s the most insightful book you read in 2020?
I read Hit Refresh from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
Ankesh’s predictions for the future if CX
What are your predictions for trends in customer experience in the coming year?
- Shoppers will move beyond omni-channel to expect retail omni-presence
- Convenience is the experience all customers want
- Technology-enabled platforms will tear down socio-economic walls
Last but not least, what is your favorite CX metric?
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
