CXBuzz Interview With Malay Harsha, VP Marketing at CleverTap

VP Marketing at CleverTap, leading user retention and marketing automation platform, I currently head team running the global GTM marketing motion along with brand awareness, field marketing, outbound motion, as well as integrated marketing programs across geos.

I have been a B2C and a B2B growth marketing leader for over 13 years, with experience across APAC, SARC, and EMEA markets. I have helped build and scale businesses across EdTech and B2B SaaS, spanning from product market fitment to marketing and sales enablement. I specialize in beachhead strategies and expansion.

Well, not quite, there was a major lull in demand across the global markets in retail as well as e-commerce, with shoppers resorting to what I call “revenge shopping,” ppl were on lockdown, and there was a dearth of supply, once the markets opened there was an explosion of orders compared to the previous quarter (more most businesses this was the period from April to June-lull). The demand surged and then dipped to a plateau; most food delivery apps that saw the surge experienced that the order volumes never breached beyond 85% of 2019 peaks (based on what I have heard from my peers in these domains). Consumer reviews have probably seen a spike, and a lot of them are about the relief that they now have access to supplies, but a lot of them were about poor service, outages, failure to fulfillment, etc.; these are both pertinent to a brand staying honest, empathetic, building value as perceived and appreciated by the customer and of course NPS.

There are many, but the most pertinent for me is the engagement metric, how often does the user use your platform/service and unlock value from your business, this is called the aha moment in the world of product, the journey from AHA moment to Habit formation is peppered with engagement backed by value and experience.

Do you think personalization and customer-centricity are going to become increasingly more relevant in the coming year? How so?

They already are very relevant if you ask me; if you don’t integrate the two in your strategy, then you are anyways dead in the water; this is now going a step further to individualization driven by data marketers now have access to personalized experience and communication to the individual level: e.g., time of engagement (commute, dinner, ques, etc.) preferred channel of engagement: Line, Whatsapp, on, etc., RECOMMENDATIONS: the big one (backed by user past choices) don’t just try to push a product but understand what your user prefers, marry this contextualization and you have a healthy strategy of user engagement.

What are some of the ways companies can strive to eliminate the CX Gap?

Killing Data silos: having a CDP or a CRM that works across functions leads to streamlined communication and experience.

Real-time data: leveraging real-time data to stay relevant while cutting across data silos

Take the example of OTT apps sharing sports updates with you. Context is king: If I love football and get the update on Ronaldo scoring a lightning goal within, say 60 seconds of the actual event, I would want to view it,  but imagine this being received by a person who only likes motorsport not so much right, that’s the impact, viewership grows, engagement improves, churn dips and subscription is growing like never before.

What’s the most insightful book you read in 2020?

Ultralearning: this is the time to pick up skills that will power the growth for your future, and there is no time like the present; the world is going through a systemic shift, and we all need to prep up.

Malay’s predictions for the future of CX

What are your predictions for trends in customer experience in the coming year?

Digital Transformation is dead; it arrived last year for all old school businesses. Users now trust online transactions. Customer experience is still swinging between the two poles of instant gratification and expectation-setting by businesses with value sitting at the heart of every transaction.

Last but not least, what is your favorite CX metric?

Once again, engagement beats every other metric for me, closely followed by NPS.