Smartphones, autonomous vehicles, voice-controlled assistants – the wonders of the digital age are plentiful and growing. Too bad we’re constantly distracted by them.

Not only does research suggest that the average person checks their phone 150 times a day, but conditions like nomophobia – the fear of going without your device – are well documented.

People are now constantly connected, yet technology is increasingly seen as a distraction. Being relaxed and being connected are, for...

Consumers have come to expect personalisation as standard.

From offers to recommendations of products, the average consumer’s social media feed and email inbox is crammed full of communications from a wide range of businesses, all vying for their custom. But they want brands to make them feel like an individual, rather than just another customer.

By giving customers something that they want to receive brands can improve conversion rates and encourage brand loyalty. So far, so simple. But working out the...

For all the ongoing discussion about AI stealing our jobs – it’s already very much here.

In particular, AI is prevalent on the computers in our pockets, our phones. 72% of US smartphone users now use 6 apps daily - and AI has well and truly infiltrated them – with voice assistant and chatbot technology being seamlessly overlaid onto our most used apps.

It’s now paying our car tax and booking our plane tickets. A child born today is essentially AI-native, interacting with Amazon Alexa...

From handwritten notes to bespoke offers from stores, we pay more attention when people take time to personalise our communications.

A colleague of mine used to record every detail of conversations he had with clients, and would include them in personalised follow-up letters – even to the extent of inquiring how one particular client’s lumbago was.

This particular client found this warmth and attention to detail gratifying and respectful, and his spend with the business reflected this.

Whether you...

“The painful reality is that establishing a personal bond with individual customers is hard for omnichannel retailers,” an article for Fourth Source recently opined. “While it’s true that digital retail generates a lot of data relating to individual customers, which can be extracted and utilised both online and in the store, few businesses have successfully struck the balance between helpful and...

As customers’ paths to purchase become increasingly complex, marketers are under mounting pressure to evidence their contribution to ROI within the multichannel mix.

But with more tech platforms to integrate than ever before, is there room for call intelligence within the growing martech stack?

Despite the significant evolution of the call tracking and intelligence market, the technology, to date, is utilised by less than 5% of businesses that could benefit from it. In part...

Brands that craft excellent loyalty programmes know that they are all about the customer – not the business.

The benefits of long-term customer loyalty are self-evident. But, without providing the rewards and relationships that people want, that loyalty just isn’t going to happen.

Effective loyalty programmes focus on the wants and needs of individual programme members, and then align them to the sales goals of the business (rather than the other way around).

Businesses that want to provide a...

Personalised marketing is hardly anything new. It’s been around for decades and marketers have long reaped the benefits.

However, the sheer number of digital channels that consumers are engaging with has increased dramatically over recent years.

As consumers incorporate technology into more aspects of their daily lives, they meander across channels and devices as needed. They seek answers, solutions, products, and entertainment. They express interests, intent, and preferences leaving a digital trail or...

Many recent technological advancements, which may have seemed outlandish even five years ago, have started to enter the mainstream.

Take fingerprint recognition on smartphones – an advancement which has come so far that now 64% of us would consider using it to access our bank accounts.

Yet for all the innovations that become part of our everyday lives, there are others – such as Google Glass and 3D TVs – which fail to make the same impact.

for all the innovations that become part of our everyday...

The entertainment award season is now in full swing; brands are embracing real-time marketing and gearing up for social war rooms. Marketers are increasingly realising the value of engaging with customers ‘in the moment’ as events unfold so they can be part of the conversation and ride relevant trends.

Timing is absolutely key and the availability of marketing tech tools and data has enabled marketers to make intelligent decisions around when it is best to activate content and reach audiences in...