It is the mantra of all marketing professionals and the reason they get up and go to work each day: to build the greatest customer journeys they can. This is naturally easier said than done; depending on where your organisation is on its path you may have to knock down a series of silos before you can embark on the path of building seamless customer experiences.
Yet a new report argues this process is going slower than many organisations would want. The study is from application network platform provider MuleSoft, who argue that ‘organisations must deliver the connected experiences consumers expect or risk losing their loyalty and business.’
The research, which polled more than 9,000 consumers across seven countries, found more than four in five (82%) respondents had seen a disconnected experience across either banking, insurance, retail, healthcare, or the public sector. Almost three quarters (72%) of those polled added they would move to a different service provider following a poor experience.
A key part of these experiences is data sharing – and who should get what. Not surprisingly, those in the millennial and generation Z bracket would be more comfortable with providers to share relevant personal information with trusted partners for a greater personalised experience. Yet more than half (53%) of respondents overall said they had become more wary around sharing personal data over the past 12 months. As a result, four in five of those polled said out of date or inaccurate data would make them more likely to shop with an alternative retailer in future.
MuleSoft notes the importance of what it calls the ‘coherence economy.’ Compared with the experience economy, the concept of coherence is one with which younger consumers are becoming increasingly familiar: using more than one service provider across the one experience. The company said organisations ‘need to develop strategies to collaborate with partners in a digital ecosystem and orchestrate personalised experiences for consumers.’
However, cost remains by a distance the biggest factor when it comes to determining retail customer loyalty. This was cited by 63% of respondents, compared with 41% for accuracy and real-time information, 40% for in-store customer experience, and 36% for consistent experiences across channels.
It is the latter which is of particular interest to MuleSoft – perhaps not surprisingly, given the Salesforce-owned company’s expertise in connecting software as a service (SaaS) applications. “Globally, consumers are feeling the effects of data silos that create disconnected experiences,” said Simon Parmett, MuleSoft CEO in a statement. “To meet consumer expectations, organisations must integrate disparate data sources to better understand their customers and make every touchpoint and opportunity to earn loyalty and add value.”
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