#CPTransform17 is in the books!
When I was young, I was always fascinated by the lore of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable. For those who don’t remember, these were the best knights in King Arthur’s kingdom. They were called the Knights of the Roundtable because the knights who sat around this special table were seen as trustworthy and equal.
Taking a cue from King Arthur, Customer Portfolios (CP) hosted our inaugural Marketer Roundtable last week, attended by 20 marketing visionaries from a broad set of industries including retail, banking, insurance, travel, and oil/gas.
It was an engaging and enlightening day in which marketers shared thoughts and approaches around challenges that are facing them today.
I was excited to kick off the day with a Coffee Talk by Judy Gern of Agile Chief Marketer. We talked about the martech stack, its convergence with adtech, and the contribution of process and people in driving business growth. I can’t wait to see more great things from Agile Chief Marketer.
Following a morning of thought-providing presentations and discussion led by CP experts, we left the afternoon content up to our attendees. Roundtable discussions centered around key topics on everyone’s minds: driving loyalty, getting and using data across all channels including in-store, and managing diverse talents, to name a few.
Here are 4 key learnings from #CPTransform17 that stuck with me:
Loyalty remains a mystery. Still. Loyalty programs we love had clear guidelines with low/no cost, were easy to use, were strong on personalization and relevant messaging, and gave customers a feeling of being important. Airline programs, traditionally the most widely subscribed to among consumers, were incredibly low on the love list given constant changes, feelings of anonymity and increasing difficulty to achieve benefits. So, where does one start with Loyalty and how do we know when we get there? Well, for starters, CP put a stake in the ground and defined loyalty. Loyalty is the tipping point at which a customer is more likely than not to transact. I.e., when predictive models show a customer is 50% or more likely to transact, they are considered ‘loyal.’ Channel a little Covey and start with the end in mind.
Banking & Insurance are quickly evolving. There is much room for disruption and the time is now. Once seen as businesses for the masses, banks and insurance companies are now putting customers at the center. These companies are applying learnings and best practices from other verticals toward transforming and disrupting their industries. As one attendee put it, “We’re trying to make dental insurance sexy.”
Mobile and in-store data are lagging. Given mobile data is one of the more recent channel additions to the data landscape, this is not necessarily a surprise. However, companies are still struggling to tie brick & mortar data (POS, tokenized credit cards) back to the customer profile, and are challenged with making rich customer data available to the in-store associate in a seamless way. Integrating legacy systems with digital channels is paramount to improving and aligning the overall customer experience.
Mid-brain marketing organizations are elusive. Balancing art vs. science tends to be a challenge across all marketing organizations. Typically left-brain analytical types kick off projects, while the work of the right-brain creatives gets compressed as deadlines approach. Communication gaps are common and dangerous. An effective, true mid-brain marketing organization should kickoff with both left and right brain experts in the room, and keep them working in unison through launch.
Our first #CPTransform17 is in the books, and I’m looking forward to more. Stay tuned for future events at http://info.customerportfolios.com/events.
