In an era of increased competition and ever-rising consumer power, where an array of digital platforms and devices rule, companies are using a plethora of technologies to get closer to their customers in order to drive brand awareness and loyalty.
And those customers, iPhones and Androids in hand, have growing expectations of their relationships with the brands they recognize and offer their loyalty to.
There is no doubt that technology innovations across the digital landscape have the potential to make customer relationships more seamless, connected, and personal. Compared to just a few years ago, companies have the opportunity to understand more about their customers and offer them more personalized, timely, and relevant experiences. Everything from data-driven loyalty programs, social media scoring and monitoring, and advanced analytics and marketing platforms, have begun to create new possibilities for true one-to-one relationships similar to those local shopkeepers of the past had with their neighborhood customers.
But technology isn’t the solution on its own for marketing’s “relationship” problems with consumers. In fact, it also poses a potential danger – if marketers choose to focus on the cost-saving possibilities of technology, or the ‘shiny’ new app or device, rather than what is truly best for their customers.
It is essential to remember that customers crave an experience not driven solely by technology. Providing the tailored experiences they seek will often still incorporate a human element that helps solve their problems in a better way.
It doesn’t take much to come up with tales of consumer technology woe. From automated customer service phone lines that foster frustration, to email marketing message overload, and privacy-challenged social networks. So, while consumer adoption of technology is at record levels, it is worthwhile asking some hard questions: Are new technologies really for the benefit of the customer? Have companies come too far in thinking they can abolish the human touch? Do companies really understand customer needs and know how to put the customer at the centre of their strategy to create memorable experiences that inspire long-term loyalty?
A brand’s use of technology and data must include a value exchange that rewards and recognizes customers, strengthens their loyalty and makes them brand advocates. There are five key ways marketers can do this:
- Customer Collaboration: Customer feedback is key when it comes to striking the right balance between technology and the human touch. It will take time to learn what your customers consider appropriate and what they will tolerate when it comes to things like customer service, sales messaging, loyalty communications, data gathering, and social sharing. But you can work with your customers to figure it out and make it a collaborative process. Directly asking your customer what they want is a great start. For example, the Aeroplan program has a long standing community of approximately 90,000 Aeroplan Members called Aeroplan Advisors. These members provide feedback through online surveys to help shape the future of the program and strengthen member relationships with the program’s partner brands. In exchange for their information, they receive Aeroplan Miles.
- Experience Control: It is important to give customers the control they want and the experience they seek. There are new technological innovations emerging all the time. Google Glass is on the market. Amazon is talking about implementing drone deliveries down the line and both predicting and shipping your order before you actually even place it online. Location-based marketing is getting more narrowly pinpointed all the time. But does that mean you should be implementing all of the newest technology available? Of course not. Any new technology you adopt should align with your long-term strategy of building real relationships with your customers and this really has to be provided on their terms. Integrating technology and the human touch must be done thoughtfully and over time.
- Generational Relevance: It is imperative to provide options. Not everyone is going to be comfortable using their mobile app to engage in a dialogue with a brand. Some of us prefer to do things online; some prefer to speak to an actual person. Your customers don’t all look alike, so don’t treat them like they do. Taking generational preferences into consideration is a critical factor. Unless you’re zeroing in on a digital savvy audience, be careful not to alienate some of your best customers by taking a ‘there’s an app for that’ approach. Vice versa, not leveraging technology to reach those who prefer online and mobile channels would be just as detrimental. For example, having just launched the TD Aeroplan credit card in 2014, and understanding this transition year would be one where they needed to reach every customer, TD Bank and Aeroplan jointly launched the TD Aeroplan Community Forum. The Forum provides an electronic channel for customers to communicate with other TD customers as well as directly with TD and Aeroplan representatives. Knowing that not all customers were going to visit a branch or call their contact centres with questions or comments, the teams created this forum as another channel for customer dialogue. By hosting the forum, the companies were able to monitor, escalate and address specific customer issues, similar to a branch or call centre. On an ongoing basis, the forum will provide robust content and honest, straight forward advice from community members and moderators on how to get the most out of the Aeroplan program and the TD Aeroplan credit card.
- Complexity Factor: Every channel is different, every experience is personal and every need will have varying levels of complexity. It’s important to look at customer journeys and the purpose of each channel (e.g. why are they engaging with you, what’s their path to purchase, and what are they trying to do on Path A vs. Path B). Technology gives us the ability to collect a unified view of the customer in a more multi-dimensional way through data insights, stated channel preferences or additional attributes you’ve captured over time in their profile to help make sure the right experience is delivered.
- Organizational Responsibility: Delivering a great product or service is not enough – creating a positively memorable consumer experience is where the sustainable competitive advantage lies. A good place to start is with employees. Research indicates that a highly engaged employee will, more often than not, lead to a highly engaged customer. They bend over backwards for the company and its customers. It’s more of a team effort with a focus on how to best serve the customer and go the extra mile. As such, harnessing the power of technology to improve business efficiencies while holding customer centricity at the heart of every interaction ensures frontline employees have the tools in place to best serve the customer.
The biggest challenge in making sure the human element is integrated into our digital world is getting that tricky balance between the technology factor and human factor right. Certainly, brands want to make their businesses efficient, but they must also strive to make the customer experience better. Those two elements are not typically interchangeable, particularly in service-based industries.
There are dozens of successful examples of technology done right to the benefit of the customer: airlines that enable online check-ins; mobile loyalty programs that make earning points simple and easy; retailer apps that help shoppers get their errands done quickly. But it’s not enough. Brands must continue to offer human interaction and personal attention at some level, even if it is integrated with technology to make it possible on a larger scale.
We always need to ensure that we use technology to do things for and with our customers, not to them. And that requires a human connection. The smart, data-driven possibilities that technology provides, combined with a thoughtful human side, will strike the balance that drives brands towards building real and lasting relationships with their most valued customers.
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About Aimia
Aimia, a global leader in loyalty management, has proven expertise in launching and managing coalition loyalty programs, like Aeroplan, delivering proprietary loyalty services, creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the emerging digital, mobile and social communications spaces. For more information, please visit: aimia.com.
