Five years have passed since the release of “Marketing 4.0,” which also triggered the birth of transcosmos’ (hereafter referred to as “our company”) “5A Loyalty Diagnosis” service. The latest book in the series, “Marketing 5.0,” was released in Japanese on April 20, 2022. Marketing 5.0 discusses generational and social challenges in the digital society and new tactics for utilizing marketing technology. In this series of articles, we will provide a chapter-by-chapter overview in an easy-to-understand manner.
In Part 7, we summarize the “new customer experience”.
Contents
Reviewing the customer experience in the digital world.
The first example in this chapter is ”Henn Na Hotel” (Weird Hotel), which opened in Japan in 2015. As you may have used before, it is the world’s first robot hotel, and as of 2022, it has 20 hotels throughout Japan and is expanding overseas. The new strategy was to have robots greet guests at the front desk, robot trolleys carry their luggage to their rooms, and cleaning robots clean the rooms. While this reduced labor costs, it also exposed the robots to various problems they could create, such as waking up sleeping guests. This is a case in point that the strategy of replacing all touch points with machines is not the best one. Kotler states that combining both as “Machines Are Cool but Humans Are Warm” will result in a better customer experience (CX). When you shop, you probably unconsciously combine online and offline shopping. First, they research prices and reviews on the Internet and then go to the store to actually try on the items. The reverse is also true: most customers use both online and offline channels to conduct their research and actions.
CX is the key to competing in today’s increasingly commoditized world, as we have seen in previous articles. Great CX is an effective way to build customer loyalty and create value unaffected by price.
Keep an eye on touchpoints.
The concept of CX is not meant to be narrow in scope, only at the point of purchase or customer service. It is an experience that begins long before a customer purchases a product and continues long after the purchase. The new customer journey proposed in Marketing 4.0, the 5A’s touchpoints, allows us to follow this path.
5A is a customer journey that has changed the standard for measuring customer loyalty to “advocate”. With the rapid development of the Internet and social networking, customers are experiencing difficulty in making choices and decisions as they are inundated with more content and information than ever before. As a result, they rely on the advice of friends, family, influencers, and other trusted individuals. Eventually, customers develop loyalty to a particular brand and express their own recommendations to other companies. Companies need to carefully design every touchpoint of the 5As to get customers to recommend them.
Leveraging Next Technology for the New CX
We need to have a working knowledge of the touch points in the 5A customer journey to enhance our marketing efforts. The marketing technology most often used by marketers is called “martech”, and there are seven common examples.
Advertisement
We are probably seeing more and more of them on the social networking sites and video sites that we usually see. Targeting is based on viewing history and other factors so that customers do not find it bothersome.
Content Marketing
The content is considered not as intrusive as advertising and is published with a mix of entertainment, education and stimulation. This is a technique that is attracting attention as many companies are implementing dynamic content analysis tools.
Direct Marketing
As the name suggests, this is a more targeted tactic. Send information about products and services to individuals through e-mail newsletters and other means.
Sales CRM
Many companies may have implemented or are considering customer relationship management technology. The ability to automate some of the management of prospective customers can lead to significant cost savings for the sales department.
Distribution Channel
Technology is also being used to enhance distribution channels after a global coronary outbreak. Amid the call for social distance, customer service robots were welcomed.
Products & Services
Martech not only engages with customers but also helps to strengthen the products and services themselves. The fact that companies offer customization and personalization options is one example.
Service CRM
CRM is not only for sales but also for help desk and other customer questions. Chatbot functionality is used in a variety of settings, including websites and social networking sites.
The use of advanced technology is essential to create an inspiring CX at every touch point from awareness to recommendation. It is also important not only to implement technology, but also to use the reduced costs to improve efficiency, and to focus on the work that humans cannot do with machines: building heartfelt connections with customers.