Commentary

The Sixth Sense That Will Change Customer Experiences Forever

Today’s “personalized” customer experiences are based on surface [shallow] level data -- what someone has bought in the past; their gender or family situation; their hometown. While this certainly helps to tailor experiences to some level, the biggest driver of what makes something personal and relevant has been neglected -- a person’s immediate context.

Context involves everything from a person’s physical situation (location, weather and traffic, etc.) and how fast or slow they are moving (in a car at 60 mph, walking down a street in a leisurely manner, etc.) to their intent and emotional state. Before the proliferation of smartphones, understanding a person’s real-time context was not possible. The growing number of sensors in our phones and other connected devices has since opened the door for brands to get a true glimpse into a person’s life. As a result, brands now have the power to engage with their customers in contextually relevant ways, tailoring interaction to their immediate situation.  

Pre-mobile, contextual marketing would not have even been necessary. What companies need to realize quickly, however, is that it no longer is a "nice to have." Real-time, contextual experiences are fast becoming a must-have to build lasting customer relationships. For generations, consumer expectations in how they interact with brands have essentially remained the same -- delayed, one-way, messaging for the masses -- and that worked with the available touchpoints. Mobile has completely changed this… and at a very accelerated rate. Consumers now expect to be able to have a personalized, situationally appropriate interaction with a brand whenever and wherever they need it -- and the brand is providing a utility or service -- not serving an ad -- that helps them with something they need right now or in the immediate future.

Below are a few examples of how context will be used to make experiences truly magical.

  • The Airline That Knows You Are Going To Be Late: Let’s face it -- traveling is not always a breeze, but if an airline could understand the pains you are suffering, they could get out in front of issues to enhance your experience. For example, if I am stuck in traffic my on way to the airport in a jam that will make me miss my flight, I will be automatically rebooked on the next available flight and receive a ticket directly to my phone. The airline’s systems have understood that I am not in the airport, so has checked current location, recognized my movement (or lack thereof), identified that there is a traffic backed up for 20 miles and predicted that I will therefore miss my flight to preemptively respond to a need of mine.
  • The Retailer That Ends the Aimless Search for A Gift: If I am meandering about in the women’s department of a store for more than a few minutes, a retailer would understand that I am likely looking for a gift for my wife, as tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. The brand could then make the experience better for me by pushing a few gift suggestions with an in-store locator to my phone. When I am passing the women’s section the following week, I would not get this same message, but instead an offer for those sunglasses that I have been eyeing. 
  • CPG that Keeps Symptoms At Bay: A OTC brand that contextualizes customer interactions would recognize that as someone who has an aversion when the pollen count is above 7 and has not purchased medicine this season, I need to be alerted of the conditions when I visit an outdoor-friendly town.  
  • A Fitness Brand Makes Sure You Don’t Overdo it:  Say I am a runner training for a 10K race and I track my training via a fitness app. Based on the understanding of my distance goal for today’s workout (5 miles), the current humidity (high) and temperature (80 degrees), a fitness brand would suggest a route (less hilly) and alert me about when I may need to slow down based on how I have performed in such conditions in the past (poor).
  • Your Grocery Store Ensures You Get Everything You Need:  I am not the primary food shopper in my family, but my wife has added items to a list that is saved within a grocery store’s app. As soon as I walk through the doors on a busy Saturday afternoon, the store would understand I probably don’t know my way around and want to get out of there as soon as possible. On my phone, I would receive the most efficient route to take to get everything I need based on real-time flow (I would be rerouted, for instance, when there’s a foot traffic jam in produce). Given what is on my list, the store would also infer the meal I am shopping for (BBQ) and suggest items I may be forgetting (Do you need buns?) or may want to add to my list (Corn on the cob pairs great with burgers!”).

Mobile does not lend itself to traditional brand interactions. The smaller screens and societal shift to one that is always-connected has ushered in the need for organic brand experiences that understand and anticipate a consumer’s context --reflecting both hard customer data and soft sensor data from the physical world. But a consumer's context can change instantly, making the window of opportunity for brands to engage fleeting. In a world with contextual expectations, being able to automate these interactions will be a marketer’s best friend.

 

 

 

2 comments about "The Sixth Sense That Will Change Customer Experiences Forever".
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  1. chris yates from huddle productions, July 3, 2014 at 11:47 a.m.

    USA Soccer did a fantastic job with this as well. They sent me a tweet thanking me for supporting the team and put my name on the USA Jersey!

    Great idea and guess what? I bought the jersey!

    http://instagram.com/p/p9vmCqQ5QT/

  2. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, July 3, 2014 at 5:21 p.m.

    This is spying and total invasion of privacy. "We are begging to be controlled." Lemmings.

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