In a recent study by Forbes Insights and The Trade Desk, 42% of CMOs identified customer experience as one of their top three challenges, and 36% said improving customer experience is their primary mandate for 2019. Today’s marketers are faced with fragmented media consumption habits, marketing-savvy consumers, and social and political divides at every turn. So, brands have much to gain by strategically balancing their focus (and budget) between customer acquisition and customer retention. Marketing efforts historically focused on identifying and targeting new customers to draw them into the sales funnel. But shifts in today’s consumer marketplace are forcing an expanded focus that includes customer retention, often driven by managing the customer experience. It’s commonly understood that acquiring a new customer is five times more costly than keeping one, and increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase profits from 25% to 95%. The question becomes, how do marketers “own” the customer experience? Here are three considerations.
