#LastMileDigital – Consumer experience is the new marketing strategy : Abhinav Jain ATechnos

Last quarter I happen to travel for business to a tier 2 city in India. As I asked for some restaurant recommendations, so many of our teammates recommended going to a specific restaurant. I wondered and ask, what’s so special about this restaurant? Thinking the food must be so delicious, I was surprised that most of the people said it’s not just the food it’s their amazing service which will bring your eating experience to the next level. So I looked up this restaurant online and to my surprise, many of the comments were related to their amazing service. While I am thinking how is it possible that people rate a restaurant more on the service than the food, it makes a perfect example of how you can integrate consumer experience in your marketing strategy.

Here is how Gartner defines consumer experience – “the customer’s perceptions and related feelings caused by the one-off and cumulative effect of interactions with a supplier’s employees, systems, channels or products.” Interesting isn’t it?  So, when you are interacting with any brand via any channel, consumer experience is involved. And eventually, consumer experience defines your perception about the brand and if this experience is more relevant to your marketing strategy, that’s even more engaging and persuading for the end customers.

Over the last decade, brands have started developing a strong relationship between the Consumer Experience and Marketing, however, it was primarily physical like purchase experience or service experience. Now with the age of digital, it is even more complicated and important to understand that a consumer can also interact with the brand not just physically but also digitally, not just at purchase but also at the exposure. And brands need to make sure that consumer experience is synchronized across all modalities and should be tied up with their marketing strategy.

Think of the below application example from Napolact, which brings a beautiful experience of squeezing milk from the cow digitally at an exposure/sampling event. The audience is left amazed when they interact with it digitally and as results were offered as a sample of the milk. The campaign received a great response and made half of the Romanian Facebook universe go gung-ho about it. YouTube Link:  https://youtu.be/VCV9zKC-FmY

Nowadays many of your consumers are digitally active and interacting with the brand via all possible channels. This is very different from some years ago when consumer experience was only physical. It is very much important that their experience with the brand is seamless and soothing on all possible channels that it leaves an amazing print on this mind about it.

Now as a marketer or a brand manager, it is also your responsibility to understand how your marketing strategy empowers your consumer experience. Are there any opportunities where you can use consumer experience as your marketing strategy or think beyond, are there any correlations that you can drive?

Positive customer experience is always a win-win as it will result in making your customer happy, plus it may lead to additional revenue. Marketing can bring you a new customer, however when your customer refers you to others or brings a new customer that’s like Nirvana.

Advertising is changing as digital ecosystem influences the thinking of a consumer and its lifestyle. In my column, “#LastMileDigital” I explore the intersection of the latest digital-tech, advertising and everything around. I share insights on the latest digital trends, innovative campaigns and conversations from the Innovation and data-driven digital leaders across the planet.

Internationally acclaimed advertising and analytics enthusiast, data-driven digital strategist, Abhinav has worked across countries with data and analytics-driven companies such as SAP, Dell, Citrix and led consumer behaviour focused data and marketing teams of JetBlue, PlaceIQ, OnDeck. Currently, he is Managing Director and Cofounder of ATechnos (www.atechnos.com), a 2012 established innovative digital consulting think-tank based out of Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore. He is also well known in the industry as a rural digital specialist and strategist.

Follow Abhinav on twitter @aj_atechnos or LinkedIn – www.atechnos.com/aj

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