I originally wrote today’s post for GetFeedback. It appeared on their site on July 25, 2020.
What customers are seeing and experiencing vs. what brands are saying can often be in conflict. The gap between Marketing and Customer Experience (CX) teams is largely responsible for that. In this article, I’ll pose some conversation starters to help bridge that gap and get everyone working together for the benefit of the customer – and, ultimately, the business.
In a 2016 Marketo study, 86% of CMOs and Marketing executives believed they would own the end-to-end customer experience by 2020. It’s 2020, and we know today that this has not occurred; as a matter of fact, we know that there continues to be a gap between these two groups within the organization.
According to the American Marketing Association, “marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” In simple terms, it is the action or business process of promoting and selling products or services, of creating exchange relationships.
In other words, traditionally, Marketing’s function has been to do what it takes to attract and to acquire customers; it’s never been about retention. Unfortunately, when brands focus more heavily on doing what it takes to bring new customers in the door, e.g., discounts, promotions, freebies, etc., they do different things and do things differently than when they focus on what it takes to keep the customer.
In the past, that work has been all about the 4Ps, i.e., product, price, place, and promotion. But marketing has evolved, and the Ps have evolved, as well, to include:
- People (employees, customers, vendors)
- Partnerships
- Promise
- Purpose
- Packaging
- Positioning
- Platform
- Process
- Physical evidence (touchpoints)
- Productivity (efficiency and quality)
- Planning
- Presentation
- Passion
- Perception
Peter Drucker defines marketing as “knowing and understanding the customer so well that the product or service fits him… and sells itself.” Knowing and understanding customers is not one of the 4Ps. So, you see, the Ps had to evolve. You can’t market your product without focusing on the people, the brand promise, and all of the other Ps in this list. What this list adds up to, ultimately, is all about the experience. Which means the natural progression for marketers is to work more closely with the CCO and the CX team to deliver a better experience from the moment the customer has a need and becomes aware of the brand!
There are nine conversation starters to help you bridge the gap between these two teams and get them working together toward a common cause, a better experience for the customer. Check out the rest of the article on GetFeedback’s site.
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. -Henry Ford
Annette Franz, CCXP is an internationally recognized customer experience thought leader, coach, speaker, and author. She recently published her first book, Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the “Customer” in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business); it’s available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats. Sign up for our newsletter for updates, insights, and other great content that you can use to up your CX game.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Read the original post here.
