Beyond the SCV: how to crack the changing code for customer engagement

For marketers, the seed of smart data-driven marketing is already germinating: it’s critical, right now. Everything points to this; the proliferation of ways we can reach customers, a shift in customer behaviour, and the subsequent digital transformation of brands and their services over the past decade.

All the audible voices in the world of marketing applaud the arrival of the Single Customer View (SCV). What better for understanding the motivations and inclinations of every single customer, at scale? From their preferred channel for browsing and booking, to next-best purchase recommendations based on transactional history and brand relations, understanding individuals across the growing online, and offline landscape is a must.

But analysis needs actions, and Econsultancy research this year shows that this is something marketers are missing: only 20% of marketers this year have created an actionable SCV. Only 20% can unite every data source, understand the bigger picture, - and then get meaningful, one-to-one dialogue off the ground, for the right message, in the right place, at the right time.

To become truly customer-centric, there are some methodical steps which can be taken to begin the journey; from owning customer data and knowing what to measure, to breaking down organisational barriers between departments and beginning a new shared field of vision.

So which brands are getting it right, and how can we make sure this is the new normal?

We need to know what really motivates customers. We also need real, first-hand stories, from other businesses, on how to activate customer data from the ground up, to start providing outreach which is less scattergun, and more focused.

Christiaan van der Waal, Global Head of Digital Marketing at express delivery company TNT has one such anecdote to share. With the international company only beginning its digital transformation in 2015, the road to personalisation and customer-centricity has been a bumpy one, filled with valuable lessons and transferable success stories.

Christiaan will be joined by many others in sharing their real examples and groundbreaking research on how to engage with a new world of customers, during this year's DMA Customer Engagement campaign.

Now, we need not only to respond to change, but to embrace it fully; let’s see how customer engagement is really done.