When reading is the name of the game, your folks at Blink are always on the look out. We are running an internal group called Take a Moment to Blink and share daily posts from audiobooks, videos, memes, and articles about customer experience using Slack. Goal is to inspire our team to learn more about this subject. Over the week, one article really captured our attention. The CEO of Adobe, Shantanu Narayen, took the Adobe Summit stage last 2018 and delivered a compelling message about customer experiences. Our team thinks this is worth your while, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the article.
He started with a simple question, “Do you remember the last vacation you took?” and immediately shared his story on seeing Hamilton and how that experience still brings a smile to his face. “When customers look at all of the experiences that stand out to them, of course they remember some of the details. But it’s usually the sum of the experience that stays with them and builds affinity. These experiences in their entirety influence where consumers spend money and time and who they give our loyalty to”, Narayen added.
He also stated the great relativity of delivering good experience to capture the hearts and minds of consumers. “Think of NFL fans, the majority probably never go to a game, but they are loyal to their teams and consume massive amounts of content online about their favorite players. Today, people buy experiences, not products, Narayen said. Products [aren’t the main] differentiator anymore. Instead, companies are competing for the hearts and minds of all customers and should aim to exceed their expectations during every point of the journey.”
Narayen also challenged businesses to change the way they generate growth by saying:
“Think as if you are a subscription model, where people can cancel or grow their subscriptions with every click.”
The general idea of “firsts” stick and change the way consumers interact or communicate with businesses should not be a game of chance. Our team agrees with Narayen when he said, “Organizations have to break through the noise and speak to the customer to make a lasting impression. To do that, companies need to design for brilliance, rewire the entire organization for intelligence, and create an architecture for action. The latter will enable them to deliver customer experiences across all channels, break down silos, and rip out the costly “duct tape” that is holding so many back. It’s a tough challenge to master, one that takes multiple years of investment but is worth the effort.”
The Adobe CEO was joined by Adobe’s EVP and GM of digital experience, Brad Rencher who challenged businesses to “make experience your business.”
“Making experience your business is good for business,” said Rencher, who had the stats to prove it. According to a study by Adobe, in partnership with Forrester Research, businesses that have made that commitment have 1.6x higher brand awareness, 1.5x higher employee satisfaction, 1.9x higher average order value, 1.7x higher customer retention, 1.9x return on spend, and 1.6x higher customer satisfaction rates.
“Modern consumers are everywhere: on mobile, social, and in your store,” Rencher said. “The experience business wave requires a new system of record to unify the enterprise. In fact, it requires a purpose-built tech that can manage and make sense of data and content. [We’re calling this] an experience system of record. It is the center of gravity within the organization.”
Rencher threw an iconic line during the conference which served as a wakeup call to all the businesses:
“We need to be customer-obsessed, not customer- centric.”
Rencher then introduced John O’Sullivan, managing director of Tourism Australia, which highlighted the importance of technology in understanding their consumers and analytics and they are using those insights to make better decisions.
David Godsman, Coca-Cola’s chief digital officer, also stated that “[Today] we are facing a new digital world, and it is somewhat unknown to us, we need to learn more about our consumers, understand them, and personalize at scale. It’s a world where we need to bridge the physical and digital worlds together.”
Godsman added, “Digital does two things it enables unified experiences, regardless of language or where [people] are in world. Digital also enables them to participate and co-create the experiences we bring to market. Our consumers are experience makers, and we see our future as a company that is co-creating with our consumers. We know that if we go hand-in-hand with them into the future, we will win their hearts and minds and earn the right to be part of their daily lives and help them to be more successful.”
To close, Adobe’s CEO highlighted the role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in completely transforming enterprises and ended with “We are entering an AI-powered world,”
Blink is a customer experience company that helps enterprises and businesses generate the most compelling, technology-driven, and delightful customer experience for their customers.
We do this by helping business leaders to make data-driven, decisions, convert those decisions into meaningful actions, and help them keep and win more brand advocates.
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