Written by Jamshed Mughal, Sr Director Enterprise Strategy & Architect, Cheetah Digital
In the UK, CPG and FMCG brands — are all fortunate to have huge amounts of data at their disposal. However, sorting through what’s relevant and compliant and then unifying it into a single source of truth can be a mammoth task. Yet, it’s crucial for brands to succeed in a competitive environment where, according to Cheetah Digital’s 2022 Consumer Trends Index, consumers across the U.K. interact with a brand on multiple channels, oftentimes unpredictably.
In today’s digital-first landscape, consumers spend time on numerous channels, expect tightened privacy whilst also demanding better personalisation. It’s a lot for any brand to juggle. Yet, to be competitive, it’s essential they strike the right balance. And that balance begins with relationship marketing, which puts the customer at the heart of the strategy. That means truly delivering on their demand for authenticity, convenience and personalised experiences from the brands they do business with.
Create a single source of truth of the customer
Without a single customer view and real-time insights, organisations struggle to deliver the quality experiences that customers are looking for today. In fact, more than half (58%) of enterprise CX leaders agree that lacking a single view of the customer and customer journey is the number one challenge for effectively measuring customer experience. At the same time, 40% of data records contain inaccurate data — an unfortunate reality that many brands struggle with. Add to that, legacy systems, data residing in disparate silos, huge martech stacks, as well as numerous sub-brands and territories with unique KPIs and it’s clear, these brands are up against a litany of problems.
That’s why gaining a single view of the customer is so crucial. A single customer view enables brands to understand and better engage with customers by knowing who they are and what they are looking for. It acts as the single source of truth about customers and provides the ability to analyse past behaviour in order to better target and personalise future customer interactions. It’s quite simply an aggregated, consistent and holistic representation of all the data known by an organisation about its customers.
Meet and exceed customers’ new expectations
As digital consumers have evolved, the marketing they receive has not always levelled-up with them. While digital advertising budgets continue to increase year-on-year, exceeding 23.47 billion British pounds in 2021; more sophisticated targeting has not led to better experiences for consumers.
There are a myriad of reasons why digital advertising just isn’t clicking anymore, but fundamentally, the medium requires a broadcast approach and modern customers demand better. While some brands continue with the status quo of blindly squandering resources on an approach that yields a conversion rate lower than 0.1 per cent; brands like P&G are slashing ad spend altogether and turning to data-driven solutions.
Customers expect communications that show brands know more than just their name. Behaviours, attitudes and motivations have changed and will continue to do so. Any retailers or CPG/FMCG brands looking to create a truly engaging experience need to meet consumers in the right way at the right time in the right place. In the burgeoning age of D2C, brands need to make the customer experience as seamless as possible because consumers are in charge and if they encounter friction, they will shop elsewhere.
A company’s job is to deliver on these consumer expectations. The only way to do that is to maintain control of the customer experience from beginning to end of the sales cycle. By forging D2C relationships, CPG/FMCG brands can meet customer demands and build personal relationships with customers – the basis of relationship marketing – that help ensure future stability and longevity in a crowded industry.
Building relationships for the win
Building meaningful relationships is not about creating additional sales channels. The overarching goal is to put the consumer at the centre of the strategy, truly delivering on their demand for authenticity, convenience and personalised experiences from the brands they do business with.
Download Cheetah Digital’s guide to unlocking direct-to-consumer relationships in FMCG here.
About CM Group
CM Group offers a suite of world-class martech solutions that help marketers create and foster relationships with consumers across the entire customer lifecycle. CM Group now includes Campaign Monitor, Emma, Vuture, Liveclicker, Sailthru, Selligent and Cheetah Digital. By joining together these leading solutions, CM Group offers a variety of relationship marketing use cases that can be used by marketers at any level. Headquartered in Nashville, TN, CM Group has offices globally across the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Central America, as well as in Japan.
