This is the last exit on the road before the so-called main identifier of the digital world would be blocked out completely, i.e., 3rd party cookies. Google announced that it will start to test waters with randomly disabling them for 1% of users (~30 million) as close as by January 2024. The only plan left for any company/brand now is to gain control of their own data and audiences, rather than being captive and bet all they have into some global advertising players’ walled gardens with limited visibility of what is achieved with the spend. Hence, it is time to start your own “BrandID 2.0”.
Until now, many companies nurtured their own CRM systems and recorded all customer transactions under a single identifier. As the number of communications channels and technology systems employed started to increase over the years, many conversations were left on the channel or system it was made with a loose connection to the overall customer CRM identifier. To give some examples,
All these remain in their own pools without any logical connection in between these signals to create any meaningful insights about what the customer wants and when.
So, if we call CRM identifiers as the initial brand identifier, the new era requires BrandID 2.0, unifying all anonymous signals with the good old CRM (known) records, even for the first-time visitors and also for the anonymous visits of our existing customers.
The only way to realize this vision is through the selection of a “true/real CDP” (Customer Data Platform), where it is an open system that employs an out-of-the-box ID Graph for the brand to be able to build up its BrandID. Nowadays, many platforms which keep customer records may call themselves a CDP, although they may have limited capabilities to collect and unify many digital and offline signals whether these are known or anonymous behaviors. On the other hand, a “true/real CDP” enables a company to develop its own unified identifier, i.e. BrandID 2.0. Wİth a properly built up BrandID 2.0, customer journeys will be much smoother, behavioral signals data would be streamed between online and offline channels, unifying all customer actions under a single identifier to track in the long-term. If you want to get into know “how”, click here to set up a short call with a Labrys consultant.
Hyper-personalization has been a key topic for marketers for the last few years. But there is a huge question on how to meet personalization expectations of consumers in the era of privacy! With the demise of third-party cookies, it is much tougher for marketers to personalize anonymous experiences in digital. On the other hand, many consumers prefer to subscribe to paid/premium services in order to avoid ads or they use ad blockers in an increasing fashion.
So, the only method for companies/brands to create contented & fulfilled experiences under privacy is to build up BrandID 2.0 (link to previous trend) and construct a first-party data infrastructure, while getting consent for all communications. Once consent is in place, the first-party infrastructure will enable the brand to collect any signals, whether it is anonymous or transactional (known) and personalize any interaction with the customer in the channel of her/his choice, whether it is online or offline. This will include suppressing ad messages if the customer has an open complaint raised in contact center, or convert digital experiences into physical visits, etc.
Although this requires a massive mindset shift, brands also need to start investing in Customer Data Platforms (CDP) to make such a privacy-focused personalization come true regardless of the channel. Building up BrandID 2.0 practically unifies all customer data in a single view for the long term and hence enables the brand to collect and unify many digital and offline signals whether these are known or anonymous behaviors.
If you’re interested in a deep dive discussion on hyper-personalization in the era of privacy, click here to set up a short call with a Labrys consultant.
Generative AI (Gen AI) is 2023’s most talked keyword. Everyone was fascinated with the new capabilities it introduced. The debate is not whether it is something that might be utilized in business context or not, but “how” is the main question. So, 2024 will be the year when we explore and find out how we may productively use it in our business to create efficiencies and/or positive business results.
Many Gen AI tools have shown off their capabilities in terms of content creation, i.e., text, audio and visuals. So, it seems like a logical practice to start incorporating these tools in a brand’s AdTech & MarTech processes so that more personalized and to the point messages are delivered at the right time to the right audience. Because for the new generation marketer, two things will definitely create value:
Imagine personalized ad creatives or video campaigns generated on-the-fly by AI. Gen AI will transform creative development, offering dynamic ads tailored to individual users and boosting efficiency. Combined with dynamic creative optimization techniques, response rates have the potential to skyrocket in this attention economy.
Gone are the days of rigid, monolithic marketing platforms. 2024 will see a rise in “composable” technology, where marketers can assemble best-of-breed tools from different vendors into a flexible, adaptable stack. Many people interacted with Lego at younger ages. A composable tech stack is a very similar approach, i.e., putting essential building blocks together for a revised technology architecture to create better business results. Companies must start assessing which toolsets work for them and which do not. Then, changing existing bulky technology tools who claim to do everything (which actually does not) would be a kick-start as well as beginning to investigate the missing pieces. An open platform that helps you complete an important task shall be integrated into your mainstream easily and you shall be ready to do so anytime from a technological infrastructure standpoint.
In order to achieve such flexibility, companies need to figure out all data sources, not only data warehouse or CRM related transactional sources, but also digital footprints and digital event-based ones as well. Once this is complete, it would be important to design a technology architecture and strategy on how to achieve that picture, keeping in mind that all this data and activation need to be fluid, meaning that all digital actions could be utilized in non-digital platforms or vice versa.
Therefore, in 2024, it will not be enough to optimize work in silos or digitize channel by channel, but on the other hand, a real omnichannel approach is required, where a customer may continue his/her experience in any channel of their choice even though they left the process in another channel. A composable tech stack may help companies to design, execute and prioritize this strategy.
What’s more, some new themes would also be needed to realize this strategy: Incorporating GenAI in existing processes, implementing customer data platforms (CDPs) to unify customer data and activate them in an omnichannel approach, combining online & offline, cloud transition of various business applications, low-code ETL tools to utilize and process data in a faster fashion and especially enhanced BI & Analytics tools, etc. would be on the table to discuss in 2024. What’s more, data residency sensitivity all over the world will also contribute to this plan, while assessing pros and cons of cloud vs. private cloud vs. on-premises solutions.
Marketers shall never back-off from these discussions and must be able to contribute to this strategic decision-making process in 2024, especially on defining what customer data is for the company/brand and how customer data will be collected, processed and activated to deliver brand promise.
If you’re interested in a deep dive discussion on composable tech stacks and how you can redefine data for your company and brand, click here to set up a short call with a Labrys consultant.
Data-driven CX has been the talk of town for some time now. Labrys would like to introduce a crucial sub-topic on this issue, being the “sentiment driven CX”. Wherever customer experience is concerned, there are many channels that brands/companies interact with the existing and potential customers, social media and contact centers (including chatbots) being two of the channels where a major number of interactions take place. Tracking all conversations in these channels, while understanding the sentiment and tone of it, is a crucial task for marketers to enhance the experience.
Below are the essential tasks for a proper sentiment driven CX which is guided by data:
Turning sentiment driven inputs and data into insights shall be the final task to improve your customer journeys and proactively solve customer issues. This approach would probably lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as reduced churn and enable brands to create individualized/personalized experiences.
If you’re interested in a deep dive discussion on sentiment driven CX and how you can design a roadmap for your company and brand, click here to set up a short call with a Labrys consultant.
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