Love it or loathe it, the internet has become an inextricable part of our daily lives, opening up endless possibilities and completely revolutionising every imaginable aspect of society.
Every commercial sector, from farming to marketing, has been supercharged over the last 25 years. How then, in a world of apparently limitless options, do businesses make their mark on the market? In some ways, it is still very simple – by treating the customer better than your competitors.
As a result, marketing platforms like Iterable have become increasingly relevant, giving brands access to the tools needed to succeed in an overwhelmingly competitive, hyper-connected marketplace.
Iterable’s vice-president of sales and general manager EMEA Mike McGuire explains how brands can truly differentiate themselves by giving their customers unique and genuinely enjoyable experiences.
READ MORE: Two-thirds of UK brands are ‘under-utilising’ marketing data
“Trust comes in like a tortoise and it leaves like a hare.”
Building a strong rapport with the consumer is key to any brand’s success in the online sphere and with thousands of other businesses to choose from, a brand needs to truly differentiate itself. One way to do this is by operating via strong core values and demonstrating ethical usage of a customer’s data.
As McGuire points out, this is much easier said than done: “There’s a saying that trust comes in like a tortoise and it leaves like a hare. What makes Iterable standout is we’re a values-driven business.
“Consumers are more willing than ever to change brands, and the biggest motivator for a consumer to change brands is customer experience. We have an obligation when it comes to data that we source it ethically, and that we use it in a way that is personalised, but not over the top.”
This is, in many ways, why GDPR has become a cornerstone of how businesses operate online for the past four years. Customers want control over their own data and allowing them to interact with businesses while retaining that control will ensure their continued loyalty: the consumer holds all the cards.
“GDPR is something we invest very heavily in because ultimately, our customer’s data is incredibly important to them and very important to us,” McGuire continues.
“What we expect is to be treated as an individual rather than a number. Often people talk about the B2C environment, but I think we’ve moved past B2C, it’s B2me.”
READ MORE: Acxiom’s EVP Mike Menzer on consumer trust and data chaos
“Personalisation is the bedrock of any engagement.”
Once brands have been able to build up a good level of trust with the consumer, they need retain them in the face of fierce competition.
Two ways in which this can be achieved are personalisation and authenticity, as McGuire explains: “Personalisation is the bedrock of any engagement, because in personalisation, it’s demonstrating to somebody that you know them, that you’ve learned through your interactions.
“The other part is authenticity, because what it can often come across as if it’s used in the incorrect way is as a desire of just getting you to spend money. How brands can be very persuasive is by being highly personalised, but authentic in all of their interactions.”
Developing new technologies such as AI allows marketing platforms such as Iterable to give companies the chance to offer more and more hyper-personalised experiences to their customers.
“We see AI in the power of recommendation and personalisation. AI is empowering companies and giving them a platform to make recommendations which are entirely unique to the individual.
“What AI allows us to do is to create that seamless experience that’s tailored entirely towards the customer, their wants, their desires and their needs.”
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“It’s our obligation to make sure that we’re gathering data in a respectful way.”
In an ever connected world, firms like Iterable and the brands it works with need to navigate a fine line between good personalisation and respecting consumer privacy.
Many users may have been put off by negative experiences in the past, and McGuire makes it clear – Iterable always puts users first: “It’s our obligation as a company to make sure that we’re gathering data in a respectful way, that we’re informing our customers and our customer’s customers, how data is being collected and how it will be used.
“I think most of the concern has come from when somebody’s dealt with a brand or been in an engagement where they felt their data was improperly used.”
Most importantly, customers must feel that an interaction has been valuable – if a brand creates value through its relationship with a customer, trust and loyalty will be retained.
“If a consumer feels they’re getting value out of the engagement, and their data is being used in a respectful way to create personalised content, there’s rarely an objection, particularly if they’ve been informed in what way their data is being collected,” McGuire adds.
“What consumers didn’t like was being tracked anonymously, with all of this data was being gathered and with questions over where’s it being stored or what it’s being used for.”
READ MORE: DMA to support new government data privacy reforms
“The intrinsic relationship between our customer and ourselves is a true partnership.”
Personalisation is not just for consumers – Iterable has a dedicated customer success manager for each account, which allows it to tie quarterly business reviews into the customer’s goals, focusing on any metrics they are driving towards.
Consequently, it is Iterable’s application of its wider values of building trustworthy, valuable relationships in its interactions with its clients that enables the company to develop a deep rapport with them: “We find that if we focus on that intrinsic relationship between our customer and ourselves, we achieve a true partnership, rather than a typical and vendor and customer relationship,” McGuire adds.
“It’s those relationships that have helped us to form some of the highest retention rates in the business, and some of the best metrics that exist in our industry.”
McGuire also enthuses about Iterable’s ability to help firms shake up and disrupt marketplaces, which for him personally is a highly motivating proposition: “I just really love marketing, I love being in a disruptive space.
“I speak to CMOs all week who are leading these disruptive bands or reigniting a brand that’s existed for over 100 years. Every day is more exciting, and that’s why I love this space.”
Essentially, this is how martech firms are allowing businesses of all shapes and sizes to exploit this rapidly evolving digital age. By creating a truly level playing field.
Undoubtedly, the advent of the internet has changed marketing beyond recognition in the last quarter century, but it has also opened up myriad opportunities which might have seemed unattainable even a decade ago.
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