Greetings, readers! In this week’s Mélange, we’ll talk about what may really be to blame for your underwhelming website customer experience, will learn tips for repurposing lead gen strategies into customer retention strategies, will discover the number one reason why CMOs don’t make the cut and will find out just how many marketers are doing a good job of sharing data insights with their organizations. And as always, if you have a news item or tip you want to share, please get in touch.
The surprising root of poor customer experience? Silos.
Your business has enough funding. You’ve got smart, talented people creating engaging content. You even have the luxury of outside consultants helping with website design. So why isn’t your website providing a better customer experience? According to Charles Chesnut in Business 2 Community, the problem may lie in your company’s organizational chart and the silos it creates.
Oftentimes, a business’ website is designed by committee, with different layers of approval and ownership and siloed business units that work on their own assets without communicating their strategies or goals to other teams—with the end result being a less-than-ideal experience for the customer. Read Chesnut’s piece for tips on how to overcome this very common situation.
Retain more customers by adapting lead gen strategies
Looking for ideas on boosting your customer retention? According to Kim Jamerson in MarTech Advisor, the answer may be as simple as tweaking a few of your most successful lead generation strategies.
For example, many marketers take advantage of automated email nurture campaigns to help move leads through the marketing funnel toward closing the sale. Jamerson suggests adapting that same nurturing strategy to meet the needs of your new customers, creating a series of welcome emails that introduce them to your team, highlighting the services you offer and the type of support available to them. By continuing to deliver relevant, personalized content, Jamerson contends, you’ll be reassuring your customers that they made a good choice and showing your commitment to their success. Check out her other tips here.
The top reason CMOs fail?
“Effective CMOs are business leaders with a marketing spike—not the other way around.” That’s the conclusion drawn by Thomas Barta in Forbes as he opines about the number one reason CMOs fail. The CMOs who will realize the biggest success, asserts Barta, are those who are able to align the business and the C-suite with customers and who see their marketing function as part of a much bigger whole. As Barta says, “When successful CMOs talk ‘growth’, they foremost mean the business, not the marketing department.”
Marketers should be more generous with their data
When it comes to sharing data, a recent survey by Qualtrics (reported by NetImperative) shows that marketers may want to be a little more generous with their knowledge. According to the survey, 46% of marketers only share customer insights, data and feedback with sales teams at most, once a month. And just 27% of marketers share feedback with the board or C-suite. For a business to truly succeed, it’s imperative that the entire organization—from the receptionist to the front line salespeople to the CEO—understands the customer’s needs and behavior and is able to deliver a seamless, high-quality experience. Read the rest of the survey results and Qualtrics assessment here.
###
Want to meet the Perkuto team in person *and* learn the ins-and-outs of Marketo? Sign up for the Marketing Nation Summit coming up from April 29 – May 2, 2018. And enjoy a discounted conference rate courtesy of all your friends here at Perkuto; register using promo code Perkuto300 and save $300.
