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Gap Between Customer Expectations and Company Offerings Creates Crisis of Marketing Relevance
How relevant are you to your customers? Are you filling today’s needs, or are you chasing needs the customer had two years ago? How are you gathering information to personalize your offerings to customers? Is the data up to date? Are you anticipating customer needs based on current events? Are you planning for events that have yet to happen, but are likely to?
In a recent report titled, “The Human Paradox: From Customer Centricity to Life Centricity,” research group Accenture (News - Alert) found that 88 percent of business of executives believe that customers and employees are changing faster than they can change their businesses, which is leading to a crisis of relevance in marketing communications. At the same time, 61 percent of consumer said that their priorities keep changing because of external pressures.
“External factors — from economic to cultural, environmental and political — are affecting people more than ever before, making life more complicated and purchasing decisions more multi-faceted,” said Baiju Shah, chief strategy officer for Accenture Song. “There is a growing divide between what consumers need and value and what businesses offer, creating a relevance gap. We believe that companies can bridge this gap and herald significant growth by not focusing on promoting consumption, but in meaningfully contributing to customers’ lives.”
The report focuses on the gap between people’s expectations of what businesses should be providing and what businesses think their customers want.
The research also found that 67 percent of consumers said they expect companies to understand and address their changing needs during times of disruption. Yet oversimplifying segmentation and underestimating the impact of external pressures on behavior has led to this chasm between expectation and reality. To bridge the gap, businesses need to see their customers as they see themselves: multifaceted, complex, and doing their best to adapt to unpredictable life circumstances; and use that insight to meet customers’ evolving needs, according to Accenture analysts.
Edited by Greg Tavarez