With increasing emphasis on marketing’s role throughout the journey from awareness to satisfaction, customer relationship management firm Insightly recently released new insights into how businesses can keep pace with the evolving customer journey in 2022. The firm’s recent study asking over 450 business leaders to assess the top pain points for their sales and marketing operations showed that businesses are struggling to effectively manage the customer journey.
These leaders identified 3 key challenges: lack of customer data transparency, difficulty in building and maintaining integrations, and their struggle with a rapidly-evolving toolset. A separate Insightly survey of 500 business decision makers found that more than 4 in 10 say sales and marketing teams only connect on occasion/when necessary and nearly one in 10 say they don’t connect at all.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way customers interact with companies, and as a result, the customer journey, which was undergoing a pre-pandemic transformation, is now evolving at a much faster rate,” said Anthony Smith, CEO of Insightly, in a news release. “Businesses that want to build long-standing relationships with customers must ensure each touchpoint is fully integrated so that conversations are fruitful and connections are made. With Insightly’s unified approach, sales, marketing, project management and customer service are aligned to deliver a complete view of interactions across the entire buying experience to propel sales. In 2022, the customer journey revolution will take center stage for every department and every business.”
To help companies address the changing customer landscape and other challenges, Insightly’s leadership team compiled its top tips to help businesses succeed in the New Year:
Insight #1: “Sales is a team sport and all aspects of the process—from marketing to sales, to post-sale—need to be unified in order to deliver a white glove customer experience,” said David Osborne, Chief Sales Officer, in a news release. “In 2022, businesses will need to ensure the commitment of all departments to deliver on its promises to the customer and provide personalized, relevant content.”
Insight #2: “The relationship between the brand and customer, both B2B and B2C, has forever changed and as a result, the way businesses interact with them must follow suit,” said Chip House, Chief Marketing Officer, in the release. “Customers want to know the personality behind the brand and forge a relationship. They want interactions to feel human, not transactional. In 2022, businesses should focus on thoughtful, authentic content and the integration of sales and marketing should be seamless at every touchpoint to ensure a consistent, holistic experience for the customer.”
Insight #3: “With many companies forgoing office space and opting to go remote in 2022, a focus on team alignment will be critical,” said Karl Laughton, President and Chief Operating Officer, in the release. “Businesses must ensure they are well poised to accommodate challenges that will undoubtedly arise in remote settings. Beyond dispersed teams and disparate business applications, customer expectations are now higher than they ever have been before. It’s easier for customers to share feedback about their experiences and discover alternative products and services if expectations are not met. Bottom line: a world-class customer experience is not possible unless every touch point and team in the customer journey is aligned.”
Insight #4: “The Great Resignation is the number one issue for nearly every employer right now and brands must start thinking outside the box to differentiate themselves in this new norm of ‘hybrid’ and ‘work from home’ to keep and attract the best talent,” said Elena Doudoukalova, SVP of People Operations, in the release. “In 2022, businesses should focus on new methods of employee morale so that everyone feels supported from an emotional standpoint – constant two-way communication and feedback will be at the core of it all.”
