Next week, May 3 – 7, Blueshift, creator of the SmartHub CDP, will be hosting its Engage21 Conference, with customer engagement and experience as the two of the central themes as consumer preferences and habits remain in a state of flux.
“There’s an increasing desire on the part of marketers to start understanding customers through the lens of data, about the customer experience that they’re having. For the first time that data is digitized and available at scale,” says Vijay Chittoor CEO of Blueshift.
“Marketers are being challenged on ‘how do you get more plugged into the customer experience and the customer journey’.”
Chittoor will be speaking on the second day of the five-day conference on the topic of ‘The future of customer engagement‘.
Traditionally, marketing is conducted by determining channel first (that is, email, display medium, and more) but on day two of Engage21, Chittoor will discuss, how the model is now shifting towards first understanding the target customer in order to give them the best experience.
“That’s the biggest paradigm shift,” he says.
“In order to truly adapt, marketers have to change two big things. One is shifting from focusing on third-party data to first part data gathered by consent, through treating customers with respect. The second, is having a lot of [data] agility, to be able to capture the data from all the customer experience touchpoints and translate that into the next customer engagement.”
However, as the US begins to reopen, there are signs people are eager to leave their virtual world, to do the activities they were unable to do last year. Chittoor says this will have an impact on the way online marketers will have to engage with their customers.
“One of the things Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Udacity said during last year’s Engage conference was, ‘for marketers, some doors will close and others will open. You have to really run fast through the doors that are opening’.”
“That is probably going to be a theme this year as well. We are living in a world where there’s a lot of flux and change.
Chittoor believes marketers will be able to rise to the challenge as they have proven to be both creative and adaptable, two skills that will be needed in the coming months.
He adds that putting customers at the center of your marketing strategy is one idea he hopes attendees will take away from next week’s conference.
“Putting the customer at the center and really recognizing that in today’s world, with all the challenges that everyone’s going through, that theme, has become even more important than ever before.”
The Engage21 conference will be running from May 3 to 7, comprised of daily 1 hour sessions starting at 12 pm EDT/9 am PDT.
“Engage21 is a forum for marketers to really engage with each other, and to share best practices in engaging with their end customers,” Chittoor says.
“The focus is all about the community of marketers. It’s not about Blueshift, it’s all about how marketing is evolving and how the world is evolving.”
To register for the conference, click here.