Using Customer Experience Data Effectively

Targeted communications are a good opportunity in times of budget cuts, because they are measurable and thus easier to justify with positive ROI.

One of the benefits of using customer behavior observations about our best customers is that it gives us the ability to define what our best customers' characteristics so that we can use highly targeted tactics to reach others like them.

Last weekend, I read an interesting article called "Joining Strategy and Usability: Defining the Customer Experience Methodology", by Mark Hurst (www.creativegood.com) that talked about defining a Customer Experience Model (CEM) which, although defined in terms of electronic experience, could be applied to all customer "touchpoints."

Using a CEM, organizations can evaluate the strategies and tools that customers and prospects use by looking at their behavior, they can manage the times and places at which they communicate with customers. Then, using CEM findings, can target appropriate messaging for each stage of the purchase process.

Powerful stuff!