2023: The Year to Focus on CX Value
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US businesses have been planning for the coming year with its attendant uncertainty. Late in 2022, Forrester asked more than 1,000 decision makers from 382 companies to reveal their focus areas for investment and their big best for 2023.
Despite an unfavourable economic outlook optimism was high, particularly amongst the Marketing community.
Eighty-five per cent of respondents believed that investment in marketing would increase; only six per cent predicted a decrease.
Eighty-two per cent believe that the budget for customer experience will rise, with just 11 per cent saying the opposite.
All in all, Forrester’s work pointed to a focus on investment that will boost Customer Value.
The top three beneficiaries of Marketing investment in 2023 were Digital Experience (66 per cent), Privacy Tools (65 per cent) and CRM (62 per cent).
Planned investment in Marketing Technology Tools with 61 per cent came fifth and Customer Experience the seventh (57 per cent).
This investment focus on owned content, channel and CX assets might sit at odds with the Brand-first proclamations of my Advertising and Comms colleagues. But stop, maybe the Algorithms are giving me a skewed view of the conversation (gasps). Do these numbers make more sense if we look through another lens?
Sure, when it comes to engaging a cohort with a message then Brand advertising is the go to tool. But, what I think we’re seeing is the legacy of the Transformation Programmes of the last decade.
As the promises of the Pre-Sales teams fade into the Golden Sunset of memory; the reality of delivering and retaining value in our digital and data-driven organisations is where rubber hits the road - and where, I think, our expertise in data and digital experience and innovation can be valuably focused.
Let’s help post-transformation organisations - fidgeting uncomfortably in the itchy sweater of a new tech stack and pushing the bitter greens around the plate of new working realities deliver experiences and value to customers that our Brand and Communications colleagues can shout about.
Let’s build brand and CX guide rails that mean organisations can bring rich Customer Data to life; let’s make sure we’re asking the right questions and being comfortable questioning and challenging myths - now that we have the capability. Let’s recalibrate messaging to address evolving customer needs and the new ways we can do things.