Business and Marketing

Expanding technology only serves to increase marketers' investments in triggered emails and lifecycle analysis, a study says.

Budget trends are going in the direction that marketers like to see them go—upward, says StrongView Director of Marketing Communications Jason Klein. The cross-channel solutions provider's 2015 Marketing Trends Survey released this week reports that 54% of marketers expect to see bigger budgets in the coming year (versus 46% last year), and that one third of them are counting on increases of 10% or more. They will devote the majority of their largesse to what has been and will continue to be their favorite method of targeting customers.

“Email retains the top spot in their spending plans. The more data you have available, the more you can use it to trigger interactions with your brand through email,” Klein says. “They'll be putting more funds into automated programs. Triggered emails and lifecycle marketing will be the most favored methods.”

Some 61% of the 400 marketers of global brands surveyed by StrongView said they'd up email spending. Just under half (49%) put social media next in line for cash infusions, and 40% will dial up mobile activity.

“Social has long been a way for marketers to spread their messages through refer-a-friend campaigns, but now they are able to analyze social to see what people are talking about on Facebook and Twitter and put that into play,” Klein says.

Marketers will also continue to draw on budgets for traditional methods to fund more data-driven efforts. One third of them told StrongView they would decrease spending on print advertising and 22% will de-emphasize direct mail.

Two fifths of marketers said they would increase investments in triggered email programs and lifecycle marketing campaigns. Touchpoints on which they intend to focus lifecycle efforts are loyalty, welcome, win-back, and post-purchase.

Cross-channel marketing will continue to challenge marketers in 2015. Their biggest concerns revolved around leveraging customer data obtained from multiple channels and then coordinating resulting efforts across the various channels.

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Customer service used to be fairly simple. For the most part, you just had to be friendly and helpful to the people you did business with, and if someone wasn't happy, you dealt with the problem and that was the end of it.

While the basic goal of keeping customers satisfied is still at the heart of customer service, there's a lot more to it nowadays than doling out smiles and fielding the occasional angry phone call. Social media and mobile technology have enabled constant connectivity, giving customers 24/7 access to public forums in which they can talk — or complain — about your company. Only organizations that are willing to adapt and respond to this shift in business-consumer dynamics will survive.

Current business leaders and customer service experts shared their thoughts on how the landscape of customer care has changed, and where it's headed as technology and communication continue to evolve.

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