CLC and Digital Transformation

Joana van den Brink-Quintanilha from Forrester Research was at ASCEND London talking about the importance of understanding and working around the Customer Life Cycle (CLC). Mapping the CLC creates is important to giving people what they expect to experience at different moments. I actually loved her example which points out clearly how our ‘personas’ are often too basic and cause the experiences we create to be misguided.

Same Segment, Different Needs

Joana’s example was of different personas she has when visiting a coffee shop.

Joana the Mom: Looking for somewhere to enjoy a couple of coffee with her child with the much overlooked goal that she wants her child to be happy too!

Joana the Professional: Looking for somewhere to work outside of the office and outside of the home office where she can enjoy a beverage, maybe something to eat, keep her laptop powered, and concentrate.

Joana’s segment remains the same, but her social and emotional needs are different.  Understanding this is key to creating the right experiences.

Joana van den Brink-Quintanilha from Forrester Research presenting at EPiServer ASCEND London, October 27, 2015.

Challenges of Digital Transformation

I’ve heard countless times the notion that as businesses approach digital transformation they often move toward a broader business transformation.  Joana points out that companies that successfully transform conduct internal mapping to understand where there are obstacles/blockages to process which prevent deliver of the ideal customer experience.

Understanding Leads to Opportunities

Joana shared a case study about Marriott who realized they had a lot of guests that were sitting around their lobbies. They conducted research to understand why so many people were in the lobby and what their expectations were. They discovered that many people were looking for a place to work. They created way to improve the experience of such guests by creating a way for them to book space in empty meeting rooms. The end result is that guests are more satisfied and Marriott has an opportunity through the process to learn more about guests and their needs.

Agile Marketing at Heart of Understanding CLC

This of course gives insight into the rising importance of Agile Marketing (which I believe was derived from marketers working closely with developers who use Agile Methodologies as we do at Oshyn). Creating customer experience requires understanding the CLC and that requires insights from employees from throughout the organization. It is only through a collective view that organizations can truly reveal processes which can be digitized. Another great insight from Joana (and I believe her because this is part of her role) is that gather reverse insight from customers can add incredible value; while you’re trying to define and understand the CLC and experiences you can create  - customer can answer, “Should you?” Her follow on point was that when moving through this whole process you should continue to review and refine “Moment of Truth after Moment of Truth” which will eventually enable prototyping and prioritizing Moments of Truth.

At the end of Joana’s insightful presentation an attendee asked a valid question, pointing out that she was discussing is commonly known to many working in digital roles across marketing and technology – so what’s new about this? Her answer carried the weight of the truth and challenges we face in this industry, “…that what people have actually done or implemented leaves a lot to be desired.”

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