The Blurred Line to the Consumers Heart

Technology enables us to gather data so we have a more complete picture of our customers, but technology also empowers our customers to keep one step ahead of us, often to stymy our efforts.

Customers share more data than ever, through their smartphones, tablets and GPS devices, yet theyre increasingly distrustful of business and concerned about privacy. At the same time, they are taking the merchandising process into their own hands by researching big-ticket items in the store and then buying them cheaper online, a practice we all now know as showrooming.

I can still remember, less than 10 years ago, when customers came into a store to buy something, not investigate it. Today, shoppers are holding the price scanners, through their smartphones, and capturing bar codes faster than a merchant could ring them up. If it were to have the chance, that is.

Marketers are more plugged in than ever, yet I fear some of us are becoming more tuned out.

Consider that the average person has a nine-second attention span. Thats about how long it takes to recite the alphabet. Author Sally Hogshead addresses and resolves the attention-deficit issue in her book Fascinate, and she will be at the Summit to share her tips for becoming a fascinating brand. She is offering a solution, and I look forward to it.

Other speakers at the Summit also will help put these blurred lines into focus, because the fundamentals of marketing and loyalty havent changed. The speakers, representing Google, Coca-Cola, FedEx, CVS and others, are setting industry standards as they zero in on the customer not product or performance goals and make her the center of their purpose.

Companies such as these use data to clarify their view of the customers preferences and needs, so they can deliver messages and experiences that resonate. The key is realizing that customers not only want to be recognized and rewarded for what they do, but also for whom they are.

Thats a pretty clear expectation, yet all the insights in the world will fail to meet it if they are not deconstructed to reveal the consumers aspirations and preferences. That takes clear dedication.

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