Walk into any store in any city selling any type of product, and you’ll immediately see why improving customer experience is a top priority for today’s digital marketer: Customers use a variety of devices from smartphones, to tablets to desktop computers, spanning multiple operating systems and browsers. Consumers use these devices at different stages of the buying journey, and in different combinations, but they expect brands to engage them in personal ways that meet their individual needs. How does a marketer make smart, strategic technology choices to improve business outcomes across so many different experiences?
Marketing’s focus on customer experience in 2015 has given rise to five trends that are driving changes in emerging digital marketing technologies, according to Mike McGuire, research vice president for Gartner for Marketing Leaders in this year’s Digital Marketing Hype Cycle Report. The trends revolve around cross-channel execution, automation, personalization, engagement and commerce.