Paul Robson is the President of International at Adobe.

The world has changed irreversibly over the last 19 months. How we learn, how we work, how we shop — digital plays a significant part of the equation. According to a recent PwC Pulse survey, more than 50% of global consumers said they had become more digital in the six months. It has become the primary way for most of us to connect.

As a result of these developments, the e-commerce market is growing in a way that demands attention. Tracking tens of billions of online transactions to retail sites, our company's Digital Economy Index provides insights into online consumer spending and forecasts that global e-commerce will hit $4 trillion this year. This dramatic shift in spending represents a huge opportunity for businesses to reach out to new consumers — and better serve their existing base — but will require brands to evolve. Every business process is going digital ... because every business now needs a digital play.

Within that new paradigm, with numerous brands competing online and vying for attention, how can organizations ensure they cut through the noise to capture attention?

The future of marketing is "with," not "at."

Today’s digital economy is unchartered territory for many companies, but it is also an opportunity for us to reset and reach customers in new, unexpected ways. What digitally thriving organizations, from the auto industry to international banks, are proving is that customer insight is key to unlocking sales revenue. It is no longer a case of just creating experiences for customers; the future of e-commerce hinges on creating experiences with customers to establish ongoing relationships, and, ultimately, earn trust and loyalty.

DHL is a great example of a brand brave enough to push forward with digital transformation in the hardest of times. As social distancing made its services even more crucial, DHL used data analytics from our company to identify opportunities for improvement across their operation, with the CMO getting the green light to instill a transformation culture across every arm of the organization. The courier company then created a new homepage, improved site navigation, built more intuitive user journeys and installed a new spot quoting tool that is delivering leads that are five to 10 times better than before. By capturing, analyzing and actioning data, DHL further strengthened its reputation as the world’s logistics leader.

For brands looking to emulate DHL’s digital success, the key takeaway has to be the importance of listening to the customer via the data they provide and then using that intelligence to improve their experiences. To remove the guesswork as DHL did, it's critical to bring your customers into the conversation, learn their likes and dislikes, and then creatively try to improve their experiences. That virtuous circle of listening, analysis and optimization can then be repeated as you validate the changes you've made.

It is clear that customer experience management is no longer a nice to have but a critical competitive differentiator, one that's integral to earning trust by creating experiences that are accessible and relevant.

The Need For Digital Strategy In A Cookieless World

According to Adobe’s latest research, more than 9 out of 10 marketers rated their company as either good or excellent at delivering personalized customer experience at scale. However, less than one-third of consumers felt brands had improved at personalization these past 12 months.

In this irreversibly digital-first world, brands can no longer rely on attracting an increasingly digitally sophisticated customer base by simply advertising at them. As I say, the future is about creating personalized experiences with customers, making data more important than ever.

Consumers want to know that they can trust brands with their personal information, and the coming end of third-party cookies will make first-party data that customers willingly share with brands with which they have direct relationships key to effective personalized experiences.

In a world where consumers are savvier about their personal data and government regulations continue to tighten, investing in a first-party data strategy is the most important thing brands can do to understand the needs of their customers and create a lasting connection built on trust. Success will require brands to earn the right to their customers’ data and an ongoing relationship through transparency and experiences those customers truly value — across every touchpoint and stage of the customer journey.  

But what does a first-party data strategy look like? The starting point must be obtaining consent from the customer providing their data, as well as their preferences on exactly how their data is utilized. These directives must then be built into all of your processes that touch the customer — from the types of offers they receive to the devices and channels where experiences are delivered, to whether that data can be shared with trusted partners. The right customer experience management technology will provide a central hub that brings together first-party web, app and media data from consenting customers and embeds governance processes across all customer data use cases. When brands continually demonstrate they can be trusted to use data to improve customers’ experiences, they earn the right to a deeper relationship — which includes more data. This virtuous cycle creates a win-win for both consumers and brands.

In addition to providing compliance for brand, government and consumer policies and preferences, embedded governance capabilities, leading customer experience management technologies also include machine learning that can identify the most effective point to trigger registration and consent requests, along with experiences and offers. These technologies should also enable brands to enrich profiles with segment metadata for better insights and personalization, and exchange non-sensitive, consented segment data with trusted partners. Building these increasingly accurate profiles for existing customers can even help marketers create look-alike segments for lesser-known customers with similar profiles, further speeding up the process of super-serving new consumers.

Trust is hard-won and easily lost.

Brands that want to compete and cut through the noise in this new digital-first world must prioritize first-party data strategies that not only deliver personalized, relevant and timely experiences but, crucially, build the new digital currency: trust.


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