Creating a Synchronized CX Using Technology

In Part One of Creating a Synchronized Customer Experience (CX), we covered the first step in building a better CX: implementing synchrony into your project planning and management process. More importantly, we equipped you with actionable steps for adding synchrony to all five stages of project management, including: development, planning, launch, performance and review. In today’s blog, we’ll walk you through the roles your marketing technology plays in creating an engaging and perfectly timed CX, as well as how you can implement synchrony across your entire martech stack.

Fostering Synchrony Across Your Marketing Technology Stack

Back in 2011, when Scott Brinker first attempted to map out the marketing technology landscape, there were less than 200 tools. Today, there are over 8,000 types of martech on the market and Brinker maintains that the average marketing department currently uses 120 martech tools! Whether your department is above average in martech tools or below, one thing is certain; the need for your tools to work in synchrony with each other is critical to providing your customers with a journey that is quick, smooth and happy-making.

The Advanced Marketer and the Integrated Martech Stack

So how is synchrony achieved across 120+ tools from a variety of different makers? Integration. According to Think With Google, “Marketing leaders are 1.5X as likely as mainstream marketers to have an integrated marketing and advertising technology stack.” Brinker, the foremost thought leader on marketing technology, also maintains that integrated tools are critical to success.

“The stability of a major platform as the backbone of a marketing stack augmented with a set of specialized apps designed to plug deeply into that platform is a powerful combination. A ‘point solution’ — which used to be a negative label — isn’t a point solution any more when it seamlessly integrates into your primary platform. It becomes part of the fabric of your stack.”
~ Scott Brinker.

Are There Holes in the Fabric of Your Stack?

Although CMSWire maintains that companies now spend more on marketing technology than they do on their actual advertising; buying the latest martech wonder will not aid your cause if it’s not well-connected to the tools in the rest of your stack. As you consider the tools you are using to perform the many marketing tasks on your plate, ask yourself this question: Is creating a connected experience easy or only possible through a series of manual steps, workarounds and IT help desk tickets?

Simplifying Martech Integrations

Fortunately, martech integrations no longer require IT to create secure connections by which all your data-collecting systems can sync and share information. In fact, some of the more user-friendly integration tools feature pre-built plug-n-play connectors, as well as easy-to-configure integrations that allow you to perform simple point-to-point and complex multi-point integrations with the skill and prowess of a seasoned air traffic controller.

Big Benefits of Synchronized Tech

There are a myriad of benefits to connecting all of the tech in your martech stack. An integrated stack will empower you to manage workflows across your tech, from content and technical SEO workflows, to email, marketing automation, data orchestration and beyond. A well-integrated stack will also reduce or altogether eliminate many of the mindless manual processes that are frustrating your marketing ops team and wasting their time on a daily basis. Of course, the biggest benefit of an integrated stack is the ability to create a synchronized and seamless customer experience. According to Danielle Marquis, Director of Marketing Strategy at AM Conservation Group, “Integrating disparate data sources into a single hub means multiple strands of customer data can be cross-referenced to give a deeper understanding of the customer journey.”

Integrated Tech Is Everything

It’s no wonder that a recent study by the Customer Data Platform Institute (CDP) found that when it comes choosing martech, 66 percent of marketers say the ability to integrate with internal systems is more important than other tech selling points, including:

• Ease of learning and use — 51%
• Breadth of features — 40%
• Operating costs, i.e. subscription fees and staffing — 36%
• Initial costs of acquisition and deployment — 32%

Brinker maintains that it is a sign of maturity among marketing operations teams, when a marketer’s greatest desire is for the tech in their stack to play well with others. “Think about that: integration trumps price, ease of use and features…Of course, if I can’t connect it to the rest of my marketing stack, then who cares how much it costs? Who cares what the feature set is because I’m not able to orchestrate this as part of my overall marketing stack and my overall marketing capabilities,” said Brinker.

Integration Questions to Consider

As you prepare to foster a synchronized CX by better integrating your stack, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, according to MartechAdvisor, your integrations should perform the following four functions:

• Make different apps and systems work together
• Allow connected sources to share data
• Orchestrate business processes across your tech stack
• Coordinate how employees work across the growing number of apps

Naturally, as you ensure your integrations are working in synch, this fluidity will translate to the kind of seamless CX that differentiates your brand and ultimately boosts your bottom line.