Guest Times: The experience economy of today demands a Chief Experience Officer – CXO

Data is central to all boardroom discussions today. Decision-makers realise that data generated from their tasks/processes can yield profitable insights. We seldom ask ourselves if these insights have the power to translate into experiences. Organisations are hoping to incorporate non-traditional ways to make sense of data, such as creating a personalised experience for your client.

Consumers in the digital age are constantly on the move. They keep hustling in search of the right brand and product experience, especially on their smartphones. Today, consumers rank brands against each other according to the experiences these brands offer online, in-app and on social media channels. The brand rankings direct purchase choices.

If data is central to all boardroom discussions, then experience is central to all marketing campaign outcomes. The importance of customer/client experience is a mainstream topic today: all new-age brands such as Airbnb, WeWork, etc., have client experience at the centre of everything they do — and they rely on data to inform their experience decisions.

Companies are aware that the buying process powered by the omnichannel approach generates the most revenues. However, a personalised  experience makes a brand stand out in the clutter to get an internet user to make an online purchase or to drive them out of their seats to make an offline purchase.

The question — How are companies building great experiences?

The experience economy demands specialists who understand the consumers' quest for value add, based on offline and online data for a holistic consumer understanding. Someone, who can put all that data together and assess the key attributes of what goes into building great experiences for the intended audience. This has given rise to the Chief Experience Officers (CXO), who can assess and deliver delightful experiences and help brands grow.

Forrester reports: firms have placed CX higher on their list of business objectives, with 76% of execs saying that improving CX is a high or critical priority. As the focus shifts more and more to great CX, customers demand more. This is true if you sit down and assess traditionally experiences, they were all about outdoor activities and many customers seldom had the chance for a facetime with new-age brands.

We were living in an era where waterparks or jungle safaris were defined as an experience offered by local organisers. Fast forward today to 4K experiences sitting in your cushion chair at home and living those moments. AR, VR is adding new dimensions to experience, and the role of CXO is to understand the best-suited experience for his / her brand.

CXOs play an important role in every sector, be it FMCG, automobile, lifestyle for better understanding of the client’s psyche. Data gathered on who their consumers are and what their behaviours are online/offline also contributes to understanding their psyche — which eventually shapes the experiences that are worth investing in.

Consider the brands you're faithful to. Can companies today confidently claim that clients are faithful to them? Business today is developing at the speed of trust. One of the best ways to build trust is to offer them your brand experiences in consultation with a CXO.

The marketing context for a Chief Experience Officer (CXO)

Brand trust is built by offering consumers a tailored experience adhering to the wants and needs of the consumer. Better brand experiences lead to higher consumer retention. As a brand ask yourself a question like: Can we build experiences that our consumers are able to experience on a mobile? Can we build experiences for an Instagram/Twitter generation who have the power to share your experience and influence peers? All this can be achieved if a brand marketer is working in tandem with a CXO.

Data plays a key role here since it leads the way in guiding the type of experience that has the highest chances of being successful with each type of customer. Only by having a holistic target audience understanding backed by data, experiences can be properly strategised.

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